4-13-10

Trip Details

Start Time: 4:30 p.m.

Weather: Mostly sunny, high of 75

Location: Bremer County Iowa

Herpers: Jim Scharosch & Don Becker

Account and photos by: Jim Scharosch

I like to get out herping with Don each spring and he had mentioned wanting to find Ribbon Snakes and Redbelly Snakes in Iowa. With the additional motivation of our last trip to Bremer County just a few days prior having such crappy weather, we decided we would head out there again and see if our luck was any better. We left after I got off work, and after a brief detour due to a bad marker point on my GPS, we arrived at the location at about 4:30 pm. The weather was sunny and warm, and you could feel the warmth of the rocks when you turned them.

We worked our way down to one of the spots where I had found Redbelly Snakes regularly in the past, and, of course, none were to be found. We walked back to the car, and as we were driving out, Don spotted a snake on the road. It was a Redbelly Snake. I didn't take any pictures.

We drove off to another area and were walking a ditch, and I noticed a Blanding's Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) sitting near a pile of washed up debris.

It was a good sized adult, probably eight inches in length. It didn't ever poke it's head all the way out so I didn't work very hard at getting photos.

We moved on to a different area, and I found another Redbelly Snake (Storeria occipitomaculata) under a small rock.

This was a smaller one than the first, probably about five inches in length.

We didn't find anything else in this area, so we started to drive off.

As we were leaving, we found four more Redbelly Snakes on the road, all within 30 feet of each other. I didn't take any more pics.

It wasn't a great trip, but it was nice to get out with Don, the Blanding's Turtle was pretty cool to see, and the weather was nice.