Search found 521 matches

by VanAR
February 23rd, 2013, 11:27 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Interresting article some may be interested in
Replies: 24
Views: 5879

Re: Interresting article some may be interested in

Some late-night reading fodder.... http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=WR97022 http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/02-0482?journalCode=ecol http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2000.99458.x/full http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/515979 http://www.hotkeepers.com/aho/pdf/menu...
by VanAR
February 23rd, 2013, 7:53 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Interresting article some may be interested in
Replies: 24
Views: 5879

Re: Interresting article some may be interested in

Of course sites/species can be disturbed regardless of what is published- nobody has argued that it doesn't. What gets me is when folks get on other people's case for sharing locality information and supposedly endangered the animals thereby. Even more so when they express reluctance to share locali...
by VanAR
February 23rd, 2013, 5:17 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Interresting article some may be interested in
Replies: 24
Views: 5879

Re: Interresting article some may be interested in

In that case it would probably be better if everyone knew the animals were there, so that people who aren't poachers are better able to help officials catch people who are. Which assumes that the local people who suddenly become aware actually care about the animals. Especially with regards to herp...
by VanAR
February 23rd, 2013, 3:25 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Interresting article some may be interested in
Replies: 24
Views: 5879

Re: Interresting article some may be interested in

Gerry, my response to your question is that locality information can be transmitted to government or private agencies for conservation purposes discretely, rather than advertised to anyone with access to a particular journal article. In many cases those data already ARE transmitted through scientifi...
by VanAR
February 23rd, 2013, 3:47 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Interresting article some may be interested in
Replies: 24
Views: 5879

Re: Interresting article some may be interested in

It's sad how many of our fellow academics don't realize that when they publish a map or exact coordinates to a site, ANYONE can find it if they look hard enough. I recently found a site that was teeming with a threatened species of salamander (saw >20 in one day) using just such methods, because the...
by VanAR
February 18th, 2013, 4:41 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Quick question on Sexing a snake..
Replies: 26
Views: 11719

Re: Quick question on Sexing a snake..

I have heard you can tell by the tail. Like short tail is female and long tail is male... Or the other way around. Is that one true?^ Also what is the best way to find out if a snake is gravid.. If I run into any I would like to know if they are so I can just take pictures and not bother them.... I...
by VanAR
February 4th, 2013, 8:21 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Talk about your envenomations.
Replies: 41
Views: 7651

Re: Talk about your envenomations.

I get hive-like/allergic reactions to colubrid saliva. So far, I react to Coluber, Lampropeltis, Pantherophis, Nerodia, Thamnophis, and Pituophis. I'm also allergic to pit viper musk, ever since I got sprayed in the face/eye by a copperhead I was drawing blood from. Species I've had reactions to inc...
by VanAR
January 24th, 2013, 5:03 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Family Visit to Panama
Replies: 10
Views: 4503

Re: Family Visit to Panama

Great stuff as usual, Chris! Sorry to hear the stomach bug prevented you from getting out more. You and M need to come visit Oz now!

Van
by VanAR
January 21st, 2013, 10:20 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: AVID/PIT Tags
Replies: 22
Views: 4766

Re: AVID/PIT Tags

No difference between the two. AVID is simply a brand/manufacturer. It depends on what you want to do. By "track", do you mean follow each animal individually, as in radio telemetry? You can't do that with PIT tags. All you can do is tag them and then recognize the tag if/when the animal i...
by VanAR
January 21st, 2013, 10:13 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Snake core body temps?
Replies: 10
Views: 2568

Re: Snake core body temps?

I use a thermocouple (via cloacal insertion) to measure the internal body temperature of snakes. It's fairly small, and can be easily brought into the field (but, be sure to pack it in a plastic bag in the tropics). Another point, since Brian mentions it here- if you're doing scientific work that y...
by VanAR
January 16th, 2013, 1:27 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Photos from a trip to the Red Centre
Replies: 14
Views: 5004

Re: Photos from a trip to the Red Centre

Great stuff David! I've only done some driving around since I got over here, mostly to Victoria for field work, and its amazing to me how fast you go from civilization to pretty much nothing- and that's in the most populated part of the country.

Van
by VanAR
January 15th, 2013, 1:37 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Snake core body temps?
Replies: 10
Views: 2568

Re: Snake core body temps?

