Ellie - Has Autumn Jewels not performed well for you, or does it just look too much like others you have? Rita - The scapes on Purify My Heart got a lot taller after yesterday's rainstorms. But I think it's probably more than a week away from blooming. That would make it a late in my garden. I can't wait to see it. And I want to try to cross it with Ruby Lipstick. Debra

We checked this glade again this evening and found 4 more red milks. Two were found under the same rocks as last weekend. The weather has changed very little the past few days. Very cool and wet! This makes our two weekend totals for this glade being 7 red milks with 6 juveniles and one adult. Still amazes me since this is the first year of ever finding milk snakes there. Almost has to be because of the unusual weather! Again milks outnumbered other snakes with a racer and two earth snakes being the only other snakes found.

Hi Wayne. I was pretty sure it was a Milk Snake. The odd thing about it was the pattern, which is so much more like the "Intergrade" Milk Snake shown on plate 30 in Conant and Collins 3rd edition, or really like a Red Milk Snake. It was awfully large too; I have seen Milk Snakes, and they were rather smaller and had more of the pattern shown in the plate for the plain old Eastern (from the Boone area, collected by Wayne Vandevender). I am wondering if the "Intergrade" happens outside the Mid-Atlantic, and if we have them, or if it might be a rather odd color and pattern variation. Oddly, for all the years I have been catching and chasing snakes (probably over 50), and to live in Milk Snake range, I had never seen one. I saw your page Wayne. A neighbor of mine was proudly talking about her son killing a 5 foot rattlesnake, and I just walked away; I hope she heard me cussing and saying that the snake wanted nothing more than to live another day, and did not want to run into an ignorant human that just liked to kill things (he air guns squirrels and pigeons in the neighborhood; he was talking about air gunning Woodpeckers, and I offered to turn him in - federal crime! HAHAHA!). Ah well, we can only do what we can do...

