5-5-14

Trip Details

Location: Linn County, Iowa

Weather: Seventy degrees, sunny

Time: 4:00 PM

Herpers: Jim Scharosch

Account by: Jim Scharosch

Photos by: Jim Scharosch

I went out for another short local trip tonight. I hit a spot that I have a long history with as it is very close to my house and is a hibernaculum. it is a quick and easy local springtime spot that stop off at a couple times a year. The first few years this spot didn't produce at all. Then one year it became milk snake heaven. Within the forty foot long stretch of rocks I could turn up milk snakes consistently, sometimes as many as six or seven. The last two years it has been quiet again, I haven't seen anything at all in my three or four trips here. With the luck Laura and I had yesterday with milks, I thought it was worth a shot.

I flipped a few rocks then heard a sound behind me. I turned to find an adult Fox Snake (Elaphe vulpina) on the crawl.

It was about three and a half feet in length. It didn't want to sit for photos so after the lame pic above, I let it crawl off and took a few more pics as it left.

I worked the rest of the rock pile and turned up a juvenile fox snake.

It was last year's hatch baby, about twelve inches in length. It was in shed, so it was extra dark in coloration. I didn't work very hard at getting photos.

I turned the last rock in the place, which is a little ways from the main rocky area and has never held a snake. This time it held a juvenile Racer (Coluber constrictor).

It also was a last year's hatch baby. it was a pretty snake. Sometimes I take these guys for granted.

That was it. No milks here again, but still a nice trip. It was the first big snake of the year for me in Linn County. It was also nice to see a few animals at this spot after a couple of years without seeing anything.