OTTAWA SUN (Ontario) 13 May 04 Don't let critter rattle you (Tom Van Dusen)
Chaffey's Lock: When local residents think snake in the grass -- literally, that is -- they usually conjure up an image of a small, harmless garter snake, the region's dominant species. But out in Rideau Lakes country lurks a serpent that is much larger and more sinister looking.
And its name doesn't help soften first impressions. It's the black rat snake which, with its numbers in slow decline, is categorized as "threatened" on Ontario's Species at Risk list.
With adults reaching up to 6 ft. long, this white-throated black viper looks like it would be more at home in South America.
But no -- it's quite comfortable in certain parts of the province, with Eastern Ontario claiming the largest population, making it the subject of a decade-long study out of the Queen's University Biological Station located near this Rideau Waterway lock station.
Sub-studies are also being held at locations such as Murphys Point Provincial Park near Perth, where a video is being produced outlining the snake's many attributes and the need for people in black rat country to help it along by maintaining egg-laying habitat such as decaying stumps and rotting leaf piles.
One researcher following the snake's progress with the help of transmitter signals is University of Ottawa graduate student Laura Bjorgan who recently pulled a medium-sized specimen out of a sack as she discussed its characteristics with curious visitors to the Queen's biological station.
Don't let its threatening appearance fool you, Bjorgan said. That's what the snake is counting on to help ward off predators. Despite its foreboding look, it's quite docile, preferring to bask on a sun-drenched rock to mixing it up with humans or other animals.
As Bjorgan chatted about the snake, it wound its way around her arms and through her hands, unbothered by all the attention.
The black rat snake performs a useful function in the ecosystem by helping to control -- by swallowing them whole -- the population of rats, mice and other rodents as large as squirrels.
An excellent tree climber, it sometimes feeds on nesting birds and eggs.
Its biggest defence, Bjorgan said, is to vibrate its tail against dry leaves, an attempt to fake out adversaries by making like a rattlesnake. In fact it has neither a rattle nor venom, and tiny fangs that can only deliver a pin-prick.
Unfortunately, the rattlesnake ruse sometimes backfires and gets the snake killed by panicked humans who mistake it for one of its more dangerous relatives.
"I'd much rather be bitten by a black rat snake than a horsefly," said Tobi Kiesewalter, who knows the difference.
A biologist and head of educational programming at Murphys Point, Kiesewalter is deeply immersed in efforts to protect the black rat such as the $20 "Adopt a Snake" project, with cash raised covering the cost of computer chip implants.
About 25 black rat "hibernacula" -- communal underground hibernation sites accommodating up to 60 snakes -- are now being monitored in Eastern Ontario, Kiesewalter said, with emerging data indicating a 10% drop in species population in recent years.
Bjorgan blamed the downward trend on increasing intrusions into habitat and on road kills; a deep-seated fear of snakes often causes drivers to swerve to deliberately run over a slithering passerby.
Don't let critter rattle you