Trip Details

Kansas Whirlwind Trip - Day 1

Start Time: 11:30 a.m.

Location: Franklin & Anderson Counties, KS

Weather: Cool in the morning. By the start if herping, it was about 65 degrees. Mainly sunny with low wind.

Herpers: Jim Scharosch & Matt Ricklefs

Account by: Matt Ricklefs

Thought of the Day: I don’t think we’re in Kansas, Toto - oh yeah - I guess we are!

We left Friday after work and headed down to Kansas City. Jim's sister, Jill, lives there and this was the last taste of "civilization" that we were expecting as we planned to camp it the rest of the way. It was Jill's birthday a few days before and we went out with her friends and her for dinner and a few beers. We hung out afterwards and when the night was done, it was time to rest and prepare for the next day. The first day in our whirlwind trip of Kansas.

By 11:30 a.m. we were prepared for the day and the temperature had gotten to a herp respectable level. Our first stop was the forested hillsides of eastern Kansas. Our first find, if you want to count it, was a juvenile Five-Lined Skink (Eumeces fasciatus) and was about four inches long.

Photo by Matt Ricklefs

Not a spectacular find, but since the skink was still a bit cool and therefore sluggish, I took a few pictures. Not long after letting this one scamper on its way I did find something I had not gotten a lot of pictures of in the past, a Striped Bark Scorpion (Centruroides vittatus).

Photo by Matt Ricklefs

This critter was cool so I was able to get a few good pictures. This scorpion was about the normal size for ones we find at about an inch and a half or so. The next in a quick series of finds was a small but welcome find, a Western Worm Snake (Carphophis vermis).

Photo by Matt Ricklefs

This was a young one and topped out at a whopping four and a half inches. As was everything else so far, it was cool, but in posing for shots it quickly warmed up. These little guys are a little tricky to get pictures of. I did get a few before moving on.

So far I was just getting warmed up and as these were the first few species, I wanted to document for the website. The next find would be a big one, both in species and in size. We walked toward a group of rocks and there in the grass about five feet from where the rocks were, was a familiar dark shape. It was out sunning and thus far was not bothered by our approach. We did get some situ shots and a few shots of Jim getting pictures. Oh yeah, did I mention it was a Black Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta).

Photo by Matt Ricklefs

Photos by Jim Scharosch

This one was about five and a half feet long. It was in good shape overall and had a nice coloration. It was very tolerant of us for quite some time, but eventually it had had enough and went for the rocks. We went into action and only suffered minor battle scars in the attempt. It didn't take too long for it to settle down though. It's the obvious goal to find a representation of as many species as possible on a tip like this, and to find a large Black Rat is always a good representation of this particular species. It is always fun to find species just lying out also. After a good number of pictures, we allowed the snake to reach its goal, the rocks.

As we worked along the way I did stop for a few pictures of a juvenile Great Plains Skink (Eumeces obsoletus).

Photo by Matt Ricklefs

These are neat with an indigo colored tail rather than a cobalt blue tail of the five lined skinks, however this one was on the dull side and the colors did not come out as well as I have seen. This one was about three and a half inches long. This was the first of about a bazillion (seriously) Great Plains Skins, we were to find, but we do not find near as many juveniles, so these are good to photograph. It was about 1:04 p.m. when the next of our species was found. A burrowing and funny little species, the Great Plains Narowmouth Toad (Gastophryne olivacea) is a welcome find.

Photo by Jim Scharosch

Their size is about the same length as their scientific name, about an inch and a half. We found a couple of these guys. About a half hour later we glad to find a Speckled King Snake (Lampropeltis g. holbrooki).

Photos by Jim Scharosch

Although just a juvenile at about twelve inches, it was still a species we hoped to find. Not to spoil any surprises, but this was the only one we found on this trip. It was a nice one, as most juveniles are. Not long after we hit a double on Lampropeltis. This time a Red Milk Snake (Lampropeltis t. syspila).

Photo by Jim Scharosch

Photo by Matt Ricklefs

This was to be the first of many Milk Snakes. This one was about eighteen inches in length. Right after we finished with the Milk Snake we found a peculiar moth under a rock.

Photo by Matt Ricklefs

It was interesting enough to take a quick picture, and I believe this was the first time I have found a moth under a rock. We were soon to have another surprise.

In the area we worked, we started in a more timbered habitat. We worked our way toward an open hillside. There are Timber Rattlesnakes here, but more often in the timbered area. We came upon a rock and I thought to myself that it looked “timbery” based on rocks we see in Iowa and have found Timber Rattlesnakes under. There is no reason or quality this rock possessed other than it just looked like a good rock. Interestingly enough Jim found a juvenile Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) under a small rock under the main one he uncovered.

