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Category Archives: Reptiles

Park program focuses on Michigan snake

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Western Oakland County boasts plenty of opportunities to commune with nature.

But while there’s plenty of natural space, danger may be right around the corner, especially for those out with their pet.

Oakland County is host to Michigan’s only venomous snake, the eastern massasauga rattlesnake. While rare, Educational Resource Specialist Kathleen Dougherty with Oakland County Parks said the snake can still be found locally. The snake is a “species of special concern,” meaning there are some protections for the snake, as well.

“We work with the state on the status of the eastern massasauga, because Oakland County is one of its remaining locations where it still has habitat,” Dougherty said. “In a rapidly developing county like Oakland, there’s not many areas left.”

The eastern massasauga rattlesnake needs both wetland and upland habitats to survive, which is found in western Oakland County.

Oakland County Parks will sponsor a free, informal expo on the eastern massasauga rattlesnake this Saturday, Oct. 2, at Lyon Oaks Park on Pontiac Trail, just east of Old Plank Road.

Dougherty said the program is designed “for dog owners, but really it’s good for anyone who is interested in reptile conservation. It is a rare snake, but this gives people the tools and information they need so they know what to do and also to protect their pets.”

She said dogs can be of particular concern with the rattlesnake, because dogs tend to wander and explore using their noses.

“Dogs investigate things with their noses, which can provoke the snake to striking at it,” Dougherty explained. “That could put dog in respiratory distress.”

There are a number of snakes that look similar to the eastern massasauga, so the expo will include information on how to tell the difference. A live eastern massasauga rattlesnake will be on hand, as well, for visitors to see. The expo also includes information on its habitat and how to conserve it, its history, life cycle and more. An artist will be on hand to draw free caricatures of dogs and owners.

“People and snakes and our parks can exist together with some education and safety parameters,” Dougherty said.

If anyone sees a rattlesnake, Oakland County, wants to find out. Dougherty said there is a form available to report encounters.

The Rattlesnake Response for Dog Owners program takes place this Saturday at the Lyon Oaks dog park, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Lyon Oaks is located at 52221 Pontiac Trail in Wixom. A vehicle park pass is required for entry. Visit www.destinationoakland.com for more information.

NPUST wildlife center scores scaly breeding success

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Efforts by the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology’s Rescue Center for Endangered Wild Animals to breed Chinese crocodile lizards have been a huge success.

The reptiles, which resemble both crocodiles and lizards, are descendents of four Chinese crocodile lizards confiscated by customs officials from a person’s luggage eight years ago.

There are now nearly 40 of the animals at the center, which plans to cooperate with China’s Guangxi Normal University and the Luokeng Conservation Area in transporting 20 of them back to mainland China to be released in the Mount Yao area.

The reptiles, which are referred to as living fossils given their 1.75-million-year history, are mainly found throughout Guangxi and Guangdong provinces, and in the mountains of northern Vietnam. Threatened by poaching and human infringement on their natural habitat, with only several hundred thought to still exist, the crocodile lizards are a Level One protected animal in China listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Pei Jai-chyi, director of the rescue center, said the four crocodile lizards were about two years old when they were confiscated. Over the following three years, the males and females naturally mated. Guangxi Normal University had also been trying for many years to breed the reptiles in captivity, but without success.

Pei said the crocodile lizards residing on Mount Yao go into hibernation each year. But while the rescue center has replicated a natural environment for them by creating a small valley with a stream running through it, and keeping the temperature at 19 degrees Celsius, they did not hibernate. Pei added it remains unclear whether this impacted the ability of the animals to mate.

Either way, the number of crocodile lizards at the facility has increased over the past eight years, attracting the attention of Guangxi Normal University and the Luokeng Conservation Area.

The rescue center began applying for export certification three years ago, Pei said, but there are still hurdles to be overcome in receiving approval from authorities in mainland China to import the animals.

There are still reports that crocodile lizards are consumed in soup in the mainland, making the effort to protect this rare animal all the more important.

Library hosts snake show

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Colchester, Conn. —

More than 50 people packed Cragin Memorial Library to learn about snakes in Connecticut at a presentation by Department of Environmental Protection Wildlife Biologist Julie Victoria.

Ernie Boughton and his grandson Lucas Lawley, 10, both wanted to learn more about snakes.

“I always find them and catch them,” Lawley said. He had seen a snake in the wild, a ringneck snake.

“I could tell by the yellow rings on his neck,” Lawley said. “I hold them by the neck so they can’t bite you and hold their tails.”

