The Complete North American Box Turtle

We recently added a new book to our collection of reptile care books and after reading it from cover to cover we believe it is a book that Box Turtle fanciers should not be without. The Complete North American Box Turtle by Carl J. Franklin and David C. Killpack provides a complete synopsis for, not only keeping Box Turtles in captivity, but also provides complete coverage of the natural history of these animals in the wild. The days of picking up a Box Turtle in the wild and taking it home to keep in a cardboard box while feeding them raw hamburger, a few fruits and vegetables is now over. This book gives the reader a complete understanding of the nutritional, physiological and behavioral requirements for keeping these creatures. Fourteen species or subspecies are featured in the species accounts. A complete natural history section features important information on taxonomy, anatomy, physiology, predators and defenses, activity and home ranges, periods of inactivity and longevity. Knowledge of all of these are important to today's Box Turtle keepers. There is extensive information on breeding and care of the young turtles with specific information on care of eggs and juveniles, weeks 1-2, weeks 2-4, 4-5 months after hatching, 1-2 years old and a complete reproductive overview. Information on population status, state laws regarding Box Turtles and internet resources will also prove valuable to any turtle enthusiast.

This is a nice 242 page hard cover book with a nice full color dust jacket. Illustrated with hundreds of full color photographs and featuring an easy to read and understand text, this book is most certainly the "bible" regarding the Box Turtle and would make a wonderful gift for any turtle lover or naturalist. Put on your Box Turtle cap and enjoy a great read.

Moving Rattlesnakes-Snake Tong or Snake Hook?

We are often asked what the best tool for moving snakes, especially venomous snakes would be. The simple answer would be brains. An inexperienced person should not be moving venomous snakes. If you cannot tell if it is venomous or not, walk away and leave it alone. If a snake must be moved we generally recommend a hook and tong combination. Both tong and hook should be at least 40 inches long to allow for a safe distance from a venomous or hostile snake, but still allow for working with the animal. The snake tong should have the widest jaw grip possible as this disperses pressure over a greater surface area of the snake’s body, eliminating the possibility of direct pressure between individual ribs, and reducing the risk of musculoskeletal injury. A wider, more gentle jaw allows faster gripping which is a great advantage when handling or capturing species of water snakes and tree dwelling snakes which are notoriously fast and difficult to restrain, lessening the chance of injury or escape. The snake should be grabbed with the tong in the first third of the body behind the head. this will allow for control. The snake hook should then be used in the back half of the snake for support. If you happen to grab the snake in the tail half with the tong then you can use the hook to pin the snakes head down until you can manipulate the tong to the correct end. Several commercial companies now make collapsible snake hooks for easy transport during travel or hiking into the field. Be careful to not use these hooks for pinning snakes down during capture. They are made for moving and lifting, not pinning and they may come loose at the joints if pressure is placed on them during the pinning process with nasty results if the snake is venomous or hostile. Now you know the safe way to move a snake if it must be moved. The best course of action would be to simply enjoy the snake in its habitat and when you are done, walk away.

"Desert Grassland Whiptail - Virgin Birth Perfected

The Desert Grasslands Whiptail is very common here in the Portal, Arizona area. It is a true sign of the heat of summer as it is often one of the later lizard species to come out in the spring. With the heat and little higher humidity of our monsoon season, they are very active now. Yesterday I saw a very gravid female sunning on our sidewalk. One of the interesting aspects of this species is that they are all females. There are no males with this species. This is known as parthenogenesis. Since they can produce viable eggs without the help of a male, they have literally perfected the virgin birth. They lay 1-3 nests of 1-4 eggs each summer usually under rocks or logs. These hatch into exact miniature duplicates of the mother. It is believed by biologists that the range of these lizards may be expanding due to overgrazing and desertification of grasslands and riparian areas.

Sonoran Desert Toads: The Grass is Back and So are the Toads

Sonoran Desert Toads are denizens of the grasslands in our area of southeastern Arizona. We have lived here since 1999 and had never seen one on our property until recently. There are probably several reasons for this but the most prominent is the fact that our entire area was horribly overgrazed by cattle in the 1920s-1940s. Mesquite and Acacia took over the grasslands making it more of a steppe habitat. We fenced out the cattle in 1999 when we moved here and since then many small landowners in our valley have also fenced out the cows. With the break in a 30 year plus drought native grasses are starting to come back. On our lot we had no grasses that we could find two years ago. The last two years have been wetter than usual and now we have thousands of acres of three to four foot tall grass across the valley. With the return of the grasses we are getting some of the grassland species back including the Sonoran Desert Toad. The fellow in the picture visited us two nights ago during a light rain. He was 8 inches long and big enough around that I could not reach around him with two hands. He was enjoying the beetles and moths attracted to our back light. He was made welcome and we hope to enjoy him more as the summer progresses. We are hopeing he will find a friend and raise a family in our four tiered bird pond in our yard where he was soaking the next morning when I went out to feed the birds. We are hopeing that the Sonoran Desert Toad is back for good.

