Arizona Herps!

We took a mission trip to Arizona and while we were there I also was always on the prowl for local herp species. Here are a few of the ones we found...

Pictured above are two different Horned Lizards, a six-lined skink, a collard lizard and a gopher snake. It was great to see species that I don't normally get to see or hold!

Another Brown

Today I went to an area I had been before that had a strong population of T. Radix but I only found this one Storeria Dekayi. The park service has made this section I field herp in more pleasing to the human eye so they cleaned it up...thus destroying T. Radix habitat. That bums me out honestly. And I am not a tree hugger, but to make something asthetically pleasing to humans that is a very minimally used back section of a park is not good stewardship of the land. And it is sad how little thought for herp species is given by most Park Services. I also came across a really brightly colored catepillar of some sort. Don't know what it was though. Here are a few pics...

Storeria Dekayi

Went for a walk with my wife on a very hot and humid evening and took along the camera as I always do. I came across this Brown Snake and took a couple shots. Here are the pics...

Memorial Day Radix...

Went on a little trip with my family in tow to some of my usual haunts. Didn't see much but was able to photograph this one gravid female ready to shed. Here are the pics...

Omaha Field Trip

I got a call from one of my friends who is a much more avid herper than I. He wanted to know if I would join him going over to Omaha to look for Plains Garter Snakes. There are some varieties in patterns over there that can only be found there. I really don't normally go looking just for Garter Snakes but I thought it was a neat opportunity. We actually went looking in a neighborhood development. That was another oddity for me. But Garter Snakes are highly adaptable species (kind of like the Cockroach). They can adapt to and capitalize upon almost any environment.

Before we went on our hunt we stopped by a friend of my friend who has a real love for Plains Garter Snakes. He has a basement set up that is pretty incredible, honestly. But most striking to me was his pet snapping turtle named, "Tank." Tank has free roam of their home and he is the most docile snapping turtle you will ever come across. He loves to have his neck scratched and his front paws rubbed. His owner even gives him kisses on his beak. I was astounded.

We ended up with 82 captured snakes and we saw a total of 91 snakes. It was really incredible. I was beat by the end of the day but it was a real blast. Here are all the pics...

This was one of the prizes that we came for. It is the black and white variation that you can only find in this area of the United States. We found two females with the same pattern.

Fox Snake!

Went out to Banner on this beautiful evening (which was supposed to be the end of the world as we know it) to look for some snakes. It is getting pretty heavy in poison ivy now. But I have this one spot I always check, an old piece of carpet along the bike trail that has yielded a number of snakes over the years. This year it has only yielded a little Northern Water Snake and today's juvenile Fox Snake. He was a fiesty little fellow but he managed to let me get a few good shots in. Here they are...

This is the carpet I was telling you about. I always check this thing...most of the time there's nothing there, but you just never know! Today was a prime example of that.