A Natural Areas Inventory of the - Kansas Natural Heritage Inventory ...

and old appliances, and exploring rock ledges and other natural materials, such as logs, which
might shelter snakes. A few records were obtained when snakes were encountered by accident.
RESULTS AND DISUCSSION
The survey yielded 63 records of 12 species of reptiles (10 snakes, 1 lizard, and 1 turtle). Dates
and locations are presented in Table E.1. The ringneck snake was encountered most frequently—
22 times The next in order of abundance was the common garter snake (16 records), followed by
the five-lined skink (7 records), black rat snake (5 records), racer (4 records), milksnake (2
records), brown snake (2 records), prairie kingsnake (1 record), western worm snake (1 record),
northern water snake (1 record), western ribbon snake (1 record), and the ornate box turtle (1
record).
Although no timber rattlesnakes were captured during the survey, a road-killed timber rattlesnake
was collected near the back entrance on Santa Fe Trail Road and deposited in the Entomology
Office Collection (Pest Control) of FLMR on 16 September 2003. It was a large male,
approximately 122 cm (48 in) in length. The collection also includes a small timber rattlesnake
taken near the park above the river along the bluffs. Specimens of two other species not captured
during this study are contained in the collection: two juvenile copperheads taken on sticky traps
near the museum close to the river bluffs, and a western hognose snake taken October 1999 in
the parking lot at the extreme southeastern corner of FLMR in an area of loess. A juvenile snake
initially identified as a fox snake later was confirmed to be a young black rat snake.
It appears that the timber rattlesnakes occasionally occur along the bluffs above the river and in
the vicinity of Government Hill. The two state-threatened species, redbelly snake and smooth
earth snake, were not encountered in this study. The record of the western hognose is significant
and may indicate a small population of this species in loess areas of FLMR. This species occurs
across the Missouri River in northwestern Missouri where the rough, rolling loess hills meet the
river floodplain (Johnson 1987).
NATURAL AREAS INVENTORY OF FT. LEAVENWORTH II 184