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| Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer |
Date:
April 11th and April 17th 2015
Species Found:
- Redback Salamander (Plethodon cinereus)
- Four Toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum)
- Silvery Salamander (Ambystoma platineum)
- Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus)
The Trip:
Last Fall we had been to a snake hibernaculum and found some large Blue Racers. We expected the snakes to emerge sometime now so we made a trip there one sunny evening. Sam, who was new to herping, came with us and was psyched up and ready to find some large snakes. We got there and were unhappy to find a group of people sitting on the railroad tracks above the hibernaculum, smoking and drinking. All our hopes of finding large snakes disappeared as we knew that these people would have spooked any snakes that had been out basking. Either way, we started looking under objects like logs, rocks and railroad ties for anything. We found some Redback salamanders under rocks but that was about all we could find.
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| Redback Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Redback Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer |
We decided to leave the hibernaculum and go to a nearby spot to where we had found Four Toed Salamanders before. Sam had never seen any salamanders before so he was excited to see anything. We got there and started flipping the rocks we had found them under last time. Unfortunately we didn't find any there. Tristan found a dead Box Turtle's shell and it was cool to see the bone patterns on the inside. About 5 minutes Tristan found a small Four Toed Salamander under a piece of wood. We showed it to Sam and explained how Four Toed Salamanders have a speckled belly and a constriction at the base of the tail. Sam and I found about 5 more Four Toed Salamanders but all of them were juveniles only 3-4 cm long. The adults were probably in the ponds breeding. As we photographed our specimens it got dark and we started to hear the hoots of Barred Owls. After we released the salamanders, we walked back to the car by the light of our headlamps, somewhat satisfied with what we had found.
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| Four Toed Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Four Toed Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Four Toed Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Four Toed Salamanders: PC Tristan Schramer |
About a week later, Tristan and I decided to go back to the hibernaculum with Megan. This time we weren't greeted by the rowdy yelling of drunk people, but by the sound of the flowing creeks, broken only by the croaking of frogs. This was a good sign.
We had heard of Black Rat Snake sightings all throughout the Midwest, and this was after all a Black Rat Snake hibernaculum so we were hopeful that we would find one. About 2 minutes in, someone found some Redback Salamanders. We had seen tons of these so we didn't waste any time taking photos. 5 minutes in, Tristan shouted "Black Rat!" and pulled a medium sized black snake out from under some leaves. I was super excited until I actually saw the snake. It was limp and its face was discolored. It dawned on us all that the snake was dead and had been for at least a few days. Nothing drops your spirits more than finding a cool new snake only to find out that it is dead. It was hard to determine the cause of death but it had surely died sometime after we had last been there.
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| Dead Black Rat Snake: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Dead Black Rat Snake: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Dead Black Rat Snake: PC Tristan Schramer |
We were discouraged by the dead snake but we kept on looking for snakes. I climbed up a hillside which had a lot of debris like metal pieces, wooden planks and ceramic tiles strewn on it. After about 10 minutes, I found a small Ringneck Snake under a ceramic tile. It was only a juvenile but still a first time species for Megan, Tristan and me. Ringneck Snakes are called so because of the bright colored ring pattern around their neck. They have a dull colored back and a bright colored belly. We found 4 more Ringneck Snakes on that hillside. With all of the snakes in front of us, it was very easy to see just how much the belly patterns varied. Some had 3 lines of dots running down their bodies, some had just the 2 sides and others had no dots on the belly at all.
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| 5 Ringneck Snakes: PC Yatin Kalki |
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| Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| 2 Types of Belly Patterns: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Plain Belly Pattern: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer |
On the other side of the hill I found 9 more Ringneck Snakes but I didn't catch them as we already had 5 to photograph. Under a large flat rock, I found 2 Ringneck Snakes and a medium sized salamander. At first I thought it was a Mole Salamander because of its large head. Then, I thought it was a Blue-spotted Salamander because of the blue speckles on its side. Tristan later identified it as a juvenile Silvery Salamander. We had found a Silvery Salamander in this county last month but apparently nobody had found any in this area. We decided to tell the qualified herpetologists about this particular find.
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| Silvery Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Silvery Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Silvery Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer |
After we got photos and released all the animals, we decided to head back. Though we didn't get any live Black Rat Snakes, I was still pretty satisfied with our finds. The Ringneck Snake was a new addition to my American Herp List which now stood at 49 species.
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