Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My goal when I have more time after college is to really look into and study every aspect about Heterodon platirhinos and Heterodon simus, sort of like how FR does Heterodon nascius.

Last week I found a female Heterodon platirhinos on the campus of the college that I attend. She appeared very dehydrated and light weight. I took her home, gave her a luke-warm bath to get rid of chiggers all over her (ALL the non semi-aquatic or aquatic snakes here have them). I gave her a toad and she ate it without a problem. She is getting body mass back and her skin is starting to tighten up again. Something came up though that I was pondering:

Could she have appeared dehydrated and been underweight because she has just deposited eggs? She was in what I have concluded to be the "preferred nesting sight of Heterodon platirhinos" based off of several studies about their reproduction and nesting habits that I have read. They are spring breeders but is it possible one may have deposited in the fall this year? Under normal conditions they may not but we have had over 98 inches of rainfall where I live this year -- could that have possibly resulted in one laying eggs in the fall?

Again it could have just been that she was dehydrated and malnourished, so I'm not saying she did lay eggs, I'm asking if its a possibility that she had deposited eggs in this time of years.

Thanks.

Since you mentioned me, I will try and help.

The first real lesson with field work is, you cannot make assumptions or go by prejudices. Yes, all things are "possible" that's with about everything. What you are looking for are the "probable".

finding neonates two months from now, finding the nest, those are what will lead to answers. Even finding newly hatched neonates in the early spring will help.

With snakes, its known there are some species that produce both in the spring and fall, subocs for instance.

For years, I watched pyro rookeries, and observed newly hatched neonates coming out up until late Nov.

With our montane rattlesnake field studies, we commonly observed gravid rattlesnakes out and active all winter(C.willarid and C.lepidus) Including when there was snow on the ground and at 6000ft of elevation and up.

So of course its possible, but what is interesting would be, if you can find evidence that makes this probable, then evidence that proves it out.

Doing field work is NOT ABOUT KNOWNING anything other then asking good questions. ITs about taking data(to report) and to not prejudice them. And that is VERY HARD to do.

So keep at it(the hard part) and keep looking for evidence. All evidence, not just what you think supports your theory. After gathering lots of data, then you can sit back and see if it makes sense. Best wishes and good luck.

P.s. these animals are not windup toys, they are behavioral and doing such things as putting radios in that, does not reveal good data, it only reveals data after a radio is installed in their body and are being chased from place to place. hahahahahahah. Time lapse cameras are the tool of now and the future. (hands off) look into this area.

The area has a lot of potential to have a nest in a spot where it will likely never be found, but I have been keeping my eye out for signs of others and for neonates. Been only a week so I got 40-50 days-ish before they are supposed to hatch if they are there. I might not even get the chance though because the area is also crawling with black racers which, you likely know, would love to eat a snake smaller than they are. And also yeah I know not to allow prejudice affect studies, as hard as it may be when I do surveys on land with gopher tortoises before a future housing development.

And yeah I don't quite get the point of radio tracking a snake over distances. It just gets bothered and moves again when if left alone may not have moved. I do however get using them on relocated tortoises and crocodillians just to keep tabs on them because over their tendency to attempt to go in the direction of their original home but that's a different herp so...yeah hahah.

place AC around where you think the nest may be. Cheers

I wish I could place anything to keep track of stuff in this area, even stakes, but I can't. It is on a college campus and they would tear it down or pull it out. Florida is really big about getting rid of anything that might be considered trash so can't do stuff like put out metal unless it is on your own property, just as an example.

yea, I am not a fan of placing ac. When I was watching pyro nests, I placed local flat rocks right next to where the neonates exited the holes and often they would stay there for a while.

Also, hogs are not a big fan of ac as they can simply dig down anytime they want. Best of luck