The Monitor

July, 2009

From the Editor's Desk

Newsletter Material

This is YOUR club. The more you give into it, the more you will get out of it. Your opinions, suggesions and submissions are welcome. Please feel free to submit any ideas or suggestions to: luvcatz7@tampabay.rr.com

President: Cayle Pearson
Vice-President: Michele Patton
Secretary: Carrie Gardner Treasurer: Doreen E. Saccardo
Chairman of the Board: John Soto
Editor: Carrie Gardner
Co-Editor: Doreen Saccardo
Field Trip Chair: Doreen Saccardo
Webmaster: Carrie Gardner
Administrative Assistant Alexander Peters

NEXT MEETING:
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
CAYLE PEARSON ON BREEDING AND SET UPS
7:00 p.m.
Moccasin Lake Nature Park
Clearwater, FL 727-462-6024
~~~~~~~~DON'T MISS IT~~~~~~~~

From our President Cayle Pearson:
If you have anything you would like to see the club do or have any ideas on field trips, etc, please contact Cayle at: diapsidevolution@gmail.com

Alton of Smelt Feed and Pet Supply is donating a $15.00 gift certificate every month for our raffle. His store is located at 4116 East 7th Avenue, Tampa, FL 33605, 813-248-2359

Web Page info: Calendar page is updated all the time as is Adoptions and Advertisements.

If you have photos you would like added to the "Club Photos" page, please email Carrie to have them added. YES, WE HAVE A PHOTO ALBUM THAT IS UP AND RUNNING AGAIN!

Carrie's Notes

Hidey Ho my fellow herpers!

RED-EARED SLIDERS: No more permits are being issued to own red-eared sliders. The state is encouraging euthanasia. HOWEVER, thanks to Pete Richardson, there is a place where they can be shipped. This is from The Turtle and Tortoise Club's July Issue: "Stacey Vajanyi and I (Marvin Bennett) have been collecting red-eared sliders from pet owners who could not or choose not to keep them anymore. These pet owners have paid us a small fee to ship these turtles to Oklahoma, ‘their home range,'. It is good to see the previous owners doing the right thing instead of dropping them in their local lakes. This is a program set up by myself and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission." If you have or know of someone who is wanting a new home for their red-eared slider, please contact Marvin Bennett at 407-851-0198 or Stacey Vajanyi 321-961-0050.

Charlie Crist and FWC are considering banning the possession, sale, breeding, or collecting of native turtles. This is being done without considering how many turtles are either collected for food, road mortality, or getting caught in crab traps. This could be passed as soon as June, 2009. Update July 2009 - I have no idea where things stand with this and will try and get some information on it.

Senator Bill Nelson has introduced Bill S373, that would ban ALL species of pythons.

Unfortunately, recent events have added fuel to the fire. It is my opinion that the owner of the Burmese python that killed the 2-year old was negligent in keeping the snake. It obviously wasn't in a secured enclosure for a snake so big, and probably underfed. However, the general public probably doesn't share this view.

SO, I think it is important to contact Senator Nelson's office and Florida media outlets to let them know how we feel. If S373 passes, all the people who responsibly own pythons of any kind will have to pay for the mistakes of the irresponsible.

You can contact Senator Bill Nelson at:
Senator Bill Nelson
Washington D.C. Office
United States Senate
716 Senate Hart Office Building
Washington D.C. 20510
202-224-5274
Fax: 202-228-2183

Following www.usark.org guidelines, it is better to write a letter or call rather than simply email politicians. I'm sure they're real quick with that "delete" button.

And please, join www.usark.org's mailing list to see what you can do to help with the increasing number of proposed bills that are coming.

And now on to the fun stuff! At the dinner after last month's meeting, we started talking about doing an Everglades trip for herping. The more the merrier! In that regards, it is a good thing that snakes can't hear, because we'd scare them away. I'm looking forward to seeing the alligators as well. Of course, we will have to keep Doreen away from ANY water since she likes to jump in it and get everybody wet. I would say something like "ACT YOUR AGE!" but since I refuse to act my age, I suppose I can't expect anyone else too either. I'll have to dig out my video camera. See more about this in Doreen's column.

Ciao,
Carrie

Doreen's Column

Hi there~~~

*****Last month our guest speaker was Bill Murray. He and Melissa went herping in the southwest. He had some awesome slides. See Carrie's recap.