Almost every telemetry study records body temperature, because the transmitters change the rate of signalling with temperature. Do a search for snake thermoregulation or operative temperature, and you should find something. I'm not sure how much has been done in the tropics though. In temperate regi...
by VanAR
January 13th, 2013, 6:58 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: emergence triggers
Replies: 24
Views: 2870

Re: emergence triggers

van, what you think points towards a single event. like i am thinking. lunar. i know that temps are important, but then they should have been out on that day. we went to three different locations that day. many species would have been represented by the locations, but nothing. Not necessarily. I th...
by VanAR
January 13th, 2013, 4:41 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: emergence triggers
Replies: 24
Views: 2870

Re: emergence triggers

In my experience, the bulk of emergence occurs around the same time of year regardless of annual weather variation. There are always some early risers that may be influenced by weather, but repeated sampling often reveals that early most early risers either do it consistently from year to year, or d...
by VanAR
January 12th, 2013, 9:08 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Fenix flashlights
Replies: 31
Views: 8162

Re: Fenix flashlights

It sounds like you'd burned through most of the battery power- what you described is what happens. The unit I have didn't come with batteries so I can't comment on those batteries specifically. That said, 2.5 hours on high power probably will drain them, especially if they aren't really high-quality...
by VanAR
January 11th, 2013, 12:28 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: How do you guys make time for family while herping?
Replies: 55
Views: 23342

Re: How do you guys make time for family while herping?

so there comes the point...I have done a lot to try to tight rope everything and in my mind am more than caring to her needs lol. I'm the last person in the world who should give relationship advice, but this statement reeks of suppressed frustration and/or bitterness to me. While you don't want to...
by VanAR
January 6th, 2013, 10:49 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Fenix flashlights
Replies: 31
Views: 8162

Re: Fenix flashlights

RE: the headstrap issue on the HP11- the "problem" hasn't been corrected, but technically there isn't anything malfunctioning on the device. The problem is that the headstraps don't work straight out of the box for exactly the reasons gbp describes- the top strap is too short, and the side...
by VanAR
January 5th, 2013, 4:38 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Fenix flashlights
Replies: 31
Views: 8162

Re: Fenix flashlights

Funny Eric, I just got the Hp11 headlamp and LD41 flashlight myself. Haven't used them in the field yet but the LD41 is going to be a lot of fun. It produces 520 lumens at its high setting and can run through 4 AA batteries in about 2 hours (or less/slower at the lower settings). It's kind of like h...
by VanAR
January 5th, 2013, 3:07 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: TN Herpers
Replies: 18
Views: 6755

Re: TN Herpers

Is this a new name because I have never heard of any Racer being called that before. Nah, it's just some local vernacular, just like you sometimes hear coontail or velvet tail rattler for atrox and horridus, or cowsucker/pilot snake for ratsnake, spreading/puff adder for hognose, sand rattler for p...
by VanAR
January 5th, 2013, 2:05 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: TN Herpers
Replies: 18
Views: 6755

Re: TN Herpers

I've heard black/black-masked racers called blue racers by the uninformed throughout their range in the south. In the public's defense, I often think they look a bit blue myself.
by VanAR
January 2nd, 2013, 12:58 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: test- can anyone else see the photo?
Replies: 3
Views: 671

Re: test- can anyone else see the photo?

Scott (or other mods), please feel free to delete this thread at your convenience.
by VanAR
January 2nd, 2013, 12:57 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: test- can anyone else see the photo?
Replies: 3
Views: 671

Re: test- can anyone else see the photo?

thanks!
by VanAR
January 2nd, 2013, 12:47 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: test- can anyone else see the photo?
Replies: 3
Views: 671

test- can anyone else see the photo?

Image

thnx
by VanAR
December 31st, 2012, 6:30 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Coldest day you have ever found a herp?
Replies: 56
Views: 12989

Re: Coldest day you have ever found a herp?

Caught a speckled kingsnake at 38 degrees F once, and also saw a few salamanders. For my current research I often catch tussock skinks while there's still patches of snow on the ground, and the temps range from below freezing in the early morning to the upper teens C (mid-50s F) in the afternoon. Bl...
by VanAR
December 9th, 2012, 6:29 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Herpin' Hounds...
Replies: 27
Views: 9186

Re: Herpin' Hounds...

This is my dog, my dog is amazing. (Bonus points to anyone that can tell me the reference)
Does he taste just like raisins? :lol:
by VanAR
December 2nd, 2012, 1:54 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Who has caught a herp on hook and line?
Replies: 37
Views: 4783

Re: Who has caught a herp on hook and line?

This intrigues me; I never thought of doing this. Do the lizards basically get "in the zone," focusing on attacking the mealworm such that they don't give up even when you grab them, or do they actually swallow the mealworm and you have get them to regurge? Yeah- they grab and hold on lik...
by VanAR
December 2nd, 2012, 2:06 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Who has caught a herp on hook and line?
Replies: 37
Views: 4783

Re: Who has caught a herp on hook and line?

