Posted by:
RichardFHoyer
at Thu Dec 4 15:08:53 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by RichardFHoyer ]
Michael:
The advice you received regarding violating Cal. Dept. of F & G regulations by releasing Ringneck Snakes back into the wild is valid. But from a biological perspective, there appears to be a considerable amount of misunderstanding about the release of native species of wildlife (including snakes) from one population to a distant region where the same species occurs. Such misinformation seems to not only be perpetuated by wildlife agencies and their biologists but perhaps from university sources as well.
There are only two valid reasons that come to mind for not releasing hybrid specimens, or translocating specimens, from one population to a distant region where the same species occurs (in your case the Ringneck Snake). One reasons concerns the introduction of 'non-native' mtDNA. This has the potential of causing problems with possible future research endeavors. The second reason is that when specimens are released into unfamiliar
areas that are likely to be at or near saturation levels of the same species, they are placed at a huge disadvantage and such introduced specimens are not likely to survive. This is true for tranlocating specimens only a few miles from their original home territory but is even more relavant when translocating specimens into areas with completely different sets of enviornomental conditions from the areas the specimens originated. There may be other valid rasons but all others I have heard have little to no biological merit.
For years, many wildlife agencies have been bastardizing fish populutions including many trout populations here in the west. The Peregrine Falcon recovery was facilitated by interbreeding falcons from a number of regional populations and hacking them (releasing) at various regions in the continental U.S. These resultant hybrid offspring led to the species' recovery. The captive breeding and subsequent releases of the Black-footed Ferret and Red Wolf are other cases in point. There are gobs of other examples. Why wildlife biologists and academics are aware of the above examples and do not bat and eye but then get in a panic when the same situation is mentioned for snakes or lizards is a great puzzle.
That being said, I have always objected to the release of one strain a species into another distant region for the philosophical reason of bastardizing the native stocks. Examples are the transplanting of cutthroat or rainbow trout into distant watersheds with a native population of the same species. But once hybridization occurs, in very short order, natural selection quickly weeds out the weak and leaves a population that can successfully cope with existing environmental conditions. This pertains not only to fish, birds, mammals, but to herps as well.
From what I gather, the project you had in mind was out of curiosity but in fact, was rather ambitious. The release situation you now know is clearly not a good option but the original idea of hybridization has merit from a research perspective. However, first things first. Over a period of a few years, you would need to start with learning how to successfully maintain Ringneck Snakes from different populations. There are expenditures of time and money involved for which one needs to plan.
You would need to create a (research) plan and could seek assistance from others more knowledgeable. You would also then need to learn how to effect captive propagation of the differet forms of Ringneck Snakes and a plan on what is to be done with the resultant offspring (such as donate to institutions).
I have undoubtedly not covered all bases but your last step would be to attempt controlled crosses between specimens from different populations. One that immediately comes to mind is a cross between the Regal Ringneck of Arizona and Utah (which can grow to over 30 inches) with a population from Kansas or the east coast which are both much smaller races. You would need to consumate reciprocal crosses. Results from your prior within-population crosses could serve as controls.
Once you reared the resultant hybrid Ringneck Snakes to maturity, controlled reciprocal backcrosses could be made. Detailed records would need to be kept on all stages of these tests to make such a study worthwhile.
Clearly, this was not what you had in mind but nevertheless might give you some idea the manner in which such an investigation might proceed. On a much smaller scale, I am in the same process with crossing different populations of the Rubberr Boa. My situation is not all that different from the one I mention above concerning crosses between different size morphs of the Ringneck Snakes.
Richard F. Hoyer
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 Ringneck crosses - RichardFHoyer, Thu Dec 4 15:08:53 2003
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