Photos by Jim Scharosch

I told him that I thought it looked like a “timber” rock and thought it was quite ironic. Of course, it’s easy to say I thought it AFTER the fact, but I swear – I really did think it.

At this point it was nearly 3:00 p.m. The way the weather was, this ended up being prime time as the cool weather gave way to the warmest part of the day. This would be pretty much the norm for the trip. The next find was a common one, but one that I gladly documented. The species I refer to is the Eastern Yellowbelly Racer (Coluber constrictor flaviventris).

Photos by Matt Ricklefs

This one was thirty inches in length and was fairly beat up with a good garf near one eye. I kept my pictures to its "good side". I caught this one on the fly with some assorted scratching from branches in the process. About this time we also found another Worm Snake and a juvenile Racer but we did not take any pictures of these. Instead we pushed on for other quarry. Forty-five minutes later we were rewarded with another Red Milk Snake (Lampropeltis t. syspila), this one being about eighteen inches.

Photo by Matt Ricklefs

Not long after we found an adult of a species I was glad to find, a Great Plains Rat Snake (Elaphe emoryi).

Photo by Matt Ricklefs

This one was about twenty-seven inches long. We were hopping from one location to another and it was, as Tom Petty sang, “time to move on”.

Our next area looked very much like a Copperhead area. As with the Timber Rattlesnake from earlier I thought this area looked good for them, but this time I mentioned it out loud. As it turns out it was a good area for these. We found two Osage Copperheads (Agkistrodon c. phaeogaster). The first was about twenty-four inches in length.

Photo by Matt Ricklefs

The second was a little larger at twenty-eight inches.

Photos by Matt Ricklefs

Both were nice specimens and welcome additions to the trip. All of the places we were going Jim had herped before so he had a good idea what may be likely to be encountered in each area. He had found copperheads in this area before.

Our next location yielded our first Western Slender Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus attenuatus), this one being about thirteen inches in length.

Photo by Matt Ricklefs

A little ways away at another spot we found another Red Milk (Lampropeltis t. syspila) that was about the same size as most we had found.

Photos by Jim Scharosch

This milk was sixteen inches. I also paused to get some pictures of our first Eastern Collard Lizard (Crotaphytus c. collaris).

Photo by Matt Ricklefs

I never get tired of these interesting lizards. They just have so much personality. This particular one was a female and was about six and a half inches in length. She may have emerged fairly recently as she was pretty dirty. Not long after we got another Red Milk Snake (Lampropeltis t. syspila).

Photos by Jim Scharosch

This one was a little smaller at about ten inches in length.

It was about 6:00 p.m. and we still had some day left and at least one more spot. We found another adult Great Plains Rat Snake (Elaphe emoryi) about twenty-eight inches long on the way to our last stop.

Photo by Jim Scharosch

At our final destination I found a pretty nice Eastern Yellowbelly Racer about twenty-five inches long that I took some time to get some pictures.

Photo by Matt Ricklefs

We also found a juvenile Osage Copperhead (Agkistrodon c. phaeogaster) about eleven inches long. We found some more Worm Snakes and another juvenile Racer as well that, again, we did not stop to take pictures of. We also engaged in an interesting conversation about odd things or critters that have been found in the uncovering of various debris (rocks, tin, boards, etc.) while herping. I had said that turtles are unusual and, in general, uncommon actually under things. Well as fate would have it we split up and herped separately for a bit. We joined back together and Jim told me to flip a particular rock. I did so. I "found" a juvenile Ornate Box Turtle (Terrapene ornata) under this rock.

Photo by Jim Scharosch

That was funny. However, Jim was not done with the irony quite yet. He told me to flip another rock that had a beer can (left by someone else please note) on top that Jim placed as a marker. As you may have guessed - another Ornate Box Turtle.

Photos by Jim Scharosch

This time it was an adult. The juvenile was about two inches long and the adult was about seven inches. This was quite hilarious. I did kinda forget however that we were in box turtle territory and it would be more likely to find one of these under something. I do think it would be odd to find a water species under a rock away from the water - just to clarify...

That was it for our first day. We were happy and headed for a place to camp. Unfortunately the weather turned ugly on us. I had mentioned that it looked like rain was possible and Jim wasn't convinced. We set off for our spot to camp and while stopping for gas, it started to sprinkle. Not but a few minutes later it started to rain. Then it rained hard. It was cold too. We conceded the camping idea for a hotel for this night. We stopped at a mexican restaurant and ate before heading to the hotel. A great day that ended poorly. What was in store for tomorrow???

Stay tuned for the next exciting adventure of Herpjournal!!!

Oh, and - Happy Herpin'!!!