Serpent of the Southeast the Orianne Society’S Efforts to Conserve Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake Populations

The Member Magazine of The Orianne Society Issue 1 • Spring 2013

Indigomagazine our giant Serpent of the southeast The Orianne Society’s Efforts to Conserve Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake Populations

Also in this issue: Travelers Backwoods

of the The Complexity Blackwater Snake of Conserving Canoeing Georgia’s The Eastern Suwannee River World Indigo Snake photo: Pete Oxford Pete photo: Indigomagazine 14 Our Giant Serpent of the Southeast The Orianne Society’s Efforts to Conserve Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake Populations photo: Pete Oxford Pete photo:

Herper 6 Events 44 Field 46 Spotlight Calendar Photos

Two young herp Our events calendar If you like us on Facebook enthusiasts share their has a wide selection of you know that we get great passion for snakes and snake and reptile focused photos submitted to us snake conservation. The events from around the daily. We pulled together future is bright for the country. Find an event some of our favorites in our field of Herpetology. near you. Field Photos. Too bad we didn’t have room for more.

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Reminiscences of 8a Snake Hunter Dirk Stevenson reflects on a lifetime of snake hunting, from boyhood excursions to his work as a biologist. staff Christopher L. Jenkins CEO What’s the Frederick B. Antonio Director of OCIC 31Frequency, Betty? Wayne O. Taylor Director of Land Management Using radio telemetry to track Indigos Stephen F. Spear Director of Amphibian with The Orianne Society in Central Conservation Florida. Heidi L. Hall Director of Communications Dirk Stevenson Director of Inventory and Monitoring Javan M. Bauder Assistant Conservation Scientist Backwoods, Patrick Barnhart Indigo Snake Technician 40Blackwater Sue Bottoms Administrative Assistant Canoeing the blackwater of the Polly Conrad Communication Specialist - Suwannee River. Individuals and Foundations Kevin Croom Communication Specialist - Memberships Andy Day Seasonal Field Tech Mike Jackson Communication Specialist Karen McLain Accountant Jerry Medlock Accounting Assistant Courtney Torregrosa Vet Tech/Herp Tech photo: Lance Paden photo: contributorscontributors

Gabriel J. Diaz “What’s the Frequency, Betty?”

Chris Hartmann “Backwoods, Blackwater” issueissue

Indigo Magazine Issue 1, Spring 2013 Travelers of the Indigo Magazine is the member magazine of The Orianne Society and is produced, Snake world 26 designed and edited by the staff of The The Complexity of Conserving The Orianne Society. Eastern Indigo Snake ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 3 Indigomagazine SPECIES SPOTLIGHT: 5.8 FEET LONG Louisiana Length of the Pine snake largest reported Pituophis ruthveni specimen. A typical adult is four to five feet long. 3-5 SNAKES PER CLUTCH The smallest clutch size of any North photo: Fred Antonio Fred photo: American colubrid. The Louisiana Pine Snake is a large non-venomous constrictor of the A low fecundity Colubridae family. It is an elusive snake that spends much of its time magnifies threats. underground in Pocket Gopher burrows (60% of the time according to one study), upon which it depends for on shelter.

The Louisiana Pine Snake faces many of the same threats that other snake species face-- mainly habitat loss, fragmentaiton and degradation, but also human persecution. Unfortunately, the Pine Snake has the smallest clutch size of any North American colubrid 34% which contributes to low recruitment. This makes it difficult for populations to recover quickly from events that impact large swaths of OF KNOWN local populations, thereby magnifying threats. HISTORICAL The path to conserving snakes, such a the Louisiana Pine Snake, is one of the hardest paths traveled. They aren’t warm and fuzzy, most LOCALITIES people don’t want to cuddle them, and there are a great number of are currently people who are apt to end their existence with a shovel, venomous or suitable to sustain otherwise, and not think twice about it. But the bottom line is, we need viable pine snake these animals. Not only do they have a right to exist, but without them, populations, some of our most cherished ecosystems would cease to function. according to habitat source: http://www.fws.gov/southwest/clearlakees/PDF/PINESNAKE.pdf assessments.

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Our greatest accomplishments are ahead and we are embarking on perhaps one of the greatest: transitioning The Orianne Society from a family foundation focused on rare snakes in the southeastern United States, to a public charity focused on the conservation of rare reptiles and amphibians around the world. Successfully navigating this transi- message from tion and creating a goal driven sustainable organization that is making a real difference Dr. Chris jenkins for conservation is the greatest legacy that I CEO, The Orianne Society could ever hope to achieve. We cannot turn our conservation goals into reality nor create a sustainable organization without the dedicated support of our members. It is a great honor to give back to you as a member by sending you the first edition of what will become a long-standing tradition in the conservation of reptiles and amphibians, the Indigo. The Indigo is a publication that highlights all the great research, conservation, and education work of ours and of our partners. For this first edition, we decided it was important to keep to our roots and focus the first volume on the reptile and amphibian rich southeastern United States. But stay tuned for future themes that will range from regional focused conservation efforts to topics in conservation from around the world.

I will finish by thanking you, our members, for making everything we do possible. I hope these pages fill you with inspiration to do

photo: Pete Oxford Pete photo: more for reptile and amphibian conservation as your membership has inspired us to keep As I sit here at my desk reviewing some of the conservation going forward. If we are to achieve the lofty accomplishments Orianne has achieved since our incep- goal of creating a paradigm shift in conser- tion, I realize what a special time this is. We are celebrating our five vation, where reptiles and amphibians are year anniversary – five years of working towards our goal of reptile considered equal to all plants and animals, and amphibian conservation. I feel we have achieved so much. We it will take every one of us. Use this inspira- have protected some of the most critical habitat for rare reptiles in tion as an opportunity to be part of this new Georgia, reestablished Indigo Snakes in Alabama, designated the paradigm and support reptile and amphibian first series of Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas, conservation today. helped transition rattlesnake roundups to wildlife friendly festivals, and answered many questions in the ecology of rare reptiles and amphibians. I also realize that there is so much more to do.

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 5 Indigomagazine Herp spotlights

took positions as a field technician and intern for field-based jobs. He spent time working as a sea turtle technician in North Carolina and the Florida Gulf. These experiences gave him a strong hands-on exposure to the conservation aspects of herpetology. There he also got involved with research projects Eric that led to his first two journal publications. Eric then worked as a rattlesnake technician for Nordberg a wildlife consulting company. While applying to graduate schools, Eric took another research technician position at the Savannah River Ecology Lab in South Carolina and assisted on a predator-prey project investigating the interactions between nesting songbirds and snakes.

BRIGHT In 2011, Eric entered the biology M.S. program at Middle Tennes- see State University (MTSU). Here he initiated research exam- ining the ecology of Timber Rat- tlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) From an early age, Eric immersed himself in nature through hiking, in Middle Tennessee. Eric stud- camping, and enjoying the outdoors. Years later, his passion for wildlife ied a population of rattlesnakes has not diminished; in fact it has grown stronger as he now pursues a ca- found in a small nature preserve reer in Biology with efforts to conserve and understand the natural world. located within five miles from a large developing city. The pre- Eric grew up in State College, Pennsylvania, and attended Pennsylva- serve is completely surrounded nia State University to earn his B.S. degree in Wildlife and Fisheries by agricultural and rural private Science in 2010. While attending Penn State, Eric studied a multitude land. Unfortunately, this is not of topics, though his interests quickly focused on herpetology as he a unique situation for the Tim-

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ber Rattlesnake in Tennessee and Kelsie other parts of its range as development and human encroachment drives them into islands of remain- Kincaid ing wilderness. During the summer months, Eric uses radio telemetry to monitor these snakes to determine their movement patterns and habitat use. The rattlesnakes have been documented to navigate far from the preserve and into habitats that sometimes provide little distance between them and humans. Dur- ing winter, Eric continues his studies addressing questions regarding the thermoregulatory behavior in My name is Kelsie Kincaid. I am twelve years old and I live in hibernating Timber Rattlesnakes. South Georgia. I’ve been herping since I was age three. I current- As global climate temperatures ly have three snakes, a Children’s Python, an Albino Corn Snake gradually increase, Eric antici- and a Banded King Snake. I also have six Red-eared Sliders. pates his research will be signifi- cant for better understanding the I first became interested in herping at an event called The Steve role that hibernation and the avail- Scruggs Wildlife Program. He allowed me to hold several snakes ability of thermally-suitable hiber- and I instantly became hooked. Just the unknown of what I might nacula will have on Timber Rattle- find in the wild is exciting. I would love to go every day, if I could. snake energetics and life history. When I grow up I would like to work with reptiles and help with the Eric’s research will resume during species that are becoming extinct. I would like to create some herp- 2013, however, he hopes to contin- ing events in the near future to show young people just how much ue his passion for reptile conserva- fun it really is. I hope that one day all people will understand and tion by pursuing a Ph.D. in reptile discover how gentle these creatures are. I know that I love them all. ecology and conservation. In the meantime, he will finish his M.S. I would like to find some new species that have yet to be discov- degree at MTSU, and looks forward ered. I will always remember The Orianne Society letting me herp to continued fieldwork and oppor- with them last fall at their Places You’ve Never Herped event in tunities to educate the public about south Georgia. It was my first encounter with a Diamondback the conservation of fascinating and Rattlesnake. It was the most fun time ever! I really enjoyed meet- often misunderstood creatures, ing everyone that had something in common with what I love to such as the Timber Rattlesnake. do. This will be a journey that I know I will continue until I’m old.

