10-28-12

Trip Details

Location: Ringgold County, IA

Weather: Clear skies, about 55 degrees.

Time: 3:00 p.m.

Herpers: Jeff LeClere, Jim Scharosch & Matt Ricklefs

Account by: Matt Ricklefs

Photos by: Jim Scharosch

Thought of the day: A snake in the Hedge Apples!

While deploying tin for a project Jeff had, and on one of our last stops, we found an unlikely herp. A couple of Red-Sided Garter Snakes (Thanmnophis s. parietalis) out actually on the crawl. They must have been a bit chilly. The first was about 13 inches long and a bit thin. It was near the water and there were frogs around so perhaps it wanted one last snack before going to sleep.

The second one was little larger, maybe twenty-four inches long. For fun, we took a minute to pose it in some hedge apples that happened to be right next to where we found the snake.

That is, thus far, our latest documented herp. It also brings a close to 2012.

Happy herpin’ until 2013!