I don’t get to talk with everyone that comes on our Peru expeditions, but in February I did spend an hour talking with three of Chicago Land’s finest herpers – Matt and Alan Ignoffo, and Joe Cavataio. We talk about their experiences during their first Peruvian adventure of course, and we cover more interesting adventures and interests of these thre…

Hi everyone! Episode 112 (and the last episode of Season Five) returns us to the back deck of my tambo in the Peruvian rainforest, where I had a nice chat with Sylvere Corre, wildlife guide extraordinaire. Sylvere travels the world all year, leading people to discover all kinds of animals, including herps and birds and mammals, and some really spec…

Hello everyone! Episode 111 is all about the Indigos, and a few other adjacent critters. Back in 2024 I met up in southern Georgia with Ben Stegenga of the Orianne Society, where we spent two days in the field doing surveys for Eastern Indigo snakes. Ben was assisted by three field techs, Tyler, Keira, and Jesus, and my buddies Matt, Pat, and John …

Hello everyone! Episode 110 features another edition of Herp Science Sunday with Dr. Alex Krohn. Alex and I had a crazy cool conversation with Dr. Evan Grant, of the Northeastern Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative at the USGS Eastern Ecological Research Center, Dr. Grant is a co-author on a paper regarding range-wide salamander densities,…

Hello everyone! Episode 109 is a wide-ranging two-hour conversation with PhD student Tasman Ezra. We cover fossil turtles, anole radiation, his band Half Inch Hero, Taz’s Honduras herp conservation project, and much, much more. I met Taz in southeast Missouri last October, and within minutes I knew I wanted to get him in front of a microphone to ta…

Hello everyone! Episode 108 comes from South Africa, recorded in two parts, starting on New Year’s Eve.. The episode starts over in the western edge of South Africa’s Free State, in what’s called the Great Karoo. It was incredibly hot and dry; one day we had a noon temperature of 107 degrees Fahrenheit. We worked the area pretty hard and did better…

Hello everyone and welcome to the show! Mike Pingleton here, and I am your host for these proceedings. And here we go with Episode One Hundred and Seven, and our guest for this episode is Dr. Skylar Hopkins, Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University. Some sad news to talk about first. This show is d…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred and Six! And I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there It’s Thanksgiving weekend and I want to take a moment to thank all of you out there listening to the show. I appreciate you. And thanks to all of the folks who have come on the show to talk with me, when the natural tendency for most of u…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred and Five! And I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. SMP Patrons! I want to thank Rich Takmajian for his contribution to the So Much Pingle podcast, via Patreon. Much appreciated, Rich, thank you so much. And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show mov…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred and Four! I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, including all the folks who are recovering in the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton. As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like t…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred and Three! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, including all the folks who are recovering in the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton.As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listeni…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred and Two! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, including all the folks who are recovering in the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton.Well my summer hiatus is over and it’s time to start cranking out the content once again. I really needed a break, not only to…

Hey folks, as always, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.This is just a little episode marking the beginning of a show hiatus. When I was a kid, the auto plant in my town would occasionally shut down for a few months, for "re-tooling" - something necessary when they switched from making sedans to making mini-vans, for example. That's …

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.I can’t deny it, it feels pretty good to reach the one hundred show mark, four and a half years and one pandemic after I started this project. The experience has been all the things – interesting, challenging, frustrating, and …

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Nine! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.This show is dedicated to the memory of Gary Pinson. Gary lived over in the Missouri Ozarks and every October he and his family would come over to Snake Road in southern Illinois, which is where I first met him. It got to be a …

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Eight! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. After traveling for the better part of a month, it's good to be back home and back in the podcast studio.As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there lis…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Seven! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.I just got back from a great herping trip to Suriname. You may remember my conversation with Dick and Lieke back in episode 79 and it was fun to go visit and see how they operate herp tours there, and the answer is they do ver…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Six! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. It’s the last Sunday in April which means that this is the last episode in Season Four – we start Season Five on the first of May and I should have a show out around the middle of May, after I return from a trip to Suriname.And…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Five! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.SMP Patrons! I want to thank a couple of new Patreoners! – Derek Gillespie and Paul Duren, thank you both so much for supporting the show! Much appreciated! And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to kee…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Four! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.SMP Patrons! I want to thank a couple of folks for their support - Clint Guadiana, for his contribution via Patreon, and Dave Weber, who made another one-time contribution via PayPal. Thank you Clint and Dave! And as always, I …

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Three! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, and happy Ground Hog Day!SMP Patrons! I want to thank Justin Coburn for his contribution to the So Much Pingle podcast, via Patreon. Much appreciated, Justin, thank you so much. And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s …

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Two! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. I want to wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous New Year, and let there be peace for everyone in the days ahead.And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward.…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety One! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. We’re rolling into December and like many people, I have a big block of family time coming up, so I am pushing to get this episode finished and out sooner, rather than later. I wish you all a wonderful holiday season, and peace…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patre…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty Nine! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.SMP Patrons! I want to thank Shawn LaRochelle for his contribution to the So Much Pingle podcast, via Patreon. Much appreciated, Shawn, thank you so much. And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep …

