Vol. 28 (2008), No. 12

M I N N E S O T A HERPETOLOGICAL S O C I E T Y N

E W S L E T T E R

IN THIS ISSUE: LAST MONTH’S SPEAKER JEFF LECLERE

DECEMBER SPEAKER WITH

JOE WASILEWSKI THE HERPER’S CORNER DISCUSSES TURTLE RESCUE HINTS

December 2008

Volume 28

Number 12

President Jennifer Hensley Vice- President David Dewitt Treasurer Nancy Haig Membership Secretary Chris Smith Recording Secretary Ellen Heck News Letter Editor James Soos MEMBERS AT LARGE Jeff LeClere Pete Kazeck Christina Dunathar Kathy Claugherty

COMMITTEES Adoption Sara Richard Education Jan Larson

Library Carmelita Pfar Webmaster Anke Reinders

Cover Animal Gaboon Viper by Jim Gerholdt

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MINNESOTA HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETY DECEMBER 2008

VOLUME 28

NUMBER 12

MHS VOICE MAIL: 612.624.7065 MHS WEBPAGE: HTTP://WWW.MNHERPSOC .ORG GROUP E MAIL : HTTP ://WWW. GROUPS.YAHOO.COM/ GROUP/ MNHERPSOC The Purpose of the Minnesota Herpetological Society is to: • Further the education of the membership and the general public in care and captive propagation • Educate the members and the general public in the ecological role of reptiles and amphibians; • Promote the study and conservation of reptiles and amphibians.

The Minnesota Herpetological Society is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. Membership is open Newsletter is published monthly to provide its members with information concerning the society’sto all individuals with an interest in amphibians and reptiles. The Minnesota Herpetological Society activities and a media for exchanging information, opinions and resources.

General Meetings are held at Borlaug Hall, Room 335 on the St. Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota on the first Friday of each month (unless there is a holiday conflict). The meeting starts at 7:00pm and lasts about three hours. Please check the MHS Voice mail for changes in schedules or cancellations.

Ads or Notices must be submitted no later than the night of the General Meeting to be included in the next issue. Longer Articles will be printed as time and space allows and should be in electronic File format if possible. See Inside back cover for ad rates.

Submissions may be sent to: The Minnesota Herpetological Society Attn: Newsletter Editor Bell Museum of Natural History 10 Church St. SE. Minneapolis, MN 55455.0104 Please send email to mhsnewseditor@yahoo.com © Copyright Minnesota Herpetological Society 2008. Contents may be reproduced for non-profit use provided that all material is reproduced without Change and proper credit is given authors and the Minnesota Herpetological Society Newsletter citing: volume, number and date.

THE NEWS LETTER OF THE MINNESOTA HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETY

DECEMBER 2008

VOLUME 28

NUMBER 12

OUT OF THE OFFICE WITH THE VICE PRESIDENT. Greetings from the VP. First of all I would like to thank everyone who attended the November meeting and participated in the election of board members for2009 .Im optomistic about the upcoming year. There are several things we will be working on for 2009.

(1) A field trip to Reptile Gardens.

(2) a picnic (3) the possibility of having a herp show/swap meet/sale.

If you have any ideas or suggestions for trips, speakers or activities feel free to contact me or any board member with your concerns.Im looking forward to our December meeting and banquet with Joe Wasilewski . The Friday meeting topic will be “Conservation techniques throughout the caribbean”. And the banquet topic will be”American crocodiles back from the brink” Come and enjoy the pot luck dinner andrefreshments and fellowship. Thanks again Dave DeWitt help setting up a picnic or just sending a message to any Board member of an Idea that you would like to see the Club do as a group.

While I am asking for Volunteers, you can see some older clip art added to the newsletter this month. My request is new art. I am looking for some out standing Artists out there to stand up and supply me with Cartoons and Art. If I am supplied the Drawing at the meeting, I can scan it for you and then bring back the original to the next meeting. I just request all art to have a name and phone number on the back of it. It can be in presented in Color or in Black and white.

Again thank you for all of your support and Safe Holidays to you all.

Jim Soos

A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR First off I would like to wish every one Happy Holidays and to thank everyone for re-electing me to Newsletter Editor. Next year 2009 I promise you will be a more interesting and Entertaining year for all of the members. We are in the planning stages of few new events, a Field Trip to Reptile Gardens, and a MHS Summer Picnic.

