So Kory and I headed out to search for some sites that historically had Ground Snakes (Sonora semiannulata). First off we did find some glade habitat, but it was very over grown. So we did not find this ellusive little snake:

Sorry I had to lay out the tease pictures. The one on the left is from New Mexico and the one on the right is from Kansas.

We did find a few things.

The most common snake of the day were Speckled Kings. This first one was on the edge of the road as we got out of the vehicle. I had to reach over a fence with my tongs to snage it.

We saw a total of four. This is a little one that I flipped under a rock at another spot.

As found:

Posed:

We did see 3 or 4 box turtles (all Three Toed Box Turtles). This one made an odd picture because of the condition of its shell. I can not believe how she could make it.

We also saw a Red-eared Slider on the road as we drove around. We also saw one Ringneck, 3 Worm Snakes, 1 Western Ribbon Snake, 1 Fence Lizard, and countless Five-lined and Ground Skinks.

I did flip one Flathead Snake. It is not often they will sit still for pictures.

Kory found this [size=18]big Western Rat Snake[/size] under some parts of some old chicken houses.

This snake was around 6 feet in length. We both agreed that this was the find of the day. Not saying much for our trip. This is the captain holding it for comparison.

To end our little adventure, I will teach you all another lesson about the red-headed monster. If you do not know who this is, just check back at some the old posts or under my picture album (Glenn Manning). I flipped one of these lovely animals (Kory flipped two more on the hillside above me). Kory decided to collect it for his ecology camp this summer. I am cool with that, and helped wrangle this critter. I usually have some old peanut butter jars, but I had just removed them from my field bag. So the best I could do was a plastic bag. I used my tongs (not my hand) to get it in the bag. Kory filled the bag with air and sealed it. I placed in my bag and we finished up our day. We head back to Kory's house and unload. We then decided to hit the new Mexican restaurant in Bella Vista (by the way Fayetteville folks it is La Huerta's menu). I get out of the car to change shoes, and around the corner come Kory, and I think to quote him he says "red-headed monster". Oh yes I have that in my bag. I open my bag and find the plastic bag, and no monster. I then go through my entire bag, no monster. Note to all they can make a hole in a plastic bag. We do not know for sure when it got loose, but I was again at risk. The main reason I tell you this long drawn out story is just to remind Kory that [size=18]it could still be in your Exterra[/size].