I found myself in a moral dilemma. I had saturday off from work because of my National Guard obligation. What my workplace didn't know was I didn't have to go Sunday as well. So should I go ahead and go to work or take the day off and look for Herps? Herps won out and I made a quick trip to Arkansas county in search of American Alligators and Mississippi green water snakes. It didn't take long after reaching my destination that I found my first target. And lots of them. I stopped counting at 12.

I couldn't get close enough for any good photos.

I found this VERY large female Eastern river cooter looking for a place to dig a nest.

I stopped to use the restroom at a park and found this little Texas ratsnake on the window vent.

Not far away I found this unhealthy looking Rhombifer.

As I was about to give up on finding my primary target the Mississippi Green watersnake I decided to stop at one last spot before heading back to Searcy. As I walked along a levee I spotted a dark green snake on the rocks but I couldn't see enough of it to ID. About three foot away there was a huge Diamond-back watersnake. I decided to check around before I tried to grab what I thought was my target. Ten feet away I spotted something that caused me to drop down into my patented snake stalking crouch. The elderly man and woman photographing Alligators a short distance away must have thought I was crazy as I crept closer and closer to the waters edge. Finally when I knew I was close enough I made my grab.

Graham's Crayfish Snake

Totals
Texas ratsnake X3
Diamond-back Watersnake X2
Orange Striped Ribbonsnake X1 DOR
Graham's Crayfish Snake X1
Rough Greensnake X2 DOR
Little Brown Skink X2
Eastern River cooter X1
Mississippi Mud Turtle X1
American Alligator X 12+
Southern Leopard Frog X6
Blanchards Cricket Frog X 13
Bullfrog X2
Unknown Nerodia X2