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 7 Indigomagazine Reminiscences of a snake Hunter {Dirk Stevenson}

I became (or at least decided to become) a herpetologist when I found my first Garter Snakes and Box Turtles in the woods by the house of my Il- linois boyhood. It was 1969, I was 6 years old, and when I found something exciting I ran for Dad so that he could assist with the catch. The box turtles, jaws wine-colored with blackberry juice, were always a delicious find, but it was spotting a wild snake that really got my juices flowing. Soon enough, I was regularly sojourning into the woods after school, clad in smart field- expedition attire provided by Mom—a hat, sunglasses, bug spray, and mini-notebook in separate pockets, a jar and Grunwald Eitan photo: forked stick in one hand, and Above: The author with a Dwarf a dog-eared copy of the Gold- Caiman captured in the Peruvian en Nature Guide to Reptiles Amazon. Right: The author, his Mother, and the Okefenokee and Amphibians in the other. vacation alligator.

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Dad often took me fishing. I usually wandered off with the net {A Red Milk snake found in southern Illinois.} to look for Water Snakes, Bull- frogs, and Painted Turtles. On one of these fishing trips, I had a snake-hunter’s epiphany. There was a large piece of plywood on the ground beneath the oaks on the grassy slope above the clear lake where Dad was casting for bream and bass. For some rea- son I decided to look under the board, which took most of my strength to lift. Forty years later, I can still picture the two large beautiful shiny-black Rat Snakes that lay coiled together in a depression under the board. I haven’t walked past a board, log, photo: Dirk Stevenson or rock since without flipping it. shell turtles in the inky canals, camp for someone destined to and the locals told us there were work with snakes in the southeast- A few years ago, field work with Moccasins as fat as a man’s arm. ern United States. A high-school- The Orianne Society regularly er with a freshly minted driver’s took me to south Georgia, close From a private swamp park near license, I lay awake on winter to the Florida line. On one trip, I Waycross, we joined a boat ride nights dreaming of April warmth was overcome with emotion when and later tread lightly on a rickety and snake emergence. I made de- I realized that I was revisiting the boardwalk over black water that tailed plans of how I would rev up very place I’d been in August 1971 surely hid secrets reptilian and my little VW Beetle for an extend- on a family vacation. On this trip primeval. I remember feeling ed snake-hunting trip to the scenic I’d first see the Atlantic Ocean light with excitement as we passed limestone bluffs and sandstone and the wilds of the under cypress festooned with bro- outcrops of the Shawnee Nation- famed Okefenokee meliads and watched leaf-green al Forest, or the oxbow sloughs Swamp. The alligator anoles jump and flash their red fringing the wild and muddy might have scaled the dewlaps. I felt so at home. My Cache River. My field sidekicks grassy bank to bask confidence as a catcher of snakes and I would work the talus slopes near our Dodge Dart had grown since my kindergarten of the bluffs like a pack of forag- while we explored the years, and when I saw a gorgeous ing coatimundis, flipping many gift shop (see photo yellow Rat Snake curled tight in magnificent Red Milk Snakes to left). I remember the ferny crotch of a live oak just a (pictured above), Copperheads, him being enormous, few feet above us, I was soon tip- and Speckled Kingsnakes under almost certainly a toeing on the railing of the board- the lichen-splotched stones. The bull. Mom pointed walk, calculating my leap. My Gulf Coastal Plain of the Missis- him out to us and you mother scolded and attempted to sippi River valley actually extends can see that she is still restrain me. Dad laughed a little. northward into extreme southern pointing at him in Illinois, and the swamps there are the shot, as if shyly. I cut my snake-hunting teeth in home to some traditional south-

photo: Cecil Stevenson photo: I also saw giant soft- southern Illinois, a fine training ern plants and critters (Mud- ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 9 Indigomagazine snakeHunter snakes, Green Treefrogs, Bald {A Western Cottonmouth from southern Illinois.} Cypress, Sirens) and one of the world’s largest Cottonmouth populations——where, interestingly, these semi-aquatic vipers overwinter in large numbers in rocky- crevice dens with Timber Rattle- snakes, Copperheads, Rough Green Snakes, Black Ratsnakes, Racers, and Ribbon Snakes.

My first ever venomous-snake find was a Cottonmouth (pictured right). I nearly stepped on the poor duckweed-encrusted and predictably mellow fellow as he sunned on a beaver lodge. My only venomous bite in thirty-five

years of chasing, catching, fon- Stevenson Dirk photo: dling, studying, photographing, and generally loving snakes (close Boy, were there ever snakes! ing endlessly over my Peterson to thirteen hundred venomous The next few years were my salad Field Guide of Reptiles and Am- snake encounters so far) was also days. Mostly free of responsibil- phibians of Eastern and Central via an Agkistrodon piscivorus (a ity, single, and broke, my lone North America, pages damp with very minor bite, and all my fault). possessions of consequence were drool, I fantasized about find- In 1988, with zoology and educa- another hand- tion degrees in hand, I relocated me-down Volk- to a remote part of south Florida swagen from Dad where I worked as an environ- and enough books mental educator at a wilderness to slow it down. I camp for troubled youth. I had spent virtually all read everything by Archie Carr of my free time and envisioned south Florida to exploring the be a semi-tropical swamp para- wonders of south dise of jungle forests. Here, I Florida, look- experienced another naturalists’ ing for snakes. epiphany: most of our present- day habitats are no longer natural. I had accepted this Much of the region is now cattle job and moved so lands, citrus groves, and sugar- far from a warm cane plantations, with more Tur- home because of key Vultures than anywhere on the diverse, in fact Earth (this was long before the fantastic, snake

days of Burmese Pythons in the fauna native to Crowe David photo: Glades). Still, there were snakes. the region. Por- {The author in central Florida, just after having found his first-ever Eastern Indigo Snake.}

10 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 snakeHunter Indigomagazine ing my first-ever Eastern Indigo that lived in a small marsh be- pines that rimmed the margin Snakes, Rainbow Snakes, Coral hind the shower tents. “You need of a beautiful sawgrass marsh Snakes, Pigmy Rattlers, Florida a rake. We raked up a bunch of only fifty yards distant where and Scarlet Kingsnakes, and East- these; they stay in the mud under this Indigo probably hunted for ern Diamondbacks. Their scien- the water lettuce. They’re really frog, snake, and rat dinners. Nor tific names were poetry: Lampro- cool!” You bet they were cool; the does the photo convey my yell- peltis getula, Heterodon simus, next morning we turned up five. ing to alert my field companion Farancia erytrogramma, Crota- A year later, then employed as when the snake suddenly ma- lus adamanteus. At the wilderness a field biologist with the state of terialized in front of me, or my camp, a child in my youth group Florida, I encountered my first wobbly knees. I look at the photo spoke excitedly of small black Indigo (pictured, bottom of oppo- now, and I think, wow, here I snakes with orange bellies (point- site page). What you can’t see in am twenty-two years later and I ing to the picture of the Black the photo are the trunks of gnarly, still admire each Indigo I hold, I Swamp Snake in the Field Guide) twisted, and fire-scarred pond still look on with the same won-

{An adult female Rainbow Snake captured in the Ohoopee River of southern Georgia.}

photo: Dirk Stevenson

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 11 Indigomagazine snakeHunter photo: Beth Stevenson photo:

{A 7.5 foot long Eastern Indigo Snake captured by the author in southern Georgia.} der, affection, and incredulity. rare, and the few animals of this Snake population that resides on a size that have been reliably mea- protected public land—where large And then my career carried sured have come from south Flori- home ranges don’t come into con- me to southern Georgia, tact with paved roads or where the Eastern Indigo I look at the photo now, and I think, neighborhoods—indicates Snakes are even bigger. that Indigo Snakes inhab- I write this tongue-in- wow, here I am twenty-two years iting this site often live cheek; there is no scientific later and I still admire each Indigo long (10-12+ years), and evidence that Eastern In- reach their true size max- digos, the longest of North I hold, I still look on with the same ima: males 7.0 – 7.5 feet American snakes (the re- wonder, affection, and incredulity. and females 5.5 – 6.5 feet. cord length is 8.6 feet), are any bigger in Georgia The snake in the photo, than in Florida. In fact, Indigos da. My long-term mark-recapture “Larry”, is what those in my field over eight feet are actually very study of a south Georgia Indigo refer to as a “monster male.” I first

12 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 snakeHunter Indigomagazine captured this guy as he lay across photo:Dirk Stevenson a Gopher Tortoise burrow apron in 1998; I recaptured him in 2003, performing a Lynn Swan- nian Super Bowl dive through dead branches to snag him as he started to slide into the earth. Perhaps Indigo scholars are in- variably adrenaline junkies. Lar- ry weighed just over 10 lbs. and was soft as a sleepy pup in the hand. He was the king of a large tortoise colony—the spoil of their burrows peppering a vast Alta- maha River ridge of sugar sand— and I feel lucky to have met him.

