Lets talk about Herps: Its as infectious as you think it is

Yeah, we are talking herps, talking herpetology, and herping. 

The definition of herping according to Wikipedia, is

Herping is the act of searching for amphibians or reptiles.[1][2] The term, often used by professional and amateur herpetologists, comes from the word "herp", which comes from the same Greek root as herpetology, herpet-, meaning "creeping". The term herp is a shorthand used to refer to the two classes of ectothermic tetrapods (i.e., amphibians and reptiles).[3]

Yeah, so I totally click-baited you sick fucks into thinking I was going to talk about venereal diseases and catching them, but the only thing we caught this weekend was tons of Amphibians. Are you feeling pissed you're not getting Herpe content? Go google a blue waffle then you will be on your hands and knees begging to hear about Toads. Because I found a ton of them last Saturday. Spring has sprung, and that means the marble quarry I stumbled upon was filled with mainly terrestrial amphibians hitting the water and banging. 

Since the marble quarry was man-made, it was pretty devoid of fish or frogs that usually eat Toad's eggs, so there were tons of American Toads just going at it, leaving long strings of eggs. Unlike frogspawn, toad eggs arent laid in clusters but in long lines. 

I lowkey think there's been more biomass in the forests due to less pollution during the covid lockdowns.

Everywhere you looked, there were toads hopping around.

Not only were there toads, but eastern newts were also banging in the shallows of the rock quarry.

Eastern Newts have a pretty cool lifecycle; they go from largely terrestrial red efts, which tend to survive better on land but return to the water as adults to live and breed. Peep this red eft I found.

These dudes are also pretty poisonous. Their bright color indicates they are not to be eaten by predators, but they lose much of their toxicity in old age. Red Efts are newts, not salamanders, even though they are terrestrial. 

Rounding off the day of herping found a spring peeper. 

A musical creature, you will recognize their role in the sounds of the forest. 

For our first nonamphibian of the day, we caught a garter snake that are also horny fuckers as they have giant orgies. 

Check out these deprived fucks.

A lot of you are going to think this is freaking weird but guess what? I was tripping balls, and it was sick. So who is the real loser here? But honestly, if you can imagine, this is a great pastime to get away from the internet and get the brain to practice mindfulness. When you are constantly looking for something, it promotes mindfulness. Mindfulness is the act that keeps you in the moment and is a muscle that trained can help with mental health issues. 

Benefits of Mindfulness

• Decreased Depression.
• Increased Emotional Regulation.
• Reduced Anxiety and Stress.
• Better Memory.
• Cognitive Improvements.
• Stronger Relationships.
• Better Physical Health.
• When to Use Caution.

Literally, the inability to be in the moment is a big factor in anxiety. Worrying about the future and not being in the now. Exercising mindfulness muscles helps prevent anxiety. Doing shit like recognizing external stimuli. 

Basically, it gets you out of your head and reduces cortisol. It is a great way to stop thinking about shit and be present. Herping does that for me by making me use my eyes and ears to put me in reality and the present. This may sound pretty hippy and shit, but the science is there. Huge helper with racing thoughts and anxiety. It can be achieved through exercise, hunting, and meditation. Meditation is fucking hard. Way easier just to go find frogs. 

"O, Billy's soft he's talking about mental health" Dude, I definitely can beat the shit out of 98% of you (About 2% of you know Jiu-Jitsu, and that shit is basically cheating). Also, I am trying to prevent CTE. Most people get into consuming content to distract from real problems, so hopefully, this shit can help.

Well, I hope one of you sick fucks thought they were going to hear some stories about herpes and ended up getting some trojan-horsed brain exercised to help your overall wellbeing. You see that right there? I just tricked you into self-improvement.