6-23-17

Trip Details

Location: Linn County, Iowa

Weather: 71 degrees. Party sunny. Moderate wind.

Time: 5:00 p.m.

Herpers: David Becker, Don Becker & Matt Ricklefs

Account by: Matt Ricklefs

Photos by: Matt Ricklefs

The weather had actually started to cool down quite by the end of the week, and it though it was partly sunny, it WAS officially summer, and so we took a local trip out and about.

Our first find was, as Don mentioned, very much in need of a bowl of water to get its shed going. It was a nice sized Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum) at about 20 inches. Since it was so much in shed and kinda grungy we just took a quick in hand shot and headed on.

Our next find however was a very nicely and recently shed out gorgeous Milk Snake about 16 inches long.

Even with it being cooler out, it was not super happy about pictures, but we did get a couple of nice pics before letting it be on its way.

Itís always nice to document the different habitats or other landmarks and markings one may see out and about. In the next picture, it seem to clearly show that the indiginous people believe and have documented a Bigfoot, of course, I had to make a record of this. :)

We had come across a few Garter Snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis) with a few big ones in the mix, so we did take at least one in hand shot to document on of the larger ones. This one was about 17 inches long.

We also found an adult Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi) and took a quick documentation shot of it as well.

After a bit more walking around and a few locations later, we ended the day on a high note, though the snake was a little rough for wear and seemingly had been in a recent battle. It was a nice sized Fox Snake (Pantherophis vulpinus) about 25 inches long.

We got a few quick shots as it cooperated fairly well, but we figured it deserved a rest.

That was all for the day. A nice day out and about, a chance to see a few herps and a nice end to the week!

Observe and Conserve

HAPPY SUMMER HERPIN'