Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I understand that while relocating a snake its best chance for survival is to only relocate it with in its particular home range. In most instances no more than ¼ mile dia from the location it was removed. Is that a good figure to go by? How would one determine a particular individual’s home range? I Have heard in the past that one individual may have a home range consisting of only a few hundred yards while another of the same species will have a range of several miles so It would seem using the ¼ mile dia theory would not be the best idea.

Craig Ivanyi at the ASDM is doing research and telemetry studies to determine success/failure of relocation activities with C. tigris and C. mollosus. If I remember correctly the results were rather dismal for the snakes when relocated to areas further afield than their territories reached.

i dunno about the 1/4mile thing but on releasing a snake one thing to be considered would be water source if a snake is removed from an area that its whole life it went say east for water and is placed in an area where say east there is no water but west there is it will travel east as it is engrained to do so. its an orientation thing same would apply for food source,nesting sites,etc i remove snakes from peoples yards allot here in houston and i allways try to release them in an area where the orietation wont be an issue for the snakes but thats not allways easy either,just some things to consider,,,,,,,thomas davis

I u nderstand removing a snake from its home teritory isnt the best thing for the snake. It is my understanding that young snakes faired quite well while older snakes met an early death. This is why I am wadering how to estemate the teritory of any given indevidual as to not release it out of that range.

Some snakes do have definite home ranges. Rattlesnakes come to mind, with the montane species having a tighter "social" structure and smaller home ranges (likely) and flat desert types like sidewinders having large or perhaps no home range.

Real interesting stuff. Like Lateralis stated, some studies, and always with rattlers it seems, have shown that they "learn" their home range and do poorly if relocated away from it.

Then again, take a rattler, put it in a cage and give it food and it thrives. That isn't its home range.

...some of the things that bugs me about these relocation studies is that....

a) the snakes have had major surgery; what is the mortality associated w/ that proceedure & how is that integrated w/ the rest of the data; when a nest of ants discover the suture line....all hell must break loose.

b) These studies are few, often in urban areas where mortality is skewed higher via cats/traffic/humans/etc.

C) They are useful to typically sluggish govt types that dont want to mess w/ them anyway....thus becoming another excuse for doing nothing for wldlf on any given day.

D) Even if preyed upon, that serpent is still providing input to the system, presumably something else lived another day!

I suspect (given their marvelous adaptations to food & water deprivation) most midsize to adult serpents released unharmed into suitable habitat do in fact seek shelter, then cautiously emerge, feed as they encounter food, reproduce when possible, & in fact do survive & become part of the areas meta-population. Strongly territorial creatures such as most raptors & carnivorous mammals probably have a much tougher "row to hoe" when released in unfamiliar habitat.

To avoid potential desease introductions to the wild tho, you should never ever release a pet snake, or any snake held in a cage that had tropical or other non-native herps in it.... for any reason. Give it to someone or euthanize it.

Beers, RxR

Caracara winging its way across the tropical deciduous forest

things aren't quite as dismal as in AZ or further east. Animals (ruber is what I studied it in)tend to wander a bit (get lost), get thin, then finally settle down and find food and shelter. When I do snake removals, I try not to go more than half a mile at the most from where the snake was found.

Thanks for all the replys. Have you ever studyed how the snakes you remove fair when move no mre than a half a mile? Have you observed any advers affects?

Yeah, we moved some rubers about a Km from where they were found and tracked them. Those are the ones that wandered for months and got skinny, but then finally settled down. I think the ones people have studied that die, do so because they cannot find some place to overwinter. In SD, rubers and other snakes can often be found on or near the surface in the middle of winter - it just doesn't get cold enough here to kill them.

Jeff,

So you are saying that if you re-release further than a km you can have adverse effects initially but the snakes (C. ruber) will generally settle and survive provided they settle prior to a seasonal climatic change (onset of winter). I assume you are aware of prior study of Timber Rattlers in the North and their high mortality rates on re release, so would you agree that they would probably too eventully settle if they could survive the next winter? I know of a study over here on Tiger Snakes (Notechis scutatus) and that seems to of found similar conclusions in that the translocated snakes become very active, wandering somewhat aimlessly for about 6 to 8 months, they lose condition and can become quite ill, some then seem to "kick off" again, set up a new territory, regain condition and continue on with their lives.

Regards
Scott Eipper

Hi Scott,
Yeah, there are many studies on the topic these days - some do horrible, some die, some make it. I think it depends on the species and the study, but I do believe it has alot to do with overwintering. Either way, I would still release snakes as close to where found as possible.

Jeff,

Do you know of any studies on the release of captive bred juveniles into the wild any if they survive?

Regards,
Scott

There are a few zoos here releasing cb snakes, such as pine snakes. Don't know about survivorship. We do alot of headstarting and releasing of wild-hatched iguanas in the West Indies - in one place we have about 95% survivorship.