5-5-18

Trip Details

Location: Southeastern Iowa

Weather: High of 80 degrees and sunny

Time: 10:00 am to 2:00 pm

Herpers: Mike Pingleton, Laura and Jim Scharosch

Account by: Jim Scharosch

Photos by: Jim Scharosch

Our first stop was to see if any saugas were up. It was going to be a hot day so we wanted to get out there while it was still a bit cooler. It was around 70 degrees already at 10:00 am and we walked the hotspots around the site without seeing any. As we were leaving we stopped and checked the same cover under which we had found a sauga a few days before. It was in a flooded area and was the only available cover around, as the crayfish burrows were all well under water. There was a Massasauga Rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus) under there again.

I can't be positive, but after comparing photos I'm pretty sure it was the same snake we saw two days ago in exactly the same spot.

Other than a handful of common garter snakes, that was all we found there. The second site we visited turned up a lot of the same things we have been finding there daily. Ornate box turtles were out, racerunners, a baby slider and an adult racer. I didn't take photos of these guys this time.