Sad Discovery Today

[masterpastor]

I went to an area on the South Side of Des Moines where I had been on a field herping trip about two years ago in this same spot and had found 20 T. Radix in about 2 to 3 hours. Heading back there today, I found one Storeria Dekayi only. The park service has gone through and cleaned up that whole area and now the habitat has been taken away. It really bums me out because the area they cleaned up is an area not used in the park. It was an old section of rail road that they've cleaned up to make it look more pleasing to humans but in turn they have destroyed habitat. I am not tree hugger, mind you, but I think that is senseless. Changing an area's landscape simply for human asthetics is a poor stewardship of our land in my opinion. And the hard truth is now, where there was a little pocket of flourishing T. Radix, there is none...but at least the unused side of the park looks pleasing to the eye.

[guidofatherof5]

It's happening everywhere.
Very little thought to the animals that might inhabit the areas.
You can always complain to the park service, not they give a darn about some stupid garter snakes.

[d_virginiana]

It's human nature to think we know best, I suppose. One of my favorite spots to go bird-watching and herping is a park by a lake in southern VA. Beautiful place, but the whole thing was either a red-clay drop off cliff or a swamp. You really couldn't get to it without swimming or kayaking. Last year the park service put a bunch of granite under the cliffs and leveled the beach to prevent erosion. It looks great, and you can walk up and down the whole beach without seeing a single cottonmouth or osprey; so I guess they got what they wanted.

This sort of thing really gets to me. lol, just look at my signature.

[GaiusIuliusTabernarius]

Ah... I'm going through the same thing now. My old hunting grounds by the old train tracts are virtually barren and impassible since they drained the swamp and built a water resource management center on it... which is highly ironic... to be fair the swamp was so polluted that the water resembled neon posted notes but the snakes apparently didn't mind as it was infested with garters and ribbons.

All I found was a brown field mouse under a car door... oh and the realization that I couldn't get back up the embankment I climbed down from and had to choose between squeezing through a small opening in a gate and climbing over a barbed wire fence... I took the snake approach.

[kibakiba]

Our pond had a gas spill in it... But frogs were always in there, and a couple bulfrogs that were HUGE. They always looked like the same two with a little blue flush on their face. It might have been the water making them look huge with blue on the face though, they were the only bullfrogs, or any frog around here that was bigger than our tree frogs.

[d_virginiana]

The little lake at the college I go to has some pretty monstrous bullfrogs as well. The first time I saw them, I actually didn't even realize they were frogs they were so big, and mistook them for really odd looking turtles.

The blue-looking thing is actually a pretty rare color morph in the bullfrog, but it can happen. Here in the south almost all the wild bullfrogs are the spotted morph, but I think they're cute :)



All I found was a brown field mouse under a car door... oh and the realization that I couldn't get back up the embankment I climbed down from and had to choose between squeezing through a small opening in a gate and climbing over a barbed wire fence... I took the snake approach.

The snake approach is clearly the best. ;)

[kibakiba]

Well it was a brown frog with a green head and a blue flush right next to its eyes, no bigger than a penny or a dime.

[ConcinusMan]

Well it was a brown frog with a green head and a blue flush right next to its eyes, no bigger than a penny or a dime.

Sounds like a fully mature bullfrog during breeding season. The tympanum (ear spot right behind the eye) can sometimes take on a dark bluish color, especially in older males. If it were a rare blue morph, it wouldn't have any green at all. The green areas (head and face) would be sky blue instead.

First or second year adults around here (NW USA) tend to be spotted but turn brown with a green head and lose their spots when they get older/bigger. In cold weather, they look dang near uniformly black.

[kibakiba]

Makes sense. I hadn't seen a bullfrog in my area before that.

[ConcinusMan]

Well you should come on down here and visit. I can show you places where bullfrogs are the size of dinner plates, and concinnus' are 3-4 feet long. All within 5 minutes of the Portland Metro area and/or 2 minute walk from bus lines and light rail..:)

must be something in the water. LoL.:p

[kibakiba]

At the rate Snap and Ember are growing, they'll be longer than I am tall by next year ;) Snap may be short and fat, but she's a big girl... Ember is almost 2.5 feet already. He's a nice, sweet little guy if you don't move fast around him.

[ConcinusMan]

At the rate Snap and Ember re growing, they'll be longer than I am tall by next year ;) Snap may be short and fat, but she's a big girl... Ember is almost 2.5 feet already. He's a nice, sweet little guy if you don't move fast around him.

Aren't you looking forward to 3.5-4 feet? Snap will surely get there. Ember nearly as big. It's in their genes. They come from a long line of gianormous snakes.:D

Don't worry too much. They're going to slow way down very soon. About the time they hit 2yrs old, they'll slow way down and take their time getting to 3 to 3.5 feet. In other words, "the rate their going" won't last much longer. They're going to reach sexual maturity soon. When that happens, they'll stop growing so fast. Much like people do.

[kibakiba]

I was joking, but they are growing intensely fast. And, if they kept it up, it would seem like they'd get as tall as I am... Honestly, not that tall. I'm only 5 '3. I know they'll get around 3-3.5 ft. My mom has it stuck in her head that they wont be any bigger than Mama (snap is about 3 inches longer than Mama already). She keeps saying that they'll stop growing in a couple months and we wont have to worry about giant snakes... ;)

[ConcinusMan]

I was joking, but they are growing intensely fast.

Well of course they are. They're about to become "teenagers" ;)



My mom has it stuck in her head that they wont be any bigger than Mama

Well, you can tell your mom for me, that they will definitely get bigger than Mama. Quite a bit bigger. But...


(snap is about 3 inches longer than Mama already). She keeps saying that they'll stop growing in a couple months and we wont have to worry about giant snakes... ;)


You can also tell her, she won't have to worry about giant snakes. 4 feet is really an outside maximum. Yes, the concinnus babies grow very fast and get much bigger than northwesterns but you can tell your mom that it is guaranteed they will not go above 4 feet. They will likely stay under that size, even if they live to 15 years old.;) If they do go above 4 feet, they will hold the record for the largest oregon red spotted garter snake ever and then they will be famous.:D

[kibakiba]

Yeah, my mom doesn't want to believe they'll be bigger than Mama... She hates big snakes and really Mama is the limit of big in her eyes. But she also likes Snap and Ember, so I think she's trying to believe they wont get bigger, just so she wont start hating them ;)

[ConcinusMan]

Well maybe if they grow a little each day, and she sees them often, she won't notice how big they got.:rolleyes:

[kibakiba]

Much like I do. but some days, especially when Snap has been reclusive I always have to think "Holy cow! She's gotten huge!"

She does see them quite often though... I'm always bringing them out to show how adorable they are. ;)