This morning, just broke 100 snake captures for the 2023 season. These are all captured-and-released for personal research project my wife and I have going on.


Prairie rattlesnake no. 98.



Western terrestrial garter snake no. 101. (Snakes no. 99 and no. 100 were roadkills; not too photogenic).



Western racer no. 102.


It's slow this year. We usually end up 300-400 snakes per year.

Jack

Nice goal met, Jack.

How neat to have racers in your area. They are not here . Used to catch them in Florida, though.

can you differentiate any recaptures ?

If you ever want to hit the 300 mark on cottonmouths just head on down. We’ll have you hitting that in weeks vs months.

No. I screwed up 15 years ago when I started this project, not taking the time to clip scales. Better than that, it's now possible to implant each snake with a pit tag, buy a reader (for a $1000), and scan each snake for a tag. Simple to do, but takes time. I wish I'd have done that and I'd have data on growth rates, mortality rates, home ranges, etc. Didn't know I'd be doing it this long nor at this intensity. Opportunities lost, huh?

Jack

I've never seen a cottonmouth in my life. That'd be cool!

Jack

They are fascinating snakes, Sharon. My biggest problem, however, is that I only can catch about half of what I see. They are aptly named, and I don't get around so good any more.

Jack

Haha. I wish I had a video of when I told the boys if they catch that Black Racer I’d give them $20. It was in some clean planted pines and that snake wore out 2 little boys. They never caught it but it wasn’t from a lack of trying!!

Yes for sure but I am sure what you have will be valuable to some other researcher one of these days.

Here ya go…I love these snakes. Most docile venomous snake I’ve come across.

Superb! Thanks Wanna Be!!!

Jack

They are fast.

I learned to catch them just by doing the opposite. Slow down. I'd follow them until they would pause , thinking they were hiding in a clump of grass, leaves, under a rock, or wood.

The bigger ones, which were the ones I always wanted to catch, would always leave some part of them out in the open, for me to grab hold of. Usually a tail, or a section further up. I'd just reach down, slowly close my fingers on either side of them, til I was almost touching ...then close for the catch. I never grasped them too hard. You learn just how much to grip them , knowing it isn't raw power pulling, but rather sideways twists to keep threading into my fingers.

My faves to catch were the green tree snakes and the lovely Blue Indigo.

Typically, people think of the south being covered up with snakes. I dont know if it is because of the numerous herons and egrets, feral hogs, alligators, coons, or something else - but I dont see ten snakes a year now. Ten years ago, I might see ten a day. No more.

Your racer have a red belly? Our little ones here do. and here are some eastern rattlers

Jack, do you ever put out tin, plywood, paneling, carpet or anything else for the snakes to hide under. That's how we caught big numbers when I was young. We would lay the materials on the edges of woodlines, around small fields. We would also set large flat rocks up on a small rock, at the edges of creeks. When I was older, a friend and I would drive to South East, Ohio and cruise the roads, especially on days where there was a mix of small thunderstorms and sun. We also would search all the dump spots we knew on public land. Tin and old roofing tiles were always productive for us, except in one area that had a lot of wild boar, where we never found a single snake. We would put found useful debris in better locations too.

In late February to early March, on sunny days, I would go to the garter snake denning areas I knew. Often, I could catch close to 100 garter snakes at one spot. I caught 128, at my best spot one year, in 2 days. 117 the first day and 11 more the second.

Keith

KeithC -

Yes. I do use cover boards ("tin" roofing seems to be the best) in some areas for some species. In north Idaho, I spent a lot of time flipping rocks in the spring and learned that was the best way to document northern alligator lizards, Coeur d'Alene salamanders, and blue-tailed skinks.

Jack

Tin roofing always seemed the best to us too. I think it's because it doesn't sink into the ground much, because it's so light. Propping up heavier materials with rocks or sticks, seems to make them better habitat.

The area I grew up in was almost devoid of salamanders. I only caught 2 Blue Spotted Salamanders, in the woods by my parents house, in 15 plus years of hunting. They were the only 2 salamanders I ever caught there. Blue Spotted Salamanders are endangered in Ohio and 1 of the only 2 endangered species I ever found.

The other endangered species I found was the beautiful Kirtland's Snake. My youngest brother, Nick, our friend Chad and I went to a pond where Chad's dad and later Chad worked. I caught 22 Kirtland's Snakes and Chad and Nick each caught 2. The only other place I caught one was about 45 miles from Cleveland.

The Northern Alligator Lizards are neat looking. I caught 3 under loose rocks, behind my brother's shop in Chehalis, Washington.

The State of Idaho and possibly some local universities, may give or loan you a PIT Tag Reader, if you share your data with them. Ohio is pretty generous with people working on a Scientific Collectors Permit.

Keith

Keith -

PM coming your way.

Could probably hit that mark in two days on these rice fields over here

What kind of snake is this?