Over the last five years, I have been so fortunate to be a part of The Orianne Society and to work closely with all types of snake conservationists—volunteers, fellow herpetologists, landowners, foresters, and my dedicated colleagues—in an effort to save and conserve snakes, including the Eastern Indigo Snake. The autumn photo of a sand trail through a gorgeous south Geor- gia sandhill is an apt symbol for my life, and for our work. I have hiked down thousands of these trails, on walks long and short, hot and cold; many snake surveys have been arduous, slogging through deep sand that seemed to wish to swallow me, our prized quarry undetected—but no short- age of blackberry thorns and hungry ticks. Still, often the end of the day is a horizon of scenic sandhills, carpeted with golden grasses, pocked with the yellow aprons of tortoise burrows, healthy and happy Indigo Snakes {A Longleaf Pine Sandhill in southern Georgia—home to resting nearby in the sunlight. the imperiled Eastern Indigo Snake and gopher tortoise.}

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 13 our giant Serpent of the southeast The Orianne Society’s Efforts to Conserve Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake Populations

By: Dr. Chris Jenkins, Fred Antonio, Kevin Stohlgren

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I was remembering back to my our giant days in physics class, when all of a sudden the snake explod- ed into action moving quickly back towards the tortoise burrow. Despite my inability to lift the snake on my previous attempt, I managed to move the Over the last snake away from the burrow and get it into a bucket. At this point I realized it was a large 15 years, I have snake, the largest rattlesnake I had ever handled, but I still did not truly appreciate the true handled easily size of the snake I had found. southeast Later that day, a group of school children were visiting and I decided I would tube the over 2,500 snake and give them all the opportunity to touch its skin. It took 10 minutes to coax the Diamondback into the tube rattlesnakes, and in the process, I realized his head was the size of my fist and that he was so large and but all those years of studying rattlesnakes in the deserts strong that I needed to hold and prairies of the Great Basin and North Rockies could not the snake and tube with two prepare me for my first Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake. hands to ensure he did not We had recently purchased a 1,000 acre property in South escape. Since that first experi- Georgia for snake conservation and I was walking a sand ence, I have handled many ridge, snake hunting. I dropped off the ridge to hunt a small Eastern Diamondback Rattle- patch of oaks that I knew contained a couple of Gopher Tor- snakes and have developed toise burrows. Creeping into the patch I saw something I multiple projects to study and will never forget, my first Eastern Diamondback in the wild, conserve their populations in coiled a few feet from a burrow in the shade of a small tur- the wild. As I write this article key oak. I took a moment to watch this amazing animal be- I look across my desk and see fore deciding to make my move to capture him. As soon as Sully, my large Diamondback I slid my snake hook under and through the thick curve of pet, who is always there to in- its body, I realized I had made a mistake. I was holding the spire me to continue trying to end of the hook and trying to lift the snake off the ground, conserve these amazing snakes but the snake would not move. I had never experienced any- and to continue finding new thing like that with a snake; the weight of the snake com- adventures.” bined with the length of the hook would not allow me to effortlessly lift the Diamondback into the air as I had done - Dr. Chris Jenkins, CEO, countless times with other rattlesnake species. In my head, The Orianne Society photo: Pete Oxford Pete photo:

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 15 Indigomagazine our giantSerpent photo: Pete Oxford Pete photo: During his 46 year tenure (1929-1975) at the Reptile Institute in Silver Springs, Florida, Ross Allen offered a reward of $500 to anyone who could bring in a live 8 foot Eastern Diamondback. He retired without having to pay out.

he Eastern Diamondback ing close to 20 pounds (9.0kg). A cannot be determined by counting TRattlesnake, Crotalus ada- surprise encounter with an East- the number of segments on a rat- manteus, is an archetypical spe- ern Diamondback is always an ex- tle. Also, the rattle is a relatively cies known from the Pleistocene citing and impressive event lead- fragile apparatus that can be bro- of Florida and has had a long af- ing to exaggerations of size, like ken during its normal activities. It filiation with human cultures in those 10’ rattlers stretching from is rare to find an adult rattlesnake the southeast. In Florida, prehis- one side of the road to the other. with a complete set of rattles. toric kitchen middens (mounds of domestic waste from past so- The rattle apparatus of the Eastern The development of a rattle ap- cieties) have contained their re- Diamondback is well developed paratus is an unusual enhance- mains and they have long been and may be the most massive of ment on par with any unique evo- the subject of cultural art and modern day Crotalus. Born with lutionary feature in the animal lore. Of the approximately 50 one button at the tip of the tail, a kingdom. Rattling is thought to species of rattlesnakes, the East- new segment is added each time have evolved to warn and ward ern Diamondback is the largest the snake sheds. A young snake off large North American Pleis- and most massive of the rattle- during its first year may shed 3 to tocene mammals (i.e. bison, el- snakes, attaining a maximum 5 times, then typically twice a year ephants, rhinos, horses, cam- length of 8 feet (2.4m) and weigh- thereafter. Thus the snake’s age els) to avoid being stepped on or

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trampled. This defensive strategy became a distinct liability when these megafauna became extinct can you spot the diamondback? approximately 10,000 years ago and ancient American Indians were attracted to the sound as a food source. It then became ad- vantageous not to rattle when approached by a human. Today this discriminatory behavior is seen when Eastern Diamondbacks ini- tially stay still, not rattling, when approached by a person. Their first response, if undisturbed, is to depend on their cryptic pattern and coloration to avoid detection. But disturb them, and they will rise up in an impos- ing defensive position, ready to strike and defend themselves!

The Eastern Diamondback is a sit-and-wait ambush predator, routinely spending its days tight- photo: Drik Stevenson ly coiled along a small mammal “Their first response, if undisturbed, is to depend on trail. From these ambush sites their cryptic pattern and coloration to avoid detection.” they use both visual (eyes) and infra-red reception (facial pits) for none in a quick defensive strike, palustris) and Eastern Cottontail detecting prey movement. Once a to a large yield as when attempt- Rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus). prey animal is within range, they ing to capture prey. The prevail- Eastern Diamondbacks provide a strike the target area (usually the ing theory on why venomous great service in helping keep these neck and shoulder region), in- snakes and venomous fish have rodent populations in balance. ject venom, and release the prey evolved such highly toxic venoms Eastern Diamondbacks have a item. Chemosensory searching is the less distance a prey animal late summer (August, September) by olfaction (smell/nostrils) and travels following envenomation, and early spring (March, April) vomeronasal (tongue flicking/ the higher the probability that breeding season. Males will often Jacobson’s organ in the roof of it will be found and consumed. combat each other over territory the mouth) tracking enables rat- and breeding rites with resident tlesnakes to trail and find their The Eastern Diamondback’s diet females. Ritualized male combat prey. Interestingly, it is actually is predominately mammals, in- in Eastern Diamondbacks deter- the trail of their own venom that cluding Cotton Mouse (Pero- mines social dominance and is the rattlesnakes follow as they myscus gossypinus), Cotton Rat comprised of a series of acts, in- track down their dying prey. Ven- (Sigmodon hispidus), Florida cluding raising the anterior 30% omous snakes have the ability to Wood rat (Neotoma floridana), to 40% of their bodies from the gauge the amount of venom de- Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolin- ground, intertwining the com- livered in a strike, from little to ensis), Marsh Rabbit (Sylvilagus batant’s anterior bodies around

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 17 Indigomagazine our giantSerpent each other, toppling, and push- quent fires, and in some cases, scape that Eastern Diamondbacks ing each other to the ground as fires may have burned across this could use for refugia and places to a form of physical domination. landscape every couple of years. overwinter. Fire is so important This wrestling match can last These frequent fires allowed many to the Longleaf Pine ecosystem from a few minutes to hours un- of the grasses and forbs to repro- that it is often referred to as “the til the subordinate flees. This is duce, which in turn produced food fire forest”. Sadly, the Longleaf a stereotyped and ritualized se- for the small mammals that East- Pine ecosystem has changed and ries of behaviors seen in many ern Diamondbacks prey upon. only a small percentage remains. species of snakes and normally The fires also kept the landscape Europeans entered the landscape results in little physical harm. relatively open, allowing Gopher over 200 years ago, changing the Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) future of Eastern Diamondbacks The gestation period for female populations to flourish, resulting and their habitat forever. Today Eastern Diamondbacks is ap- in many burrows across the land- the southeastern Coastal Plain is proximately 5 months. Most births occur in August and early ake venom: September and litter size averages s n 12 young. At birth, neonate (new- le born) Eastern Diamondbacks are tt The venom of rattlesnakes is a complex mixture capable of delivering a venomous a of proteins that have enzymatic activities causing local bite, but the bite of larger indi- R tissue injury, systemic vascular damage, hemolysis viduals is more dangerous due (destruction of red blood cells), fibrinolysis (dissolution to a larger venom yield. Female of fibrin) and neuromuscular dysfunction. Due to these Eastern Diamondbacks are ca- multiple sites of action, it is not prudent to label or treat pable of reproducing annually if rattlesnake envenomation as being strictly “hemotoxic” prey resources are abundant, but as both cardiotoxic and neurotoxic manifestations may reproducing every 2 to 3 years is occur. The venom of Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes more common. Following par- contains an impressive spectrum of toxins that bind turition (birth), neonates often with specific receptor sites and results in a multi-organ stay with the female until their poisoning. Their complex venom combined with a large first shed, about 2 weeks follow- venom yield (200-850mg dry weight) makes the Eastern ing birth. This “neonatal aggre- Diamondback one of the most dangerous snakes in North gation” with Mom in attendance America. affords protection for the young during this vulnerable period. Snake venoms continue to be of importance in biomedical research. The venom of Eastern Diamondbacks has The majority of the Eastern Dia- dramatic variation in different parts of the snake’s range. mondback’s range is within the Eastern Diamondbacks in Georgia may have different Longleaf pine ecosystem of the toxins and proportions of toxins than those found in Southeastern Coastal Plain. His- southern Florida. A well-studied example is a myotoxin torically, this region was covered which is present in more northern populations but absent by an endless sea of savanna-like in southern populations. This venom component causes grasslands with low densities of tonic hyperextension of the hind limbs in rodents and longleaf pine trees. These exten- rabbits which inhibits the prey’s ability to travel distances sive grassland forests were inter- once envenomated. Prospecting snake venom for sected by blackwater creeks and medical and pharmaceutical application remains a rich floodplain swamps. The Longleaf and beneficial area of scientific research. pine ecosystem is adapted to fre-

18 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 Serpent our giantSerpent Indigomagazine

characterized by fragmentation with extensive areas of agricultural, rural residential, and urban development, including an extensive network of roads. Most of the remaining forests are in production forestry where the natural grasses and forbs have been removed and off-site pines (primarily loblolly and slash pines) are planted at high densities and harvested fre- quently. The decline of the seemingly endless Southeastern Coastal Plain “The decline of the seemingly has caused Eastern Diamondback endless Southeastern Coastal populations to decline significantly. ake venom: Plain has caused Eastern s n Recently, Eastern Diamondbacks Diamondback populations to le have been the focus of attention for tt wildlife conservation and manage- decline significantly.” a ment organizations following a pe- R tition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list them as a threatened species under the United States En- dangered Species Act. In general, most everyone agrees that the snake has declined over the last 200 years, but little attention has been paid to its status except in a few states on the edge of its range. Eastern Diamond- backs historically occurred almost continuously from southeast Loui- siana to southeast North Carolina but today their distribution is much more fragmented. Eastern Diamond- backs are no longer thought to occur in Louisiana, are restricted primarily to protected land in Mississippi and North Carolina, and have declined throughout the remainder of their range. Currently there are no laws against collecting or killing Eastern Diamondbacks in Louisiana, Ala- bama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina (with the exception of some state lands). In Mississippi, 4 East- ern Diamondbacks can be taken each year with a hunting license and in photo: Pete Oxford North Carolina, Eastern Diamond-

