Search found 521 matches
- September 6th, 2012, 12:40 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Question about holding hot snakes.
- Replies: 61
- Views: 31499
Re: Question about holding hot snakes.
It's making my wonder how everyone on here gets such nice photos without handling the snakes. I can understand that species like rattlesnakes just get defensive and can be photographed in situ or hooked a short distance to open ground for photos, but do you have any species in the US that just cont...
- September 5th, 2012, 9:19 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Question about holding hot snakes.
- Replies: 61
- Views: 31499
Re: Question about holding hot snakes.
I knew a guy who would pin and handle most venomous snakes that he encountered. We would get out of the car to shoo a cottonmouth off the road, and he would pin it and pick it up, look it over, then toss it off the road. He wasn't trying to impress anyone, just felt the need to put his hands on the...
- September 2nd, 2012, 4:44 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Snake bite first aid clarification ?
- Replies: 11
- Views: 2722
Re: Snake bite first aid clarification ?
I wouldn't rely on corals needing to "chew" their venom in. Their fangs may be short, but they can definitely inject venom on a regular bite like any other snake. They also can bite with considerable vigor once harassed- one a friend of mine had for a snake education seminar bit a hook tha...
- August 28th, 2012, 7:06 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Garter Species ID Assist...
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1928
Re: Garter Species ID Assist...
I don't know the exact key to Thamnophis, but that looks exactly like almost every sirtalis I worked with in Arkansas.
- August 24th, 2012, 12:04 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Elaphe carinata feeding on some birds in Henan, China
- Replies: 5
- Views: 2052
Re: Elaphe carinata feeding on some birds in Henan, China
nest site selection fail
- August 22nd, 2012, 4:37 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Timber Rattlesnakes in Pennsylvania
- Replies: 26
- Views: 7893
Re: Timber Rattlesnakes in Pennsylvania
Timbers are some of the easiest snakes in the world to probe, as long as you aren't holding the snake in the tube and probing it without assistance. Have one person hold the snake firmly in a tube (if you think timbers are difficult to restrain, try something with real muscle, like a boa or large Pi...
- August 2nd, 2012, 10:18 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Sorry! A TX herp law question
- Replies: 22
- Views: 8173
Re: Sorry! A TX herp law question
It's been a few years since I've been there, but I agree with the points above. Getting a stamp isn't the worst idea, if for no other reason than if you do get pulled over/questioned it's one less thing to worry about. I'd be cautious in any state or national park. Just like any other state, those a...
- July 28th, 2012, 6:45 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Is this a folktale or is this true?
- Replies: 15
- Views: 3501
Re: Is this a folktale or is this true?
So far I haven't experienced any allergies besides anti venom, but isnt a large percentage of people have some sort of allergy to it? But wow snake musk? That really has to suck. So are your reactions becoming worse with each exposure? The musk allergy I think is due to getting sprayed by a copperh...
- July 27th, 2012, 5:00 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Is this a folktale or is this true?
- Replies: 15
- Views: 3501
Re: Is this a folktale or is this true?
In addition to Chris's statement, always keep in mind that you might become allergic to the animals you work with/catch. I've never been allergic to dogs, cats, or pollen, but since I started working with reptiles (and rodents), I've become allergic to rodents, snake musk, and snake saliva. Even rat...
- July 24th, 2012, 11:41 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Knoxville TN
- Replies: 6
- Views: 1372
Re: Knoxville TN
How about turtles? literature states maps and softshells have ranges in the area ... ? There are spiny softshells throughout the Tennessee river system. Fairly abundant in some areas, but you'll be hard-pressed to actually catch one in a large river without trapping, and trapping might not be effec...
- July 16th, 2012, 5:32 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: I want to see anyones Copperhead pictures.
- Replies: 46
- Views: 16890
Re: I want to see anyones Copperhead pictures.
Saratoga- kickass on the Austrelaps! I hoped they'd turn up when I opened this post.
Van
Van
- July 10th, 2012, 2:28 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Hello from the Shenandoah valley
- Replies: 6
- Views: 3206
Re: Hello from the Shenandoah valley
Right on, I know that part of the country pretty well since we used to play Stonewall Jackson in HS sports occasionally (I went to Wilson, way back when). The snake attitude isn't the best, but keep trying and hopefully you can get some of them to come around! If I get back there during herping seas...