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty Eight! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty Seven! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty Six! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.Before we get to today’s episode, I want to thank Gerry Salmon for his one-time donation to the So Much Pingle podcast. Much appreciated, Gerry, thank you so much. And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help …

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty Five! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. And for those of you experiencing extra-high temperatures, I hope you all are staying cool and hydrated.As always, I want to thank everyone who keeps the show rolling along. And if you’re out there listening and you would like…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty Four! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.It’s good to be back in the recording studio after a long absence, and I appreciate everyone’s patience while I was out having a good time. I spent several weeks in Thailand, on a herping trip that started in Bangkok and finish…

Hello everyone and welcome to the show! Mike Pingleton here, and I am your host for these proceedings. And here we go with Episode Eighty Three, and I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. It’s early June here at the So Much Pingle world headquarters, and my flower garden is starting to POP! It’s a great time if you’re into that sort of t…

Hello everyone and welcome to the show! Mike Pingleton here, and I am your host for these proceedings. And here we go with Episode Eighty Two, and I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. It’s a lovely Sunday morning in May and I can't wait to get out in it after I’m done putting this together.So Much Pingle Patrons! A big thank you to the…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty One! And Season Four! And while we're at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.In this episode, I talk with Gerold Merker, who with his son Walter recently published an updated edition of The Gray-banded Kingsnake, which I think is a fabulous book. I talk with Gerold about the book, about …

Josh, Whitney, Brenna, Sam, John, and MJHello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty! A nice round number and I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.First up, I want to give a shoutout to Claire Pedersen, who only found out about the show recently but has been working her way through the episodes in chronological order. She’s more than ha…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode 79! It's been a while since an episode dropped and I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.I've had the best excuse for not getting a show out for a while - I've been traveling! I just got back from two weeks in Madagascar, and before that I spent most of January and February in Peru. I am home for a w…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode 78 and I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. After three weeks at home, I am heading back to Peru this afternoon for this year's third and final tour. I'm happy to get another show out before I leave, and we will touch base again in early March when I return.So Much Pingle Patrons! As always, I want…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy Seven! And I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, and I want to wish all of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year.It’s the first week of February and it’s good to be back home and to be turning out another episode, after being away for nearly a month in Peru. It was an interesting tri…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy Six! And I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, and I want to wish all of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year.Well it’s Sunday, and New Year’s Day, and that can only mean that the first episode of 2023 is a Herp Science Sunday show with Dr. Alex Krohn! I’m happy to get one more show…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy Five! It's the day after Christmas, and I hope you all are safe, healthy, and warm. The temperatures at my house are back into the mid-teens Fahrenheit, after a few blustery and frigid days leading up to the holiday. I’m working to crank out a few episodes over the next week or so before I head to Peru …

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy Four! I want to wish you all a happy and peaceful holiday season.I have shoutouts to some new patrons of the show! Ian Kanda, thanks so much for your one-time contribution. Ian is strictly listening to the show in order so hopefully he’ll hear my shout-out before the fourth of July. I have some new Patr…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy Three! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the US and I wish everyone a good holiday. It's good to be back in the studio again after a few weeks off.As always, I want to say thank you to all of the show’s patrons! I’m grateful for everyone’s contributions and it does keep the show rolling along. And if you…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy Two! It's the day before Halloween, an appropriate time to release these tales of strange occurrences from the world of field herping.As always, I want to say thank you to all of the show’s patrons, including our newest Patreon member Brad Allen! Thank you so much Brad, and I appreciated your note as we…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy One! Here it is, mid-October and the fall rains are soaking us here at SMP world headquarters.As always, I want to say thank you to all of the show’s patrons, including Brandon Bourassa, who came in at one Patreon level and recently went up to the next level – thank you Brandon, I appreciate that. I als…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy! It's nearly October and I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there. It’s good to be talking with you all again after a bit of a gap – I had a lot on my plate for the past few weeks. You’re probably thinking that an old retired guy ought to have plenty of free time, and usually that is true eno…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty Nine! And for the first time, we have a guest host, Josh Holbrook, who graciously agreed to turn things around and ask me some questions. Since I started the podcast, I have received many requests along the lines of "I wanna hear someone interview YOU!". I figured I would just keep putting this off but ok…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty Eight! Here we are in mid-August and I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there. I’ve been working on re-siding and painting my garage all week, and it feels good to scrub the paint from my hands and strap into the podcasting chair for a bit.Now before we get to the show notes portion of the show…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty Seven! It's the end of July and I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there.As always, I want to thank all of the patrons of the show – we would not be kicking off a third season without you and I appreciate your support. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider s…

Photo by Kevin Messenger.Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty Six! It's good to be back in the studio, and I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there. It's mid-summer here at SMP world headquarters and I'm back after a week off to get some work done around the house.As always, I want to thank all of the patrons of the show – we woul…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty Five! I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there. I'm back in the booth after a couple of weeks in Peru and it's great to talk with you all again.As always, I want to thank all of the patrons of the show – we would not be kicking off a third season without you and I appreciate your support. To ot…

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty Four! I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there as we roll into June. First up I want to give a shoutout to the Minnesota Herpetological Society for inviting me to speak at their first in-person meeting since pre-Covid. I made a rocket run up to Minneapolis St. Paul on Friday and back on Saturda…