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 19 Indigomagazine our giantSerpent backs are considered an endan- Telemetry: gered species, thus it is unlawful io to take or possess one. With the d One of the field techniques researchers use to study the current petition for endangered aecology of snakes is called radio telemetry. Radio telemetry species status many states are re- Rallows a researcher to track a snake and get important insights viewing the status of Eastern Dia- about their daily lives. In order to conduct radio telemetry, a trans- mondback populations and there mitter must be fixed to the study animal. Because snakes have could be some changes to the long, limbless bodies, transmitters are typically surgically implant- existing regulations very soon. ed into the body cavity. Transmitters come in various sizes, but one of the more common sizes is comparable to an AA battery. Each The Orianne Society is involved transmitter emits an intermittent beep at a unique radio frequency. in many projects to study and Using a receiver and antenna, the researcher can dial in the fre- conserve Eastern Diamond- quency of the snake’s transmitter, which will begin to pick up the back populations in the wild. beep given off by the transmitter. By pointing the antenna in differ- As an organization that houses ent directions, the researcher can listen to the strength of the beep the International Union for the and determine which direction the snake is in. The researcher can Conservation of Nature’s Viper follow the beep until they reach the snake’s location. Data collected Specialist Group, we see North from radio telemetry studies can be used to generate a lot of useful America’s greatest rattlesnake information about a snake’s ecology including home range size, as an important species for us movement and activity patterns, what shelters they use, and what to conserve as well as a flagship habitats they utilize. Some transmitters are even temperature sensi- for viper conservation around tive and the pulse rate of the transmitter can be used to calculate the world. Some of the programs the body temperature of the snake. This is useful in studying the and projects The Orianne Soci- thermal ecology of a snake. ety implements for Eastern Dia- mondback Conservation include:

Conservation key threats to the species. It also of the most iconic predators of Planning. contains conservation strategies the southeastern United States, The Orianne Society is currently that can be used as a blueprint by we still lack a great deal of ba- leading a team in the develop- wildlife managers and biologists sic knowledge of the ecology of ment of a Conservation Action to protect Eastern Diamondbacks Eastern Diamondbacks. Some of Plan (CAP) for Eastern Diamond- throughout their range. These the gaps in our understanding back Rattlesnakes. A CAP is a strategies are targeted at identi- of this species include the effects comprehensive guide to manag- fied threats, and range from habi- of habitat loss and fragmenta- ing a declining species. We are tat management guidelines, to tions, the effects of translocating working with state agencies, re- changes in legislation. These leg- (moving) individuals, the effects search biologists, and public and islation recommendations may be of roads, population viability, ge- private land managers to develop used to afford the species protec- netic structure, and sustainable this plan. The Eastern Diamond- tion from being killed, or to desig- harvest levels. Identifying and back CAP contains background nate it as a game species so that bag filling in the gaps in our knowl- information on the species ecol- limits can be set to limit the num- edge of this species is essential ogy as well as an assessment of ber of animals that can be killed. to be able to develop appropriate its status throughout its range, conservation strategies. Lastly, and a detailed assessment of the The CAP will also address future the CAP will contain a timeline research needs. Despite being one and indicators of success for each

20 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 Serpent our giantSerpent Indigomagazine Telemetry: of the management recommen- mondbacks, like most snakes, are southeastern United States, they io dations to ensure that they are tricky research subjects. They are also prey for Eastern Indigo d carried out in a timely manner occur in rugged habitats and are Snakes. Because of their impor- a and that any failures can be reas- well camouflaged, which makes tant role as both predator and R sessed and adjusted as needed. them incredibly tough to find and prey, we are monitoring the pop- therefore research. We are using ulation that occurs on the OISP. Field Research. a modeling approach that only re- The Orianne Society is work- quires presence and absence data. In order to monitor the popula- ing on a variety of field projects We conduct vi- including a state-wide inven- sual encounter tory and monitoring of Eastern surveys and Diamondback populations in the record wheth- Ocmulgee region of South Geor- er or not we gia. We are also in the process of saw an East- completing a project investigating ern Diamond- the impacts of habitat fragmen- back. These tation on populations in coastal data will then Georgia. You may not know that be analyzed Eastern Diamondbacks inhabit to determine coastal areas, including many of how landscape the barrier islands, throughout patterns and their range. They can even swim configura- Eastern Diamondback Range the tidal creeks to move between tions influence islands and the mainland. While where Eastern Eastern Diamondback popula- Diamondbacks tions are declining throughout are found. These data can then tion on the OISP, all Eastern Dia- much of their range, they may be used to make habitat manage- mondbacks that are encountered remain abundant in undisturbed ment recommendations in the are captured so that they can be coastal habitats. Despite this, face of continued coastal devel- marked. These snakes are cap- little research has been conduct- opment. We should soon have a tured using specialized tools, in- ed on Eastern Diamondbacks much better understanding of the cluding snake hooks and tongs. on the coast, and we know little ecology of these snakes in this re- Capturing a venomous snake is about their ecology in this region, which can be used to help a potentially dangerous task, and gion. The coast is also a popular protect this declining species. therefore should only be done by tourist destination, and there- someone who has been properly fore sees a great deal of develop- Land Protection. trained, to ensure that no harm ment activities which presents The Orianne Indigo Snake Pre- will come to the snake, or the a threat to persistence of East- serve (OISP) lies in Telfair person capturing it. Captured ern Diamondback populations. County, Georgia. This property snakes are then brought back to is dedicated to the protection of the laboratory where we use clear We are currently working on the federally threatened East- plastic tubes to restrain the snake Georgia’s Barrier Islands to de- ern Indigo Snake (Drymarchon so we can record morphologi- termine how human develop- couperi), but also has a popula- cal data, including body length, ment influences where Eastern tion of Eastern Diamondbacks. mass, and sex, and then insert a Diamondbacks occur, and where While Eastern Diamondbacks are passive integrated transponder, they don’t. But Eastern Dia- one of the top predators in the or PIT, tag. These PIT tags are the

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 21 Indigomagazine our giantSerpent u know? yo d The labial pits of pitvipers Snakes are the best rodent i predators on the planet. Although D are infra-red receptors that can differentiate temperature raptors (birds of prey) and mammalian differences up to 1/3,000 of a carnivores consume their fair share, degree Celsius. These receptors they have to wait for rodents to come are visual organs, using the out of their burrows in order to catch trigeminal nerve to send imaging them. Snakes can actually pursue information to the brain, much like rodents down their burrows and into their the eye uses the optic nerve for underground retreats and catch them similar purposes. The adaptive where they hide! advantage is that a rattlesnake, at night, deep in a burrow, in the total absence of light, can “see” their Although it is widely recognized that prey! snakes are instrumental in keeping rodent populations in check, snakes themselves provide food for many other animals. Although same that are used by veterinar- ians in cats and dogs to identify adult Eastern Diamondbacks have few the animals should they be sepa- potential enemies besides humans, young rated from their owner. Each PIT Eastern Diamondbacks are documented tag contains a unique set of num- as being on the menu of Indigo Snakes, bers and letters that provides an Common Kingsnakes, Black Racers, Coral ID for that individual. Whenever Snakes, owls, hawks, cara cara , wood storks, we capture a snake, we can scan it to see if it has been captured raccoons, skunks, fox, coyote, bobcat and before. If it has, we can then look even black bear! This is a great example of the through our data and see when dramatic predatory interactions and species and where it was captured, and interdependence found in our natural wildlife even how much the individual has communities. grown. Eventually we will be able to use these data to estimate the sance calls from the public who venomous bites occur when peo- size of the Eastern Diamondback did not want to harm rattlesnakes ple intentionally engage venom- population on the OISP. To date, but who were also not thrilled ous snakes, usually in the process we have captured and marked to have them in their yard! As of attempting to kill them. So, 16 Eastern Diamondbacks on normal protocol, the staff of the for the best interest of the snake the OISP, 8 males, 7 females, OCIC responds to local venom- and the public, the staff of the and one of undetermined sex. ous snake calls as a public service OCIC is eager to act as a commu- and to act in the best interest of nity resource for these requests. Captive Conservation. the snake. Not only can we re- move the snake from harm’s way, In addition to receiving nuisance The Orianne Center for Indigo but we also use the opportunity to and salvage (rattlesnakes found Conservation (OCIC) Eastern educate people about snakes. It is during the process of develop- Diamondback Rattlesnake pro- recognized that a vast majority of ment) Eastern Diamondbacks, gram began in response to nui-

22 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 Serpent our giantSerpent Indigomagazine the OCIC also maintains albino Eastern Diamondbacks in the col- tion issues. These white specimens lection. These genetically recessive individuals which lack black are also an excellent example of the pigment are more correctly referred to as “amelanistic partial al- liability of non-adaptive coloration bino”, as yellow and red pigments are still produced by chromato- and make it possible to show the phores in the skin. This genetic line originated from a male “albino” successful camouflage of a mela- brought into a Georgia rattlesnake roundup in 1988. This specimen nistic snake as opposed to that of was purchased by the Knoxville Zoo and crossed with a female col- amelanistic snakes. The OCIC lected in Okatie, South Carolina. Siblings produced from this cross currently houses 23 Eastern Dia- were transferred to Central Florida Zoo where the line was devel- mondbacks that are used for Edu- oped further. Fred Antonio, Director of the OCIC, began produc- cation Outreach including being ing albino Eastern Diamondbacks at home in 2004, and since that displayed at the Claxton, Georgia time has produced 144 neonates. The OCIC is currently working Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival with this line, as they are stunning “attention-getters” at outreach that recently transitioned from programs where we can then engage the public on snake conserva- being a Rattlesnake Roundup.

