Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello to everyone in this forum,
i've got a question regarding best times and places to see snakes. from what ive been told its early morning or late at night. and its best to do it on a moonless night. my brother and i have tried all these things and yet we have only seen rabbits and foxes when driving up and down dirt roads out east of denver. its kindda weird because we drove 60 miles to go snake hunting one night but found nothing and then on accident i found a milk snake 2 miles from home while walking. (we dont keep the snakes we catch already have a house full of herps)
basically i was wondering if anyone could maybe give us some pointers or help so we see more than rabbits.

Thats awesome you found a milksnake!!! I'm in Fort Collins,CO and have hunted dirt roads and found two female bullsnakes this year and a couple of prairie rattlers,all real nice looking. I don't keep what I catch either. I would love to catch a western hognose or a milksnake though. The very best time to hunt any snake is right when it gets dark till about 2-3 hours after dark here in Colorado. By about 11:00 p.m. the temps have dipped down into the sixties already and your probably not going to see anything. Good luck!!! Kevin

Thanks for the tip Kevin
I guess this year is just a little harder to find things cause last year along with the milk snake we found two first year western Hognose snakes up in a little town called roggen under a bunch of railroad ties, a gravid bullsnake along the south platte a bunch of prarie rattelers by where we live (west of denver along the hogbacks in littleton) racers, two horned lizards, racerunners, fence lizards, a common garter snake, a northern watersnake in the south platte and a Lined snake out behind DIA. i had pictures of all them but someone stole my mp3 player that they were stored on when the car was getting new brake pads. hopefully i still have some on my digital camera i can show ya

I live in Saudi Aurora, and work at Buckley AFB. It's also a wildlife preserve so the dirtroads always have something good on them. Saturday I found a baby western rattler and a baby bullsnake, 10' from eachother. I've been out at different parts of the day, and seen the most early morning and in the evening. I haven't seen lizards on base yet, but caught racers, smooth green snakes, garter snakes, and mostly bulls and rattlers. The big ones give themselves away by rattling or hissing. I seem to have the most luck on the prarie lands. Good luck! Colleen

hey! thats not to far! have you ever heard of Wild bird? its a center for rescue and rehabilitating sick or injured wild birds? it used to be at 13th and Verbena st. but they moved to Holly and aah i forgot the road so Holly and mexico is the next closest cross street. I have voulnteered there for almost 8 years now and have almost got a rehabilitation lisense for myself. thats cool that you see all those herps on the base, also its good.. cause it seems like that is going to be the only wildlife area left in that area in a few more years unless you want to drive way out east.

I haven't heard of that place, I arrived in Colorado in 04. I would like to do that also, be a wildlife rehabilitator. There are some really cool birds on base too. Bald eagles, I've seen them elsewhere too, burrowing owls, American kestrels, vultures, hawks. At Cherry Creek state park I watched a hawk catch a snake! There's a wildlife watch class in Aurora that has a live rattlesnake, they were helping birds there. Is that where you volunteer?

unfortunately no thats not where i voulnteer. i wanted to though. other places i voulnteer are angels for wildlife which is for small mammals like raccoons coyotes foxes squirrels, or VOC volunteers of outdoor colorado doing trailbuilding. the wild bird center is a rehab center thats run out of a small house in denver. im debating wether or not to join the paid staff because i live 45 minutes away.

dear Aussielovinherper
East of Denver in the great plains is best to herp or night drive after it rains and warms up, at least to 85 degrees, almost everything will become more active, also, where did you find the Milk Snake, I've only found one juvenl out near Roggen in Colorado, ever.

from: Colorado Crotalus

Thanks for the tip Colorado Crotalus,
The milk snake i found was an adult at about 25-30 inches and i found it mid day under a rock in a rocky valley right next to a stream on highway 285 and highway C-470. it was on the south side of 285 and behind the main hogbacks. my chemestry teacher told me hes seen young milksnakes on the trails of a park i dont know the name of. its on the intersection where 470 turns into I70. ive been there though several times and seen nothing but one dead juvie prarie rattler though it seems to be a pretty good area.

thanks for the info

isaiah

Would you like to go out some time?