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TRIP START 8:22pm 8-4-08

Two weeks ago I took a trip with some good friends to one of my favorite spots in the world, the sky island of Madera Canyon Arizona. I had a great relaxing time, but unfortunately the reptile was a little less than expected. So well rested from a kick back trip I decided to go back, but this time it was a rocket run. A "rocket run" is basically where you drive in and drive out in a couple days. Madera is over 500 miles one way from my house so to achieve a short trip as we did you really have to hussle in, herp, and leave. In this case though we had budgeted to do the trip in 3 days giving one night to rest however things did not go as planned. We exited the SR 19 freeway and arrived in Green Valley at 8:22am. Green Valley is actually 12 miles east of Madera Canyon, but we counted 8:22am as the official trip start since the road into Madera offers moderatly successful herping as well. Now rather than telling you each and every catch story I am going to narrate the best way I know how, through pictures, lots and lots of colorful pictures. So... Enjoy...

TRIP END 6:31pm 8-5-08

HERE IS THE LIST OF WHAT WE FOUND.

Snakes
Sonoran Gopher Snake
Green Ratsnake
Night Snake
Longnosed Snake
Black Necked Garter Snake
Variable Sand Snake
Western Diamond Back Rattlesnake
Tiger Rattlesnake
Black Tailed Rattlesnake

Lizards
Gila Monster
Greater Earless Lizard
Common Lesser Earless Lizard
Common Side Blotched Lizard
Slevin's Bunch Grass Lizard
Clark's Spiny Lizard
Yarrow's Spiny Lizard
Gila Spotted Whiptail*
Desert Grassland Whiptail
Canyon Spotted Whiptail
Tiger Whiptail

Amphibians
Couches Spadefoot
Mexican Spadefoot
Sonoran Desert Toad
Red Spot Toad
Canyon Treefrog
Lowland Leopard Frog*

*Found  while on the way to Madera in Gila Bend.

22 Hours in Madera

TRIP START 8:22pm 8-4-08

Two weeks ago I took a trip with some good friends to one of my favorite spots in the world, the sky island of Madera Canyon Arizona. I had a great relaxing time, but unfortunately the reptile was a little less than expected. So well rested from a kick back trip I decided to go back, but this time it was a rocket run. A "rocket run" is basically where you drive in and drive out in a couple days. Madera is over 500 miles one way from my house so to achieve a short trip as we did you really have to hussle in, herp, and leave. In this case though we had budgeted to do the trip in 3 days giving one night to rest however things did not go as planned. We exited the SR 19 freeway and arrived in Green Valley at 8:22am. Green Valley is actually 12 miles east of Madera Canyon, but we counted 8:22am as the official trip start since the road into Madera offers moderatly successful herping as well. Now rather than telling you each and every catch story I am going to narrate the best way I know how, through pictures, lots and lots of colorful pictures. So... Enjoy...

FIRST OFF SCENERY...



























AND NOW FOR THE LIVING THINGS...

















































 


TRIP END 6:31pm 8-5-08

HERE IS THE LIST OF WHAT WE FOUND.

Snakes
Sonoran Gopher Snake
Green Ratsnake
Night Snake
Longnosed Snake
Black Necked Garter Snake
Variable Sand Snake
Western Diamond Back Rattlesnake
Tiger Rattlesnake
Black Tailed Rattlesnake

Lizards
Gila Monster
Greater Earless Lizard
Common Lesser Earless Lizard
Common Side Blotched Lizard
Slevin's Bunch Grass Lizard
Clark's Spiny Lizard
Yarrow's Spiny Lizard
Gila Spotted Whiptail*
Desert Grassland Whiptail
Canyon Spotted Whiptail
Tiger Whiptail

Amphibians
Couches Spadefoot
Mexican Spadefoot
Sonoran Desert Toad
Red Spot Toad
Canyon Treefrog
Lowland Leopard Frog*

*Found  while on the way to Madera in Gila Bend.