Some of the numbers are still a couple of trips behind but I think that the species list is mostly caught up-- Missouri/Kansas/Oklahoma Red milk (Lampropeltis triangulum syspila)------------------------38 Central plains milk (Lampropeltis triangulum gentilis) -----------21 Prairie king (Lampropeltis c. calligaster)----------------------------8 (3 DOR) Speckled king (Lampropeltis getula holbrooki)--------------------29 (3 DOR) (and speckled/desert intergrade) Osage copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix phaeogaster)---------15 Broad-banded copperhead, (Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus)--6 (3 DOR) Timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus)------------------------------4 (1 DOR) Western Pigmy Rattlesnake (Sistrurus miliarius streckeri)-------2 (1 DOR) Western Cottonmouth, (Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma)----1 Western massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus tergeminus)------------10 (DOR) (dead lifer) Prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus v. viridis)-------------------------------1 (DOR) (dead lifer) Northern Scarlet snake (Cemophora coccinea copei)---------------1 (DOR) Western coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum testaceus)------------ 2 (1 DOR) Eastern Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum flagellum)------------1 (DOR) Black rat snake (Elaphe/Pantherophis o. obsoleta)-----------------12 (2 DOR) Great plains rat (Elaphe guttata emoryi)-----------------------------8 Bull snake (Pituophis catenifer sayi)---------------------------------20 (8 DOR) Northern water (Nerodia sipedon sipedon)---------------------------1 Blotched water (Nerodia erythrogaster transversa)-----------------2 Rough green snake (Opheodrys a. aestivus)--------------------------6 (5 DOR) Graham's Crayfish Snake (Regina grahamii)-------------------------1 Smooth earth snake (Virginia valeriae elegans)---------------------8 Rough earth snake (Virginia striatula)--------------------------------1 (lifer) Flathead snake (Tantilla gracilis)--------------------------------------4 (lifer) Plains garter snake (Thamnophis radix)-------------------------------1 (lifer) Texas horned lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum)------------------------13 (8 DOR) Collared lizard (Crotaphytus c. collaris)------------------------------11 Western slender glass lizard (Ophisaurus a. attenuatus)------------4 Prairie lizard (Sceloporus consobrinus)--------------------------------7 Gray tree frog (Hyla Versicolor)---------------------------------------15+ Smallmouth Salamander (Ambystoma texanum) --------------------10 Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum)------------------------1 (lifer) Eastern Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma t. tigrinum)-----------------1 (DOR) (dead lifer) Pickerel Frog (Rana palustris)-----------------------------------------2 (lifer) Great plains toad (Bufo cognatus)--------------------------------------1 (DOR) Midland Smooth Softshell (Apalone mutica mutica) ---------- ? 1 Too many to counts: Yellow-bellied racer (Coluber constrictor flaviventris) Prairie ringneck (Diadophis punctatus arnyi) (1000s) Texas brown snake (Storeria dekayi texana) Red-sided garter (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) Western worm snake (Carphophis vermis) Great plains skink (Eumeces obsoletus) Five-lined skink (Eumeces fasciatus) Chorus frog (Pseudacris t. triseriata) Cricket frog (Acris crepitans blanchardi) Southern leopard frog (Rana sphenocephala utricularius) Plains leopard frog (Rana blairi) Bullfrog (Rana Catesbeiana) Central newt (Notophthalmus viridens louisianensis) Uncounted species (laziness) Ribbon snake (Thamnophis p. proximus) Lined snake (Tropidoclonian lineatum) Prairie racerunner (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus viridis) Fence lizard (Sceloporus undulatus hyacinthinus) Ground skink (Scincella lateralis) Ornate box turtle (Terrapene o. ornata) Three toed box turtle (Terrapene carolina triunguis) Painted turtle (Chrysemys picta belli) Red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) Common snapping turtle (Chelydra s. serpentina) G.P. narrowmouth toad (Gastrophryne olivacea) American toad (Bufo a. americanus) Woodhouse's Toad (Bufo woodhousii woodhousii) Northern Spring Peeper - Pseudacris crucifer crucifer (heard) So. California Southern Rubber Boa (Charina umbratica) 1 Desert Rosy Boa (Charina/ Lichanura trivirgata gracia) 1 Coastal Rosy Boa (Charina/ Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca) 3 Rosy Boa (Charina/ Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca x gracia) 1 California Mountain Kingsnake (Lampropeltis zonata) 3 California Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getulus californiae) 2 (1 DOR) Striped Racer/whipsnake (Masticophis l. lateralis) 2 (1 DOR) Lyre Snake (Trimorphodon biscutatus lyrophanes) 3 Red Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum piceus) 6 (DOR) Southwestern blind snake (Leptotyphlops humilis humilis) 1 Desert Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans eburnata) 8 (3 DOR) Shovelnose snake (Chionactis occipitalis annulata) 4 (1 DOR) Great Basin Gopher Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus deserticola) 5 (DOR) San Diego Gopher Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus annectens) 7 (3 DOR) Spotted Leafnose Snake (Phyllorhynchus decurtatus) 15 Desert Night Snake (Hypsiglena torquata deserticola) 2 Desert Patchnose (Salvadora hexalepis hexalepis) 1 (DOR) Western Longnose Snake (Rhinocheilus l. lecontei) 2 (1 DOR) Southern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus helleri) 3 (1 DOR) Red Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus ruber) 1 (DOR) Speckled Rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus) 1 (DOR) Colorado Desert Sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes laterorepens) 2 Chuckwalla (Sauromalus ater) 3 Southern Desert Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos calidiarum) 2 (1 DOR) Flat-tailed Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma mcallii) 1 Desert Iguana (Diposaurus d. dorsalis) 2 (1 DOR) Western skink (Eumeces s. skiltonianus) 15+ Western Zebra-tailed lizard (Callisaurus draconoides rhodostictus) 2 Side-blotched Lizard (Uta stansbutiana stejnegeri) TMTC Granite Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus orcutti) (and probably S. magister uniformis also) TMTC Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis longipes) TMTC Desert Banded Gecko (Coleonyx v. variegatus) 46+ (5+ DOR) Long-nosed Leopard Lizard (Gambelia wislizenii) 1 Colorado Desert Fringe-toed Lizard (Uma notata) 20+ Southern Sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus graciosus vandenburgianus) Granite Night Lizard (Xantusia henshawi) 4 Western Red-tailed Skink (Eumeces "gilberti" rubricaudatus) 1 Orange-throated Whiptail (Aspidoscelis hyperythra) 1 Great Basin Whiptail (Aspidoscelis t. tigris) 5+ Coastal Whiptail (Aspidoscelis tigris stejnegeri) 3+ Mountain Yellow-legged Frog (Rana muscosa) 1 California Treefrog (Pseudacris (Hyla) cadaverina) 1 Pacific Treefrog (Pseudacris (Hyla) regilla) 1 Red-spotted Toad (Bufo punctatus) 1 California Toad (Bufo boreas halophilus) 1 Large Blotched Ensatina (Ensatina eschsholtzi klauberi) 1 Ensatina (Ensatina eschsholtzi klauberi x E. e. croceator (or x E. e. eschsholtzi?)) 1 ("+" after a number = counted to that number then lost count)