- July 7th, 2012, 2:59 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Just for Fun: Life Lists
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23226
Re: Just for Fun: Life Lists
my humble list (to 2011). As of last month, I've also added Lampropholis delicata from my postdoc advisor's front yard- a 2 square meter area had about 40 of them! Caudata Ambystomatidae Ambystoma maculatum Ambystoma annulatum Ambystoma jeffersonianum Ambystoma opacum (larval) Ambystoma talpoideum (...
- July 6th, 2012, 5:23 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Hello from the Shenandoah valley
- Replies: 6
- Views: 3206
Re: Hello from the Shenandoah valley
Hi Copperhead- where do you teach in the valley? I grew up in Augusta county and occasionally travel back there to see family and friends (and herp). It's a beautiful place to live!
Van
Van
- June 27th, 2012, 8:53 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: OT: Herp Professors
- Replies: 33
- Views: 7409
Re: OT: Herp Professors
It's probably a good idea to keep your conversations with potential professors focused on a couple of things: 1) Your mutual research interests- what would you do in their lab? What have you done in the past that give you experience doing research? 2) Funding opportunities- can you support yourself ...
- June 24th, 2012, 10:20 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: OT: Herp Professors
- Replies: 33
- Views: 7409
Re: OT: Herp Professors
I understand the warm weather and "not interested in spending 4 years of my life working on an organism that bores me to answer a question that interests me" seem immature. In contrast, I think those things are two strong considerations for putting me in a situation that will make seeing ...
- June 24th, 2012, 4:47 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: OT: Herp Professors
- Replies: 33
- Views: 7409
Re: OT: Herp Professors
Jimi's post is on the mark. Think about what kind of work you want to do and then find people who do that kind of work. Biology is a huge field with many subdisciplines within disciplines- broadly, think about systematics/evolution, ecology, physiology, conservation as general fields of work. As oth...
- June 11th, 2012, 3:59 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: How do heat-sensing snakes interpret heat?
- Replies: 4
- Views: 1449
Re: How do heat-sensing snakes interpret heat?
The optic and trigeminal nerves, which run from the eyes and pits, respectively, both join into the optic tectum in the brains of the snakes. There have been several neurophys studies that have implanted electrodes into the optic tectum and found that visual and thermal stimulation from similar poin...
- June 3rd, 2012, 7:32 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: The Adventures of D Wayne and Ratboy
- Replies: 24
- Views: 5781
Re: The Adventures of D Wayne and Ratboy
Ah, the good ol' days.
- June 3rd, 2012, 10:28 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: The Adventures of D Wayne and Ratboy
- Replies: 24
- Views: 5781
Re: The Adventures of D Wayne and Ratboy
LOL I'd love to hear/see her response to that.The Lovely Cyndi has a tail for gods sake? Anybody want to talk about that?
Great pics, as always B. Wonder what ol' Albert Pike would think of a park in his name being "closed".
- May 30th, 2012, 6:21 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: How we protect wildlife in Australia
- Replies: 1
- Views: 910
Re: How we protect wildlife in Australia
I don't know what the laws are in the States regarding things like this. Some states have them, but they typically only apply (or are applied) to species listed as threatened/endangered. The guy makes a good point though- check the laws of where you go, and don't advertise yourself breaking them on...
- May 27th, 2012, 5:22 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Python "haters"Article in post from April 29
- Replies: 8
- Views: 1961
Re: Python "haters"Article in post from April 29
I don't think collection usually has much of an impact. There may be such circumstances where a population is restricted to specific habitats during certain periods, as in northeastern timbers, etc., especially if those areas are easily accessible. Other circumstances could be where a population is ...
- May 26th, 2012, 6:41 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Python "haters"Article in post from April 29
- Replies: 8
- Views: 1961
Re: Python "haters"Article in post from April 29
Couple of generalized answers/opinions: 1) Exterminating random pythons as captured is likely going to do nothing to control them. The range is too large and too remote for single capture-exterminations to likely have much effect. 2) Placing transmitters, etc. in the snakes allows us to get a handle...
- May 25th, 2012, 7:41 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Are you freaking kidding me?
- Replies: 11
- Views: 2242
Re: Are you freaking kidding me?
This was posted on Fark.com a few days ago, and it was amazing how many idiots claimed to be "experts" yet identified it as a python at least 9 feet in length.
People are stupid.
People are stupid.
- April 18th, 2012, 7:34 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Proper way to hold a snapper?
- Replies: 15
- Views: 4634
Re: Proper way to hold a snapper?
I've been working with snappers quite a bit over the past year or so. I grab them by the plastron, similarly to what Kevin described. Even big ones are easy to control that way, and smaller individuals can be easily held with one hand once you get the hang of it. Sure, they scratch some but it doesn...
