The Monitor

June, 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. You may submit articles by the Monday or Tuesday THE WEEK BEFORE a meeting 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, June 17, 2009
BILL MURRAY ON HIS HERPING TRIP OUT WEST
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 would like to receive updates on the website via email, please scroll down to the bottom of the home page and join Yahoo! Groups. Choose to receive email or daily digest. I send out an email to the list every time a change is made.

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 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.

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

Ciao,
Carrie

Doreen's Column

Hi there~~~

*****Last month our guest speaker was Allen Worsham. This was the first time Allen Spoke in front of a crowd and he did a terrific job. He is well organized, very clean and spends a lot of time taking care of his animals. I would highly recommend Allen as a person to buy snakes from.

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

*****I recently received a call from a woman who had two black snakes in her garage and wanted someone to come out to remove them. I called Mike Henry to her rescue (or to the snakes' rescue, however you want to look at it). He removed one and could not get the other. I talked to the woman a few days later and she was brave enough to find and remove the other with a broom. (Better a broom than whacking it with a shovel). She was very happy that we sent someone to help.

*****I received another call about an injured tortoise, but when I called back the next day, the woman took the tortoise to the animal hospital in Tarpon Springs, (right near the Hampton Inn & Suites) and they took care of it.

*****I know Bill Murray was talking about the Turtle and Tortoise club taking a field trip to see George Van Horn's place in St. Cloud. We went a few years back and had a lot of fun.

*****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:
June 3 ~~ John Soto
June 4 ~~ Kirk Burness
June 19 ~~Alice Gardner
June 20 ~~ Cayle Pearson
June 22 ~~ John Sheridan
July 12 ~~ Bill Murray
July 27 ~~ Melissa Coakley

*****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

Allen Worsham was our guest speaker last month. He breeds Central American milksnakes and ball pythons.

Now I hate to admit this, but my recorder decided to record only the beginning and then loop itself around so it repeated. My article will be on written from my memory . . . and considering that I can't remember what I did a half hour ago, I know I won't get all the information I wanted to talk about in here.

Allen has a separate climate-controlled building for his reptiles. The snakes are kept in a rack system with heat tape in the back and air holes in the front. It is very efficient. This system makes it easy to clean. Allen has a cart, much like a nurse has, when dispensing medicine. This cart has everything he needs to clean the tubs in the rack. There are extra tubs that he can set up and put the snakes in, so he can take the dirty ones outside to clean. He sterilizes them, using bleach, and rinses several times to make sure that there is no residue left to harm the animals (or turn them platinum blonde). They are cleaned at least once a week, and sometimes more, if the snake decides to be a slob.

The breeders and hatchlings are kept in separate areas. And the milksnake hatchlings need a special rack system. They are so tiny when they are born that they can squeeze through the air holes. It is not a good idea to allow children to run amuck!

Python hatchlings are bigger and don't require the smaller confinement. Keeping ball pythons in trays is fine. In their natural habitat, their habitation is in termite mounds during the heat of heat day. That makes sense to me since my ball python is either in his cold side large cave or his warm side cave, except when he is hungry, and then he lies on top of the caves or on his branch.

To incubate, he uses Styrofoam containers connected to thermostats on heat pads. He places the eggs in a deli container containing a substrate that holds moisture. Also in the container is a thermometer and a container of water for humidity. And just in case the thermostat doesn't work, or fluctuates, he also keeps a simple thermometer and hydrometer in there. He uses the plain old inexpensive thermometers, and a temp gun. However he pointed out (and this is true) that you can point a tempgun at something and press it several times, and each time you will get a different temperature.

When the eggs hatch, the hatchlings go into the correct sized tubs and are fed once a week. When the milksnake hatchlings get bigger, they are moved into the bigger tubs, where they are disappointed to find themselves too big to sneak out and party.

Allen raises his own food. He keeps the rodents in a closet like structure, and has a lot of stick it notes so he can quickly find the size of the mouse or rat he needs.

Record keeping is very important too, and he keeps very accurate notes as well as cards on the different snakes. He records when they have eaten, shed, defecated, etc. I assume on the hatchlings, he also has dates of birth and parents as well. It is very important to keep track of these things so you can gauge their health.

There were wonderful pictures of Allen's snakes. Especially a female Honduran (I believe) that was bright red and yellow and/or orange. She was either gravid or just layed eggs, and couldn't make the trip, however, her mate was brought and he was just as beautiful.

He also shared pictures of two green tree pythons he has (or is it emerald boas?). They were both folded in the typical way on their branches. A male and a female, they had to be kept in separate cages because the female was quite moody. As a whole, these are not the best snakes to keep. They are very nippy and can be aggressive. Attached to the main branch is a smaller secondary branch that they can go on if they want to. I imagine that they stay in that folded up position during the day to camouflage with the leaves on a tree. Only once have I seen these snakes unfolded and stretched out . . . at Lowery Park Zoo. Every other time, they are folded up over the branch. But at night they come down and move. And this is when they get nippy. Doreen said that she watched one and the owner told her to come during the day because at night it would bite.

The evening ended with Allen bringing out beautiful Honduran milksnake and a cornsnake. There were many photo opportunities and the kids had a blast holding them.

I would definitely buy a snake from Allen (if I had room for one). If you're interested in seeing what Allen has, you can contact him here:
Allen Worsham
813-973-1770
www.allensreptiles.com allen@allenreptiles.com

I apologize if I got anything wrong or omitted anything in my talk. Hopefully my recorder will be working this month (and I will be taking notes just in case). Silly me, I thought digital recorders were a step above, oh, say, a broken record!!

