Snakes-Garters

Garter snakes are usually the first and last snakes found in the valley. This is because they live right in most neighborhoods and finding them doesn't require planning an outing. They seem to get along just fine if they can avoid cats and lawnmowers and snake-hating, shovel-carrying people.

The amazing thing about garters is that they seem to just pop out of the ground in the spring in places where there aren't any obvious hiding places. A lot of these snakes are more than two feet long, yet they can simply disappear. Being serpentine has advantages.

For those that don't know, garters almost never bite but will musk or defecate when caught. Sometimes they will whip their tails around while defecating and leave you covered.

I love it when I catch them with their tongues out:

Some snake keepers feed garter snakes to their king snakes or milk snakes. I consider that to be very cruel, but then I am sure there are mouse lovers that frown on feeding rodents to snakes.

Garter snakes and most other snakes are underdogs in environmental struggles, but they can survive in neighborhoods that have yards with some vegetation and that is good to see.

Snakes-Milk and King Feeding Time

Like most snake keepers, I feed my snakes separately and in different containers than their normal terrariums (Note: empty costco nut and animal cracker containers make perfect feed containers for young snakes). Feeding snakes outside their home generally keeps king snakes and milk snakes from considering each other as a meal or confusing a hand for food.

King Snake Surrenders

After Ramses came out of his first hibernation, I used his hunger to switch him to frozen/thawed mice instead of live mice. This is more humane for the mice, helps Ramses avoid the "farewell bite", and makes my life a little easier. Ramses is no dummy. I have tried all of the tricks numerous times to get him to eat pre-killed food, but he would simply not eat something that he hadn't killed himself. He would move the dead mice around to determine whether they were alive or not and when the mice did not move, Ramses would not eat them no matter what they smelled like. His habits are so well-defined that I can predict his every move and I am counting on him eating frozen/thawed from now on.

Do Snakes Chase People?

This is a gopher snake's best imitation of a rattle snake.
And another tough gopher snake:
Unless you are a rodent or other prey item, snakes will not chase you. Even the most venomous and feared snakes in North America will not pursue people and are sometimes hard to photograph because they quickly flee when approached. I have witnessed water moccasins swim up to investigate when people are splashing in the water, but they swim off after seeing people. The closest I have come to being pursued by a snake has been the result of gopher snake encounters. When an adult gopher snake assumes a hissing/defensive posture, it will sometimes pursue for several feet in an attempt to scare someone that isn't heeding its warning. This has never been more than a few feet and is always the result of me intentionally getting too close to a defensive snake.

Snakes: Do Rattlers Always Warn Before Striking?

This is an absolute myth. Experience has proven to me that the personalities of snakes are as different as their colors. Sometimes a great basin rattlesnake doesn't rattle at all (note: some are not capable of rattling and some just don't) and will simply try to slither away when found, but be careful because body heat will almost always trigger a strike. Almost all snakes will vibrate their tails when they are grumpy. My Mexican black kingsnake and one of my corn snakes will vibrate their tails quite often. They would be quite noisy if they had rattles, yet they have never bitten. When you are hiking in rattlesnake territory, watch out where you step. Wouldn't you bite someone that stepped on you? Rattlesnakes do not want to bite in defense. They would rather save their venom for prey, but don't rely on a buzz warning.

Another Snake Myth

It is often said that the highly venomous coral snake has to "chew" to inject its venom. I have also heard people claim that coral snakes are limited to biting only parts of the body that it can fit its small mouth around. Neither of these assumptions are correct. The coral snake can open its mouth wide enough to swallow something twice the size of its head. While it has small fangs, it can bite like any other snake of similar size.

Rhymes with snakes

Yellow touching red: you're dead. Red touching black: safe for jack. Red against yellow can kill a fellow. You might have heard one of these rhymes used to determine whether a snake is venomous or not. For the most part these rhymes using colors are correct and can be applied, but not always. Look at these two snakes:

The shovel nose snake (bottom photo by Tom Brennan) looks very similar to the coral snake (top photo). The rhyme doesn't work for the non-venomous shovel nose (and some others like one of my milk snakes), so then a new rhyme will have to be created to add confusion: Red touches yellow, might be safe for a fellow? If you find a snake on an outing, it is best to just leave it alone. Stay at least 3 feet away and maybe get some pictures for bragging rights. If you find a venomous snake on your property or near where kids play, just call a local reptile rescue and have the snake relocated. Killing snakes doesn't accomplish anything.