Rattlesnakes: The Neighbors are Restless

With the warm and slightly humid pre monsoon weather we have been having here in Portal, Arizona, the rattlesnakes have been on the move and are becoming more easily observed. I found a nice Western Diamondback on our sidewalk yesterday afternoon and another coiled up next to one of our outdoor turtle enclosures late last night. When they get this close to our house we move them out to a rock pile on the far corner of our property.

Western Diamondbacks are a denning snake and return to the same den every fall. These dens are often shared with other species of snake such as garter snakes, gopher (bull) snakes and others. Many people believe that snakes hibernate in these dens for the winter and that they become basically dormant. Recent camera work by field biologists have found this to not be true with much activity apparent within the den all winter. Some biologists think that friction of mass movement and body heat help retain the proper temperatures to maintain life in the den. Dens most often occur in what I call iceberg rock fissures. These occur when there is a rocky area above ground with a fissure going under ground to a much larger rocky area. It is maintained by some scientists that the rock above ground holds heat from the sun during the day and it is transferred underground to the rocks around the den area.

In our work we are often called upon to move rattlesnakes from people's homes or yards. This should only be done by knowledgable people with professional grade snake hooks or tongs. Recent studies have shown that moving Western Diamondbacks over 1/4 mile may prohibit them from finding their way back to their den in the fall resulting in death because they do not know where to go in the new area to spend the winter. This has been backed up with field work where transported rattlesnakes were given radio transmitters. Snakes moved less than 1/4 mile usually made it back to the den while those moved over 1/4 mile suffered a much larger mortality rate. We take all of this into account when we move snakes in our work.

Rattlesnakes are out now and if you live in rattlesnake country you should always be aware of the possibility of happening upon them. Enjoy them when you see them and just walk away. Remember, more people are bitten try to kill a rattlesnake than are killed when walking away. Even a rattlesnake has its place in the grand scheme of things.

Proper Snake Handling Equipment is Important

As wildlife biologists, Nancy and I are called upon to move many venomous snakes each year as a part of our job or as a favor for friends or neighbors. As a part of our job we capture the snakes, identify them, weigh them, measure them, sex them and then release them in a safe area away from roads. To accomplish this we must utilize a variety of snake handling equipment, always keeping in mind the fact that many cases of snakebite occur when "professionals" or "experts" become complacent. We try to minimize the danger to ourselves by minimizing the actual touch time with the snake and the use of quality equipment. We certainly know the value of having the best equipment available for our job. A snake hook or tong that bends with the weight of a nice sized Western Diamondback Rattlesnake is not a good tool to have in your arsenal. The equipment we utilize is designed with our safety and the safety of the snake in mind. The hooks and tongs we use are made of aircraft quality aluminum so it would take quite an ordeal to damage the tools. A snake tong with a wide jaw provides for a safe grip on both the top and the bottom of the snake and provides much more support than an economy tong. It also cuts down on damage to the snake if an inexperienced person grabs the snake with a tong and squeezes too hard on the hand grips. We always use restraining tubes to immobilize the snake while we are working with them in hand. Always remember to use a a tube that is small enough so that the snake cannot turn around in it or you may get bitten. Restraining tubes are utilized by slipping one end over the head and body of a snake until about half of the snake is inside the tube. The body is then grasped at the point where it exits the tube. One hand should hold the body of the snake and the tube simultaneously. This assures that the snake cannot back out of the tube. Tubes are used to increase the safety factor during probing to sex the snake or doing minor veterinary work. When sexing the snakes we utilize sexing probes with ball tips which have gone through extensive deburring and polishing processes to assure the smoothest surface available for the protection and comfort of the snake. All beginners should read the instructions carefully and/or seek the guidance of an experienced herpetologist before attempting to probe a snake. The snake may easily be injured if the procedure is not done properly.

Whether you are working with snakes in the field or with caged specimens in your reptile room, having the proper snake handling equipment is important for both you and the snake. Be smart. Spend a little more for a quality, safe product.

