Sorry we missed you Warren. We arrived Sunday at noon. We witnessed the same toad fornication as you did. Saw 9 Water Moccasins, mostly smaller, with one spotted that was huge. We got out at 3 pm as the sky turned ominous. We got back to Imperial, MO. at 5 pm just as the storm hit. We pulled into the garage and then the hail hit hard. Perfect timing. A mass exodus of Painted turtles were running the gauntlet across rt. 3 the few miles to the north of Snake rd. What the heck are they doing crossing the road there??? They were all over the farming fields. Many had been smashed in the road and we pulled over a 1/2 dozen times to rescue 8 of the critters. On friday here in Imperial, we found a southern facing volcanic formation. Within 10 minutes we had 3 Black Rat snakes(one 5 ft.), one huge Blue Racer, and 2 Ringnecks. We photographed and released them all. All in all, a good reptile weekend. gary

It's a good question. My experience has been that temperatures matter more in the spring for when they finally stop basking outside their dens and move to the flats than they matter in the fall. It seems to me that they migrate in the fall by some sense related to time of year (length of day or something) than the temps per se. The main exception being that if they get really crappy weather for a day or two they might seek temporary shelter in a log or hole or under a rock and thus be slowed a little. It has been very warm here, but my thought is some of the snakes will still be moving next weekend. But October 8th might be the ideal weekend. I don't have a choice because I am working around others schedules so I'm going next weekend. But if I had a choice I might wait a weekend. Then again I'd probably check the extended forecast for Carbondale on Wednesday or Thursday. If it looks like its going to be highs in the 60's and partly cloudy on the weekend I'd go. If it looks like its going to be highs in the 80's (or 50's) I'd stay home and wait a weekend. 70's flip a coin.

Good to see a report from my favorite herping spot. Black snake. Fast. Bookin' it through the grass. Definitely a racer. Too bad ya missed it.

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.