But I would like to ask something of everyone, for these events to happen the Board needs Volunteers to help plan them. If you are interested please contact a Board Member.

Any help is greatly appreciated, it could be 2

THE NEWS LETTER OF THE MINNESOTA HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETY

THE

MINNESOTA

UP

VOLUME 28

HERPETOLOGICAL

COMING

Next Meeting:

DECEMBER 2008

EVENTS

NUMBER 12

SOCIETY

PAGE

Friday, December 5 2008 Room 335 Borlaug Hall, U of M St. Paul Campus

Speaker: Joe Wasilewski: Wildlife Biologist who as been on Animal Planet and does Demostrations at Jungle Island in Florida.

HOLIDAY BANQUET Friday, December 6 2008 St. Paul Student Center Right down the hill from Borlog Hall U of M St. Paul Campus $ 5.00 Per Person

Future Speakers: January: Marc Bailey

Febuary: John Moriarty

March: Matt Edgar Ven:

Friday, January 9 2009 Room 335 Borlaug Hall, U of M St. Paul Campus

Friday, Febuary 6 2009 Room 335 Borlaug Hall, U of M St. Paul Campus

Snake Curator of the St. Louis Zoo.

April: White Snake Sale.

Do not forget the Photo Contest.

Friday, April 3 2009 Room 335 Borlaug Hall, U of M St. Paul Campus

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Friday, March 6 2009 Room 335 Borlaug Hall, U of M St. Paul Campus

THE NEWS LETTER OF THE MINNESOTA HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETY

JEFF LECLERE SPEAKS

By Ellen Heck

DECEMBER 2008

VOLUME 28

NUMBER 12

NEW 2009 ELECTED BOARD MEMBERS

The speaker for November was Jeff LeClere, who graciously filled in when the scheduled speaker had to cancel due to health problems. Jeff covered three topics in his talk – the Midwest Herpetological Symposium,

President

Jennifer Hensley

Vice- President

David Dewitt

Treasurer

Nancy Haig

This year’s symposium was hosted by the Michigan Society of Herpetologists. They were founded in 1971, so they had first crack at the initials. They went with MSH, leaving MHS for us. The symposium almost didn’t happen, as 3 months previous to the show, their treasurer embezzled not just the symposium funds, but all the club’s other monies as well. Despite this disheartening start, Michigan pulled the symposium off rather well.

Membership Secretary

Ellen Heck

Two speakers talked about the state of the world’s turtles – Rick Hudson with the Turtle Survival Alliance at the Friday ice-breaker and Dr. Chris Tabaka on Saturday. Rick talked about recovery projects in Asia, including China and India. China in particular has a large market for turtles, both as food and because of supposed aphrodisiacal properties.

However, most of the habitat is still intact, which is important when it comes to the re-introduction of the animals.

Breeding programs are either started or are being planned, both in- and ex-situ. With some species, only 1-3 individuals exist in the wild. According to Chris Tabaka, half of the Asian turtles are endangered. He focused on the role of private herpers in the conservation of endangered turtles.

He makes the point that, while someone could keep a common turtle like a red-eared slider, it isn’t any more difficult to keep – and potentially breed – an endangered species instead. The animals could then be re-introduced.

Andy Snider from the Fresno Zoo talked about the role zoos play in distributing information on herps. In the old days, zoos tended to keep venomous and large boas and pythons, since these attract the most attention. As collections have evolved, most facilities have engaged in research involving their animals. The research tends to fall into 3 categories – “publish or perish”, applied and field. The first category tends to produce the least meaningful results, as it does in the academic world as well. Applied research tends to produce tangible, meaningful results and field research includes observation of the animals in the wild and applying the findings to the animals in captivity. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, interaction between zoo keepers and private herp keepers isn’t encouraged by most zoos, which means that a lot of information isn’t being exchanged.

Bobby Hill of Vanguard herps talked about the care and breeding of tegus. He made several statements that were somewhat controversial – that tegus are one of only two species that will look a human in the eye (the crocodile monitor being the other) and that they don’t eat fruit. He also doesn’t believe in line breeding (the breeding of closely-related animals to produce recessive traits).

