welcome to lancaster herpetological...
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to Lancaster
Herpetological Society!
2015 Lancaster Herp Society Board Members Caleb Hulse, President
Jesse Rothacker, Vice President Roy Mellott, Treasurer
Kelsey Frey, Secretary and Media Director Dave McNaughton Pam Hartmoyer Kent Hartmoyer Adam Mattel
Has anyone been herping lately??
American Toad York County Kelsey
Roy was herping at DragonCon
Snapping Turtle Shell Chestnut Orchards, Lancaster County Kelsey
Spotted Turtle with telemetry backpack Dave M.
Baby Spotted Turtle Dave M.
11 Fourtoed Salamanders found in new spot Dave M. Lebanon County
Jesse Green Frogs in yard active and sunning! American Toad
Clarke small frogs crossing roads Lebanon County
Roy Northern Brown Snake & American Toads Lititz Lancaster County
Roy South Carolina Myrtle Beach Gators, Cottonmouth
Adam Family of Toads under the steps behind the house Adams County
Kent Racer Swatara State Park
Janet Bio Prof at F&M Redbacked Salamanders at Climbers Run. Starting survey of salamanders Trout Run? and Elders Run? Looking for individuals, habitat use,
size….. Anyone with suggestions for study please contact her.
Andy Adams New location for Marbled Salamanders, Eastern Spadefoots Maryland End of Sept
Has anyone gotten any new pet herps?
Leo Leopard Tortoise Monica B., Ella, Cassie
Baby Crested Geckos Zach Barton
UnderGroundReptiles Musk Turtles w/ eye issues, Sulfur Cornsnake (3x recessive) Zach
Available at the rescue (Forgotten Friend
Reptile Sanctuary):
Redtail Boa x3 Ball Pythons
African Rock Python Find out more on www.ForgottenFriend.org
Immediate adoption opportunity: this 11foot, 22pound retic needs a caring, experienced home asap. He's currently
living in Fleetwood, PA. If you want to give this snake some TLC and have plenty of experience with large constrictors, please contact the current owner for more info on
this adoption: Chris 6103337049
Herps in the News?
Python Eats Porcupine On June 14, a cyclist riding along one of the mountain bike
trails at the Lake Eland Game Reserve in KwaZuluNatal,
South Africa, spotted a very engorged snake. The cyclist
snapped a few photos of the gluttonous python and posted
them to social media, where they quickly attracted the
attention of locals who wanted to see the python
themselves. Lots of people came to the park in the following days just to view the swollen snake, according to Jennifer Fuller,
general manager at the game reserve.
But on Saturday, June 20, park rangers found the python dead near the bike trail. They decided to cut it open and have a look inside. What they found was one heck of a snack: a
30lb. (13.8 kilograms) porcupine.
It isn't unusual for pythons to eat porcupines, Fuller told Live Science in an email. In fact, many species
of snakes eat porcupines and other horned or quilled animals, according to a study published in 2003 in the Phyllomedusa Journal of Herpetology. And while a 30lb. meal might sound like too much
to digest, it isn't if you're a python.
Despite popular belief, a python's jaw does not actually dislocate when the snake is eating. The two lower jaws move independently of one another, and the quadrate bone at the back of the head attaches the jaw loosely to the skull, allowing the jaw to
move around freely.
Full Article: http://www.livescience.com/51364pythoneatsporcupine.html
Rare Turtle Gets a Second Chance
Federally endangered
Plymouth redbellies
(or “northern
red-bellied cooters,” as herpetologists prefer) exist only in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. They’re a
“disjunct population” of the red-bellied cooter, whose northern range ends 250 miles south of
Massachusetts.
The division farms out hatchlings to 23 volunteer groups — mostly schools. So far, it has released 3,878
headstarts in suitable habitat. The wild population has increased by a factor of about 10 and is thought
to be reproducing in at least 13 ponds and two river systems.
http://blog.nature.org/science/2015/09/09/recoveryrareturtlegetsasecondchance/?src=e.nature&lu=1044905&loc=b6
Indigos Return: A Florida Breeding Program Raises Eastern Indigo Snakes for Reintroduction
The longest nonvenomous snake in North America, indigo snakes can reach lengths of more than 8 feet. Poundforpound they need as much territory as a lion — males patrol more than 3,000 acres — which is the largest home range of any North American snake. And like lions, indigo snakes are apex predators, devouring just about anything they can overpower, including small alligators, turtles, small mammals, birds, and even rattlesnakes. Once widespread throughout the southeast, today indigos are only found, with difficulty, in peninsular
Florida and southern Georgia. “The species is declining almost to point of disappearing in the
western portion of its range,” says Stevenson.