- March 23rd, 2012, 2:47 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Atrox and horridus overlap?
- Replies: 17
- Views: 2733
Re: Atrox and horridus overlap?
I've seen photos of a copperhead-timber hybrid- it's in a live collection somewhere, if I recall correctly, but I don't remember where.
- March 22nd, 2012, 5:28 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Atrox and horridus overlap?
- Replies: 17
- Views: 2733
Re: Atrox and horridus overlap?
I saw a poster that described one from Oklahoma at a JMIH meeting, say 2005 or 2006. That's the only wild hybrid I know of.
- March 21st, 2012, 6:14 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: A bit of early season Arklahoma color (now with more color!)
- Replies: 20
- Views: 5336
Re: A little bit of early season Arklahoma color.
Good stuff, Mike! I miss those big uglies.
Van
Van
- March 21st, 2012, 6:12 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Atrox and horridus overlap?
- Replies: 17
- Views: 2733
Re: Atrox and horridus overlap?
Mike's right- there's quite a bit of overlap in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, across all kinds of habitats, from forested mountains to open grassy prairie. Diamondbacks in the forested areas seem to do best in very open, grass-dominated patches, but they will forage in leaf litter occasionally too,...
- March 20th, 2012, 8:44 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Help with snake ID - Ohio
- Replies: 9
- Views: 2277
Re: Help with snake ID - Ohio
milksnake
- March 15th, 2012, 6:36 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: can someone dumb down how we use DNA analysis to distinguish
- Replies: 20
- Views: 4306
Re: can someone dumb down how we use DNA analysis to disting
- This part was a major question of mine... so that basically tells me that it's a judgement call on the part of the observer to determine at what point enough mutations warrants species distinction. So doesn't that get messy and lead to disagreements? Lets say a group is researching these markers ...
- March 15th, 2012, 1:00 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: can someone dumb down how we use DNA analysis to distinguish
- Replies: 20
- Views: 4306
Re: can someone dumb down how we use DNA analysis to disting
I'm sure someone more knowledgeable on the subject will chime in, but this: Do they look for some random gene mutations and say, "this population has the mutation but this one doesn't so they're distinct"... i doubt it. Seems as arbitrary and meaningless as looking at something morphologic...
- March 13th, 2012, 6:39 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: World's Largest Rattlesnake Round-up
- Replies: 84
- Views: 34153
Re: World's Largest Rattlesnake Round-up
I suspect, though, that the animal welfare/cruelty issue could really have some legs. Outrageous activities with enduring popularity among rednecks have been banned before for this reason, e.g. dog fights and cock fights. Granted rattlesnakes have less appeal to the average person than do most othe...
- March 10th, 2012, 10:50 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Doing Alice - Australia
- Replies: 14
- Views: 5462
Re: Doing Alice - Australia
Great pics, as usual!
Q for you- what's the best method to wrangle/post the large elapids for photos? I'm going to be living in Sydney for 2 years starting in June, and I'd like to see/photo as many species as possible, hopefully without getting tagged in the process.
Van
Q for you- what's the best method to wrangle/post the large elapids for photos? I'm going to be living in Sydney for 2 years starting in June, and I'd like to see/photo as many species as possible, hopefully without getting tagged in the process.
Van
- March 1st, 2012, 9:51 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Mas Panama
- Replies: 14
- Views: 5330
Re: Mas Panama
Cool stuff Jon. Shame about the Bushmaster- I remember Mario having another dead individual when we stopped by in 2010. Seems like they turn up there on an occasional basis.
Van
Van
- February 29th, 2012, 10:17 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Questions on where to go in Costa Rica
- Replies: 6
- Views: 1372
Re: Questions on where to go in Costa Rica
It's been some time since I was there, but I stayed at a lodge near Tortuguero and another on the Pacific side, near the Tarcoles River bridge, that had their own nature trails running into the forest. There were guided tours you could take, but I spent most of my nights poking around those trails o...
- February 27th, 2012, 7:01 pm
- Forum: News
- Topic: Snake bites British tourist on testicle
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2151
Re: Snake bites British tourist on testicle
I knew tiger snakes could get a little testy, but still...
- February 22nd, 2012, 1:24 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Snake ID help.
- Replies: 12
- Views: 1984
Re: Snake ID help.
It definitely looks like a Liasis, but I'd lean towards Macklot's over Olive.
- February 22nd, 2012, 12:54 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Fang to Body Size Ratio?