Return of Pyro the mountain king snake

After thawing out mice the other day to feed my snakes, I left for about 5 minutes. When I returned, I couldn't believe my eyes. There was my Sonoran mountain kingsnake stretched out on the basement counter near the thawing mice. This was a happy day for me, because Pyro escaped his tank about 8 months ago and hasn't been seen until today. Not only do I have one of my coolest snakes back, but there is no longer a snake loose in the house. I had discovered a partial snake shed a few weeks ago, but I disregarded it thinking that it was maybe left from one of the milk snakes. Pyro gets his name from his scientific name, which is Lampropeltis pyromelana knoblochi. "Knob" would be a more accurate name for him, but Pyro just sounds better. He is more than a year older than the milk snakes and about 6 inches longer, but he is about half their diameter from not eating. I hope he learned his lesson.

Do corn snakes eat corn?

Rat snakes eat rodents, but do corn snakes eat corn? Do milk snakes drink milk? What do king snakes eat? Most myths about snakes are sillier than these questions. I have heard several reasons why corn snakes have been given that name. I have heard experienced herpers say that corn snakes are called that because they live in corn fields. I have never found a corn snake in a corn field. They are found in the same wooded areas that their close relative, the gray rat snake is found. Corn snakes do not eat corn, so why are they called corn snakes? Take a look at their belly scales:

The corn snakes belly scales resemble maize corn patterns:

Ramses' Awakening

My kids came running up from the basement to announce that my Mexican Black King snake had emerged from his hide for the first time in months. Around late August last year he quit eating so in late September I turned off his heat and allowed him to hibernate, which is part of his natural instinct. He hasn't even attempted to hibernate previously. Maybe the economy triggered it. I went down to see him moving very, very slowly and getting a drink of water. Snakes are very, very low maintenance when they are hibernating and this is necessary for breeding, but you do lose your pet for a large part of the year.

Ramses' awakening came just in time to be a visual aid for my son's report (on the genus lampropeltis, go figure). The boys and girls in the class couldn't be restrained. They all had to touch the snake and a lot of them had snake stories to tell. Needless to say, the report went well.

Proper Care and Feeding of Ruby

Before shed begins:

One week prior to sluff:Brand new paint job:

This is Ruby. She is my albino (reverse okeetee) corn snake and she is beautiful. Ruby was an unwanted pet snake. I purchased her and some supplies for only $10 from someone that was ditching her because the exciting newness had worn off, but finding a pet a good home is always a more responsible alternative than neglect. Originally I meant to find her a good home, but I have had her now for a year & a half, so I guess I did find her a good home. Captive bred colubrids are among the easiest pets to care for. Room temperature, a terrarium of proper size with clean substrate, a locking top, hide rocks, a heat pad if desired, water, and the occasional rodent will result in a healthy/happy snake. After having grown up in prime corn snake habitat, these are forever some of my favorite snakes. At the same time, I also grew up in indigo snake habitat, but I will never pay several thousand dollars for something that will require me to clean up it's poop. The pictures show the color change that snakes can go through during a shed. Ruby goes from a bright orange to hot pink. Her color change is sometimes pretty drastic during the shed cycle. The snake in the last picture is named Okee (very original name, right?). He is a normal Okeetee corn snake and provides a good comparison between a normal and a reverse. Every bit of black and gray on a normal is replaced with white on a reverse. Aren't genetics great? Okee and Ruby are roughly the same age, but Ruby is almost twice the size as Okee. This is because Ruby will eat any time a meal is offered, while Okee is the pickiest eater of any corn snake on the planet and causes me a lot of work.