Habitat loss and fragmentation are the major culprits, as is the case with the decline of another emblematic Florida reptile, the gopher tortoise. Gopher tortoises excavate deep burrows, which indigo snakes and more than 350 other Florida species depend upon to stay warm during periodic winter freezes. When tortoise populations crashed in northern Florida, indigo snakes soon followed.…..
Born in August 2014, these snakes still have nearly a year to go before they will be released into in the wild. In the spring of 2016, the OCIC and the Conservancy will release 20 snakes into the Conservancy’s Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve in North Florida. About 30 others will head to southern Alabama’s Conecuh National Forest, where the OCIC and Auburn University have released nearly 100 indigos over the last four years.
http://blog.nature.org/science/2015/08/17/indigosreturnafloridabreedingprogramraiseseasternindigosnakesforreintroduction/?src=e.nature&lu=1044905&loc=b4
Michael Musnick is a citizen
scientist who studies wood turtles in the Great Swamp — a stretch of wetland 60 miles north of New York City. He found turtles dying in the railroad tracks and proposed a solution to the Metropolitan
Transportation...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113208985
Turtle Survival Alliance has been called on to assist in the rescue and rehabilitation of 771 critically
endangered tortoises, confiscated from the illegal
wildlife trade in Madagascar. The seizure which consisted of Radiated and Ploughshare
Tortoises occurred Monday when customs officials at the Ivato Airport noticed two suspicious packages. The tortoises, hidden
in two packages of socks and children's diapers were in route to Malaysia, destined for the black market.
RARE SALAMANDERS PROTECTED
IN GUATEMALA
Two rare salamander species lost to science for nearly 40 years have not only been
recently rediscovered, but the Amphibian Survival Alliance and a consortium of
international groups has protected some of the last remaining forest home of the
salamanders just in the nick of time.
Critical habitat of the Finca Chiblac salamander (Bradytriton silus) and the longlimbed
salamander (Nyctanolis pernix) in Guatemala’s Cuchumatanes mountain range had
been slated for imminent clearing for coffee production.
http://www.amphibians.org/news/salamanderslostfoundsaved/#.Vg2CZF4BDT0.facebook
Your Lawn Gives Frogs a Sex Change
So what's the culprit? He said that while lawn chemicals couldn't be ruled out as a cause of the sex changes, the main driver may be endocrine-disrupting chemicals that occur naturally in some plants, known as
phyto-estrogens. These compounds turn out to be rare in most forest plants but abundant in common lawn plants like clover (often added to lawn grass mixes) and various ornamental shrubs, he said. Whatever the cause, "our work shows that for frogs, the suburbs are similar to farm areas," he said—meaning that both of these human-dominated landscape types offer plenty of room for frogs to roam but may be subtly poisoning them. http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2015/09/your-lawn-giving-frogs-sex-change
Florida just added another feature to its winter tourism – a great python hunt
All you need to join the hunt is $25 for
an application and a passing grade on
an online test designed to help you
distinguish between newly arrived
pythons and native snakes that have
lived through the scrub brush and
muck for eons. The month-long event
is set for Jan. 16. When the last
python challenge was held about three years ago, nearly 1,600 people showed up with everything
from clubs to knives to guns. They had the best intentions. Most thought they could rid the
Everglades of Florida’s worst swamp thing. But most had no idea about what they were doing. They
were terrible at actually tracking, catching and lopping the heads off pythons.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/10/13/hate-giant-pythons-florida-wants-you-to-come-kill-a-few/
Upcoming LHS events ●Next Meeting: November 20th: Vlad Rep Biodiversity of
Snakes at Shippensburg University ●December 18th: Holiday Social
● December 2015: Board Member Elections: POSITIONS AVAILABLE. Please consider joining our planning team.
● Currently Making 2016 Schedule!!! Please submit your speaker and field trip ideas to Kelsey, Jesse, or Pam!
^^ Blue Rocks Family Campground, near Hamburg Field Trip 2016??? w/ Staten
Island Herp Club Late Summer Stream and Boulder Field
Are there any other nature events we should know about?
● Turtle Intensives Regional Turtle Conservation Meeting Nov 14 Ossining, NY Free [email protected] or TurtleIntensives.org for more info. ●Entomological Society of Pennsylvania is meeting at Climber's Run Nature Preserve November 67. See Dave
for details!! ● NY Turtle and Tortoise Society Seminar: Oct 24 More info:
http://nytts.org/nytts/sem2015.htm ● November 14, 2015 York Reptile and Pet Expo!
● TOMORROW HAMBURG!!!! Crested Salamanders! Michael Shrom
and now…
Andy Adams
Andy explained the awesome project underway to discover the range of Hellbenders in southern Susquehanna river. Andy’s team at Susquahannock Wildlife Society has been collecting water samples close to suitable habitat and sending them out
to test for hellbender DNA. Support the Susquehannock Wildlife Society at:
http://www.susquehannockwildlife.org/