Victoria explained snakes in Connecticut fall into three categories: Endangered, special concern and regulated. The two venomous snakes in Connecticut have never been seen in Colchester. However, northern copperheads have been seen in East Hampton, East Lyme and Salem. The endangered timber rattlesnake has been seen in East Hampton and Marlborough.

“The territory comes down the Connecticut River watershed and fans out at the shoreline,” Victoria said.

Victoria said nobody in Connecticut has died from snake venom in at least 20 years, but the scars from venom are disfiguring.

“Venomous or not, get in the car and go get medical help,” she said.

In the winter, snakes hibernate below the frost line, usually by the beginning of November. They eat a variety of foods including insects, worms, toads, mice, small mammals and birds, depending on the species.

Snakes in Connecticut range in size from seven to 68 inches.

“Snake skin is usually two to three times larger than the actual snake. When they wiggle their way out, they stretch it,” said Victoria, who had brought several skins with her. Maximum life span ranges from five to 50 years, depending on size.

The eastern milk snake was named by farmers who found them in cow barns.

“They thought they liked milk, but they’re really good mousers,” Victoria said. “You can’t get rid of the snake. You have to get rid of the mice.”

Dayna Beal, who came with her son, Sumner, and daughter Grace, 9, is a snake enthusiast.

“I used to jump into a snake pit when I was a teenager,” Beal said. “I was a nature director at a camp in Massachusetts.”

Other snakes are named based on their appearance, such as the Eastern Hognose.

“Its nose is kind of pointing like a pig,” Victoria said.

Rhodes snake expert honoured

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WHEN Grahamstown’s Dr Chris Kelly meets a person for the first time and tells them he is a herpetologist, some assume he is an expert in sexually transmitted diseases.

“Some of them even ask me why I chose to study herpes,” the award- winning Rhodes University snake expert chuckles.

Sold on serpents since the age of three, Kelly recently won a prestigious international award for his research into how diverse species of snakes found all over the world are all related to each other in “an evolutionary sense”.

The 32-year-old academic, who is a National Research Foundation innovation postdoctoral fellow at Rhodes, was recently honoured with the prestigious 2010 Joseph B Slowinski Award for excellence in “snake systematics”.

The co-authored paper investigated the evolutionary links between various families of non-venomous and venomous snakes such as cobras, sea snakes, mambas, most Madagascan snakes and many African species.

It seems that the snake families all arose through a very rapid diversification 40 million years ago.

The snakes , which arose originally from a single ancestral African population, dispersed all over the world thanks to logs swept away in sea currents and slow overland migration over millions of years

Kelly’s Phylogeny, Biogeography and Classification of the Snake Superfamily Elapoidea: A Rapid Radiation in the Late Eocene was judged the best paper on snake systematics to be published in 2009, after it appeared in the journal Cladistics.

The Joseph B Slowinski Award, issued annually by the Centre for North American Herpetology, was established in 2002 to honour the work and memory of snake expert Jospeh Bruno Slowinski, who died an agonising death in the Burma jungles a year earlier after he had been bitten by a poisonous snake.

What makes the award extra special for Kelly is the fact that Slowinski’s work inspired him to greater heights.

“I am very chuffed with the award …his (Slowinski’s) research helped me out in my own work.”

Although he never met the world renowned California Academy of Sciences herpetologist, who was curator of amphibians, reptiles, turtles, and crocodiles, Kelly said he was rocked by his sudden death. “It was quite a big shock…not many researchers die nowadays from snake bites.”

Although he has only been bitten by three venomous snakes in 25 years of working with slithery serpents, Kelly admits the consequences could have been much worse, even fatal, if the bites had been from more poisonous species such as mambas or puff adders.

“I am allergic to anti-venom…if there was a problem I would have to get to hospital quick for a shot of adrenalin to counter the allergic affects of the anti-venom itself.”

Kelly has been interested in snakes ever since he can remember and began catching and keeping live specimens when he was seven.

According to the Rhodes University website, despite his lifelong dedication to the study of snakes, the award still came as a “total surprise”.

“It has been my long-term goal to make a significant intellectual contribution to the field of herpetology, and for me, the award is an indicator that by God’s grace, this goal is being fulfilled.”

How Mallika Sherawat kissed a snake!

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Kissing a handsome male co-star who’s just emptied a spray of mouth-freshener is easy, but locking lips with a slithery snake with its icky fangs is indeed a big feat. Mallika Sherawat holds the distinction of being the first Bollywood actress to have kissed a snake in her upcoming thriller Hissss directed by Jennifer Lynch.

