Summer is Wyoming’s season for turning over rocks, poking into holes and walking with a perpetual hunch looking for snakes.

Herpalogists, the zoologists who study amphibians and reptiles, are out scouring the landscape and herping, the term used when they are actively flipping rocks and searching stream beds to find Wyoming’s elusive snakes in their native habitats.

Sometimes those finds can be unexpected. The fork-tongued reptiles appear on a trail when least expected. 

Recently, a foot-long “nightcrawler” suddenly moved like a snake and slithered into the rocks, its tail disappearing into the shadows. Rather than a shapeshifter, this was an elusive rubber boa, Wyoming’s tiny constrictor snake that can look like a giant worm at first glance.

These rarely seen creatures are more common in the Cowboy State than most people realize.

“I personally don’t feel that any of our snakes in Wyoming are terribly rare,” said Matt Rasmussen, vice president of the Wyoming Herpetological Society. “However, a lot of them are very rarely encountered because they spend most of their lives either underground or under rocks.”

Rasmussen said most of the secretive snakes in Wyoming only come out at night or when conditions are right — typically warmer, humid times. The rubber boa, for instance, showed up on a day when it had rained and then the temperatures spiked hot.

Rasmussen helped found the new Herpetological Society two years ago to teach others to herp. He said it’s possible to learn more about our state by flipping rocks and seeing what is beneath.

“That’s the great thing with Wyoming,” Rasmussen said. “There is so little known about the herpetofauna — the frogs, lizards, snakes, turtles, etcetera — that live here, and so little known about their distribution.”

He said Wyoming is known for “large charismatic megafauna” such as bison, elk, moose and deer rather than the harder to find animals. As a result, no widespread surveying has been done on smaller non-game species. Wyoming Game and Fish has even asked for community members to help by reporting  rarely seen reptiles and amphibians.

Elusive, Not Rare

While most people think of the more common bullsnake or venomous rattlesnake when discussing reptiles, Rasmussen said Wyoming is home to many harmless snakes.

According to Rasmussen, a few snakes, such as the colorful pale milk snake and rubber boa, could be considered rare in Wyoming. However, he believes they are just harder to find and most people are not aware of them unless they stumble across them.

“There’s the plains black-headed snake, which we really don’t know much about their distribution in Wyoming,” Rasmussen said. “They’re just not studied and have a limited habitat.”

This tan snake with a black head is small and feeds primarily on centipedes and ant eggs. Rasmussen cautions that when found, rather than kill the strange looking snakes that are harmless, report finding them to Wyoming Game and Fish and leave them in their habitat.

In this way, Rasmussen said, herping can be fun. He encourages people to get into the action.

“There are some other really small fossorial snakes like smooth green snakes, which live along creeks in the mountains and eat caterpillars and spiders,” Rasmussen said. “Then there’s the Black Hills red-bellied snake, which is a very small snake that eats slugs, worms and snails primarily.”

People are often surprised that Wyoming is home to such a large variety of snakes. He especially likes to show off a milk snake, which is harmless and eats lizards and even baby rattlesnakes.

“It is a beautiful, almost tropical-looking animal that lives right here,” Rasmussen said. “They are just rarely encountered.”

A New Snake & Frog Society

Rasmussen said the new society is trying to educate the community about these fascinating creatures in the Cowboy State that don’t get much attention, such as the skink, a short-legged lizard. 

“We’re a group of herpetological enthusiasts who would like to spread the word, educate and do outreach about these animals,” he said.

This outreach includes presentations with live animals, field trips and a conference in November. Wyoming’s reptiles and amphibians remain a mystery, Rasmussen encourages reporting sightings on the app iNaturalist.

“Even if you don’t know what it is, post a picture because there are tens of thousands of experts who will identify that animal,” Rasmussen said. “That’s really important, especially for our herpetofauna in the state.”

He also pointed out that some Wyoming snakes are on the protected list, including the midget faded rattlesnake. They made the list, according to Rasmussen, because people were capturing them and they became popular in among owners who like to keep small venomous snakes as pets.

Rasmussen said awareness is the best protection for Wyoming’s elusive reptiles and he is excited to prove to residents that we don’t have rare snakes, only secretive ones.

Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming is a state known for cowboys, rodeos, and beautiful plains, but is also known for being the first territory to grant women the right to vote, something historian Jennifer Helton explored in her Suffrage Stories presentation.

Helton was invited to highlight Wyoming’s remarkable role in the fight for women’s suffrage as part of the museum’s special America 250 Discover & Discuss series on Jun 18, but the recorded version was just released. This is a part of Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum’s goal of exploring Cheyenne and the greater state of Wyoming’s history.

Helton’s presentation not only celebrates Wyoming’s role in suffrage, but also how the state’s pioneering women helped shape the future of voting rights across the nation.

Born and raised in Wyoming, Jennifer Helton left the state at age 18 to attend college, “which left a giant, Wyoming-sized hole in my heart,” Helton said, “and the way that I fill that hole is by conducting research on women’s suffrage.”

Upon realizing that most people outside of the state of Wyoming did not know the West’s progressive role in suffrage, she became obsessed with bridging this knowledge gap and researching the history of suffrage.

“My kids would tell you it’s an obsession, not just an interest or a hobby,” Helton said. “They always joke that I have three kids, the two of them and then Esther Morris.”

During her presentation, Helton’s admiration for Esther Morris was apparent due to her trailblazing nature as suffragist, her courage to stand up to torch-bearing mobs, and abolitionist activities.

Interestingly enough, her sons were also instrumental in shaping Wyoming’s history. E.A. Slack is known as the “Father of Frontier Days” and citizens of Wyoming can thank Robert C. Morris for Cheyenne’s public library, as he brought the Carnegie Public Library System to Wyoming.

Photo of Esther Morris, the first female justice of the peace (Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum). Credit: Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum (Jennifer Helton Presentation) / Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum

Throughout the course of her presentation, Helton revealed the results of her research by tracing the course of American history in order to highlight the intersection between Wyoming, women, and winning the right to vote.

The talk also highlighted incredible Black women such as Lucy Phillips and Nancy Phillips, some of the first Black women to vote.

As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, the museum invites visitors to explore the stories of trailblazers like the nation’s first woman justice of the peace Esther Morris, the first woman governor, the first Black women to vote, and many other extraordinary leaders who made history.

The museum is hosting its special America 250 exhibit and allows visitors to discover the stories, artifacts, and moments that connect the community to the nation’s history. The exhibit even features six U.S. presidents who visited Cheyenne or Cheyenne Frontier Days, and is currently running at the museum. For those who cannot attend, lectures such as this are filmed and provided online.

As Helton closed her lecture, she read the words of Esther Morris, “I say do all the good you can while you do live.”

“Because women like Esther Morris, like Theresa Jenkins, had the courage to stand up and do all the good that they could in their lives we are all able to live the lives that we are living today,” Helton said.

“So, we should be grateful to them, and I think we should also be asking ourselves what is it that we need to be doing so that future generations can preserve the same opportunities we have, and perhaps more.”

Watch Jennifer Helton’s full presentation at the link provided here.

To learn more about historian Jennifer Helton visit jenniferhelton.org.

Jennifer Helton’s information (Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum).

Related