Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.

Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You
Click for ZooMed
Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You

Fires from Space!

cable_hogue Oct 28, 2003 02:34 PM

Replies (4)

Jeff Judd Oct 29, 2003 07:20 PM

Coast Horned Lizards and their habitat being further destroyed. Very unfortunate.

cable_hogue Oct 29, 2003 07:35 PM

I have to wonder how badly this impacts the HL's long term. There must be pockets or areas that escape the fires due to their hybernation/estivation. How long does it take the ants and other insects to recover enough to support an HL population?

There is an area next to the coastal HL habitat I regularly hike that burned last June. I plan to check it out thoroughly this next spring to see what HL and ant activity is there.
-----
Cables Home

Jeff Judd Oct 29, 2003 07:57 PM

Hi Cable,
From personal observation I have noticed fires can have a positive effect on populations in the long term. A large area of CHL habitat burned here 5 years ago. Now the area has a dense population of both ants and HLs, even more so than before and higher than parts of the habitat that didn't burn. It seems both ants and HLs prefer open spaces over crowded growth. The area now has just weeds and small schrubs. Of course surrounding areas must still have HLs in order to re-populate the burned areas. I am not sure if this has been proven though.

snelling Oct 30, 2003 08:38 PM

No question the ants will be back quite quickly. When the smoke from the Hesperia area fire got severe the other night the colony M pergandei had their colony sealed up in no time flat. it was tightly cosed within a couple of hours. The following day when the smoke began to clear the ants were pu again pretty quick. Pogo and Messor nests go very deep, there is no question they are well protected from the heat of the fires and do the evacuation thing at the first real hint of trouble.

Site Tools