- Replies: 8
- Views: 3180
Re: Fang to Body Size Ratio?
Not exactly.... but there are several studies that examine the relationship of head size/shape to foraging ecology and preferred prey. Head/mouth/fang size is pretty variable with body size in snakes, and there are both evolutionary constraints (ie snakes evolved from ancestors with large heads are ...
- February 21st, 2012, 12:37 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Use of small streams by spiny softshells
- Replies: 46
- Views: 5147
Re: Use of small streams by spiny softshells
In the Ozarks, spiny softshells are fairly abundant in all types of waterways. I've seen them on all substrate habitats (including cobble, rocky, rock slab, etc.) on 3rd and 4th-order streams (or larger). I've also seen them on some 2nd-order streams in slower sections with mud/sand bottoms, but I h...
- February 20th, 2012, 9:07 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: RFI: Australia, Bali, Hong Kong, Costa Rica
- Replies: 19
- Views: 4416
Re: RFI: Australia, Bali, Hong Kong, Costa Rica
As others have said, don't screw around near croc waters, and talk to the locals about them. I snorkeled in a couple of waters in Kakadu (Jim Jim Falls, Twin Falls gorges) back in 2001, when it was allowed. It was pretty amazing, but then a few years later I heard Twin Falls (and possibly Jim Jim?) ...
Re: Rain Gear
I second Frogg Toggs. I got a set last year and love it. A full jacket/pants set is inexpensive- about $40 or so. They are fairly breathable and will keep you dry in all but the wettest conditions. If you pair them with a polyester/wool/wicking layer and an underarmor-type layer, they'll keep you dr...
- February 2nd, 2012, 1:18 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Summer in Central Texas - 2010
- Replies: 7
- Views: 3295
Re: Summer in Central Texas - 2010
Very cool, I really like the transmitter harness- do you know how long the batteries last on transmitters that size?
- February 2nd, 2012, 12:48 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Mammal populations dropping dramatically in the Everglades
- Replies: 95
- Views: 16630
Re: Mammal populations dropping dramatically in the Everglad
I don't have an advanced degree in biology, or statistics. So I'm asking as honestly as I can. Is this good science? Can we trust conclusions based off of evidence collected this way? Sure. Basically what we're describing is a system where you can only control the amount of effort you put into the ...
- February 1st, 2012, 8:08 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Mammal populations dropping dramatically in the Everglades
- Replies: 95
- Views: 16630
Re: Mammal populations dropping dramatically in the Everglad
One point I haven't seen mentioned in this discussion yet (and I haven't yet taken the time to read any linked papers, though I will soon): Pythons could also do a much better job than any mammalian predator of completely wiping out this or that prey species due to the fact that pythons can fast fo...
- January 31st, 2012, 7:07 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Mammal populations dropping dramatically in the Everglades
- Replies: 95
- Views: 16630
Re: Mammal populations dropping dramatically in the Everglad
however, this does not explain the decrease in deer. I could see larger pythons going after fawns pretty easily. All they have to do is scent-trail to the fawn's hiding spot and there's an easy meal just sitting there. Not that I'm aware of: but the nesting success/predation rates for sea turtles i...
- January 31st, 2012, 2:04 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Question about python ban.
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1120
Re: Question about python ban.
I don't know about state, but several cities/townships I've lived in had local laws/ordinances that prohibited the "ownership of wild animals", which technically (to my knowledge) included not just pythons, but ALL herps, even down to cornsnakes. I can think of a few cases where that type ...
- January 18th, 2012, 2:40 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Western Queensland - December 2011
- Replies: 11
- Views: 2903
Re: Western Queensland - December 2011
Cool stuff!
What's a defect label?
Van
What's a defect label?
Van
- January 18th, 2012, 7:04 am
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: A little bit of Panama
- Replies: 15
- Views: 4544
Re: A little bit of Panama
As usual, pretty awesome stuff. That Cerrophidion alone would be amazing to see.
Someday I'll get back down there with yall!
Van
Someday I'll get back down there with yall!
Van
- January 14th, 2012, 7:55 pm
- Forum: The Forum
- Topic: Virginia's canebrakes - innocent I promise!
- Replies: 38
- Views: 7072
Re: Virginia's canebrakes - innocent I promise!
Maybe when you're research gets going you won't sound ignorant and keep calling them "canebrakes" as if that is a valid subspecies or description... Relax, its just a common name.... I often call southern timbers canebrakes, regardless of the scientific validity. But then, I'm a huge fan ...