The Caddo NG is a great place to see so many different critters. So we were lucky enough to happen upon several snakes and turtles and spiders. Yippee!
Jeanne spotted the first snake. So checking the pupils, we could see that it was not poisonous. Of course I stepped gingerly closer.
Indeed, what a beauty! It is the Yellow-bellied Water Snake. Also called the Plain-bellied Water Snake (Nerodia erythrogaster). This species is known to be aggressive. We frequently have them at home at our garden pond. At home, we affectionally called them Zack for no particular reason. And the name stuck. LOL Zack was the morning snake.
By the afternoon, we were in a more uplands area. And whoa, a second snake! Wow, two snakes in one day. Pretty great, eh. Recognizing this also as non-venomous snake, I crept closer. 😉
Luck was with me and I had my camera ready for the escape.
And a still shot! The red between the scales is characteristic of a ratsnake. Lovely!
Oh my, I almost stepped on these two. They were quite hidden in the leaf litter. They are Three-toed Box Turtles (Terrapene carolinatriunguis).
After we removed the leaves, Jeanne took this shot. This was a first for me to see two together in the wild. So awesome!
A close up of the carapace.
May I please see your beautiful face?
The eyes of female box turtles are brown. Thank you ma’am for letting me see. 🙂
Many different ground spiders were seen. Some were pretty tiny like this one.
Several wolf spiders were seen, including this one with an egg sac.
In fact this was a great find for Jeanne. She had never seen a Black Widow before. Additionally, it had just caught a grasshopper. So that was an extra special treat! And I didn’t get to see it. ;-( I was on the other side of the field. Thanks Jeanne for the photo!
Beautiful snakes and turtles. I do love spiders too. Great that you got to see the turtles together.
Pretty special…
Awesome wildlife spotting day!
Love the garden story on NPR! And hope those box turtles have some lovely baby box turtles!!
🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼
Loved the rat snake video. You guys just have too much fun!
We do!!😎