Daily Reptile News

Lankan reptiles not for export or exploitation, says environmentalist

The export of reptiles is illegal, according to a leading environmentalist who was referring to a 14-member team from Germany that is in the country to explore the possibility of breeding reptiles in Sri Lanka for export.

The team from Germany includes experts in the breeding and marketing of reptiles and ornamental tropical fish. According to lawyer and environmentalist Jagath Gunawardena, all but five Sri Lankan reptiles are protected by the law. “You cannot breed or export protected reptile species for commercial purposes,” he told the Sunday Times. “You may do so only for scientific or conservation purposes,” he said, quoting the Fauna and Flora Act.

“If the team from Germany is to go ahead with their project, they will either have to bypass the law or the government will have to amend the law. Amending the Fauna and Flora Act will only have negative repercussions,” he added. A source at the Export Development Board (EDB) said the German delegates were interested in setting up reptile farms here in order to breed reptiles for export to markets in the European Union (EU).

According to the EDB source, Sri Lanka stood to gain if the Germans were to enter into a commercial agreement with the government.

“Sri Lanka will increase its market share in ornamental fish in international markets,” he said, “while getting German expertise in the scientific breeding of non-venomous reptile species for the EU market.”

Northland Nature: Red-bellied snakes prepare for the Northland cold

As autumn unfolds from September into October, we continue to see how nature is preparing for the coming cold. Probably the most obvious are the trees that are now shedding their leaves, usually among a blaze of color that is hard to miss.

If the trees were to retain their foliage, the same structures that provided food when it was warmer would cause the plants to dry up in the cold. Wild flowers that bloomed in past weeks — taking advantage of the active insects for pollination — now form seeds, using the winds of fall to disperse.

Animals have other ways to meet the impending chill. They basically deal with winter in four ways: migrating to a warmer climate, hibernating, dying (after laying eggs) or, simply, staying active.

There are huge variations among each group, and some do more than one. A good example of this last situation, as we may see in coming weeks, is with ladybugs. Before cold-time dormancy, they travel to a proper resting site, migrate and then hibernate.

Another example of this that I see regularly now in early October is with snakes. We have only two species of snakes common in the Northland: the common garter and red-bellied snakes (pictured). I have seen two other kinds in the region — the ring-necked snake and the smooth green snake — but they are much less common.

Both our two most-likely-seen snake groups will hibernate for winter. They choose a site, known as a “hibernaculum,” where they congregate and pass through the cold and dark. The sites are underground and in open cracks, pits or such subterranean locales where they are able to go below the frost line.

Though still cold in these places, they will survive with the help of snow acting as an insulating blanket. (A few years ago, during the winter of 2002-2003, the light snow cover and deep cold caused the death of many snakes, as the frost penetrated their safety zone.

The same winter saw the demise of huge numbers of frogs, especially spring peepers on the forest floor.)

Though we may seldom see their hibernacula at this time in autumn, we can often watch these reptiles as they travel to find their winter world. When I bike on the Willard Munger Trail during clear days in October, I not only look for traveling snakes but I expect to see them.

Garter snakes are the larger of the two; some females may reach up to 2 feet long. They are adorned with light-colored stripes on the body’s length. The smaller red-bellied snake, which is usually less than a foot long, is mostly brown above, with the name-sake reddish-orange on the underside. Many locals refer to this small snake as “copper-belly,” but I find that that term is too easy to confuse with “copperhead” — a type of poisonous snake found much further to the south.

Our snake species are all harmless and don’t need any more misconceptions or misunderstandings than already exist.

Feeding on a variety of small invertebrates, the snakes gather meals on their way to bed. Also, as they take the seasonal trek, they pause at warm places to bask. Most likely that is part of the reason that I see them on pavement now: autumn nights and mornings are chilly and it feels good to warm up a bit.

These autumn days of October have a great deal to offer, and each day we can see a new story being acted out as Northland nature copes with the coming cold in various ways.

‘Lizards on the Loose’ will close after Oct. 17

The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium’s “Lizards on the Loose!” exhibit will close after Sunday, Oct. 17.

The exhibit opened in June 2009 in the Norman Changing Gallery on the second floor of the Woodward Mississippi River Center.

“Lizards on the Loose!” was presented in partnership with the Telegraph Herald and the Iowa Science and Mathematics Education Partnership.

A Komodo dragon joined the exhibit in October 2009, on loan from the San Antonio Zoo. It is one of 100 Komodo dragons in captivity in the United States, and the only one in Iowa.

Turtle rescue plan succeeds

Scientists have revealed that a mammoth effort to move thousands of turtle eggs from beaches around the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill may have saved almost 15,000 of the reptiles.

Between 25 June and 18 August, staff from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) moved more than 25,000 sea turtles eggs by road from northern beaches on the Gulf of Mexico to Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s east coast. Throughout July, August and September, 14,676 hatchlings — mostly loggerheads (Caretta caretta) — were released into the Atlantic, says FWS biologist Sandy MacPherson.