Welcome to the fifty United States. We are told the blue in our flag stands for freedom, for liberty, but I personally have been struggling with doubt as to who that liberty is meant for. Do not get me wrong I love my country and it is because of this love for my country that I am so grossly disappointed in it. Not because of some war, carbon emissions or even this goofy election, no my disappointments are more concrete than these things. Past this smoke screen of current event hot topic issues there are laws, bad laws restricting the liberties of small groups, groups like reptile enthusiasts. Hawaii has already banned all reptiles, Missouri is putting into place legislation to do the same, North Carolina is considering two new bills to mirror some fed proposals (SB1032 and SB1477), California is assessing all reptiles "risks", and the feds want to ban all boids, even those under two feet!!! Liberty? Freedom? Sure I have the right, freedom and or liberty to talk about it all I want, but how about the right to own property that is not going to harm others. The governments job should be to protect me from others and others from me not me from myself. If I choose to own something like a sand boa, who are they to say anything about it? They say it is for my safety, but they forget that the foundation all liberties are built upon is personal responsibility! Nanny state politics are sadly taking place in both parties. Disappointed citizens can no longer turn to one party or the other hoping for solutions. There is no partisanship in the rapid banning of pet ownership rights. Whether it be a ban on certain dog breeds or snakes species this issue transcends all parties. So what do we do? Two options. Option one, we stand as activists for our rights and speak up when this topic comes up, and speak up loud. Or we could simply sit down and wait a few years until well all have rooms full of empty aquariums and memories. The choice is ours.

Tags: Political Boids Herps Reptile

I was recently interviewed as "a local expert" in a local paper. Unfortunatly they miss quoated me two times, but the main point of please do not kill snakes came out strong. Here is the article...

My Newspaper Interview

Snake season strikes Barstow

.. --> Video goes here -->

BARSTOW — Dianna Ross came in to work at the Barstow Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday morning to find an unwelcome visitor on her door step — a three and a half-foot gopher snake.

Although she knew the snake was harmless, Ross called in the Barstow Fire Protection District to remove it, not wanting to frighten bus loads of tourists with the sight of a snake on the premises.

With temperatures reaching triple digits, the snakes are out in full force in the Barstow area. That means that more citizens, like Ross, will have to decide what to do after being confronted with unexpected reptile guests.

Firefighters caught the chamber's visitor and released the snake in the Mojave River bottom.

Myke Clarkson, an education specialist with the North American Field Herping Association, said that removing the gopher snake might not have been the best move. Non-venomous snakes compete with rattlesnakes for habitat and prey, so having harmless snakes on your property may help to deter the rattlers, he said.

"If you remove gopher snakes and king snakes, it opens a hole in the ecosystem," he said.

Other deterrents to snakes include clearing debris and weeds that might provide them with shelter, and making sure there is no standing water close to the house, Clarkson said.

About 8,000 people are bitten by poisonous reptiles in the United States each year, he said. Of those, only eight to 12 die from the venom. For people in the Barstow area, the three species of rattlesnakes found locally are the only venomous snakes to worry about, he said.

Dr. Mike Glassey, a medical entomologist who acts as resident snake expert at Fort Irwin, said he has only seen 14 people bitten by rattlesnakes in his 30 years on the base. Of those, none were fatal or involved lasting damage.

Rattlers are fairly rare in Barstow as well, said Elena Rodriguez with Barstow Animal Control. The last rattlesnake call she remembered responding to in the city was two years ago. The caller had used a shovel to put the snake in an ice chest, not a course of action that Rodriguez endorses.

"I wouldn't recommend that you pick it up with a shovel," she said. "He got lucky, because the snake had just eaten."

Although the rattlesnake was slowed down by the process of digesting its prey, by the time Rodriguez arrived, the snake had vomited up its meal and was ready to strike again.

About 98 percent of people bit by rattlesnakes are trying to catch or kill them, Glassey said. Clarkson said that alcohol is another frequent factor in snake bite incidents.

"I'd say about half are idiots, and the other half are hikers and unlucky people that stick their hands under logs and don't look where they put their hands," he said.

In the event of a snake bite, both experts advised against attempting to draw out the venom or using a tourniquet. Glassey also advised against putting ice on the bite, which may cause the venom to remain concentrated in one spot, causing more tissue damage.

"The solution to pollution is dilution," Glassey said. "And as the venom is going through your body, it's being diluted."

The best course of action, Glassey said, is to remain as calm as possible, remove tight-fitting clothes and jewelry, keep the bite below heart level if possible, and call 911 immediately.

To have a snake removed from your property, call Animal Control at the Barstow Humane Society at 252-4800. If Animal Control is unavailable, Rodriguez recommended calling a local law enforcement agency.

