First Kerby, if this AC is close to water, then its only temporary and will not be used year a round. Snakes do not live around water(to dangerous) the visit around water. Their homes have to be safe, so they are above high water lines. Way above.



Also, AC is not where snakes live, its merely a tool to use. They go there because they can elevate the BT's(body temps) without being exposed. In the case of the gophersnake, it appears to have a food bolus. Thus requiring elevated temps. The snakes live in the ground somewhere close by. Also, As I mentioned, they are required to move their homes if the homes cannot maintain high enough temps. So normally they are not in shady areas. Althought I do have an exception to this.



Theres also a real hard fact to swallow. That is, in order to learn about the snakes, you must learn what they do without AC, they are designed for NC=natural cover, not artificial cover. All their behaviors are formed from natural cover.



Consider, field work is just like captive husbandry, there are many interpitations to one observation/behavior. Your task is to pick the right one. In this case, Is the AC a temporary tool? a summer home? a winter home? or all of the above? or none of the above. Each of these have ways to tell what they are. The point is, if you found the snake there, then of course its within the range of that snake. So what is that distance, it varies on the area, its a small as necessary.



For Kerby, come Jan. I ask for you to stand right next to those boards and look. Are they in the shade? are they covered in snow? what are the temps? If the temps are not in the range needed by the snakes, then they surely will not be there. While your standing there, look around, are there any areas with a suitable range. If your lucky and theres an area that allows surface viewing, that would be cool. But most likely, there will be areas that are slighly under and not allow viewing. But there is still evidence, you just have to find it.



Coming from the south, I often wondered if this applys to the north. So about 8 yrs ago, I went a visited a friend of mine who lives about 40 miles from the Canadian border. While there, I watched colonies of gardersnakes. It was amazing how they crammed as many different stages into one time slot. That is, I found them breeding, giving birth, feeding, all sizes of babies, all at once. This indicated they took advantage of any open window to achieve needed tasks. I then tested it on rubber boas. Its took about twenty minites before I found a colonie. Why I bring this up is, this colony reminded me of someones snake cage. There were sheds everywhere, feces everywhere, tunnels everywhere and boas shooting down these tunnels and boas coiled, here and there. This area, had the ability to maintain useable temps or the longest period of time, 24/7, 365. This is what is important.



Bluerosy, thanks and your right, I will not endanger the snakes by giving away places. So, I do give away bits and pieces. But I gave the whole enchilada up many posts ago, just no one was listening.



There is good reason why I give that away. I feel its very important that we understand, in order to survive, snakes have required areas like winter(active) homes and summer homes, or better yet, breeding areas and foraging areas. If consevation ever occurs(I have strong doubts) It would be fruitless in they did not enclude winter homes. As of now, all they are concerned about are foraging areas. You all can understand, if they cannot survive winters, then all the food in the world will be of not benefit.



But as I see more and more habitat destruction, I have to wonder if its not better to leave them be, and not bother them until they are gone, because no one will cause human deaths to save nature. In the end, to enforce real conservation, it will cause human deaths. Such as, not using land or farming or water for human use, and of course for our houses and factories. Some of my first study sites are now shopping malls, hahahahahahahaha these areas where set aside for conservation. Now there shopping malls, hahahahahahahahaha sorry, to much coffee. FR

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