Next was Dr. Kathryn Tosney, talking about breeding, in-

Recording Secretary Newsletter Editor

James Soos

MEMBERS AT LARGE Jeff LeClere Kathy Claugherty Chris Smith Heather Clayton

breeding and birth defects in bearded dragons. Her first comment was, “Yes, they look me in the eye.” When breeding for recessive traits, in-breeding and linebreeding are fairly common, but whenever possibly, out-crossing (breeding to a non-related animal) should be done. Some defects seem to be cyclic. In bearded dragons, the more random the pattern, the more birth defects are likely when the animals are bred. Color does not seem to be an indicator in the same way. In other words, the animal can be any color, but the more “boring” the pattern, the stronger genetically the animal is. She has also found that incubating the clutches from genetically weaker animals at the high end of the normal range or hotter will increase the likelihood of defects.

Tell Hicks, a well-known wildlife artist, exhibited some of his work. He is considered to be one of the best wildlife artists in general and of reptiles in particular. Many people have t-shirts with his work on them.

Yu Man Lee, the interim managing director and conservation scientist for the Michigan Natural Features Inventory, spoke about the status and conservation of herps in Michigan, focusing on the massasauga rattlesnake. 14 out of 23 amphibians in Michigan are endangered, threatened or of special interest, or are being tracked as about to fall into one of the preceding categories (SGCN). Reptiles aren’t any better off – 16 out of 29 species fall into one of the categories. The Wildlife Action Program is in its early stages, but the goal is to have a plan in place and working by 2050.

Vin Russo of Cutting Edge Herpetological discussed the 9 sub-species of common boas, boa constrictor, in the world. One, imperator, is a smaller species that specializes in preying on birds. It is not uncommon for Continued on page 5

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THE NEWS LETTER OF THE MINNESOTA HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETY

DECEMBER 2008

VOLUME 28

NUMBER 12

them to eat just 4 birds in a year. Ortonii is more morphologically variable species, while sabogae has an elongated tail and hemipenes.

The final speaker was Dr. Gad Perry of the International Reptile Conservation Foundation (IRCF), talking about conservation in the Virgin Islands. Like many eco-systems, it is being infiltrated by foreign species. Invaders include red-eared sliders, marine toads and Cuban tree frogs.

Jeff (and others) finished up their trip with an excursion to the Holden Musuem of Living Reptiles at the Detroit Zoo. They saw a number of species, including a palm viper that, unlike most of the crotalus family, lays eggs. the collection also includes a number of brightly colored frog species, and the very impressive 4 ½’ Japanese salamander.

Jeff also showed some photos of BHB Enterprises, owned

by Brian Barczyk. His facility is fairly large and contains literally tens of thousands of animals. There are rows and rows of “shoe boxes”, every one containing a snake. The babies are in rows of about 5,000 animals per row. Adults have fewer per row, but there are several rooms of animals.

The ambient temperature is about 91 DegF, since most of the containers have heat tape. Brian has 9 full time employees caring for the animals.

Ball pythons are now coming in nearly as many varieties as cornsnakes. Some, like the champagne, are barely recognizable as a ball python. The “woma” variation looks, as one would guess, like a woma rather than a ball. He also had a picture of a scale-less cornsnake. Apparently this is a naturally occurring condition that is now being selectively bred. Contrary to the name, the snakes do have some scales, but most of their bodies are bare.

Jeff finished his talk with some pictures of several herping trips he took this year, both in the southern and northern parts of the state. Up north he was in Itasca County doing a bio-survey. They found 12 species of amphibians and 5 reptiles. The one they were particularly after was the 4-toed salamander. These are a very small species, with adults ranging in the 2”-4” range.

Down south, they were tagging rattlesnakes with radio tracking devices. Jeff had a video of himself tubing a snake for examination and later implantation. The radio id inserted under the skin and the antenna runs along the body. The radios last about a year, and before the signal dies, the snake must be re-captured and the radio removed.

www.herpnet.net

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Treasurer’s Report for Oct 2008 Prepared by Nancy Haig Beginning Checkbook Balance: Income: Membership Hands On Adoption Rodent Sales Renfest pymt DNR Refund Rtn Speaker fee Total income: Expense: Newsletter Program Adoption cost Voicemail Supplies Renfest supplies Nwsl Postage Rodent costs Total Expense Cash increase/(decrease)

22,960.95 $280.00 $519.00 $115.00 $643.00 $2500.00 $250.00 $100.00 $4,407.00

$388.30 $860.16 $60.00 $92.32 $63.12 $556.64 $300.00 ($362.19) 1,958.38 $2,448.62

Ending Checkbook Balance: $25,369.57 Placement of cash holdings Checking account Paypal acct Cash on hand Total

$25,369.57 $526.45 $155.00 26,051.02

THE NEWS LETTER OF THE MINNESOTA HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETY

DECEMBER 2008

VOLUME 28

NUMBER 12

THE HERPER’S CORNER TURTLE RESCUE HINTS

By Terry Odegaard Since I can remember, I have always thought that people, as rulers of the planet should, as a duty, do what we can to help those critters that our actions harm.