OCIC Director Fred Antonio at the Claxton Rattlesnake and Wildlife festival in Claxton, GA. The successful transition of the Claxton event from a “roundup” to a no kill wildlife festival can be a model for preserving traditions and protecting wildlife. photo: Heidi Hall ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 23 Indigomagazine our giantSerpent

Rattlesnake Roundups. and by presenting conservation edu- Rattlesnake roundups continue to be con- cation talks throughout the weekend. troversial events, which exploit rattlesnakes. Characterized by organized hunts, inhumane This year, in support of the Evans treatment of animals, and the portrayal of ven- County Wildlife Club, The Orianne So- omous snakes as “bad animals” that deserve ciety will again contribute to this event killing, these annual events spread misinfor- by exhibiting 20 rattlesnakes that are mation to the public, negatively impact wild maintained in hte OCIC collection populations, and lack any kind of conservation specifically for this purpose. The Ev- ethic. Members of the Association of Zoos and ans County Wildlife Club and Georgia Aquariums (AZA) have long been critical of DNR are to be commended for creating rattlesnake roundups as have many conserva- a proactive program that ended the an- tion organizations and members of the scien- nual butchering of our native wildlife. tific community. During the 1999 AZA Board of Directors meeting, they unanimously ap- Candidate Conservation proved a statement condemning rattlesnake roundups: “The AZA condemns the cruel and Agreements. ecologically destructive practice of rattle- The Orianne Society is working with snake roundups and encourages its member Tall Timbers Research Station and institutions to actively oppose such activity multiple private plantations in the Red through public education and the support Hills region of Southwest Georgia and of relative legislation.” Although rattlesnake Northwest Florida to develop a Candi- roundups continue as unregulated harvests date Conservation Agreement (CCA). in Texas and Oklahoma, Georgia has made Eastern Diamondback populations are great strides in turning these traditional “kill doing relatively well in the Red Hills events” into wildlife-friendly festivals where region due to a long history of land no snakes are harmed. Following the year management for quail that includes 2000, a rattlesnake roundup that was held frequent prescribed fire. Developing a for 27 years in Fitzgerald, Georgia, sponsor- CCA between the U.S. Fish and Wild- ing Jaycees announced that the event would life Service and private landowners no longer be held and it would be replaced by will recognize all of the habitat restora- a festival to honor the Burmese wild chicken, tion and management work land own- Fitzgerald’s free-ranging unofficial mascot. ers have already done and ensure that This change of venue was encouraged by Geor- they continue to manage habitats in a gia Department of Natural Resources (GDNR) way that will benefit Eastern Diamond- as was last year’s conversion of the Claxton, backs. If the landowners agree to con- Georgia Rattlesnake Roundup to the “Claxton tinue managing habitats and Eastern Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival”. Sponsored Diamondbacks were to become listed by the Evans County Wildlife Club, it was the under the Endangered Species Act, the first time in 45 years that no rattlesnakes were landowners would be protected from killed and all rattlesnakes, 130 of them, went further restrictions. CCAs are great home with their owners following a weekend ways to get proactive conservation of festivities. The Orianne Society participated accomplished for candidate species. by bringing live rattlesnakes from The OCIC

24 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 Serpent our giantSerpent Indigomagazine

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes are one of the world’s largest and most amazing vipers. An icon of one of North America’s most majestic, yet now decimated ecosystems – the Longleaf Pine ecosystem. Despite their secretive nature, this wonderful, but threatened animal still evokes fear in many people resulting in many Eastern Diamondbacks being killed every year. So is there a future for Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes; is there room for people to coexist and live side by side with this amazing animal? We think so. While Eastern Diamondbacks will never again exist uninterrupted from Louisiana to North Carolina, there are many wild places left in the Southeastern Coastal Plain. With a new interest in the conservation and management of this species, soon we will see the Eastern Diamondbacks protected across its range including in these wild places and that many organizations will continue to protect, restore, and manage the areas this species inhabits. With the dedication of many and the partnerships that are currently sprouting to rally for this species, we see a long future for Eastern Diamondbacks, a future where our children’s children can walk among the pines and see a majestic Eastern Diamondback, a beautiful predator, coiled at the base of a towering Longleaf Pine waiting for his next meal. SPRING ISSUE 2013 25 photo: Pete Oxford Pete photo: ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG Indigomagazine of the travelers snakeworldw

The author and Orianne Society Assistant Conservation

Scientist, Javan Bauder, with an Eastern Indigo Snake. Lance Paden photo:

By: Javan Bauder Conserving Eastern Indigo Snakes often feels like conserving a much larger animal, like a bear, panther, or elk. This is because Indigo Snakes are the travelers of the snake world. Indigo Snakes have the largest reported home range sizes of any snake species, up to 3,700 acres in southern Georgia and 1,300 acres in Florida. Indigo Snakes in southern Georgia may move almost five miles between overwintering habitat on dry Longleaf Pine sandhills to summer foraging habitat. On a pound-per-pound basis,

26 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 Indigomagazine “Indigo Snakes are particularly world that is equivalent to a human susceptible to road mortality walking almost 200 miles! During our own research on Indigo because of their large body size, Snakes in central Florida, we have seen Indigo Snakes move extensive movement distances, and o v e r h a l f a m i l e i n a s i n g l e d a y . Clearly, Indigo Snakes require tendency to move among multiple large expanses of habitats in order to persist, which creates habitat types throughout the year.” some conservation challenges in today’s modern world. Like many wide-ranging species, the Indigo Snake has suffered from habitat loss and fragmentation. Habitat fragmentation occurs when large patches of habitat are divided into smaller, more isolated patches. Fragmentation may occur through very dramatic means, like the creation of a new housing development, or through more subtle means, like the creation of a two-lane highway. Indigo Snakes are particularly susceptible to road mortality Fortunately, this Indigo had a because of their large body size, well supervised road crossing. extensive movement distances, Lance Paden photo: and tendency to move among of peninsular provide important throughout a rural or suburban multiple habitat types throughout strongholds for Eastern Indigo landscape? Can these landscapes the year. Although over-collecting Snakes, Florida has seen exten- still support Indigo Snake popu- and incidental mortality from sive changes to its landscapes. lations? These questions are all rattlesnake roundups were also As a result Snakes are negatively part of a larger question that is contributing factors leading affected when habitats are lost very relevant to Indigo Snake to the listing of the Eastern through development, but what conservation in Florida: how do Indigo Snake on the Endangered about when natural habitats are human-altered habitats affect In- Species List in 1978, human- modified or altered but not com- digo Snake populations’ viability? caused changes to the landscape pletely destroyed? For example, This is a question that The Ori- represent the greatest threat to how do Indigo Snakes respond to anne Society is working to answer. Indigo Snakes across their range. cattle ranches or citrus groves? What happens to Eastern In- Human-altered habitats The threat of human-caused land- digo Snakes in rural areas where are widespread throughout scape change is particularly im- houses and roads occur at low Florida, cattle ranches, citrus portant for Indigo Snakes in pen- densities? What about small par- groves, sugar cane fields, rural insular Florida. Although parts cels of natural habitat scattered neighborhoods, and suburban

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 27 Indigomagazine of the travelers snakeworldw developments. Although people If so, Indigo Snakes may be better pect of this model is that, in order often think of Indigo Snakes as off in Florida than we think. to predict the number of Indigo occurring in large tracts of natural Snakes, it will simulate the life habitat, Indigo Snakes in Florida However, studying how entire cycle of individual snakes. These are commonly reported from populations respond to different virtual snakes will move, survive, various human-altered habitats. landscapes is incredibly difficult and reproduce according to a set However, ensuring that Indigo to do in the field and requires of preprogrammed rules designed Snakes persist in an area requires more time than researchers have to simulate the real movements, more than a few sightings but available. Fortunately, there is survival rates, and reproductive rather what is referred to in an approach that can allow us to output of Indigo Snakes in central conservation biology as a viable quickly answer questions about Florida. New snakes will be born population. into this virtual Several factors environment and are required to added to the virtual support a viable population. At the population. There end of the model must be abundant run we will com- food and shelter pare the number throughout a of remaining vir- large enough tual snakes to the area to support number we started numerous the model with. A individuals. simulated popula- The number of tion that had more new individuals deaths than births entering the will have declined, population, either while a simulated through birth population with or immigration, more births than must exceed deaths will have in- the number creased. This model “Indigoof individuals has many exciting that die or There is something special about an Eastern applications. We Snakesemigrate. The Indigo in the wild. Ask anyone who has seen one. will be able to iden- population must

photo: Lance Paden photo: tify habitats and be large enough landscapes in High- areto ensure that population persistence: popula- lands County, Florida that sup- chance events, like a wildfire or tion viability modeling. The Ori- port viable populations and deter- particularlydisease, will not wipe susceptible it out. The anne Society to is building a popu- mine where populations are most population must be connected lation viability model (or PVA) at risk of extinction. We can also with other populations so for Indigo Snakes in Highlands overlay viable populations onto roadthat mortality new genetic material because can County Florida of that their will allow us existing conservation lands to be exchanged to prevent the to predict the number of Indigo identify priority areas in need of largenegative body effects of size, inbreeding. extensive Snakes that remain in the county protection. This model could even Can human-altered habitats after some time period (typically be applied to future landscape de- movementmeet all of these requirements?distances, 100 years). and The interesting as- velopment scenarios to determine

28 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 Indigomagazine how Indigo Snakes might persist in the face of increased development. Given the appropriate in- put data, this model could be applied to Indigo Snake populations anywhere in Florida or Georgia.

