Reptile & Amphibian Forums

James and I decided to hit one of the local fish farms here in AR to see if anything was moving since it was so sunny and warm. (James pretty much had to drag me cuz I didnt really expect to find anything today) LOL

Temps 65-67F

Here is the tally:

1.2.3 Diamondback Watersnakes (Nerodia rhombifer) Ranging from 3-5ft long. The two large ones were females. The three we sexed we will keep for a while and see how they turn out and the other three are King Cobra food.

0.0.1 Western Spiny Softshell Turtle (Apalone spinifera hartwegi) This one I actually found on the bank of one of the ponds. There were several different ones that had already been trapped and sitting in a holding tank ranging up to 20-22inch females along with numerous Musks and Red Ear sliders. This little one is about 8-10 inches long.

And we brought home one young Bullfrog to scent pinks with for a wicked little blue/green Ribbon snake we were given recently.

Not bad for a day in January!!!

Cheers!!!

Anja Buffalo
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Cheers!

Anja
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To James:

"If I had my way
We'd sleep every night
Wrapped around each other
Like hibernating rattlesnakes."
William S. Burroughs
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What state are you in that you get to see all of these wonderful snakes so early in the year? I live in Co. and the snakes doen't start coming out until april.

If this gets posted twice, its only because I don't know what I'm doing. My point is this, it just seems wrong, and saddens me greatly to here about native snakes being taken from the wild along with all their potential offspring in order to feed a exotic pet. I've run across people killing snakes needlessly all my life and tried various methods to show them the error of their ways, but these are people that hate snakes. It almost seems worse coming from a snake lover. I know cobra's have to eat but can't you get captive bred food (snakes) instead of depleted our native species? Maybe I'm missing something and don't have all the information.

I think it's worse to take all the females they found before the snakes had a chance to mate and lay. I mean come on. Take one. If any. Most self respecting herper would wait till fall to take snakes. esp. all the females they find. Let alone feed them to there pets, cause they're too cheap to buy feeders. I don't really think it's right either, even if it's an ol water snake, but it happens all the time.