Not on hook, but I've found the easiest way to catch small insectivorous lizards- especially small skinks- is by fishing with a mealworm tied to a 2-3 foot length of thread dangled from a fishing rod. Beats the heck out of noosing, that's for sure.
by VanAR
November 25th, 2012, 3:23 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Snapping Turtle Poop
Replies: 11
Views: 6691

Re: Snapping Turtle Poop

It often has nuts/seeds/acorns in it...

/really
by VanAR
November 9th, 2012, 12:54 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Snake Tongs - Satan's Side Arm or God's Gift to Herpers?
Replies: 23
Views: 10992

Re: Snake Tongs - Satan's Side Arm or God's Gift to Herpers?

Tongs are excellent tools that increase safety while handling of dangerous snakes. They are less useful in handling slender elapids than fat pit vipers, but the risk of injury to the snake with whitney/m1/gentle giant-styles is much lower than some people (particularly many Australians) think. You a...
by VanAR
November 8th, 2012, 9:39 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Best place to live for herping and every day life
Replies: 114
Views: 50030

Re: Best place to live for herping and every day life

NW Arkansas is a surprisingly good choice as well. Good towns, cheap living, lots of friendly people. Good herping nearby and you're within a day's drive of most of Texas, Kansas, the Mississippi Valley, Snake Rd, etc., and 2 days of AZ, FL, etc.

Van
by VanAR
November 4th, 2012, 1:53 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Best place to live for herping and every day life
Replies: 114
Views: 50030

Re: Best place to live for herping and every day life

Sydney, Australia is pretty awesome. The upside is that it is a large, cosmopolitan city with a lot of friendly folks, good food, and culture that is easy to get out of. Herps are easy to find in the city and surrounding areas and you can get to parks using public transit alone. The downsides are th...
by VanAR
October 19th, 2012, 8:42 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Teaching a herp class - help, ideas, anything?
Replies: 17
Views: 4148

Re: Teaching a herp class - help, ideas, anything?

Your course sounds really good- I like your idea of taking them out in the field to see field work on species "in action". While some people would worry about giving up site locations, most of the time that probably won't be an issue. The herp class I took and later worked with in grad sch...
by VanAR
October 12th, 2012, 9:58 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Mountain Kingsnakes in Arizona
Replies: 49
Views: 27830

Re: Mountain Kingsnakes in Arizona

To add to Gerry's point- personally, I don't necessarily accept the evolutionary species concept as "the" be all end all answer. My goal was simply to explain why that particular paper wasn't just junk science published only to boost someone's CV/reputation. It simply does a decent job of ...
by VanAR
October 11th, 2012, 11:56 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Mountain Kingsnakes in Arizona
Replies: 49
Views: 27830

Re: Mountain Kingsnakes in Arizona

The Sagebrush Lizards in Sutter Butte are geographically and therefore reproductively isolated from other sagebrush lizards. Therefore they are evolving independently, no? But no one is claiming them to be a separate species, presumably because there hasn't been enough independent evolution - but h...
by VanAR
October 11th, 2012, 10:44 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Mountain Kingsnakes in Arizona
Replies: 49
Views: 27830

Re: Mountain Kingsnakes in Arizona

The same method that the same researchers applied to the Pyro paper, thus casting suspicion for me on the validity of the Pyro paper. Not technically true. The getula paper only analyzed a single mitochondrial gene, while the pyro paper analyzed a mitochondrial gene and two nuclear genes. Both use ...
by VanAR
October 3rd, 2012, 9:33 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Thoughts about this Virus?
Replies: 10
Views: 3901

Re: Thoughts about this Virus?

I also like how all of the articles that I've read about this event have come out of the northeast (Vermont, Massachusetts). The study was done in Alabama on Agkistrodon . While it's not impossible that the snakes in the NE carry the virus throughout the winter, the species assemblages/environment i...
by VanAR
October 2nd, 2012, 12:59 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: (Re)Discovered - a real live Lanthanotus!!
Replies: 18
Views: 5511

Re: (Re)Discovered - a real live Lanthanotus!!

By the way, are you all aware that this animal is probably the link between snakes and lizards?
Sort of. The most recent genetic evidence suggests that its placement in the Varanoids is no closer to snakes than Varanids or Helodermatids, despite some its morphological similarities.
by VanAR
October 1st, 2012, 8:57 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: 4 Belgians, 2 weeks, AZ
Replies: 76
Views: 17768

Re: 4 Belgians, 2 weeks, AZ

So anyway, I don't mean to badger you (get it, badger, ha ha, the Badger State), but...the system you describe conjures images of all sorts of unintended consequences to my mind (diminished respect for & compliance with the law being one of them...), and I am curious how these consequences are ...
by VanAR
September 28th, 2012, 7:00 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Hydrophis donaldi - news
Replies: 65
Views: 14996