Mallika was expectedly queasy before the liplock with the serpent and it took a lot of egging on from Lynch and many retakes for Mallika to get the kiss right.

“In my previous films, I had to kiss – but they were all humans. Here, I was kissing a snake with Jennifer yelling out to me, ‘Mallika, look passionate, you are the naagin’. There were so many retakes and the snake was rubbery, slimy,” Mallika is quoted as saying in an interview.

Her fans have been waiting a long time for the release of Hissss. Now, the good news is that the film will finally make it to the theatres on October 22. And guess what? Mallika is already hissssing with excitement.

Oakland Zoo gets trio of fleet-footed tortoises

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Hares of Oakland, be forewarned: The world’s fastest tortoise has screeched into town.

The newest residents at the Oakland Zoo are a trio of the swiftest – and oddest – tortoises in the world.

The gold- and black-speckled reptiles can scurry up to 10 mph. They’re so good at scampering from predators they don’t even bother tucking their heads into their shells.

“Oh my God, they’re pretty cute,” said zoo visitor Jessica Pattison of Antioch, whose 2-year-old son Israel was fixated on the 6-inch reptiles, called pancake tortoises because they’re only 1 1/2 inches thick and like to stack themselves like, well, pancakes. “But what are they again?”

In the world of tortoises, pancake tortoises are among the strangest. While other tortoises can be a tad lethargic, pancake tortoises have longer, muscular legs and have no trouble running, climbing treacherous terrain or flipping over when circumstances turn them on their backs.

“It’s hard to say any tortoise is agile, but these guys are pretty good at moving,” said Oakland Zoo keeper Jason Loy, who cares for the tortoises and named them Mrs. Butterworth, Maple and Flap Jack.

Pancake tortoises are also very social, living in colonies among the rocky outcroppings of Tanzania and Kenya. They’ve been known to stack themselves 10 high, a habit that helps them cram into rock crevices when predators are around.

Mrs. Butterworth, a 16-year-old female, Flap Jack, a 23-year-old male and his daughter Maple, 3, came from the Bronx Zoo in August and have been gradually introduced to their new roommates, a pair of plated lizards.

The Bronx Zoo apparently had a surplus stack of pancake tortoises, so it shipped a few to Oakland, which was looking for a few reptiles to live with the plated lizards, who needed company after the recent death of the enclosure’s third plated lizard.

To the extent that reptiles can express joy, the plated lizards seem thrilled with their new colleagues. On Wednesday, one of the lizards crept on a rock above Maple and Mrs. Butterworth and sat. And blinked. And sat some more.

“It’s pretty exciting to have a new species here,” said Julie Hartell-DeNardo, who oversees reptiles at the zoo. “This is a pretty unique tortoise and these three have been a lot of fun.”

Animals In Ocala Hoarding Case Now Up For Adoption

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OCALA, Fla. — Many of the nearly 400 animals seized from an Ocala home in April were up for adoption at Marion County Animal Services on Wednesday night.It was one of the worst cases of hoarding that Marion County Animal Control officials said they had ever seen.In addition to the hundreds of animals seized, another 350 animals — dogs, cats, birds, cows, horses, sheep and reptiles — were found dead all over Ignacio Dulzaides’ 50-acre property, animal control officials said.”They varied from lying out in the yard to decomposing, some left in cages, placed in bags in a freezer,” said Elaine Deiorio, of MCAS.It has been nearly six months since MCAS brought in the animals, filling up two rooms at the shelter.

One dog, a 1-year-old basset hound, doesn’t have a name yet, but his new owner said she’s waiting to get to know him first while she trains him.”He’s nice, it’s just going to take a little work,” Melissa Touchet said.Touchet was one of dozens of people who were already adopting animals from the hoarding case.Dulzaides, 64, was charged with animal cruelty, and a judge ruled he could no longer own animals except for some livestock.While Dulzaides underwent psychological evaluations, his former animals were in sort of a rehab of their own. The dogs of all breeds had had very little human interaction until they arrived at the shelter, officials said.”These animals definitely need a lot of patience and care given my potential adopters,” Deiorio said.Those adopters may include some bird lovers. There are more than 150 available. A lot of the cages currently housing the birds were donated, including some by people in South Carolina who heard about the case.”I feel great,” Touchet said. “It’s a good thing. It makes me feel good. He’s going to get lots of love.”For details about adopting the rescued animals, visit the Animal Center at 5701 SE 66th St., call 407-671-8700 or visit http://www.marioncountyfl.org/AnimalCenter/Animal_Default.aspx.