The second approach The Ori- anne Society is taking to determine how human-altered habitats affect Indigo Snake populations is by studying how those landscapes affect the connectivity of those populations. Maintaining population connectivity is primarily important in allowing different populations to exchange genetic material to prevent the nega- Parker Daniel photo: tive effects of inbreeding. This The author and a team of volunteers collect data on an Eastern component of our research is fo- Indigo Snake, during a field blitz organized by The Orianne Society. cused on a larger region of central Florida. Genetic connectivity tify habitats that facilitate con- we have used radio telemetry to is determined by first extracting nectivity among populations we monitor the movements of Indigo DNA from an Indigo Snake tis- could identify potential corridors Snakes in southern Highlands sue sample, which can be a scale among different populations. County, Florida. Although our in- clip or piece of shed skin, and Answering these population and dividual movement data will help using computer software to es- regional level questions requires us answer questions of how indi- timate relatedness based on the quite a bit of data collected on vidual snakes respond to differ- similarity of DNA sequences be- individual Indigo Snakes in their ent human-altered habitats, the tween two individuals. The field natural environment. In order primary purpose of our telemetry of landscape genetics provides to create models that accurately data is to help us build an accu- several tools with which related- simulate Indigo Snake move- rate population viability model. ness can be compared to features ments we need to have a good To date, we have captured 68 of the landscape such as rivers, idea of what those movements Indigo Snakes across our study roads, development, agriculture, are in the wild, how they differ area. Each snake is measured, or types of natural habitats, to by season or gender, and how weighed, sexed, marked with a determine if those features fa- they change depending on the unique microchip (PIT tag), and cilitate or restrict connectivity. type of habitat. Understanding scale-clipped. The scale clips will For example, rivers may facilitate how different landscape types af- be used to extract DNA for use connectivity because river flood- fect genetic connectivity requires in the landscape genetics study. plains are often undeveloped and tissue samples from those dif- Snakes that are large enough re- could allow Indigo Snakes to dis- ferent landscape types. In order ceive a surgically implanted radio perse long distances, while large to collect this information, The transmitter at the University of highways might restrict gene flow Orianne Society is studying In- Florida’s Small Animal Hospital. by acting as barriers to Indigo digo Snakes in the field in central Snake dispersal. If we can iden- Florida. For the past two years, Finding enough Indigo Snakes

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 29 Indigomagazine of the travelers snakeworldw has not been easy, particularly as near telemetered males or males called about an Indigo Snake un- we expand our study area accord- found near telemetered females. der their back porch and our field ing to the goals of the landscape On Christmas Eve, we found one technician was able to go and genetics study. Indigo Snakes are of our telemetered males mating catch it. Another local resident often difficult to find in peninsu- with a new female! Apparently the called us to report a road-killed lar Florida, even in places where telemetered snakes were leading Indigo Snake that yielded a tis- their populations are secure. Part us directly to new snakes! How- sue sample from an important of this difficulty stems from the ever, the vast majority of our cap- gap in our genetics sampling. tendency of Indigo Snakes in pen- tures were opportunistic encoun- As we ramp up our genetics sam- insular Florida to use a variety of ters with our field technicians, pling and expand beyond High- shelter sites and habitats through- other biologists, or volunteers. lands County, we are encourag- out the year. This generalist pat- Volunteers have played an ining people to call us if they see a tern of habitat use is probably creasingly important role in our road-killed Indigo Snake or shed due to Florida’s mild skin. Our Florida field techni- climate, particularly cians are able to respond to those in the winter. Mild Answering these population calls and collect the necessary tis- winters in Florida and regional level questions sue. Finally, anyone can submit make Indigo Snakes an Indigo Snake sighting with a less dependent upon requires quite a bit of data photograph to The Orianne Soci- Gopher Tortoise bur- ety at [email protected]. rows than they are collected on individual In order to confirm a report as in southern Georgia a verified Indigo Snake sighting and northern Florida, Indigo Snakes in their natural a photograph must be included. where they depend environment. These verified sightings will be on tortoise burrows added to our Orianne Society for overwintering Indigo Snake database and will sites. This weaker association Florida research since its incep- also be forwarded to the Flor- makes winter surveys around tion. A small group of volunteers, ida Fish and Wildlife Conser- tortoise burrows, a proven tech- who are authorized to work under vation Commission (FFWCC). nique in south Georgia, less reli- our U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service able in Florida. That being said, permit, have helped search for In- Recording these verified sight- winter surveys around tortoise digo Snakes to add to our telem- ings is important in document- burrows, as well as driving roads etry study in Highlands County. ing the status of the Indigo Snake through suitable habitat, have This group recently came togeth- across space and time, which yielded some success in find- er for an “Indigo Snake Blitz” in The Orianne Society was able to ing Indigo Snakes. Interestingly, early January 2013 where the do in collaboration with FFWCC our telemetered Indigo Snakes participants spent three days in- and Georgia Department of Nat- have helped themselves add new tensively searching for Indigo ural Resources in a recent sci- snakes to the study. From Octo- Snakes throughout Highlands entific publication documenting ber 2012 through January 2013, County. The Blitz was a success as the current status and distribu- nine of the fifteen Indigo Snakes we captured three Indigo Snakes tion of the Indigo Snake. Many captured during this time were all and found three new shed skins. of the observations used in that at or near telemetered snakes. In- Other people have also made con- publication were submitted by digo Snake breeding occurs dur- tributions to our study. We caught volunteers who submitted veri- ing this time and most of these one of our telemetered Indigo fied sightings of Indigo Snakes. captures were of females found Snakes because a local resident

30 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 Indigomagazine WHAT’S THE FREQUENCY, BETTY? Using radio telemetry to TRACK EASTERN INDIGO SNAKES IN CENTRAL FLORIDA.

By: Gabriel Diaz Photo: Gabriel Diaz Gabriel Photo: You don’t forget your first sighting A dozen mosquitoes have taken up station in the of an Indigo: On a trail cloudy with motel room. Bloodstains like pencil marks streak bugs some summers ago in the Ev- the walls from previous guests’ attempts at playing erglades, a friend and I got a quick look at several feet of purplish exterminator. The night air is heavy, almost wet, blackness darting decisively from though it’s not raining now. This is southwest one side of the path to the other, pausing at the base of a tree to find central Florida – Lake Placid, more precisely - at its burrow – allowing us enough the end of summer. Just a few miles away is the time to confirm it was an Indigo, and not a big racer. The encounter Archbold Biological Station, an ecological research made all the mosquitoes we unwit- institution that serves as a base for The Orianne tingly inhaled that day worthwhile.

Society’s conservation efforts on one of the South’s Indigo snake territory used to rarely seen treasures: The Eastern Indigo Snake. cover most of the Gulf States, from Mississippi to Georgia, most of Florida, and even out -->

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 31 Indigomagazine What’s the Frequency, Betty?

Tracking Indigos means following the signal wherever it may lead. Here the author and Lance Paden slosh through brackish water on the trail of a PIT tagged Indigo. to South Carolina. Its scientific name,Drymarchon couperi, suggests it is the “forest ruler,” but now they are only found in Florida and southeastern Georgia. This colubrid is federally listed as threatened in Flor- ida, with most populations occurring throughout the peninsula. The Indigo is good at adapting to various environments in the state, from scrub land and pine flatwoods, to mangrove swamps, to sandhill areas; living in animal burrows, stump holes, or leaf piles. But with habitat fragmentation, road kills, and even il- legal collection for the pet trade due to its beauty and docility, the Eastern Indigo has an uncertain future.

In the morning I meet with Lance Paden, resident Indigo field researcher at Archbold. Paden is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina, landing a seasonal post here with The Orianne Society just out of school. Young, affable, with a contagious love for the outdoors and reptiles, he spends his

32 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 What’s the Frequency, Betty? Indigomagazine

today to find out more about a new PIT tag, and we’ll be re- the research and conservation releasing her this morning on for this rare snake. station land. Archbold preserves 5200 acres of Florida scrub land. The Orianne Society is a young Paden carefully pulls Betty out nonprofit, founded in 2008 of her tank. She’s sleepy and a Indigos are easy going specifically for little ornery, but cooperative. In- the conserva- digos are easygoing by nature; tion of Indigos. they might make puffing noises by nature; they might The company and flatten themselves to look big is named after and intimidating, but it’s mostly make puffing noises and Orianne, whose a show. They rarely bite people. father provid- Paden points out where the ra- flatten themselves to look ed the startup dio transmitter was inserted in funds for the Betty as he loads her into a tub. It big and intimidating, but Society after the doesn’t look like the surgery was young girl held too intrusive, and the snake cer- it’s mostly a show. They her first Indigo; tainly doesn’t seem to notice it. she told her fa- We pile into the truck and head to rarely bite people. ther he needed the southern border of Archbold to do something land. Past a gate, we quickly find to stop these snakes from go- a Gopher Tortoise burrow for Bet- ing into extinction. Thus the ty. Out in the sun, the color of her Eastern Indigo Snake Initiative gunmetal scales is almost magi- was created. The Society works cal in its sparkling iridescence. I with other species as well, but see now the reddish orange wash its flagship conservation model on her labial scales, and the deep is the Indigo. It aims to study blackness of her eyes that seem the species’ habitat needs and to shelter an ancient knowledge. movements within an individual snake’s range – which Betty is released into the bur- is surprisingly broad – to help row, and she immediately takes with Orianne’s reintroduc- up shelter inside. Paden tells me tion efforts. And in Florida, we’ll come back later in the after- that Diaz Gabriel Photo: means sloughing through noon, to see if she’s moved out days using radio telemetry to the wetlands while chasing a from the burrow. He jots down find tagged snakes. The Orianne radio signal that will, hope- some notes and we head out again. Society surgically inserts passive fully, lead to spotting a reptile integrated transponder (PIT) that can be very hard to find We head into the Reserve, an- tags, about the size of a grain of – with or without telemetry. other 3650 acres of land recent- rice, in all found Indigos before I’m introduced to Betty Ford, ly acquired by Archbold to help releasing them back into the areas a temporary resident at the protect this distinctive habitat. where they were picked up. I had station. She was recently re- asked to ride along with Paden captured to get outfitted with Paden jumps out and attaches an

