And for me it ends the curse of the Speckled Kingsnake. My first in over 5 years of living in Missouri. Go figure. What a lovely snake. Finding that alone made my day, but when I turned up that big fat Hognose Snake under a rock I was truly in disbelief. Such an impressive snake that put on a great spread hood display and no camera (damn). A great day herping though with two terrific finds and a lot of "filler" (ringnecks, box turtles, salamanders, racers, worm snakes and stuff)

Copperheads do not travel in pairs but it is possible see two or more together concentrated near den sites or to see two together when they are mating, or when two males are engaged in a combat dance (a ritual to assert dominance). They don't take partners for life.

The glades are unique and wonderful places here in Jeff. co. I feel fortunate to live about 15 mi. from both of them. The flowers that are in bloom there are extraordinary right now. It's interesting the amount of Lined snakes that are in the area. They are little beauties. The Racerunners are certainly everywhere. I find that they are not too disturbed when you sit and watch them for a while. They go about their business and will even crawl up on your legs if you sit still enough.

My 2005 lifelisters: Eastern Coachwhip Snake (Black Phase) Central Plains Milk Snake Intergrade Red/Central Plains Milk Intergrade Speckled/Desert Kingsnake Western Plains Garter Snake Sonoran Mountain Whipsnake Sonoran Gopher Snake Mojave Rattlesnake Great Plains Skink Western Slender Glass Lizard Mountain Short Horned Lizard Zebra-tailed Lizard Sonoran Spotted Whiptail Madrean Alligator Lizard Desert Box Turtle Great Plains Narrowmouth Toad Sonoran Toad Mexican Spadefoot Toad Some of my favorite herping moments of the year (in chronological order): 1. The startling discovery of a 5 1/2 foot long Eastern Coachwhip Snake (while showing Eitan Grunwald around) under a rock when my eyes and brain were adjusted to ringneck snakes and earth snakes. 2. Finding 4 adult Timber Rattlesnakes and a Racer under a corner of tin. That piece of tin had 8 snakes total under it and the tin pile produced an additional timber and a speckled/desert kingsnake as well. 3. Finding pairs of Central Plains Milksnakes with Chad as our guide. 4. Wading at night among the cottonmouths with herpfriend. 5. Finding my lifelist mojave rattlesnake. 6. Getting tagged five times by a gorgeous Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake. It's been an enjoyable year and fall migration in Missouri and Southern Illinois is still to come..