Snakebook

Last night I went to a chapter meeting of the Master Naturalists. Our speaker was Dave Crawford who was a naturalist but is now a retired volunteer at a state park.  He spoke to us about snakes.  Now that he is not working he has time to research the snakes in this state park.  He focuses on the bull snakes and the Eastern hog-nosed snakes because they are less common.  He spent 365 hours this summer following snakes on the prairie.  Some of the snakes had chips implanted under their skin.  Scanning them with a reader gives you an identification number so you can tell which snake is which.  But he also learned that the bull snakes can be identified by looks.  Some snakes had scars from encounters with predators or skin infections.  Some snakes had an unusual number or shape of facial scales.  One had a black mark on a scale the exact shape of Texas. He, of course, was named Texas.  Another had black marks on a scale that looked like eyes, nose and a round mouth.  He was named Mr. Bill.  Each snake that he identified was documented regarding size and location, photographed from the top, right and left, measured and named.  In his observations he videotaped snakes fighting, mating, searching for mates, acting defensively, and basking.  He showed us some of the video footage.  I thought I would have nightmares last night from the video of snakes acting defensively but thankfully I didn't.  He had funny video's too such as one male bull snake entering the den of a female bull snake at the same moment a different male bull snake is trying to come out.  He showed another video of two bull snakes joined in mating.  The female bull snake notices the 170 pound omnivore with the camera and wants to go into her den for privacy.  She pulls the male bull snake (who isn't ready to let her go yet) backwards into the hole. He put all this information on a "Snakebook" website.  It's similar to facebook and you can like it on facebook by searching for snakebook/research.  Dave asks that the location of the snakes remain very vague because poachers are looking for hog nosed snakes and bull snakes to sell to pet stores.  He would also like volunteers to come out, walk the prairie, and tell him about any snake observation including photographs and gps locations.  Snakes are active in April and May.  Males are out scenting for females often traveling a mile or more in a day.  I can see myself snaking out on a prairie on a warm day in April and having a good time doing it.