Tags: Rattlesnakes Barstow

So I was at work in Moreno Valley, and decided since I was right by Sycamore Canyon preserve to take a nice half hour herping hike, how pleasant. So I walk down the trail just a little way and hear something in the bushes. My herper instinct had fired, I knew big things were just beyond that bush. It was a bit down the trail and on the other side of the river bed. I heard a movement then nothing. Nothing for a while then I heard another short leaf movement sound. Well leaf movement is a particular choice in words. As I came around to a better vantage point I discovered the source of the sound I was hoping to be some large reptile or something of those sorts. Man was I disappointed. Squatting facing away from me was the cable guy. Yes it seems Charter Cable guys are not trained to use toilets. Bare @$$ed for the world to see laying his own form of logs in the beautiful landscape. The leaf movement was indeed just a bowel movement. Disgusted I concluded my hike, went back to my car, and drove off. Thank you Charter Cable for that endearing moment, and next time, use the bathroom.

Sweetwater Revisited

First off watch this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsoYWhHrnC4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpwglTe6bHM

And my response...

Sweetwater is a sad commentary of american values. If you hit a dog its a crime, eat cow its ok, shoot a kitten its jail, kill a thousands and thousands of snakes its a festival. We place value in cute, cuddly, and all that makes expressions. By the same token this is no excuse. Birders have done a much better job at protecting their expressionless animals, but then again they do not face the same challenges herpers do. Snakes have been hated for years, and the dumb hicks that inhabit that area are to ignorant to see that their actions are wrong and wasteful.
Makes me want to have a Cruela De'ville Puppy Fur Festival just to make the point that undue slaughter is not ok. Animals for food, hey I'll take a good steak medium please, but those are farm raised. Hunting deer, well those are over populated and that sport is well regulated. decimating entire populations of rattlesnakes, why is this a hard concept for those tards to understand? I mean common. We in the reptile community have all tried at one time or another to resolve this, good luck to those who also try, progress has not been made.

I love to frequent old antique book stores for the dustiest, oldest reptile books I can find. I always love to see how much the field has changed, and there are always anecdotes, and other gems scattered in these old out of date literary works. Recently I purchased a book simply titled "Rattlesnakes" by famed western novelist J. Frank Dobie. Now Dobie's work is far from scientific, rather is a collection of lore, myths and cowboys tall tales from the earlier days in Texas. It was published in 1965 by Dobie's wife, but the actual stories the author references are all from the early 1900's. These are old classic tall tales. To open the book Dobie recollects a poem by Vaida Sterwart Montgomery entitled "To a Rattlesnake". Usually I find poems fairly quoit, but this one was rather intriguing especially for the early 1900's:

Old Rattler, it is part of Nature's plan
That I should grind you underneath my heel —
The age-old feud between the snake and man—
As Adam felt in Eden, I should feel.

And yet, Old Rattlesnake, I honor you;
You are a partner of the pioneer;
You claim your own, as you've the right to do—
This was your Eden— I intruded here.

A B&W of a Red Diamond Back. Photo by Snake Master Myke

Tags: Poem Rattlesnake Poetry

This article first appeared in The South Western Herp Society Newsletter back in January...