Re: Hydrophis donaldi - news

Not sure how much it happens these days, but I have examples of behavioral studies done (one that comes to mind is something along the lines of reactions of Coleonyx to various snake musks) where several dozen lizards were wild-caught for the study, then euthanized...I understand why they weren't r...
by VanAR
September 28th, 2012, 4:09 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Hydrophis donaldi - news
Replies: 65
Views: 14996

Re: Hydrophis donaldi - news

I'm going to attempt to "read into" Indigo Blue's argument by asking: what if, instead of pickling a specimen of Species X, [assume here it's not extremely rare, only 9 left, difficult to keep, etc], it were maintained ALIVE by an individual or institution? What if hundreds of animals, wi...
by VanAR
September 27th, 2012, 9:23 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Hydrophis donaldi - news
Replies: 65
Views: 14996

Re: Hydrophis donaldi - news

Maybe you're under the impression that you can be persuasive here merely by staging seemingly irrational and certainly unwarranted attacks against scientists/scientific work you obviously know little or nothing about, but if so you're quite mistaken. This is 'Murica, where the uninformed, uneducate...
by VanAR
September 27th, 2012, 4:13 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Spring Timber Rattlesnakes and Forest Succession
Replies: 111
Views: 43936

Re: Spring Timber Rattlesnakes and Forest Succession

We may be reading the post differently. My interpretation was that vines and other prostrate plants can have high cover values but do not decrease substrate temperature the way taller trees and shrubs do. I agree. High canopy provides an elevated boundary layer that will absorb almost all of the so...
by VanAR
September 23rd, 2012, 6:48 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Spring Timber Rattlesnakes and Forest Succession
Replies: 111
Views: 43936

Re: Spring Timber Rattlesnakes and Forest Succession

On the cooler days in late September and October it seems that Timbers are not relying on the rocks but the leaf litter as a better heat conductor. Has any one else noticed this too? Just touching the rocks this time of year it really is surprising how cool to the touch they are in comparison to th...
by VanAR
September 20th, 2012, 3:54 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Toxicofera
Replies: 13
Views: 4067

Re: Toxicofera

You can add Xantusia (native to the New World) to this list.
Yes- I forgot about them! Do you happen to have a digital copy of Yaron's papers describing their placenta? The only paper I've been able to get online is the one that describes amino acid transport to offspring.

Van
by VanAR
September 20th, 2012, 1:07 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Toxicofera
Replies: 13
Views: 4067

Re: Toxicofera

I think Salamandra exhibit a form of viviparity similar to that of sand tiger sharks, where the female ovulates additional eggs that the larvae consume, rather than nutrients being transported across maternal and fetal tissues. This is still considered a form of matrotrophic viviparity rather than o...
by VanAR
September 18th, 2012, 11:44 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: I'm embarassed to ask, but I'm dying to know the answer...
Replies: 22
Views: 6077

Re: I'm embarassed to ask, but I'm dying to know the answer.

Regarding George T. McDuffie, his 1960 PhD thesis from U. of Cincinnati was titled "Studies on the Ecology and Life History of the Copperhead, Agkistrodon contortrix mokeson (Daudin), in Ohio". Only a small part of it, the stuff about the size and color patterns, was published in the JOHS...
by VanAR
September 17th, 2012, 9:54 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Toxicofera
Replies: 13
Views: 4067

Re: Toxicofera

Mike, ovoviviparous is now considered an obsolete term because it implies that females carry their eggs more or less as a "mobile incubation chamber", without any physiological interaction or material transport between the embryo and the female. In reality, maternal and embryonic tissues m...
by VanAR
September 10th, 2012, 12:43 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Question about holding hot snakes.
Replies: 61
Views: 31501

Re: Question about holding hot snakes.

The issue is avoiding 1/ harming the snake 2/ A serious bite. I'd reverse those. I know way too many people who've been envenomated because they handled a snake improperly because they "didn't want to hurt the snake". Not hurting the snake should definitely be a top priority, but your own...
by VanAR
September 9th, 2012, 6:14 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Question about holding hot snakes.
Replies: 61
Views: 31501

Re: Question about holding hot snakes.

This is simply not true.
Depends. I think it is true if your method of "handling" is to tail or neck. If "handling" means in a tube or squeeze box, with buckets, tools, and no direct contact, with 100% attention on the animal at all times, I think you're right.
by VanAR
September 9th, 2012, 2:59 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Toxicofera
Replies: 13
Views: 4067

Re: Toxicofera

A large part of your question depends on whether Toxicofera is a valid group- I'm not really up on that literature so I couldn't say for sure. Viviparity (giving birth to live young) has evolved independently over 100 times in the Squamata, but, as you say, has apparently not evolved once in any oth...