Books For Reptile Lovers

There are a series of four wonderful books on the market for reptile lovers interested in Ball Pythons, Boa Constrictors, Green Tree Pythons and Trans Pecos Ratsnakes. Each is written by the foremost authority on captive breeding for each species. The books are The Complete Ball Python by Kevin McCurley, The Complete Boa Constrictor by Vincent Russo, The Complete Suboc by Dusty Rhoads and The More Complete Chondro by Greg Maxwell. Each book provides comprehensive information on natural history, care, breeding, genetic mutations and much more. These books are hard cover books with full color, attractive dust jackets and are easily gift quality for the casual enthusiast or the serious herpetoculturist. More comprehensive books on these species would be hard, if not impossible, to find.

Rain Brings Out Box Turtles In Portal, Arizona

Rain has come to southeastern Arizona this week. Yesterday we received .22 inch of rain, a nice amount in our rain starved desert. Today we found our first Desert Box Turtles crossing the road near our house. The rain always brings these desert dwellers out. I got out my Box Turtle hat to celebrate.

Ornate Tree Lizards in Portal, Arizona

The Ornate Tree Lizards are out, now, in force. We have several sunning themselves on the walls of our turtle and tortoise enclosures and we had four on our corner post when I left to pick up the mail. At this point they do not seem very territorial yet, but as the spring progresses the males will face off with their displays, showing off their blue undersides. After a winter of sociability (there were 28 together at one time in our pump house over the winter) they will spread out over our property, tending to small territories for the summer. During this time they are fun to watch as they defend their little kingdoms from other Tree Lizards.

Today I saw my first Desert Grasslands Whiptail for the year on our property. They are usually one of the last reptiles to come out in the spring. As soon as the Round-tailed Horned Lizards come out we will know that summer is truly here in the Chihuahuan Desert.

We had a nice four foot Sonoran Gopher Snake laying out across our sidewalk yesterday soaking up the sun. About three feet away from him an Eastern Fence Lizard was doing likewise. When I get done typing this I think I will do the same.

Spring - A Great Time to Start a Reptile Blog

It is spring here in Portal in the foothills of the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona. The days are in the 70s and 80s now and the local reptiles are beginning to pop up from the winter rest of hibernation. A new year of reptile and amphibian life is beginning. What a great time to start a reptile blog!

The Ornate Tree Lizards and Eastern Fence Lizards are out sunning on the walls of our outdoor turtle enclosures. We have observed some rather large Sonoran Gopher Snakes in the yard or crossing nearby roads. Nancy has moved some smaller gopher snakes and a small rattlesnake from the road and placed them in safer environs away from the road. We found a rather dull looking male Desert Spiny Lizard on a recent outing. Soon all of the local herpetofauna will be out and around I can hardly wait.

On our facility the Russian Tortoises were the first to pop up this spring. Several came out to rest in the sun during warmer days in February. Now the Ornate and Desert Box turtle have started to join them. All of our aquatic turtles and Eastern Box Turtles are out now and all enjoy sunning beside their pool. About three weeks ago we found our first Red-Eared Slider hatchling swimming in one of the pools. These turtles quite often hatch in their underground nests during late fall or early winter (November-January) and remain in their nest until the weather becomes suitable for them. Past experience tells us that once the babies come out, freezing weather is a thing of the past. A new herp year is beginning.

Reptile Ramblings From the Beginning

Hi! My name is Tom and I am a Herp Nut. I started out as one of those 10 year old boys who came home from a romp in the woods with a pocket full of frogs, salamanders, snakes and toads. My poor mother never knew what would be swimming in my bathtub in the basement when she ventured down to clean. I found out early that my mother was not on a first name basis with my reptilian friends. One day I asked her if she had seen Mac, my missing Red-sided Garter Snake and received a glare that I can still visualize today. My father told her it was a stage and that I would grow out of it. He may be right, but now I am fifty some years old and still look forward to spring, when the herps come out of hibernation. In the meantime I have been employed with the US Forest Service and the Army for many years as a wildlife biologist and in 1996 my wife (another Herp Nut) and I started our own biological consulting business and now we get paid for playing with those same frogs, salamanders and snakes I played with as a 10 year old. How sweet is that!! Now we are herpetologists. Not just herpetologists, but herpetoculturist's. We not only work with reptiles and amphibians in the field, we work with captive breeding of a number of species. I no longer keep snakes in the bathtub, but I do have a modern reptile room housing numerous species in vivarium settings. I also have three large outdoor turtle and tortoise enclosures housing some 40+ individuals. All of this and I live in Portal, Arizona, a Mecca for any reptile lover and I have a reptile blog of my own to ramble on about the herps we see here in Portal and the goings ons in our reptile room. Life is good!!