Never seen this species at the museum before possibly naturally ventured there?
“96 degrees” on my vehicle’s temperature gauge, at 8:37pm. (Approx 4,000 feet elevation) Felt cooler than that. I think my temp gauge was off. I have seen 3 variable groundsnakes in this area now, 2 this week and 1 last summer. All were different colors. The first one was black and orange banded with some white, the second was white and striped with orange, and now this one, white with orange bands. Really awesome! Hence the name “variable” haha.
Lifer! It was getting blown around in the wind so it was difficult to get photos