Michele's Musings

Common Snake Myths and the Truth

· Angry snakes chase people who get too close.

This myth is exacerbated by frightened people who had the misfortune of startling an unaware snake while out for a walk in the woods. Typically, when someone happens upon a snake in the wild, both the person and snake are caught off guard, so both slip into a state of panic. Like the frightened person, the snake also has a sudden drive to flee and picks the quickest escape route. Sometimes the escape route just happens to be the same for the snake and person.

· Snakes go blind during the heat of summer.

Snakes do not simply go blind based on temperature or time of year. Snakes close to shedding their skins do experience a temporary loss of vision as their old ocular scales begin to separate from new ones developing underneath. During this time, a snake's eyes appear a milky-blue color. In captivity, this period of temporary blindness may happen anytime before a shed, but snakes in the wild typically do not always eat as much as captive snakes, so they shed less often. In nature, especially in the southern United States, a great many snakes slip into a shed cycle in late summer, so perhaps the myth that all snakes "go blind" was born during this time of year.

· There is no such thing as a mother snake.

Most snake species that lay eggs or give live birth might never again encounter their young. Baby snakes are born perfectly fit for survival, so parental care is not necessary.

However, a recent discovery in central Africa has changed this myth – at least for one snake species. The African rock python is the only snake in the world that actually "cares" for its young. Typically depositing a clutch of 20 to 90 eggs, female rock pythons have long been known to encircle and vigorously defend their eggs until they hatch. This is a tactic many boid snakes species do to protect their eggs. It was thought that rock python's parental care ended there. But new discoveries suggest female rock pythons keep their young near them for more than 4 months after hatching. These young snakes enjoy their mother's protection from potential predators. Field research herpetologists speculate the warmth absorbed by the mother during the day helps to sustain the young snakes' high body temperature as she coils around them at night. A mother snake may be a rare occurrence, but they do exist.

· Female snakes protect broods inside their mouths.

The root of this myth has only been reported with live-bearing snake species, and many employ a unique self-preservation tactic. Giving birth to young is physically taxing on both the mother and young. Perhaps 5 % of young are stillborn as a result, or die soon after birth because they are too weak to break free of their placental sacs. The mother does not overlook these dead babies as a potential food source. In her weakened state, she needs all the nourishment she can get, even if it means cannibalizing her young. North American water snakes, cottonmouths, copperheads, and especially the South American anacondas are known to eat stillborn young or those otherwise unable to survive soon after birth.

This myth probably came about when a person walking near a pond happened upon a female water snake just finishing giving birth. As young snakes slithered everywhere, the mother snake may have had one or more tails of dead young hanging from her mouth. The person approached, the living babies scattered, but the weakened mother resorted to a mouth-gaping and hissing defense display, revealing the tails of the dead babies. This chain of events could have led the person to conclude the mother was standing her ground while her young "fled" into her mouth for protection.

. Rattlesnakes always rattle a warning before they strike.

This myth is simply not true. Rattlesnakes evolved rattles to announce their presence in a landscape filled with large, hoofed herbivores. Rattlesnakes can produce a surprisingly loud, crisp buzz that can be heard many yards away. When a bison or other large mammal weighing 1,000 to 2,000 pounds moves through thick vegetation, the rattlesnake can detect the approaching animal's vibrations through the ground. The bison quickly learn to heed the loud buzz warning of the rattlesnake. This survival tactic benefits both the rattlesnake; by not getting stepped on and benefits the bison by not sustaining a painful, crippling snakebite.

A rattlesnake is less likely to feel the approaching footsteps of a 170 pound person even less likely to detect the sneaker-dampened approach of a 75 pound child. Thus people have a greater chance of surprising a rattlesnake and getting being bitten.

. Snakes cannot strike underwater.

This myth is false. How could a snake, such as a red-bellied water snake, which eats a diet consisting of fish, tadpoles and aquatic frogs, possibly subdue its prey without the ability to strike underwater? There are also sea snakes that spend most of their lives in the ocean and dine only on fish, freshly molted crabs and other marine animals.

. Some snakes can sting with their tails.

This myth originates from two snake species found throughout the southern United States.

The 1st species is the copperhead. When born, young copperheads are tan and copper over most of their bodies, but their tail tips are vibrant yellow to green. Some people say this highly visible coloration is a sign of the tail's venomous "sting"; the tail's actual purpose is to attract prey. As the baby copperhead lies motionless camouflaged among leaf litter near the edge of a forest stream, it raises the tips of its tail out of the leaves and wiggles and twitches it about. This lure closely resembles a worm or caterpillar. It attracts a hungry frog or toad, the young copperhead then makes a meal out of the unfortunate amphibian.

The 2nd species contributing to the stinging snake myth is the eastern mud snake. Found throughout the swamps and wetlands of the southeast coast, this snake has a sharply pointed tail. The pointed tail aids the snake in manipulating its slippery prey of salamanders and fish into an alignment allowing for ease of swallowing. The tail is also used as a deterrent against predators in being repeatedly pressed against the skin of the aggressor. This snake adopts a unique defensive posture when flight into water or soft mud is not an option. It holds its tail aloft from its body and curls the rigid tip into an aggressive spearlike implement. This tail-coiling posture is particularly prevalent in the western subspecies also called "hoop snake", which is found in eastern Texas north to southern Illinois. The mud snake's posturing and skin-poking has earned the species nicknames like "horn snake", "stinging snake", and "scorpion snake".

Reference: Reptiles USA 2008 Annual Issue

Until Next Month,
Carrie

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