David
07-18-2007, 06:03 PM
Alot of the larger Butlers you see in my photos are But. x Radix, natural crosses. It is bad on one hand because the state does'nt protect hybrids, so by themselves the hybrids can't keep a parcel of land from being developed or raped as I so eloquently put it. But the nearby wetlands at least keep the developers from encroaching We do have sites with pure Butlers. Easterns won't breed with them. If we had Brachystoma here they would more than likely breed with Butleri. Brachystoma, Butleri, and Radix are in that short headed snake group, morphologically similar. I want to let everyone know what Butler habitat is. Of course you can find them in vacant lots here in Milwaukee but picturesque habitat is Rye and Ken.Blue with small shrubs and possiby Goldenrod, aster,etc. Prairie Crayfish burrows will be everywhere for hibernaculums, and if your being Blessed you will have wild strawberries at alot of the sites. It is amazing how a road will stop almost every Butlers. All of us doing the field work, and some have been doing it for years have rarely if ever found Butlers exposed, my friend and I are the only ones that have seen them on pavement, him once last year and me once last year and actually crossing hot asphalt this year with machinery not far behind. Wisconsin has had to build tunnels for them to cross because they cross so rarely. Also from May to the end of June you will find the most Butlers under the sample boards from 5:30 p.m. on, first light they may linger if cold. Where they are found they can be found in great numbers, I've lifted boards and could not catch them all for the research there were so many. The most I grabbed at a board was eight and there were about 13 or 14 under it. I'm going to a rattlesnake den soon {again} and if any Wisconsinites want to go send me a private message, we can meet in Madison 8:00a.m. There are also Black Rats there, I've been going for 20 years to this site, it is on private property. Ciao...David