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 33 Indigomagazine What’s the Frequency, Betty? omni-directional antenna to the snake’s body temperature will thermometer in the ground for a roof of the truck, and turns the remain low. Paden says that if surface reading, and then holds it radio on. The telemetry gear has he’s getting a signal and he’s on up in the shade, then finally out a range of 800 meters, but we’re hard-packed ground, but he can’t in the sunlight. These readings getting a beep right away. That find the snake, “You gotta think help make sense of the pulse rate would be Sigma, a male Indigo. about it,” and really look around; information. When he’s done, we We drive deeper into the reserve once, he found the transmitter, slosh our way back to the truck. and the beeps get louder. Paden but no serpent. Then he found parks the truck and tells me we’re the snake skeleton nearby. One There’s not much wild land out hoofing it from here. Amidst cattle here. He switches ranches and citrus the radio to a di- groves, Indigos make rectional anten- their way around their na in the bed of home ranges. Paden the truck, a long was surprised to find handheld wand that some Indigos have with several rods a range of a square attached to it. mile or more. One such Paden hops onto snake is Galileo, a big the bedrail and male with a big home. points the con- traption in dif- Galileo has us splash- ferent directions ing through some wet until he finds farmland, the beeps the strongest from the handheld ra- signal. We take dio getting louder. His off and are soon signal’s close, which in ankle-deep means he’s close, but water, trudging the water on the leaves through brush In the sunlight it is easy to see and over most of the and a muddy where the Indigo gets its name. ground is bouncing bottom. It’s been Diaz Gabriel Photo: the signal around so a while since I’ve Paden can’t get a solid been on terrain like this, but I of the Society’s wards had be- fix. The beeping is loud enough manage to keep up with Paden’s come a meal for another critter. that we figure the scurrying snake mountain goat surefootedness. has to be right by our feet, and The signal leads us to the base Based on the signal, Paden can Paden is on his track as Galileo of a tree. Sigma is underground, tell Sigma is most likely under- approaches a fence line – and maybe in an unseen burrow, or neath that big mound of leaf litter goes under it. The Orianne So- a stump hole. Paden uses the ra- at our feet. He doesn’t need any ciety does not have permission dio pulse rate to determine if a physical data from the Indigo, so to be on that property yet, and snake is on or under the surface. leaves the snake alone and takes Paden knows all the boundar- “I time fifty beats of the transmit- some notes after getting some ies by heart. The chase is over, ter,” he explains, “and the cooler temperature readings. While I and Paden writes in his notebook the snake is, the longer it takes admire a Five-lined Skink on a and takes temperature readings for fifty beats.” Out of the sun, a nearby tree trunk, Paden sticks a as a brief shower adds sparingly

34 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 What’s the Frequency, Betty? Indigomagazine to the wetness surrounding us. road a hundred yards ahead, then the woods at any time. But the a 300-pound razorback trounces only other wild pig we see is on The next couple of hours go by eas- through the brush after it. Paden our drive out, and it vanishes ily. Julius, an Indigo named after and I just look at each other. like a ghost when we get close. Mr. Caesar, is found in hog coun- “That was a big one!” he says. try on other private land. Paden Paden has had other animal en- and Javan Bauder, a research We push on and find the area counters before. While follow- ecologist with Orianne that helps where Julius was last found. A ing an Indigo out on a ranch, organize their Florida projects, short walk and he is located right some of the residents thought it secure permission from landown- where Paden left him: an under- was lunchtime when they saw a ers before chasing a snake through ground area next to a tree. He human walking out to them. “I their property. Paden says most comes out into the field at least got chased by a herd of cattle are agreeable and sympathetic, three times a week, and knows once,” Paden laughs., “about two though some refuse permission for his charges well. I keep scan- hundred of them!” He said they their own reasons. He tells me that ning the woods; our sighting of must have figured it was feeding a few would rather not be remind- the big pig some minutes ago time, and went after him when ed that snakes exist on their land. has me hyper-aware. I’m used to he disappointed them. The large alligators and crawling rep- cows eventually learned to ig- Coasting through a maze of jeep tiles, not oversized mammals that nore him after succeeding visits. trails, we see a small pig cross the might come crashing through

The author cradles a regal and very healthy Eastern Indigo in a nice exhibit of the snake’s iridescent underbelly. Photo: Gabriel Diaz Gabriel Photo: Gabriel J. Diaz is a writer and photographer living in south Florida, where he makes the Everglades his home away from home.

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 35 Indigomagazine backwoods blackwater By Chris Hartmann

Above: The placid Suwannee River in mid-afternoon.

Right: The canoe that the author used to traverse 40 miles of the Suwannee River, which originates in the Okefenokee Swamp, emerging in Fargo, Ga and running south to the Gulf of Mexico.

36 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 Indigomagazine “We were about to embark on a 40-mile expedition down one of America’s most ancient rivers.” blackwater

As we moved our supplies from our truck into the canoe, it was obvious that not

all of it would fit.

photo: Chris Hartmann

Both Chad and I were accustomed to camping with our truck, which could haul much more than the canoe. We tried our best to get the most important items into the canoe- the things we could not live without such as chairs, a fan for the tent, and a few inflatable mattresses. After stacking the canoe so full of equipment it bobbed dangerously low in the water, we were finally able to make some sacrifices and curtail all of our luxuries. We knew now that this would be a real adventure- not one of those prepackaged “adventures” that came with three meals and a shower every day. We were about to embark on a 40-mile expedition down one of America’s most ancient rivers. We were going to canoe the northern Suwannee River.

We set off from the sill located at the Stephen C. Foster State Park in Georgia. This is a dam- like structure erected to prevent the water levels in the Okefenokee Swamp that feeds the Suwannee from dipping too low. This area is also home to some of the largest gators that I have ever seen. A twelve-foot gator splashing into the dark waters while rounding the river bend became a common sight that was both exhilarating and humbling.

During the first few days of the trip we tried to gain our confidence with the canoe. We

photo: Chris Hartmann bounced from bank to bank until we were finally able to get a grasp of controlling our vessel. ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 37 Indigomagazine Backwoodsblackwater

This made for an up-close and perhaps too personal reading the maps incorrectly and encounter with several large spiders residing in the low were much farther upstream than hanging branches as we collided with them. Monstrous we had thought. This meant we argiopes and huntsman spiders were scraped off the twigs had to cover twice the distance or pulled from their webs as the tower of luggage stacked in a quarter of the time from our in our canoe passed through the branches. “It did not take long for the Over the next couple of days, we had much more control of the canoe and were telltale red blaze of gator able to navigate the narrow channels of tributaries choked eyes to appear in large with duckweed and shaded by the thick canopy stretching numbers.” completely across the canals. The air was thick with mosquitoes but the urge previous pace or else we would to explore what appeared to be a Jurassic Park movie be stuck on the river another set was strong enough for us to endure them. Here we night with little remaining food. dipped a small seine net into the waters and pulled out a By this time, however, we had beautiful juvenile lesser siren covered with golden-yellow become expert paddlers and were speckles and an impressively sized two-toed amphiuma able to steer the canoe through that slipped out of sight as suddenly as it had appeared. the shockingly shallow waters that exposed cypress knees and That night we broke out our flashlights and headlamps to previously submerged trees. There shine the eyes of the gators and see just how many were was one stretch so shallow that there. We pushed off at dusk and focused the glow of our Chad and I had to exit the canoe flashlights into a tight powerful beam. It did not take long and push it through ankle deep for the telltale red blaze of gator eyes to appear in large waters. The high water mark numbers. They dotted the black water like stars in the loomed above our heads printed night sky. The beasts were much more tolerant of us than onto the wide cypress trunks. they were during the day and they allowed us to approach The shallow waters acted as a surprisingly close. Some of the largest ones would duck filter and grabbed debris from under the water as we neared them and produce a the flow. There were protruding powerful push with their tails that would nearly tip the logs covered in aluminum cans, canoe as they swam beneath us. discarded fishing lines, plastic bags, and putrid tangled carcasses The end of our trip was getting closer and we needed to of fish that were entwined in the reach our exit point on the river by the end of the day mess. It was clear that the river to keep our schedule. It was during our lunch break on was suffering. the last day on the river that we discovered we had been

38 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 BackwoodsBackwoodsblackwaterblackwater Indigomagazine

Agriculture As we exited the river in the late evening 17% Barren/Grassland we were ragged and sunburnt. Loading 12% the canoe and gear back onto the truck was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. It was not the physical Development exhaustion but the thought that by the Suwannee 6% next time I would have time for a trip Wetlands River Open Water “It did not take long for the like this, the Suwannee would no longer 28% 1% be a wild place. I feared it would become Basin a polluted relic of what once was and the severe drought would only continue to telltale red blaze of gator choke the river until it vanished. I can only hope that enough people feel the Forest/Scrub same connection to this river as do I so 36% eyes to appear in large we can save it for our future generations. numbers.” http://gulfsci.usgs.gov/suwannee/map/images/Suw_lu_web_lg.gif

About The Author: Chris Hartmann, pictured here, is a young adventurer and photographer whose true love lies with venomous snakes. He is currently working to turn this passion into a career by studying Natural Resource Conservation and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Florida. photo: Chris Hartmann

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 39 Indigomagazine upcoming events:

Michigan Reptile Show Kalamazoo Reptile & Exotic MARCH March 9 Animal Expo Taylor, MI 248.629.4304 March 23 www.michiganreptileshow.com Kalamazoo, MI Expo Center Spanish Moss Festival 269.779.9851 March 2-3 St. Louis Reptile Show www.kalamazooreptileshow.com Helena, GA March 10 Georgia Reptile Experience Little Ocmulgee State Park & Lodge St. Louis, MO March 30 229.868.7474 Holiday Inn Southwest 913.400.2876 http://www.gastateparks.org/LittleOc- www.stlreptileshow.com Macon, GA mulgee Macon Centreplex, 200 Coliseum Wildlife Discovery Center, Drive Crocodilian Biology and Captive Reptile Rampage http://www.gareptilesociety.org/expe- Management March 10 rience March 8-15 Lake Forest, IL St. Augustine, FL City of Lake Forest Recreation Center APRIL http://www.aza.org/professional- Gym training/ www.wildlifediscoverycenter.org Texas Reptile Expo April 6-7 All-Ohio Reptile Show Cin City Reptile Show San Antonio, TX March 9 March 10 Norris Conference Center at Wonder- Mason, OH Columbus, OH land Mall 501.562.7311 Kings Island Resort & Conference Moose Lodge, 1500 Demorest Road www.TexasReptileExpos.com 614.457.4433, Center, 513.910.0900 www.allohioreptileshows.webs.com www.cincityreptileshow.com Association of Zoos and Aquariums 2013 Mid-Year Meeting Indiana Reptile Breeders Expo 46th annual Claxton April 7-12 Rattlesnake and W ildlife March 17 Charleston, SC Festival Richmond, IN South Carolina Aquarium, Charles- March 9-10 Wayne County Fairgrounds ton, SC 812.923.7339 Claxton, GA www.aza.org/midyearmeeting At the Evans County Wildlife Club www.irbexpo.com Festival Grounds, Claxton, GA http:// Repticon Atlanta 4th Box Turtle Conservation www.claxtonevanschamber.com/ April 13-14 Workshop events/rattlesnakefestival.html Lawrenceville, GA March 22-23 Gwinnett County Fairground Kentucky Reptile Expo North Carolina Zoological Park, 863.268.4273 March 9 Asheboro, NC www.repticon.com Bowling Green, KY http://www.boxturtleconservation. org/registration.html Knicely Conference Center Pittsburgh Reptile Show & Sale 606.547.6643 April 14 East Coast Reptile Super Expo www.kentuckyreptileexpo.com Cheswick PA March 22-24 Harmar House 724.516.0441 Reading, PA 610.529.3614 www.pghreptileshow.com www.eastcoastreptilesuperexpos.com

40 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 upcoming events: Indigomagazine

Joint Meeting of North Carolina Repticon Orlando West Texas Herpathon PARC and the North Carolina May 11-12 June 7-9 Herpetological Society Orlando, FL Sanderson, TX April 19-21 Central Florida Fairgrounds http://snakedays.com/ NC Zoo, Asheboro, NC 336.879.7000 863.268.4273 http://www.nczoo.org/ www.repticon.com Repticon Tampa June 8-9 East Coast Reptiles Super Expo Graduate and Professional Tampa, FL April 20 Course - S pecies Monitoring and Florida State Fairgrounds Oaks, PA Conservation: Reptiles 863.268.4273 Greater Philadelphia Expo Center May 13-24 www.repticon.com 610.529.3614 Front Royal, VA www.eastcoastreptilesuperexpos.com Smithsonian Conservation Biology Repticon Chattanooga Institute June 15-16 The Orianne Society at Fernbank East Ridge, TN Museum of Natural History Repticon Sarasota Camp Jordan Arena 863.268.4273 April 21 May 18-19 www.repticon.com Atlanta, GA Sarasota, FL 767 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA Sahib Shrine 863.268.4273 East Coast Reptiles Super Expo 404.929.6300 www.repticon.com June 22 http://fernbankmuseum.org/ Oaks, PA World Crocodile Conference Greater Philadelphia Expo Center The Alabama Wildlife Center May 20-23 610.529.3614 hosts The Orianne Society Colombo, Sri Lanka www.eastcoastreptilesuperexpos.com April 28 www.csgsrilanka.com Pelham, AL Pittsburgh Reptile Show & Sale Oak Mountain State Park Indiana Reptile Breeders Expo June 23 205.663.7930 May 26 Cheswick PA http://www.awrc.org Richmond, IN Harmar House 724.516.0441 Wayne County Fairgrounds www.pghreptileshow.com 812.923.7339 MAY www.irbexpo.com Repticon Chicagoland June 29-30 Calgary Reptile Expo St Charles, IL May 4-5 JUNE Kane County Fairgrounds Calgary, Alberta, Canada 863.268.4273 Genesis Center, 7556 Falcon Ridge Repticon Central Georgia www.repticon.com Blvd. N.E. 403.285.0998 June 1-2 www.calgaryreptileexpo.com Perry, GA Georgia National Fairgrounds Seattle Metro Reptile Expo 863.268.4273 = The Orianne Society May 11 www.repticon.com Renton, WA will be participating Renton Community Center 503.412.8181 www.NWReptileExpos.com

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 41 Indigomagazine

1 3

A FIELD photos

2 4

42 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 Indigomagazine

5 7

1.Brittany Brown 6.zebulon hoover Eastern Diamondback Pigmy Rattlesnake Rattlesnake allison volek 2.noah fields 7. Cornsnake shelton 3.Greg Graziani Garter Snake Eastern Coral Snake 8.zach truelock 4.matt moore Common Watersnake Rough Green Snake 9.ellen gray 5.Bill love Yellow Rat Snake FIELD Southern Black Racer photos 9

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 43 Indigomagazine

on being a member: ROB“ COLE

I owe it to Opal, the

Eastern Indigo

I bought from a pet shop in“ the 1970s

Rob meeting a new friend.

The Eastern Indigo is the United States’ That Eastern Indigo was the first of many marquee snake – a magnificent reptile with snakes I would keep over the following decades. While it was the first snake I was able the size, temperament, and visual appeal to to keep, it was not my first venture into the make it America’s darling among snakes, if a world of reptiles and amphibians. Ever since snake could ever achieve such designation. It I was about five, my parents would send me comes as no surprise that over-collection was down to west central Kentucky each summer. As a youth, there was not a lot to do one of the factors contributing to the decline of apart from hunt, fish, and go field herping. Eastern Indigos across their range; as a youth I At first, I’d simply look around the house purchased a pre-Act Eastern Indigo from a local for lizards – mostly fence lizards and vari- Illinois pet shop. Yep, I contributed to their de- ous skinks, but I’d also encounter snakes. My grandmother would caution, “Don’t go cline through that early 1970’s purchase. down by that barn, Robbie, there’s Copper-

44 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 Indigomagazine heads down there”, referring to an old barn that had started to lean with age Unfortunately, and had dropped sheets of rusted tin this Cottonmouth on being a member: around its perimeter. Of course, once I doesn’t know started flipping tin and old car hoods, it that Rob is a didn’t take long to find that Copperhead true friend to all my grandmother warned me of – what ROB COLE snakes. a rush for a ten year-old. I bagged it and brought it up to the house. Suffice it to say that my grandmother was not pleased.

Have any of you ever met the unfriendly end of a switch?

Importantly, it has been decades since I have field collected – not because I fear the switch, but because I recognize the impacts of field collecting on wild populations and the lack of necessity for field collecting given widespread availability of captive born snakes. My only captures are on film. My burning interest in snakes began in the fields, woods, and bluffs of western Kentucky and that fire has never been extinguished.

Personally and professionally, I am a conservation ally and environmental advocate. Although I pursued a degree in wildlife biology, I do not work in the field. I’m presently an assistant city manager in a community of over 50,000 residents where, among other duties, I oversee the community’s sus- tainability initiatives. I also serve as the environmental policy chair for the Chicago Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. I choose environmentally-oriented memberships carefully.

I chose to become an Orianne Society member because I value the important work they are doing, and because I owe it to Opal, the Eastern Indigo I bought from a pet shop in the 1970s not knowing at the time the impact that decision was having on the long-term viability of Eastern Indigos in the place they belong – wild and free in the southeastern United States.

A debt of gratitude is owed to those working hard each day to aid in Eastern Indigo conservation and recovery, and my hat is tipped to each of you.

note: Rob Cole was the very first member to join The Orianne Society. It is members like Rob who make our work possible. Thank you. Together we can save snakes and their habitats.

ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 45 Saving imperiled snake species with a comprehensive approach to conservation is only possible with your help

From captive propagation to land preservation to leading scientific research, The Orianne Society leaves no stone unturned in our mission to save the Eastern Indigo Snake and other imperiled snake species around the world. We can employ this aggressive approach only with the support of our members-- who not only supply much-needed financial support, but also inspire us everyday with their commitment to snake conservation. If you are not yet a member consider joining today. If you are already a member here are some other ways you can be a part of saving these amazing animals -->

46 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 Gift Membership

A membership to The Orianne Society makes a great gift for anyone who is passionate about snake conservation and their ecosystems. Select our membership plus t-shirt package and not only will the recipient get the usual member benifits, but will also be able to promote snake conservation with this handsome Orianne Society T-shirt. Member and T-shirt package starts at $65 dollars. Visit: www.oriannesociety.org/give-gift

provide one year of

Adopt an Indigo support for the emperor of the forest Our Adopt an Animal program supports an Eastern Indigo for an entire year and comes with other benefits, such as an adoption certificate and automatic Orianne Society Membership. But the biggest benefit is knowing you raised an Indigo that will be released into the wild so that this species remains the Emperor of the Forest for many generations to come. Visit: www.oriannesociety.org/adopt-indigo AGl bmY Connect with Us U , H Yes, social media may be responsible for the the expotential growth in silly cat videos, but it can also be a force for good. The Orianne Society’s social media is a great way to connect with our work and other like-minded snake conservationists, and to spread the word about the important role snakes play in our ecosystems. Connect with us on Facebook or Twitter to get the latest snake conservation news, share photos of your latest herp adventure, or add your voice to the conversation. Visit: www.facebook.com/oriannesociety ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG SPRING ISSUE 2013 47 Indigomagazine Southern hognose Heterodon simus

Indigomagazine

photo:48 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG TJ Hilliard SPRING ISSUE 2013