Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all, I'm planning a road trip from West Ky to Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and possibly New Mexico. Probably not looking to go too far south. I'd like to find some good places to go on some snake excursions in these states. Also would like info on the best time to go. Planning on going sometime in the spring. Really appreciate any info. Thanks.

If you pass through the panhandle, there's Palo Duro State Park, Wildcat BLuff Nature Preserve and Buffalo Lake Wildlife Reserve, all near Amarillo.

Species list of what I've found in those areas:
Great Plains Rat snake
Bull Snakes
Texas Long Nose Snakes
Ringneck (not sure which subspecies)
Coachwhips
Western Diamondbacks
Prairie Rattlers
Diamondback water snake (in a stream in Palo Duro--nearly soiled myself I was so happy)
Banded Water Snakes near any permanent body of water
Western Hognose--more common
Eastern Hognose--less common
Western Ribbons
Night Snake (woot!)
racer but unsure if it was eastern or western

Collared Lizards
Checkered Whiptails (Palo Duro only)
Six Lined Race Runners
Great Plains Skinks
Texas Horned Lizards--Palo Duro mostly
Ornate Box Turtle--WildCat bluff has TONS of these but I've found 'em in all three
Red Ear Slider
Common Snapper

Toads I don't find so much I do see bullfrogs and there's some sort of hylid I find in the reeds near water. We get a lot of toads, but I'm horrible at ID'ing them. We also have tiger salamanders but I have better luck inside city limits, just looking in drainage ditches, than going to parks and stuff with those.

I know they have desert kings too but I've never found one despite much looking. *cry*

I have the best luck early mornings--Palo Duro opens at 8, wildcat bluff at 9, buffalo lake is seasonally variable. Keep in mind, all of these places will bust you for flipping so you mostly just have to be careful and look. There's a praire dog town in Wildcat Bluff that has some resident rattlers that aren't too hard to spot (WDBs) if you go early in the morning while they're warming up. There's also a windmill near a water tank there that used to have a really big resident great plains rat, but I couldn't find him last time.

Palo Duro has lots, I mean tons, of packrat nest, and it's pretty common to find either rattlers or bulls hanging out around 'em. There's a stream that runs through (Paseo Del Rio) where you can find the horned lizards and water snakes, and usually turkey. Lighthouse trail has the most whiptails, and some collards, and the Running Trail has but-tons of collards and I seem to see more Nastycophis out on that trail than anywhere else.

There's also tons of birds that stop by; I'm no birder but we get lots of different types. Mammals...well, I see deer nearly every time I go to any of those three. There's been rumors of cougar in palo duro and buffalo lake but nothing confirmed yet
Can you tell how I spend my free time? Didn't go to the canyon this summer much cause of gas prices though *sigh*

WOW. I asked for info and you really came through. Sounds perfect. I'd be going right through there.
When you say "flipping" I assume you mean flipping over rocks, logs etc, correct?
Thanks so much for the info.....

yeah. They're all protected land so you're sort of limited. No collecting, no disturbing habitat. Going off trail is frowned on but...
Still, spend a few hours and you can really see stuff. Oh, be careful in palo duro if you muck around--it's got Scolopendra (sp?) centipedes out the a$$!! I got bit by one once and actually cried. I mean tears on my face crying. way worse than a tarantula or scorpion.

There's actually also a city park in Canyon TX near Palo Duro that has dozens of banded water snakes and more snappers than you can imagine. I used to live across the street from it--if you go during egg laying season in the way too early morning (dawn) you can find 'em laying their eggs There's also a good little group of prairie rattlers that lives (or at least used to) on an unused sports field towards the end of the park. They tend to shelter in a little concrete pipe that got put in for drainage.

I don't get to go out of my little area very often, so I know it pretty well There's tons of private land that's probably primo herp habitat but I've never been able to go on any of it. There's one ranch I drive by to get to the canyon that's got a small stream with a pond, and some trees and lots of downed wood...I know that place has to be crawling with herps but I can't even find out who owns it to get permission to go on it

If you're interested in particular species I can try to let you know the best parts of the parks to find them in I'm not as familiar with the Buffalo Lakes place yet--only been out there 3 or 4 times, and only started this year--but wildcat bluff and palo duro I know very well since I've lived near both of them.

Thanks again. We're mostly interested in rattlers. We go to Larue Pine Hills in Illinois in the srping and fall and find Timbers and tons of Cottonmouths, Copperheads and all kinds of other snakes. Like to find any species of rattlers. Of course any reptiles that arent around here is always a treat.

Prairies and diamondbacks are the most common snakes I find up here, so your odds are good. They're pretty much all over. There's two prairie dog towns that have populations--one's near WT campus, in Canyon (which is near Palo Duro Canyon), and there's one in wildcat bluff, which I mentioned earlier. There's a dog town establishing itself in city limits, on some recently disturbed land (near a new strip mall) but it hasn't picked up resident snakes yet. It may not cause it's right of the interstate. Those have been my best bets. They actually have a trail leading out to the dog town in wildcat bluff. It's a real easy walk--like 1/3 of a mile--and odds are good of finding at least one rattler if you go during mid morning.

In palo duro, road cruising works for rattlers; they're all over the park and I've seen them on every trail I've tried. Although, I don't see them every time, I'd say about 2/3 of the times I go out I find at least one. I find mostly atrox out in the canyon, mostly prairies out in Wildcat bluff. I've only found a few rattlers (all atrox) out in Buffalo Lake, but I've been there less often than the others.

We in theory have massasauga out here too--Western I think--but I've never found one so have no real advice on that. Those, lined snakes, and our resident lampropeltis (I think we have 3 species of those) are the only species that occur here I haven't found since I moved out in 2002. I'm about to give up hope on those.

You might want to talk to Matlack or Kazmier at WT college too. Kazmeir can be kind of cranky, but he's a wealth of herping knowledge and has a huge ongoing study of local rattlesnake populations. I *wouldn't* say paul sent you cause I don't think he likes me very much I was a smart-a$$ in our herpetology class and managed to get really sick on a class herping trip. Dude has a tank of sirens in his office, and a freaking fly river turtle in his collection in the basement (I think it got seized by F&W and he wound up with it). If he'll give you a tour, he's got some amazing animals, including a good group of rattlesnakes.