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Reptiles & Amphibians

snake road assessments for this weekend?

20 years ago

Interested in opinions on outlook for snake road this weekend.

Great time this past weekend. All the best to Ryan, Jim, Gary, Bob and everyone else who made it a great weekend for Anne and I.

Special thanks to Ryan, his brother and Dad for turning around and bringing the Northern Red Bellied snake for us to see.Thanks, too, to all the young herpers who scoured the bluffs like bird dogs to find the snakes for the older folks to see. There was a time - I dimly remember- when we could have done that, but those days are behind us.

Warren and Anne

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Comments (5)

KeithB
20 years ago
With projected highs in the 70s and sunny weather expected, it should be agood weekend. I would think snakes basking on the bluffs would be particularily abundant, but the road should still have some migrants crossing as well.
mitchell_m
20 years ago
Warren, with all the herpers you met this weekend, I dont know if you'll remember me (I was there when you found the yellowbelly basking near that log), but it was nice meeting you.

Kieth, I wonder if this weekend would be the best one yet. It has been theorized by some that the main migration hasnt even begun yet. This makes sense to me for two reasons. 1.) I didnt see many snakes at all along the bluffs this past weekend. Most densites that had many snakes in or near them last year were empty this year. 2.) Except for one night last week, these past 3 days have been the first cold snap of the year. The warm days of this weekend would surely get the snake moving.

If I had it to do over again, I would have waited until this coming weekend to go. I hope somebody gets down there this weekend because I would love to know how the snakes moved.
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I had seen these earlier on fieldherpforum, but thanks for putting them on here too. Great pics! I had originally planned to go yesterday, but I decided not to due to the cold temps forecasted. So I'm going next weekend (probably Saturday) instead. I'm curious to hear from anyone that went this weekend. Evan
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Matt, I ran into a guy on Sunday morning who had seen 5 cottonmouths on the road and had seen many many cottonmouths on the bluffs that morning and who had lifted tin the day before and seen very little. Either someone else had a very similar weekend to yours or it was you. Out of curiousity was it you? Sounds like you had a great trip even with the lack of species diversity! The cottonmouths were definitely out Sunday morning. I didn't get to herp the bluffs, but even on the road I saw 9 in one there and back pass.
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Gary2sons_MO
20 years ago
Warren, my opinion is that it should be a lot better this weekend. That was our first trip there and we had a great time for what little time we were there. Just wish we had more time to visit with everyone.

It was good to see another herper with a touch of grey in his beard like myself!
evantn
20 years ago
Back to Mitchell's theory for just a minute. Warren reported finding several cottonmouths, several green snakes, some green water snakes, a yellow-bellied water snake, and some black rat snakes at Snake Rd last weekend. This sounded better than the previous weekend when it was so cool. So is the consensus that the migration had not started yet 2 weekends ago but had by this past weekend? Just curious what everyone thinks. Thanks.

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KeithB
20 years ago
The migration probably started as early as late September but it began with a trickle. The peak migration probably hit around the 3rd week of October this year. Sometimes optimal weather at the right time can really inflate counts when snakes are both furiously on the crawl and basking at their dens en masse. Last weekend was probably one of those times.

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