Some More Missouri Glade Herping

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Gary2sons
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:44 pm
Location: Camden County, Missouri

Some More Missouri Glade Herping

Post by Gary2sons »

I posted this Great Plains rat snake a last year with what looked like a burn injury.

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Interesting that a year later we found a speckled king snake on that same glade with a similar injury.

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A rather dark speckled king and the injury was about the same place on the body

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Some Missouri glades are large and open but some are very small with lots of rocks

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We find a lot of tarantula's and some are large. They usually quickly go down their burrow when the rock is lifted but sometimes like this one just start crawling. We never touched this one at all to get this pic.

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I did a double take on this snake, almost called it a garter! :lol:

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The Western Ribbon snakes we usually find are not that robust.

This speckled king was found early Spring and was in serious need of a shed. The eye had yellowish liquid and did not look good.

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Found this nice looking juvenile Prairie king under a small piece of rusty tin on another glade. Seemed to have just had a meal.The tin was no more that a few inches in diameter.

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I wish the adults kept this color. I must be in the later stages of field herping because a few years ago this one probably would have went home with me. :)

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Finding two red milks under the same rock is not common for us.

My sons with a great find!

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Mostly we find just one.

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One of my favorite pics ever was last year when my grandson was 3 years old and we found a red milk. I told him the hike would be long with many steep hills and his reply was "I can crawl" :D Could not say no after that!

And how many herpers pose with a red milk snake in one hand and a sippy cup in the other!

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We find about one of these a year on glades but never seem to get a good pic

Ringed salamander with some kind of slug in situ under a rock

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My son with a rock where the year before we had found a large Great Plains rat snake under.

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Quite a thrill to see this large shed under the bottum rock. We only lift the bottum one a couple inches and it does have a nice sized cavity under it.

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No luck this time but maybe next year, The shed appeared to be from a Great Plains rat snake.

Finally the only Eastern Hog-nose we found all year but it measured 33 inches. I know they get longer but this one was our largest.

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Thanks for looking and Merry Christmas to all!

Gary
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Gary2sons
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Re: Some More Missouri Glade Herping

Post by Gary2sons »

Wow! Hit the submit before our best friend the preview. Guess it is OK, usually some things to fix!

Always worry about losing everything but I used the save about half way through and even though it took about 45 minutes everything was fine.

Nothing worse that losing a long post! I wonder how long we have after saving part of a post to when you still lose everything? There has to be a time limit.

Gary
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monklet
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Re: Some More Missouri Glade Herping

Post by monklet »

Great post Gary :) Was there any evidence of fire in the area where those "burnt" snakes were found?

...as for "losing" your post. Either compose in notepad or some other simple text editor, or copy and paste to the clipboard before submitting, just in case. ...or use the permanent login feature. I always copy before I preview or submit.
KevColubrid
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Re: Some More Missouri Glade Herping

Post by KevColubrid »

Gary,

Very cool post in some of my favorite habitat. Where are the coachwhips? LOL. The ringed salamander is cool, more than once I've flipped those on glades in Missouri. Eastern hogs seem to pop up there too, but usually I walk up on them as opposed to flipping them. Hope I can get out this spring to finally break the coachwhip jinx. It's still going strong!

Kevin
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Brandon D
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Re: Some More Missouri Glade Herping

Post by Brandon D »

Awesome post gary, Im sure you know that I loved the syspila the best, some of those looked really nice, loved the platyrhinos too Ive still not found a live one, and the calligaster looked like its eastern relative very nice. Ive hunted areas right after a burn and dont remember finding any injured animals except a dead racer one time, I found a milk under a rock in eastern ks and the grass was still smokin, she was completly unharmed, I think glades should be burned atleast every other year, they can grow up fast, I visited one of my old glades in jackson co this year and it was entirely grown up with invasive plant life, Im sure the animals are still there but a shame to see it happen, and on mdc land too :x
But awesome post thanks, good to see those things right now
:beer:
I guess you could call me Brandon2daughters now lol
I welcomed my brand new daughter Taylor Jean DeCavele into the world on friday, 9lbs, 19 1/2"
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Berkeley Boone
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Re: Some More Missouri Glade Herping

Post by Berkeley Boone »

Great post Gary! I liked the habitat shots, and the pretty little calligaster.

That was a pretty good sized tarantula there too. Female, most likely?
--Berkeley
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Josh Holbrook
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Re: Some More Missouri Glade Herping

Post by Josh Holbrook »

Calligaster are a beautiful thing. Great post all around.
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DaveR
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Re: Some More Missouri Glade Herping

Post by DaveR »

Nice Post Gary. Brought back memories...herping with my son and grandson. Wow, that tarantula was the size of my chihuahua Manny.
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Shelly Cox
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Re: Some More Missouri Glade Herping

Post by Shelly Cox »

Great post Gary. I too am from Missouri and I love visiting the glades. I've not found many snakes on the few visits I've made, but I have seen numerous tarantulas, and lizards. I live in Northern Missouri where is predominantly prairie and forested areas.
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Gary2sons
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Re: Some More Missouri Glade Herping

Post by Gary2sons »

Brad-- Thanks for the info! The glade is state land and is periodically burned. Very important for glades here in Missouri!

Kevin---We struck out on coachwhips this year! I now know the feeling! :( Just kidding :P , Don't give up, your day is coming!

Brandon2daughters---A big congratulations on your new daughter :thumb: kids are awesome! I agree on how important it is for glades to be burned. Some we go to are completely overgrown too! Also nothing beats syspila!

Berkeley---Thanks and glad you liked the post and I think the tarantula was a female.

Josh and DaveR---Thanks for the comments!

Shelly---Thanks, good to see another Missouri herper on here! I grew up in NE Missouri but I'm guessing you are from NW Missouri. Have enjoyed your recent posts!
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walk-about
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Re: Some More Missouri Glade Herping

Post by walk-about »

Great shots Gary! Your regional red milks are really beautiful.

Rock ON!
SnakeDude
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Re: Some More Missouri Glade Herping

Post by SnakeDude »

awesome post! made me wanna go do some herping. what was up with the burnt snake, though?
-Ian
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Eric East
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Re: Some More Missouri Glade Herping

Post by Eric East »

I love the pic of the little guy with the snake and the sippy cup! :D
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Andrew G
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Re: Some More Missouri Glade Herping

Post by Andrew G »

The calligaster and milks are sweet! Those burn injuries are strange, but at least the snakes survived and seem to be ok!
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Gary2sons
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Location: Camden County, Missouri

Re: Some More Missouri Glade Herping

Post by Gary2sons »

Dave---Thanks and yes the red milks are special no matter where they are from!
SnakeDude wrote:awesome post! made me wanna go do some herping. what was up with the burnt snake, though?
-Ian
I think since the glade is burned every so often is why this shows up occasionally.
Eric East wrote:I love the pic of the little guy with the snake and the sippy cup! :D
One of my favorite pics, he is turning out to be quite the little herper!
Andrew G wrote:The calligaster and milks are sweet! Those burn injuries are strange, but at least the snakes survived and seem to be ok!
Thanks and the little calligaster did seem special to me with all that color. My guess is the burn injuries are very few in number and the burning of the glades really keeps the glades healthy.

Gary
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