*****This month our guest speaker will be Cayle Pearson. He will be talking about breeding and set ups. I have been doing a lot of traveling this month and did not realize that the meeting was coming up so fast. In fact, when Carrie called me, I was on Alligator Alley coming back from the East Coast. I was looking for gators, but could not find even one. I did put a few emails and phone calls out for speakers, but did not get any call backs. So Cayle is doing the club a BIG favor by putting a talk together. I appreciate that a lot.

*****This past weekend, Repticon put on a reptile show at the Tampa Fairgrounds. John Soto and Cayle Pearson set up a table there. John said the show was pretty good and he sold a few things and made a lot of contacts. I know Toni Sutton and Marilyn Zappone were there also. We will hear more about that at the meeting.

*****Please make sure you update my email to iguanadoreen@hotmail.com Thanks.

*****A few of us were talking about talking a road trip to the Everglades the third weekend in September 17-20. I checked the price of a van and it will cost $250 from Thursday to Sunday. Melissa was going to check the area where hotels are and I will see if I can get a hotel in the area around Homestead. If you are interested in this trip, please let me know. We will talk more about it at the meeting.

*****We will have our Scavenger Hunt in September at Moccasin Lake so we will be doing a lot of exploring that month.

*****Please note that there are a lot of people who owe dues. If you see your label that says last issue, or you have not been receiving the newsletter, please pay your dues. It is only $15 per year and this fee helps with the cost of printing and postage, which just happened to go up again last month. Thanks for that.

*****I want to continually thank Carrie for doing all she does for the club. She keeps up with the newsletter and website. I also want to thank Alice for keeping up with the member list and my monthly reminder call.

*****Happy Birthday to:
July 12 ~~ Bill Murray
July 27 ~~ Melissa Coakley
August 6 ~~ Laura Vandervoort

*****If your name is not on the birthday list, let me know and I will add it. (Either I forgot or don't have it).

*****Thank you to all who do their part for this club. That is what makes our society the GREATEST in the league.

*****Have a herpy day!! Doreen~~

Speaker Recap by Carrie

Bill Murray was last month's speaker. He and his girlfriend Melissa (also a member and former speaker) took a trip out west for a herping adventure. For around $827, they were able to go to Vegas (via Los Angeles), stay at Circus Circus, go to a couple of expensive shows and get a rental car with unlimited miles (they put almost 3,000 miles on it too). Not a bad deal. From their hub in Vegas, they went to Arizona and California, as well as Nevada (of course).

The first picture that Bill showed was of a western rattlesnake. It was a beautiful shot, clearly showing the rattle. It is said that captive rattlesnakes have longer rattles because they don't bang it against things and break it off, like the wild rattlesnakes do. However, Bill said that was the exception rather than the rule. Most of the rattlesnakes they found, even roadkill, had long rattles.

The first thing they did when they got to Vegas was go out to the outskirts of the city where there had been construction. Of course, Nevada was one of the hardest hit states with the housing boom, and I'm sure there are a lot of projects started and discarded. This leaves construction debris, which reptiles like to hide under to get out of the desert sun. Garbage and debris are a great place to find snakes and lizards. They found several scorpions (none more than 4 inches) and desert iguanas, the largest being around 14 inches. While cute little lizards, they are high maintenance, requiring a temperature range of 90-117 degrees. And I would assume, being called DESERT iguanas, that they aren't a huge fan of humidity. They brought one home that they found in California that was sickly. He seems to have bounced back though, and is even regrowing his tail.

They went over the Hoover Dam (where it sounds like security has increased since I was there in 1993) and into Arizona, taking the first right that they could. They chose this way so they wouldn't get lost, and to protect themselves from illegal immigrants that cross over the border. It can be dangerous, since they prefer driving to walking and would gladly take your car by force if necessary. Prime locations for finding reptiles here were mountains and rock croppings or rock cuts, made from when they dynamited the area to make the road. Since they explored at night, they would see a foot or a tail, turn off the flashlight and snap a picture, hoping that they got the picture. The days belonged to lizards, and the nights belonged to the snakes, who were looking for the sleeping lizards or rodents for food.