True Field Herpers

Rat snakes from south Georgia:

This post is a pat on the back to those that constantly explore nature for the pure love and appreciation of this beautiful earth and it's amazing wildlife. From the nature outings that generated childhood <-I originally wrote boyhood. Sorry girl herpers) curiosities to the incredible feelings of finding cool snakes that most people will never see, true field herpers are as rare as some of the snakes they find. When I say true field herpers, I mean the ones that leave habitat and environment unharmed and those that devote time to study and protect species without exploiting anything. I remember catching my first snake when I was a kid. It's beautiful glossy scales glistened and it writhed as I tried to calm it. I used as much nonverbal communication as I could to say to the frightened/defensive serpent that I was not trying to hurt it. I think I even talked to the snake, but it probably didn't understand me. After a few minutes, the snake calmed down and seemed to enjoy me holding it or at least it did not try to bite or flee. In that very moment I became immune to all of the snake myths that produce so much fear in so many people. I was holding an incredible creation as it's tongue flicked out to taste the air and smell me. It tried several times to hide in the folds of my shirt. After a while, it didn't fear me at all. Even the motion of my hand toward it's head didn't cause any reaction. Even if that first snake had bitten me, I don't think it would have made any difference about how I have grown to love snakes. I understand them.

Birding in the winter?

A quote from a legendary herper reads:
"Only with awareness of all life - plant and animal - can the greatest pleasure be gained from field activities...As with a lovely mosaic, each piece by itself may have beauty of line and color and possess a certain independent aesthetic value, but when it finds its place in the pattern as a whole, and is viewed in relation to its fellow pieces, it attains the greatest worth and gives the greatest delight". -Karl Kauffeld, (Snakes: The Keeper and the Kept)
This is a wonderful thought, but I almost totally disagree. When it comes to plants and vegetation, it is enough for me to know which ones will tear into my flesh so that I can avoid them (note: if snakes slither into Urtica dioica, do not pursue without gloves & long sleeves). I can identify some plants/trees that I find attractive, but to tell the truth w/o a field guide I can't distinguish between astragalus deserticus and gilia caespitosa and yet I thoroughly enjoy myself anytime I go outdoors. Only a few insects amuse me, but I try to be kind to them all.
There was a time in my life when birds, especially birds of prey were very fascinating to me. Utah has an abundance of bald eagles, golden eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, kingfishers, and other cool birds that are easy to find (I saw an almost completely white snowy owl the other day), but many times I have witnessed kestrels catch and feed on herps. This doesn't make me happy. If anything that preys upon snakes suddenly goes extinct, I probably wont be found shedding any tears over it.
Bird watching in the winter could be a replacement for herping, but so could snowmobile hill-climbing!

Seasonal Depressions

It is widely known that people can suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) in the winter. Those that like to field herp can suffer even worse from something called HAD (Herp Absence Distress). The most common symptom is constant frowning, even after looking through field guides:

Recommended treatments include looking at photos of places where cool snakes have been found:

(Dense populations of Crotalus Oreganus Lutosus near home)

And planning herping trips for that first warm week in the spring:

Whiptail Nutcase

My wife and kids and I were hiking a canyon in S Utah near where the Colorado River meets the Green River. This was our first time in this canyon and we were exploring the beautiful scenery (well, they were checking out the scenery and I was checking out the herps). The creek was full of tadpoles, frogs, crawdads, and other things most hikers miss. The canyon walls and rocks had different types of lizards all over them. There were a lot of colorful birds and some other hikers as well. I kept seeing Grand Canyon Whiptail Lizards running around in pairs or groups of up to 4. Most of these lizards were more than a foot long and extremely fast. Observing how these lizards moved their heads around to see things and the way their tongues lashed out made me think of little dinosaurs. At one spot in the canyon I found a group of these lizards in an area that seemed possible to catch one of them (note: catching one of these bare-handed is not easy). I quickly climbed down a 12 foot ledge and started herding the lizards towards the sheer rock face where there would be less chance that they could disappear into the cracks of rocks. Just then a group of hikers came by and began to watch me try to catch these lizards. (Great!) I wanted them to just continue on their way but they stayed to watch and I could tell from the looks on their faces that I was their sideshow entertainment for the moment. As I herded the lizards up close to the rock face, the group of hikers moved closer to the edge of the trail so that they could see, and an old man in the group nearly fell down to where I was. He didn't fall, but he did drop his water bottle down by me. A few moments later a young woman then asked me to get the water bottle for them. Was she crazy? I wasn't going to let the whiptails get away, so I told her I would get the bottle in a minute. I caught one of the whiptails and afterwards got a lot of stares from the hikers as I made my way back up to my kids, who were totally excited. Moments like this make me realize that when a young boy chases after frogs, lizards, and snakes, he is normal. But when a grown man chases after frogs, lizards, and snakes, he must be some type of an oddball.