My wife Rachel and I were planning to go to central Kansas to look for massasaugas last weekend but the weather looked bad there so we opted for a shorter trip closer to home but still a fair drive.

Crusing some back roads on Saturday morning our first find was a Red-Sided Garter Snake which Rachel swerved to avoid.

Shortly thereafter we came upon the habitat we were looking for.

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In the middle was a massive sheet of multiple tins fused together. The tin was too big to lift more than bits at a time and some bits were unliftable. I tried one corner and saw a large racer and a ringneck snake. I tried another corner and found another large racer.

I tried a third corner and WHOA! JACKPOT!!

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There were four adult Timber Rattlesnakes and a Racer under the tin!! The largest rattlesnake slid further under the tin and got away before my wife could get over to where I was with her camera, but these two in the picture above stuck around.

And here are some pictures of the Timber Rattlesnakes under tin from left to right.

Starting left:

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Center (note that there are four snakes in the picture...tail and rattle of one rattlesnake is at right end):

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Right:

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While watching the rattlesnakes, Rachel spotted a Great Plains Skink darting about. After that exciting piece of tin produced 4 Timber Rattlesnakes, 3 Eastern Yellowbelly Racers, and a Prairie Ringneck Snake we decided to try some small pieces of tin.

I love that moment of discovery when....

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Definitely our lucky day for Timber Rattlesnakes! More pictures of #5

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The next piece of tin produced a small rodent. Personally, I'd be renting a uhaul if I were a rodent in that neck of the woods. But maybe its some variant of rodent extreme sports.

The next piece of tin produced a Desert/Speckled Kingsnake!

After we ran out of tin we checked out a pond and saw 3 Western Ribbon Snakes swimming.

Our total at the tin site was: 5 Timber Rattlesnakes, 3 Eastern Yellowbelly Racers, 1 Intergrade Speckled/Desert Kingsnake and 1 Prairie Ringneck Snake. We also added the 3 Ribbons and a Garter to our morning total.

We moved on to two other sites. One produced a Northern Prairie Skink (a lifelister for us) but no other herps. The other produced 10 water snakes (8 Blotched, 1 Northern and 1 Diamondback).

I took a safety picture of the Diamondbacked Water Snake and just before I could get in my close-ups it bolted into the water. Oh well, it turned out to be a good habitat shot with a diamondbacked water snake in it. It is on the log in the front:

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Despite threatening weather all day a great day of herping!