Another way to look for snakes was to go out on the roads at night. During the days, snakes remain hidden and cool, but when they come out at night, they will lay on the roads to heat themselves up for the night's activities. The asphalt holds all the heat from the day . . . making it a great time to go find them. Incidently, that's also what snakes do down here in Florida, too. I remember an article from Bill Love stating that the best time to go looking for snakes in the Everglades was at night, driving along roads. Of course, after you find the snake, and take pictures and make him really mad, you remove him from the road so he doesn't become vulture pickings the next day.

Another place they went to was Red Rock Canyon, a place they were hoping to find the desert tortoise. They didn't see any tortoises on this trip. The tortoises don't like mountain areas, and unfortunately Las Vegas would've been a prime habitat for them. Bill and Melissa could've gone to places to see them, but it would've required permits and permission from Fish and Wildlife and state agencies, which would've taken a couple of weeks to obtain. Other animals they didn't see were frogs or toads, but that may be because it wasn't the season for them.

They saw many snakes like the glossy snake, shovel-nosed snake, Mojave rattlesnake, speckled rattlesnake, night snake, a rosy boa (which Bill brought home with him on the plane, along with the desert iguana), sharp-tail snake, long-nose snake, and a sidewinder. Many of these snakes were roadkills, and looked deliberate. Which is a sad commentary on how humans treat animals.

Bill saved a western diamondback that was crossing a road that was a truck route. They took their pictures, and then using one hook at first, and then two, Bill was able to get him across. The snake was warm and in a tizzy so there is a picture of Bill holding him as far out as he could while running across the road.

They also saw tons of lizards, which they couldn't name because many looked very similar. Already mentioned was the desert iguana, but they also got to see a Chuckwalla (American uromastyx), who crossed the road ahead of them and ran into a tire and bounced off of it, stunning himself (Luckily for him), and an American type of leopard gecko.

In Bagdad, AZ, where the truck route was, there were also free ranging cattle (it was a picture of spooky glowing eyes). I can't imagine it's very safe to have them wandering about when trucks are thundering down the road at high speeds. And it was a winding road, so even the posted speed seemed too high for Bill and Melissa.

They went into Death Valley and visited an abandoned casino. There are plenty of old metal, mines and abandoned mining equipment and abandoned ranches and buildings. Making it another great place to look for reptiles. They didn't find any of Manson's followers or any bodies left behind, which I suppose is a good thing. They did find lots of donkeys . . . used by miners to carry equipment and supplies (sometimes that was the only way miners could get to the mines), they were either let loose or were escapees. They travel around to different towns in the desert and are very tame, being fed by humans.

The last place that they went to that I want to mention was "The Wash" in California. It is a herping secret and a great place to find and rescue reptiles. It is a concrete structure (like a viaduct?) that helps with irrigation and flooding. Well, California has been in a drought forever, so it isn't really used so the wash has found a second life as a garbage dump. Snakes and lizards get in and can't get out, and use the garbage for protection from the sun and predators. Herpers that go in there will move the garbage off to the side, since that is where most of the animals stay. Bill found a sidewinder in a tire. Being very excited, he lost all sense, and decided to rescue the feisty little snake (only around 10 inches) with paneling that he found around the wash, NOT his snake hooks. He even used paneling to hold the bag that he EVENTUALLY got the snake in. It is here that I must insert a disclaimer: *DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!*. They had video of the snake sidewinding away from Bill. It was a beautiful snake and I'm glad that Bill and Melissa were there to save him.

It sounded like an awesome trip and I'm glad that Bill and Melissa shared it with us. There was beautiful scenery, cactuses, flowers. Thank you!

Michele's Musings

Bird eggs vs. Reptile eggs

Not all eggs are the same. When we think of eggs what usually comes to mind is a perfectly oval shaped white egg safely packed in a carton. Most of us don't think of the countless other types of eggs that exist in the animal world. In fact, most animals on our planet lay eggs instead of live birth. These eggs can be very varied though. Some eggs are slimy, some are leathery. Some eggs are laid in nests, while others are neatly connected in strands, or glued together using foam.

Most of us are familiar with the standard bird egg. Bird eggs come in a wide range of sizes and colors. What sets bird eggs apart from most other eggs is their hard outer shell. The award for the largest egg produced by a living species of bird belongs to the ostrich. Ostriches can produce an egg that is 6 inches long and weighs 3 pounds! The smallest bird egg is laid by the bee hummingbird.