For example, we build a road between a pond and a sunny field. The turtles have forever been nesting in that field. But now, they have to cross a road with “turtle squishing cars” going by all day.

A turtle’s defensive reaction to a car whizzing by is to pull into its shell and wait until the disturbance goes away. So it sits on the road.

If it’s a shy turtle, maybe 15 minutes. If it’s a bold individual, maybe one minute. But it is vulnerable to the possibility of being run over. Making drivers aware of this might help. I am a great fan of putting up road signs designating “TURTLE CROSSING AREA”, the bigger the better. Let’s give these beautiful harmless creatures a break!

When one sees a turtle on the road, the first concern should be to not create a traffic hazard in your rescue attempt. But if you can stop the traffic, often a following car will see what you are doing and assist while you attend to the turtle. This is especially important in the city.

Then you want to get the turtle off the road with as little trauma to it as possible. If you are dealing with a painted turtle, (99% of Minnesota encounters), just pick it up and set it on the road side POINTED IN THE DIRECTION THE TURTLE WAS HEADED. This is really important.

It has a destination in mind and will just crawl back on the road if you put it on the wrong side.

If your wandering turtle happens to be a snapper, be careful! Why do you think they’re called snappers?

They bite! Hard! I know this and am proud to say that in a lifetime of handling snappers I have never been bitten by one.

Incidentally, I have never heard of anyone being bitten by a snapping turtle while swimming or wading.

Snappers are very aggressive on land, but in water, their defensive reaction is to flee.

While fishing for sunfish in Black Lake, a bay of Lake Minnetonka, I have had the pleasure of watching a very large snapping turtle eat all the sunnies off our stringer which was hanging in the water. These were good sized sunnies, 7 to 9 inches long and yet this turtle snapped off fish after fish while we watched. Unreal! A very large turtle! I hope it lives forever! I can catch more sunfish, but I may never again encounter a creature so magnificent and so good at taking advantage of human interference as that turtle.

But getting back on point, if you happen across a snapper on a road it will be defensive. When finding one on a country road, I usually pull out a corn stalk or similar

soft stalk and get the turtle to bite it. No problem there! Then while the turtle is engaged in the corn stalk, I pick it up by the rear of the shell and off to the correct side of the road. I believe that picking it up by the tail, which is the old recommended method, is really hard on the turtle and should be avoided.

Next, I want to relate the sad but important subject of what to do when you come across a turtle that has just been hit by a car.

Even if it is dead or beyond repair, there may still be viable eggs inside the turtle. If so, try to remove the eggs and place them in the soil. Refer to your herp care books for incubating the eggs.

I have come across large snapping turtles that have been hit and killed where there will be many eggs spilled on the road, and although I have collected these eggs, they usually do not hatch, while the eggs taken from the same turtle’s cracked body will often hatch. This is gruesome stuff, but if you read this and can save one turtle, it is worth the print!

Next; turtles that have been hit on the road, but are still alive. Case in point, I came across a spotted turtle, Clemmys guttata, one of the coolest turtles in the world that had been hit by a car. This was in the South Carolina low country famous for its Okeetee corn snakes and other wonderful snakes.

Anyway, this spotted turtle had been clipped on the rear quarter of its shell and had several fractures that were somewhat separated. As it had use of its legs and tail, I thought I might be able to fix it up. Back at the motel, I let the turtle soak in clean sink water, and then sought out a convenience store to buy a tube of Superglue. With helpers, I was able to reassemble the fractured shell, even a piece that was barely attached and in the end it looked like a turtle again. Humpty Dumpty would have been jealous!

On returning to Minnesota I set the turtle up in a large outdoor tank where it could get sunlight, vegetation to hide in, very clean water, and a variety of food. After two months, it had healed so it was hard to see where fractures were.

I am still amazed at that turtle’s recovery and want to emphasize that its habitat and diet was just right so that its own healing mechanism kicked in to heal that turtle. With reptiles, even the best bet care in the world won’t do any good if the cage conditions aren’t right.

