Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Chris ,
I was reading your post about those rubber bands. It reminded me of the time I was at my uncle Bob's house in El Paso. He was messing around in the kitchen and told me to hold up my finger. He shot my finger with a ruber band from at least 10 ft away. I couldn't understand why a grown man would need such a skill. Then he told me that was how he caught lizards.

My 55 year old dad claims to have some pretty impressive rubber band skills and he got excited like a little kid when I told him what you guys were talking about on here. I think we may have just added one more victom to the herp addiction.

Jake

Can anyone please explain HOW IN THE WORLD you can catch lizards with rubber bands?????
Puzzled...
Ryan

>>Can anyone please explain HOW IN THE WORLD you can catch lizards with rubber bands?????
>>Puzzled...
>>Ryan

You don't really catch them with rubber-bands. A well aimed rubber-band is used to knock them unconscious. After a well placed shot, you just walk up and pick them up.
There are a lot of interesting techniques to catch lizards.
As a matter of fact, you can catch some of the larger lizards with a cane pole and a piece of red velvet. They bite it, and then you yank them into the air. When they land they are too stunned to avoid capture. You can use the same technique for bullfrogs, but bullfrogs require a small fish-hook.
Also, try googling a lizard noose.
Shane

I haven't tried the techinique, YET, but I was thinking that the lizards are probably just really shocked and "playing dead" as a defense. Do they really get knocked out?

You can kill lizards with this technique. I use two #105 rubber bands tied together.

If you shoot correctly, it will stun the lizard for a few seconds and you can run over and grab it. If you shoot too hard, it will kill or injure the lizard.

Some lizards are easy to "herp band", others aren't. Cnemis are tough to band while Sceloporus are pretty easy. House geckos are really fragile while anoles are usually easy to stun without too much danger of killing.

I watched a group of 5 students try repeatedly to band a Leopard Lizard in southern NM once. It seemed to laugh off the projectiles. A few years later, cognizant of their failure, I got a chance to band a Leopard Lizard in Nevada from close range. Unfortunately, I killed it. I preserved it and deposited in a museum collection so that my stupidity wouldn't have been a total loss!

Noosing is much safer, and a heck of a lot more fun! I don't recommend banding unless you are prepared to kill the lizard in order to catch it, and you should have some justification for that (and the appropriate licenses/permits).
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, TX

I've never "noosed" either. Would there be a risk of lizard death/injury with that method as well?

In the past I just try to catch them by hand, but of course I've knocked off a few tails in the process. I don't really like it when that happens either. It seems like there is always a risk to the lizard.

It seems like the cruelty involved in shooting a lizard with a rubber band is far less than shooting a deer with a bullet.

You're right though - we should think about why we are catching this stuff.

Thanks,

Jake

I can shhot a fly off a wall at 12 feet.
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Doug
....and am I the only one here that thinks designer snakes are ugly ?

Does this method strike anybody else as being rather cruel? I wouldn't have shared this technique with anybody, the less that know this one the better.

Russ

>>Does this method strike anybody else as being rather cruel? I wouldn't have shared this technique with anybody, the less that know this one the better.
>>
>>Russ

Yeah, it's not a nice method, but like chrish mentioned, you shouldn't use the technique if you don't expect the possibility of a dead lizard! Are you the Russ from Canada?
It's a good technique, but the reason behind using it is up to the individual.
A lot of people think that it is cruel to feed mice to snakes...
Shane

You're right, there are people that find feeding mice to snakes cruel but there are people that find eating meat is cruel as well. Eating is deffinatly cruel to the animal being consumed but thats life...or death depending on which side you happen to be on.

I admit that I am pretty defensive and vocal over what I consider to be mistreatment of animals. I also understand that others opinions of whats cruel and whats not will be different from mine but this rubberband method is hardly debatable, unless you need specimens for some reason.

I recently found a toad (it lives in my flowerbed) and it looks just like a fowleri. The problem is that there aren't any fowleri around here so now I need to collect a tissue sample for a genetic test to detirmine exactly what this is. At first I was asked to freeze the toad and send it in but didn't want to do it. Now I'v been asked to clip four (4) toes and send those in but the idea of mutilating the toad doesn't really interest me either. As you can see, I have a big heart for these and all other animals.

Yes I am from Ontario.

Russ

PS do you know any good methods for taking tissue samples from toads, perhaps blood rather then removing digits??

Russ, I don't know why you'd need to do anything with that toad. It's a textbook fowleri. Also, according to Conant and Collins, their range extends the entire northern shore of Lake Erie, in a band running from Lake St. Clair to the southwest shore of Lake Ontario. Why do you think that they aren't in Ontario? Are they considered extirpated there?
Next year, during the breeding season, just listen for choruses in that area. I'd be willing to bet you come across a good handful of fowleri choruses. You can listen to recordings online, but the best way is to buy a CD (e.g. Lang Elliot) and keep it in your vehicle.

Shane

Here's a map http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v156/britishcanuk/map.jpg

I got it from this website http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR/nhic/herps/Southern_Ont/Frogs/foto.jpg

As you can see the last recorded fowler's toad in essex county was pre-1984 at Point Pelee and I found mine in the pink circle, which hasn't had any reports of them. I agree with you on the calls though, can't wait till spring.

Cheers,

Russ

Russ, keep the toad until it sloughs its skin, then keep the skin, that should suffice for a DNA test I believe.
CHeers
Brett

P.s. the rubberband method is a last resort (in need of feeder lizards type activity) and is rarely used for capturing animals alive. Nobody that I know uses it unless feeders are the purpose.