Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey, I havent heard much of finds in the midwest this year. Anybody finding anything since the cooldown? Im going to try a few areas in MO this weekend.

for hibernation time. Yes and no .......meaning while i haven't been looking for, there has been some movement on the pavement and my property here in Kansas in the Emporia area as 2 days ago and in south of KC. The hardier snakes and amphs has been seen by me. Snakes include prairie kings and black rats. I have tin AC on my property and of course it holds heat and I have found some red sided garters under as well. I think that lifting rocks and artificial cover might still produce. Lately though, we have been sunless but it will get back as it always does this time of year. We are experiencing cooler temps than norm at this time but..........BTW......I have a family of black rats seen by several people that lives in a huge big oak tree in a turn around drive way. We have seen 2 adults and a few juveniles go up and down this tree plus sheds. In the past several years of having very slight winters, these snakes appear to be even hibernating in tree in holes of branches. I say this because of observations of very late October and the coming out in April. There is enough food source in the tree and surrounding trees as the snakes traverse other trees by limbs connecting. The food source obviously is birds and bird eggs. Occasionally we see them on the ground moving back and forth to my barn and we assume they are then feeding on mice as well. We've seen them go up and down the tree. This somewhat blows my mind but not to be entirely impossible..........( hibernating in tree ).
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I may be old , cantankerous, crabby, and cynical, but......