Of course wherever you see adult female turtles out looking for nesting sites, there will also be hatchlings at some point of the season. The time varies from species to species. Often they are very hard to see because of the small size so one must slow down and check every rock, leaf, and dead grasshopper on the road because some may turn out to be turtles!

Last season Blake Sheldon and I were able to move hatchling painted, maps, Blanding’s and snapping turtles off the roads during several drives through that countryside.

I hope these few hints help you in your efforts to save our turtles.

Good Luck to you and the turtles!

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THE NEWS LETTER OF THE MINNESOTA HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETY

DECEMBER 2008

VOLUME 28

NUMBER 12

Continued from page 5

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THE NEWS LETTER OF THE MINNESOTA HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETY

DECEMBER 2008

VOLUME 28

NUMBER 12

NOVEMBER’S MEETING MINUTES: November 5th, 2008 Meeting MHS Board of Directors Board Present: Jenn Hensley, Dave DeWitt, Ellen Heck, Nancy Haig, James Soos, Chris Smith, Kathy Claugherty, Pete Kazeck, Jeff LeClere Absent: Christina Danathar Non-Board Present: Jarad and Jenna Rypka-Hauer, Sarah Richard The meeting was called to order at 6:04 pm.

TREASURER’S REPORT: The report was submitted for October. Nancy will roll over some of the Paypal monies once some formalities are completed with the back.

Motion to accept the reports: Ellen; 2nd: James. Motion carried.

VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT: Joe Wasilewski has been confirmed for December and the banquet. January will be Marc Bailey, and he will be bringing Andrew Wyeth. N Marshall Meyers is scheduled for February, Matt Edgar for March. April will be the White Snake Sale. Terry Odegaard is tentatively scheduled for May. In August, Dr. Doug Mader will be speaking.

MEMBERSHIP REPORT: There was a net gain of three members. The overall number is still the same, but there are more paying members, although more are at the basic level than the contributing.

OLD BUSINESS: Rodent Sales – There still have been no volunteers to help with this, although for now the freezers are being housed by Jenn and Ellen.

POLICIES HANDBOOK – The final revisions will be emailed for review.

LIBRARY – There are many books out/missing. The library committee may need to be increased beyond just one person.

VIDEO CAMERA – Pete volunteered to pick up a camera on “Black Friday” – the day after Thanksgiving.

Nancy made the motion to approve up to $400 for the purchase of a video camera. 2nd: Dave. Motion passed.

NEWSLETTER – A copyright notice will be added to the newsletter.

NEW BUSINESS: RAFFLE – The suggestion was made to increase the ticket price from 25 cents (4 for a dollar) to 50 cents (2 for a dollar. No final decision was made T-SHIRTS – The board will look into producing a T-shirt for next year, possibly just our logo.

BUDGET – The 2009 budget was gone over. As it will be greatly deficit, it will be reviewed again before being accepted.

HANDS-ON STAMPS – It was decided to look into getting ink stamps instead of stickers for the hands-on give away.

TERM LIMITS – Since all board positions have a term limit of 4 years except treasurer, it was suggested that either a limit be put on treasurer or remove the limit from the other positions. This will be discussed at the January joint board meeting.

PHONES – The U of M has changed its billing, resulting in the phones being down for several weeks. As they are generally difficult to seal with, alternatives such as Skype will be pursued.

MOTION TO ADJOURN: Chris; 2nd: James Meeting adjourned at 10:46 pm

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Classified Ads: All active members are allowed a classified ad, run free of charge as space permits. Ads may be run three consecutive months, after which time they may be resubmitted. Corresponding members are allowed a complimentary business card advertisement monthly as space permits. Due to federal restrictions on non-profit mailing permits, we are not allowed to run ads for travel, credit, or insurance agencies.

Submissions: All advertisements should be submitted to the MHS Editor, Bell Museum of Natural History, 10 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Deadline is the night of the General Meeting for inclusion in the next newsletter. Make checks payable to: Minnesota Herpetological Society.

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Please enclose the proper payment with your application. Make Checks Payable To: Minnesota Herpetological Society. Membership is for 12 months from the date of approval, a receipt will be sent only upon request. Mail to: Minnesota Herpetological Society, Bell Museum of Natural History, 10 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Please allow 6-8 weeks for processing.

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Next Meeting:

Friday, December 5 2008 Room 335 Borlaug Hall, U of M St. Paul Campus

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