Another Great Summer in Colorado!

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SnakeDude
Posts: 417
Joined: July 14th, 2011, 9:18 am
Location: Denver, CO

Another Great Summer in Colorado!

Post by SnakeDude »

So now that I think most of my large-scale herping endeavors are over for the year, I thought i'd go ahead and share my finds. Every year I get more and more successful, and this one was by far the best. I'll go by the date of the finds. So sit back and enjoy...

My first snake of the year was a lifer Striped Racer in San Diego, but that was posted before so i'll spare you the pics. except for this one. :D
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Also stopped by a nature center in La Jolla, and saw some cool herpetology stuff.
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Back in Colorado, In late April I got a call from a very concerned lady who said she had snakes crawling under her porch. she told me to bring a few buckets because they would fill the buckets, but of course all I found was this.
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3 wandering garters and a big pretty Plains.
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Early May, I took a trip to Utah for some whipsnakes. None of those, but I did get this invasive little bugger and some other cool things.
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Great Basin Whiptail? I posted asking for an ID for this guy a while ago. Beautiful Either way.
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Wandering garter
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I also removed a huge and VERY pretty bull from someones house. Best looking one I've seen all year.
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Hope she can make it in her new home. I released her as close as i could to where she was removed but hopefully she stays out of trouble.
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By mid-June the sallies where hatching out.
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And the leopards were out too.
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I headed over to Castlewood Canyon State Park June 22nd for some surveys. Found a nice little viridis den.
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sceloporus are super abundant there.
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Wandering garter
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Took my friend out for some herping around here, turned out super successful.
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Woodhouse's toad. We had some fun jumping around to get this guy.
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Juvenile Plains Garter snake
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My buddy caught his first snake :thumb:
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Bulls are always a nice way to end the day.
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Fourth of July I went up to Tensleep, WY. Tracked down my first adult W. Yellowbelly racer. ohh yeahhh
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sceloporous
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My big trip of the year was the annual chapter trip to Otero County in SE CO. Last October for my birthday my parents said I could go as a present. I had a great time and got a few lifers.

My first Hognose. would've been a major lifer if one of the cars in front of us hadn't hit it. Still squirming. poor guy.
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On the way to the campsite we found a very DOR coachwhip. also would've been a lifer.
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After a few hours of cruising with nothing to show for it we rolled up on a pretty little bull.
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As we turned around to head home, my mom spotted something far off but we were on a dirt road and it might as well have been a shadow. as we came closer, I saw it was a MILK SNAKE! This was my goal for the year and I'm so happy I finally got one. I've seen people catch them but never gotten one myself. It was by far my favorite find of the trip.
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The next day was spent at John Martin Res. with Kevin Urbanek and his family. Me and Ryan found some scorpions..
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Lifer Ornate Box Turtle
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tarantula hawk
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That night we cruised up a few things, including 6 rattlers...
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Tarantula
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Woodhouse's Toad
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we cruised this with another car, and we all saw it at the same time and flew out of our cars. Lifer Common Kingsnake, or Desert/Speckled king integrade. Another close favorite from the trip.
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we took pics of everyone's finds in the morning.
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Tim's Hognose
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my favorite shot
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Lined snake
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Texas Horned Lizard.
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I found this plains hunting in a wash at about one in the morning. weird stuff...
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Kevin cruised a tantilla and night snake. Both were super tiny.
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Night Snake
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Great plains rat and glossy
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glossy snake
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Great Plains rat
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Great basin Spadefoot
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Pregnant female lesser earless lizard
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My most recent outing was to Boulder county, where I found some cool stuff. I tried for a milk, but only came up with a DOR one. I did get a screamer Yellowbelly racer.
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picasa likes to over-enhance my already edited pics :roll:
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I also flipped a lifer tantilla. I love how tiny these things are.
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The last find was a nice big viridis. First time I heard the rattlesnake before I saw it.
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Also found was a DOR Tiger Salamander and 2 DOR racers. Lots of garters, too.

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Thanks for looking,
Ian
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R3dguitarist
Posts: 80
Joined: July 4th, 2013, 2:36 pm
Location: Colorado
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Re: Another Great Summer in Colorado!

Post by R3dguitarist »

Nice finds man :) I would suggest holding bulls a little more supportive, not by the tail with the head dangling. I work with them a lot and find that they are much more defensive and apt to strike if you don't have some good support under 'em, i.e. using an arm to support the head and upper body as well as another for the tail.
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Soopaman
Posts: 924
Joined: March 18th, 2012, 7:34 pm
Location: Houston, Texas

Re: Another Great Summer in Colorado!

Post by Soopaman »

I liked seeing that getula. For some reason Colorado is the last place I think of when I think of speckled kings. They're such a southern animal.
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Kyle from Carolina
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Joined: May 3rd, 2012, 8:12 pm
Location: western MA and NC

Re: Another Great Summer in Colorado!

Post by Kyle from Carolina »

Nice diversity of critters. I like the shot of the rattlers behind the blades of grass.
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walk-about
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Joined: June 14th, 2010, 12:04 pm
Location: 'God's Country' aka western KY
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Re: Another Great Summer in Colorado!

Post by walk-about »

Looks like you had a great summer Ian. Very nice pics. My favorite easily is that very speckled kingsnake. That is one fine looking beast!

Rock ON!

Dave
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snakegirl24
Posts: 57
Joined: July 31st, 2011, 9:52 am
Location: Frederick, MD

Re: Another Great Summer in Colorado!

Post by snakegirl24 »

Great pics!
SnakeDude
Posts: 417
Joined: July 14th, 2011, 9:18 am
Location: Denver, CO

Re: Another Great Summer in Colorado!

Post by SnakeDude »

Thanks for all the nice comments guys. walk-about, yeah it was a beautiful snake. Definitely the worst smelling musk I've ever experienced though.
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