Turtle hatchlings leave the beach of their birth to follow currents to mats of sargassum seaweed, remaining there a year or more, eating almost anything that passes by and breathing air at the surface. This behaviour made them particularly vulnerable to contact with, ingesting or breathing some of the millions of litres of oil floating in Gulf waters during peak nesting season. The risk prompted FWS officials to take action.

Trained individuals dug up eggs, placing them into hundreds of coolers prepared by Sea Turtle Conservancy, a charity based in Gainesville, Florida. Strapped into specially-made racks in private vehicles, the coolers were taken to a pick-up point, says executive director David Godfrey. FedEx vans with cushioned pallets, air-ride suspension and computer-monitored temperature control covered the remaining 500 miles to a 220 square-metre, air-conditioned warehouse at Kennedy.

Which way home?

Although officials deemed the project a success, it did generate controversy. Possible effects on survival rate concerned some biologists. The final hatching success rate of better than 50% (14,676 live hatches from 277 nests of about 100 eggs each, or a potential 27,700) is roughly the same as that in the wild. But moving the eggs might have distressed or harmed the animals in unknown ways, says Robbin Trindell, a biological administrator at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in Tallahassee. “We worked very carefully to construct the process to minimize possible impacts. But it was in and of itself an impact.”

Biologists are also concerned about possible disruption of imprinting, the process that enables female turtles to return to nest on the beach where they hatched. Some think that imprinting occurs in the egg, others that it occurs as newly hatched turtles crawl towards the sea, and some believe that it may be a combination of the two. So it is unknown to which beaches turtles incubated primarily on northen Gulf beaches then released from beaches on the Atlantic Ocean will return.

Research1,2 suggests that imprinting relies at least in part on genetics. “I’m optimistic that letting the eggs incubate almost to the end, as the project did, means those turtles released on the east coast will ultimately will return to their natal beach,” says Godfery.

An estimated 300 nests were left in place after officials determined in mid-August that the risk in the Gulf had greatly reduced, Trindell says. But data are not yet available on numbers of hatchlings from nests left in place.

Godfrey, who went offshore with project officials for that assessment, saw little sign of oil. “Most of the sargassum was drifting in from areas not exposed to oil, providing safe habitat for the turtles directly south of the nesting beaches,” he says. “The question became whether we could still justify this massive relocation effort, which has risk despite all effort to avoid it. The project was the right thing to do, but it was right to stop when it did.”

Rattlesnake threat closes Great Plains Dog Park permanently

Aurora officials have decided to permanently close the Great Plains Dog Park because of rattlesnakes.

The park, at 20355 E. Jewell Ave., opened in March with a plastic mesh fence above and below ground because of concerns about the snakes.

Two dogs were bitten by a snake in April, and park officials closed the park to evaluate the situation. More snakes have been spotted there, and the park was shut down for good.

Man recovering after rattlesnake bite

Orion Township — An Orion Township man bitten by an eastern massasauga rattlesnake, Michigan’s only venomous snake, is recovering after being treated with anti-venom at a local hospital and released Friday evening.

The unidentified man was walking with his beagle in the woods behind his home around 6:45 p.m. when he was bitten, according to Sgt. Mark Buffa of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.

Neighborhood on edge after snake bite

NEW TAMPA – A young boy had a terrifying experience Friday evening when he was bitten by a pygmy rattlesnake.

Jacob Hyatt, 8, was playing in a field near his home in north Hillsborough County when he picked up a rock. Rescue crews say that’s where the snake was hiding.

People who live nearby say this isn’t the first time a poisonous snake has been spotted in the area. Yvonne Canfield has become somewhat of a snake expert. She does everything she can to rid the neighborhood of the rattlesnakes.

“I killed one myself with a shovel on our porch,” she said. “It was just lucky that I saw it. Our neighbors have killed two, my husband has killed two or three. This is all within the last couple of weeks.”

Canfield says she keeps a shovel near her door just in case she has to defend herself. Friday afternoon, she watched as the ambulance raced past her house to treat Hyatt.

“I did see them wheel him out of the house,” she said. “He was very, very pale. His parents were very concerned of course.”

Hyatt was rushed to University Community Hospital, where his mother explained to doctors what happened. She told them her son was trying to get a rope stuck in a tree. He wanted to stand on a rock to get higher. When he moved the rock, he found the snake hiding underneath.

Neighbors say these poisonous snakes are everywhere. That may be because the entire subdivision is surrounded by woods and pastures.

“In the past month I’ve seen like two rattlesnakes, about a half a foot [each],” said Jordan Sierra, 12.

Some parents are so worried that they’ve put special restrictions on their kids to help keep them from being bitten. They won’t let them leave the house without shoes on and they can forget about wearing flip-flops.

“The kids are warned constantly,” said Canfield. “They have to keep shoes on their feet. They can’t reach into a bush.”

The children say they’re very conscious about watching where they step or what they’re reaching into.

“It freaks me out sometimes,” said Sierra. “You’ve got to be safe.”

Children in the neighborhood have already started making “get well soon” cards for Hyatt. They’re wishing him a speedy recovery all while knowing it could have been any of them.

“This has put a good scare into them,” said Canfield.

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