Through out my 22 yr persuit of all things scaled I have found red milks (syspila and sysp x gentilis intergrades) all through out eastern and central Kansas and eastern and southeast Nebraska. Just this yr I took my then soon to be (and now) wife on a photo journey through the limestone in just these areas and located nearly a dozen.
But this is a first...
On the return from a business trip up through northern Iowa last week I noticed an interesting change from the traditional corn and soybean fields as I neared a central Iowa county. Limestone!....on the surface at roads edge!
Making a u-turn and convincing the family I wasnt crazy I chose the "perfect" rock and gave here a lift..........
This is what was underneath...........
Notice the eastern / triangulum influence with the side blotches and faint spear forming on the head.
Four rocks later.....a lifer....the largest red milk I personally have ever found roughly 40" and exhibiting the much more typical syspila pattern of the flinthills in Kansas.
Just thought I would share....best wishes to all....
These are the first milksnakes I have ever found in Iowa and definitly some of the most memorable.