Reptiles lay eggs just like birds. Their eggs look and feel a little different though. Instead of having a hard and crunchy outer shell, reptile eggs feel leathery. Lizard and snake eggs tend to be especially soft, while the eggs of tortoises, turtles, and crocodilians are harder. All of them, however, are softer than bird eggs. Reptiles fertilize their eggs internally as do birds. Some reptiles appear to give live birth, but it's not quite as it seems. What is actually happening is that the egg is hatching inside the female and the young emerge alive. There is, however, no placental relationship between the young and their mother. The egg develops on its own inside of her.

Amphibians also lay eggs. Amphibians include such animals as frogs, toads, salamanders, caecilians and newts. Their eggs lack the harder outer shells that characterize bird and reptile eggs. Instead, they are slimy and gel-like in texture. Since they have no hard outer layer, they are prone to water loss. For this reason, many amphibians lay their eggs directly in water. Some species of frogs will lay their eggs outside of water but use moist foam to keep the eggs from drying out. In frogs and toads, egg fertilization occurs externally. The amplexus or 'clasping' posture ensures that the male fertilizes as many eggs as possible. In most other amphibians, fertilization occurs internally. In frogs and toads, eggs are laid in what are sometimes very elaborately constructed strands or clumps. The larvae or tadpole hatches to begin its metamorphosis. There are many variations on this procedure among amphibians. Some amphibians retain their immature larval form, and some complete the metamorphosis inside the egg and hatch as miniature adults. Amphibians have some of the most fascinating eggs/reproductive strategies in the animal world.

Press Release From www.usark.org Re: Florida Python Released To AP:

WILMINGTON, N.C. (July 2, 2009) - The United States Association of Reptile Keepers (USARK) was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death of 2-year old Shaiunna Hare, who was killed in her home in Oxford, Florida Wednesday morning. Although authorities have not ruled out foul play, the Sumter County Sheriff's Office has initially reported the cause of death to be a 8-foot Burmese Python that was being kept in the home as a pet. The Sheriff's Office further reported that the family did not have the necessary permits to handle or keep the snake, nor did they have the required caging or follow proper safety protocols as mandated under Florida State law.

Florida Fish & Wildlife and the Florida Reptile Community have established strict guidelines for ownership of this type of animal within the state. Burmese Pythons are a ‘Reptile of Concern' and fall under a statute requiring an annual permit. There are strict guidelines for secure caging, education and experience requirements and inspections. USARK is a strong advocate of handling and safety protocols and industry best operating procedures. We would like to recognize Florida Fish & Wildlife, Sumter County Sheriffs Dept. and Lake- Sumter EMS for handling this emotionally delicate situation in such an even-handed and professional manner.

"Although we still have a lot of questions, this is a tragedy that could have been prevented and that is truly heart wrenching", said USARK President Andrew Wyatt. "Ownership of any animal requires a great deal of responsibility, and reptiles are no different. USARK works with states across the nation to implement strong safeguards aimed at preventing situations like this from ever occurring", added Wyatt. "Unfortunately animal related tragedies are not uncommon. Dozens are killed every year by dogs and horses. This case is unusual because there is a snake involved; but even more so because of the apparent gross negligence and disregard for law. There are strong laws in place in Florida. If the laws had been followed this death would never have occurred. Our heart goes out to the family as they deal with this tragedy and wrestle with the knowledge that they played a major role in it."

The US Association of Reptile Keepers (USARK) is a science and education-based advocate for the responsible private ownership of, and trade in reptiles. Widely recognized as setting the standard for safe responsible reptile keeping nationwide, USARK endorses caging standards, sound husbandry, escape prevention protocols, and an integrated approach to vital conservation issues. Its goal is to facilitate cooperation between government agencies, the scientific community, and the private sector in order to produce policy proposals that will effectively address important husbandry and conservation issues. The health of these animals, public safety, and maintaining ecological integrity are its primary concerns.

Currently USARK has state legislation pending in North Carolina that would require secure caging standards, safety & escape prevention protocols as well as penalties for negligence and violations.

Contributors: Andrew Wyatt (President USARK), Dennis Sargent (Fl. Reptile community) & Greg Graziani (Fl. Reptile community)

Until Next Month,
Carrie

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