cascabel
12-29-2006, 11:21 AM
Happy Holidays,
I just joined the group and thought I'd introduce myself. After spending the last four years in Arizona studying rattlesnakes (hence "cascabel"), I recently moved to northern California to work with Thamnophis. In the southeast US, I grew up catching and keeping Thamnophis, because they were the most common snake where I lived. Since, however, I have not had much interest in them and if you had told me a year ago I would be doing a graduate project on Thamnophis - I would have laughed at you! In april I started working with Thamnophis gigas (Giant Gartersnakes), which are a threatened species, and they have really grown on me. Their behavior in the wild and captivity is very interesting and unlike anything else I've worked with. While preparing for and recovering from surgery (we are implanting radio transmitters) they are quite personable and adaptable to captivity, which was surprising to me. I have never seen a snake beg for food before! It is too bad their threatened status prevents them from being kept - they seem better suited to a pet than most snakes I've worked with or kept (even my 20yr+ captive Elaphe). Maybe someday our research (and others') will help change their status....
In the spring I will begin my graduate project with T. sirtalis tetrataenia (San Francisco Gartersnakes). My project will examine how the species responds to fire and compare its habitat and diet preferences with two sympatric gartersnakes: T. atratus (Santa Cruz) and T. elegans (Coast). I'm still working out the details of that project.
I'm not sure how much I'll participate in this forum, it seems largely geared for captive T., and I'm not interested in keeping any gartersnakes (am happy with my menagerie or Lampropeltis). But since I'm now becoming a gartersnake biologist, I thought I'd join! As my work develops with tetrataenia, I may inquire of those who keep the species overseas about reproduction and diet - so little is known about this species here (in captivity or the wild).
Best,
melissa
I just joined the group and thought I'd introduce myself. After spending the last four years in Arizona studying rattlesnakes (hence "cascabel"), I recently moved to northern California to work with Thamnophis. In the southeast US, I grew up catching and keeping Thamnophis, because they were the most common snake where I lived. Since, however, I have not had much interest in them and if you had told me a year ago I would be doing a graduate project on Thamnophis - I would have laughed at you! In april I started working with Thamnophis gigas (Giant Gartersnakes), which are a threatened species, and they have really grown on me. Their behavior in the wild and captivity is very interesting and unlike anything else I've worked with. While preparing for and recovering from surgery (we are implanting radio transmitters) they are quite personable and adaptable to captivity, which was surprising to me. I have never seen a snake beg for food before! It is too bad their threatened status prevents them from being kept - they seem better suited to a pet than most snakes I've worked with or kept (even my 20yr+ captive Elaphe). Maybe someday our research (and others') will help change their status....
In the spring I will begin my graduate project with T. sirtalis tetrataenia (San Francisco Gartersnakes). My project will examine how the species responds to fire and compare its habitat and diet preferences with two sympatric gartersnakes: T. atratus (Santa Cruz) and T. elegans (Coast). I'm still working out the details of that project.
I'm not sure how much I'll participate in this forum, it seems largely geared for captive T., and I'm not interested in keeping any gartersnakes (am happy with my menagerie or Lampropeltis). But since I'm now becoming a gartersnake biologist, I thought I'd join! As my work develops with tetrataenia, I may inquire of those who keep the species overseas about reproduction and diet - so little is known about this species here (in captivity or the wild).
Best,
melissa