Many experienced keepers could not tell you which is the longest lived snake on earth, or which is only deep sea dwelling non-venomous snake, or which snake has the lowest metabolic and reproductive rates. It would further confuse even the most educated herpiculturalists that this snake is not a colubrid or a boid. Then state that this unknown snake is colored brown and yellow, or black and white or even blue and purple depending on range and this description will more than likely garnish a blank confused stare. Have you guessed the mystery snake to which I am eluding? Acrochordus Granulatus, or the Marine File Snake, is one of the most unique species of non-venomous snakes known to man, yet in captive propagation circles it is virtually unheard of. One might wonder how this could be, but the answer is rather simple, intimidation. I remember talking to over one hundred respectable keepers, breeders, and authors at a local reptile show and not hearing a single success story with these animals. Every keeper with any experience in this species painted grim tails of failure and told of how Acrochordus Granulatus simply do not survive no matter what the keeper does. That answer would not suffice for me so I began to dig for my own answers. Much to my surprise I could not locate a single book or magazine article available to the general public on acrochordus granulatus captive care. I found one article relating to the hard to acquire acrochordus arufae and another on acrochordus javanicus, but after months of digging I decided to turn to scientific research on wild acrochordus granulatus for my answers. Thankfully the answers were simpler than I had expected and I will share them with you in the first ever captive care article written on marine file snakes. Basic care of any acrochord species requires a little bit of fish knowledge, so study your fish and get ready for a new style of reptile care. Due to their relatively small size, 24-36 inches, adult acrochordus granulatus will fair well in a 30 gallon fish aquarium. Larger is fine, but more expensive to arrange. Before placing your snake into its new habitat, set up the aquarium for Discus Cichlids, if you do not know how to maintain discus its time to buy a good fish book. In short, Discus cichlids prefer acidic water (~6.8 ph) that is warm and slightly saline. Let the aquarium cycle for at least a month before placing your snake in its aquarium. This wait period is to ensure proper water balance and avoid dangerous chemical shifts. During this wait period make the following key modifications to turn your fish tank into a snake tank. First place a large quantity of well anchored artificial plants into the aquarium. I recommend artificial plants over live because they are easier to remove for cleaning, they produce no unnecessary decay or waste, and of course they are lower maintenance. I do not recommend trying live plants unless you are very experienced in doing so. Place any light on top of the aquarium and check to see how much light filters to the bottom to see if you have enough plant coverage. I recommend no more than 20% light penetration through the plant canopy, modify, rearrange and add plants as necessary. Next you will need a tight fitting lid. Like any snake Acrochords can escape. Now it is rare, and they usually do not even try to make a break for it, however an acrochord out of water can not live for very long so it is detrimental you keep them secure in their enclosures! To help prevent your animal from escaping you must make your snake feel secure. This is another reason to use an excess amount of fake plants. Do not use fake logs or hide places with holes in them, your snake may get lost in these while underwater and drown. Marine file snakes are brackish dwelling snakes, which sometimes go out to sea as much as six miles and need a touch salinity to prevent skin infections. The ideal salinity level should be around 22-24 PPT. To measure and maintain this level you will need to purchase an inexpensive hydrometer and aquarium salt. You will need to retest the water from time to time to make sure the salinity is on track. Acidity is equally important. 6.8-6.4 acidity is ideal and can best be achieved by using chemical ph balancers. At the temperature that marine file snakes require, 80-85 degrees, water will evaporate quickly, so retesting and adding water will become a part of regular maintenance. Keeping the temperature consistent is more crucial in acrochords than any other snake. A rapid 5 degree fluctuation can be fatal to these animals. To ensure this does not happen, purchase a submersible aquarium heater with built in thermostat controls. A good thermometer or two should be placed in the tank for daily temperature monitoring. The other daily monitoring device that I recommend is an Ammonia Meter. These can be found at any fish supply store and remain in the tank giving you a constant read out of ammonia levels. Ammonia spikes have been linked to white spot syndrome, which is the leading cause of death in acrochords. To prevent this tragic demise you will need proper filtration. With acrochordus javanicus and acrochordus arufae the key to filtration is minimal water disturbance and current. While this should be somewhat of a goal with acrochordus granulatus it is not quiet as important because, unlike the other two species of acrochords the waters granulatus inhabit are not still waters, but moving deltas, and oceans with tides. Therefore I recommend a canister filter. This will allow you to have multiple filter mediums. I recommend a three to four canister set up containing activated carbon, zeolite, coconut husk chips, and ceramic medium. The coconut husk chips can be found as reptile bedding and are not only a good harborage for beneficial bacteria but also buffer the water and add acidity. At this point your aquarium has everything it needs but the snake and its feed. Test the Nitrite, Nitrate, Ammonia, Ph, and Salinity levels once a day during the one month waiting period. Should you see consistently good results you are ready to add your snake's food. Good prey items include mollies, zebra fish, tetras, danios, gold fish, silver sides and guppies. The prey should be only slightly large around than the snakes head and should be numerous. Keeping 20 fish in with a single acrochord is not unusual and actually recommended as long as the chemical balance is well maintained. Check the water balance after adding the fish, if all goes well you are ready to add the finishing touch, the animal. Once you place your acrochord in its enclosure remember these care tips: never handle your acrochord, keep a supply of fish in the aquarium at all times for food, and always keep the water consistent.  If you can remember these tips you should be on your way to being one of the few keepers in the United States to claim success in raising marine file snakes.

My favorite local of acrochordus granulatus... the Philipines...

I see some of my myspace friends are on here. Well for those of you who do not know me, you might recognize some of my blogs. I have a blogon myspace worth looking at (myspace.com/snakemastermyke) and write for the Snakebytes TV blog. Most of the blogs here will be repeats of both those as my myspace blog is where I write most stuff and then repost. I also post a lot on reptastic.com, reptster.com, fieldherpforum.com, and captivebredforum.com. Glad to be here, and look forward bieng apart of this site.