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Volume 17 Number 10 February 2006

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Volume 17 Number 10 February 2006 THE MONITOR NEWSLETTER OF THE HOOSIER HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETY A non-profit organization dedicated to the education of its membership and the conservation of all amphibians and reptiles. Volume 31 Number 1 January 2020 Annual Photography Contest January 15th meeting Holliday Park Nature Center Two adult categories: Wild and Captive Kids Category: kids ages 5-16 All entries must be 8x10 formats. (Framed work is welcome but not necessary) Entry fees are $1.00 per entry. Enter as many times as you wish. Entries must pertain to herpetology. Must be current HHS member(s) to enter contest. Judging will be from your peers (the audience). Prizes Adult winners in each category 1st place $25.00, 2nd place 1-Year HHS membership, 3rd place $15.00 Kids category Grand prizes - $10.00 & $5.00 Afterwards members are welcome to show short video clips of herping in the field. (No prizes will be awarded for this presentation) WELCOME NEW MEMBERS! RENEWAL MEMBERS NEW MEMBERS John and Linda Jett Will Heckman Janice Kucera Anne Logston Zane Roesch David Ruben Kimberly Scott Robert Wendling Jerry Zimmerman Election results President – Jim Horton Vice-President – Rex Morell Treasurer- Roger Carter Secretary – Holly Carter Sergeant At Arms – Abby Watson Congratulations to our 2020 board! by Ed Ferrer When I do my educational snake programs, I always have a lot of questions. One of my most often questions concerns how I feed my snakes. There are several issues to consider. First, how often do I feed my snakes? It depends on the age of the snake. If it is new born snake, I will feed it a new born pinkie mouse (2 or 3) once a week. As the snake grows, I will gradually increase the size of the prey item to fuzzie then small mice. Depending on the size of the snake I will then gradually increase the size of the prey and also increase the length of time between feeding to 10 days and then two weeks. My adult snakes are normally fed once every two weeks. Sometimes depending on my show schedule, I might stretch the time to three weeks. I try to give my snakes at least two to three days after a meal before taking them to a program. Regarding the size of the prey item, I normally do not feed my snake any item that is bigger around than the largest girth of my snake. I know some people brag about how large their snake can eat, but I think power feeding a snake can be stressful for a snake. Sometimes owners will try to power feed their snake to get it to breeding size faster. Just think a human shouldn't consume a large size pizza in one sitting. It is the same with snakes. The other question is "Should I feed my snake live items or dead prey?" I have had many people answer that question both ways. I always feed my snakes either frozen thawed or fresh killed rodents. I learned that lesson with my first snake, a small boa constrictor. I originally fed it live mice, letting it hunt it as it wandered around in the enclosure. But I found out that mice would defend when attacked and scratch or bite my snake. Rodents have chisel shaped front teeth that make puncture wounds that could be easily infected. Sure enough that happened to my boa and I had to treat the bite marks with Neosporin daily until I was sure it had healed. So now I feed all my snakes dead. (My only exception is with neonate snakes. I feed them live pinkies or fuzzies since they are not a threat to my snakes.) Not all snakes accept food the same. Some are very aggressive feeders and some are not. My Sinaloan milk snakes usually don't readily strike when first presented with their food. So I normally lay the item in front of their hide box and then come back and check on them when I am done with the rest of my rounds. My green tree pythons sometimes are reluctant to strike so I move the prey along their labial sense pits to get them to strike . Other times I move the prey close to their head and then they will strike it defensively and then they will eat it. If your snake doesn't take the prey at first, check their eyes. If the eyes are grey they are most likely going through the opaque stage before they shed. They often won't eat until they have shed their skin. Some snakes will refuse to eat but I have learned that isn't usually a sign of problems. Some just go off feed, particularly pythons. Sometimes males will go off feed because they are wanting to mate or because they are reacting to weather change or air pressure. Just because your snake struck your rodent don't assume that it will be eaten. Be sure to check the cage thoroughly. Sometimes they may strike it and then it will leave it inside the hid box or hide it behind some water dish or other item in the enclosure. There is few things worst then coming into your snake room and then have to find out where the smell is coming from! When feeding your snake always be very cautious because once the snake smells the prey it will normally strike whatever moves. I used to hold the prey by the tail and then drop it as the snake struck it. (I saw a zoo keeper on a television show feed that way. (Monkey see, monkey do!) I found out that just (like lions and tigers who miss their target about 50 percent of the time.) snakes sometimes miss their prey. I found out the hard way as one of my large Burmese pythons missed and struck my hand by mistake in a feeding response strike and wrapped its coils around my arm. It took me about 15 minutes to carefully free my hand and arms from its grip. Did I blame my snake? No! I made the mistake! Now I use an 18 inch hemostat to hold the prey item. So if it misses it will always miss me too. (I have also noticed that when they miss they will normally miss above the target.) There are many other issues that concern feeding snakes. I have just mentioned some of the more common issues with the hope that some beginning "herper" will learn from my experiences and avoid some of my mistakes. President’s message Jim Horton Happy New Year! We’re now into another decade and our 31st year of being an educational 501c nonprofit organization! Once again, I am humbled to be working again as your president! I look forward to our journey together into this year and years to come. The HHS has a great core group of people! Its stronger than many herp societies around the nation. We already have an exhibit on the schedule for February 8 at Garfield Park Conservatory. Hope to see you there. Congratulations to our new board members, Rex Morell (Vice-president), and Abbie Watson (Sergeant At Arms). Thanks to Roger and Holly Carter for upholding their current positions as Treasurer and Secretary. As always, thank you to our members, board members, members at large, and anyone else I may have forgotten. Welcome new members! Thank you all re-subscribing members! We’re happy to have you as fellow members! Special thanks to Lance McCoskey at Harding Poorman for printing the newsletter for us all year! Our Christmas (holiday) party was held at MCL South. Thanks to Ed Ferrer for securing this site again. A big thank you goes to HHS member, Brenton Reust who graciously offered his home for the after party. The annual photo contest will be the activity for the meeting this month. Cash prizes for the winners! There’s even a kids category. Can’t wait to see what everyone has been up to and what they’ve photographed last season! HHS donates to USARK The HHS recently donated $300 to the United States Association of Reptile Keepers. USARK is a science, education and conservation-based advocacy for the responsible private ownership of, and trade in reptiles and amphibians. They endorse caging standards, sound husbandry, escape prevention protocols, and an integrated approach to vital conservation issues. Their goal is to facilitate cooperation between government agencies, the scientific community, and the private sector in order to produce policy proposals that will effectively address important husbandry and conservation issues. Treasurer’s Report – January 2020 Roger Carter Checking - $666.79, Savings - $7,674.41, CD – $5,087.03 Board meetings HHS board meetings are held every 2nd Wednesday of the month at Eagle Library. All members are welcome to attend. In fact, we’d love to hear your suggestions, comments, or concerns. SEARCHING FOR HIDDEN HERPS-2019 Story and photos by Roger Carter While using my inspection somewhere mid body also camera in southern Indiana I climbing on the snake. The did not find any herps hiding in following day I was examining any logs or crevices. This was a that same rock cavity and all I big surprise to me. Maybe it’s could find was one newt, see like fishing. Sometimes you just Figure 4. For the two days that don’t catch, or find, anything we were there we saw several even though I found snakes out small newly morphed Eastern in the open or under cover like Newts at the base of the bluffs.
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