Vol. 31 (2011), No. 12

the newsletter of the

Minnesota Herpetological Society

Contents Upcoming Speaker: Women in Herpetology Recap: Keeping and Breeding Russian and Redfoot Tortoises Feature: Texas Ratsnake Distrbution in Minnesota

December 2011

Volume 31

Number 12

BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Bruce Haig president@mnherpsoc.com

Bell Museum of Natural History, 10 Church Street Southeast, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55455-0104

763.862.8966

Vice President Sonja Koolmo 763.755.1630 vicepresident@mnherpsoc.com Recording Secretary Ellen Heck recsecretary@mnherpsoc.com

763.593.5414

Membership Secretary Heather Clayton 612.886.7175 memsecretary@mnherpsoc.com Treasurer Nancy Haig treasurer@mnherpsoc.com

Stay informed! Join us on our forums!

And, you can still leave us a Voice Mail: 612.326.6516

December 2011

Newsletter Editor Christopher Rueber 952.594.0101 newslettereditor@mnherpsoc.com Members at Large Jeff LeClere 651.488.6388 memberatlarge4@mnherpsoc.com

Number 12

THE PURPOSE OF THE MINNESOTA HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETY IS TO • • •

763.434.8684

Volume 31

Further the education of the membership and the general public in care and captive propagation of reptiles and amphibians; 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 to all individuals with an interest in amphibians and reptiles. The Minnesota Herpetological Society Newsletter is published monthly to provide its members with information concerning the society’s 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.

Chris Smith 651.315.7760 memberatlarge1@mnherpsoc.com

SUBMISSIONS TO THE NEWSLETTER

Matt Carter 651.329.2290 memberatlarge2@mnherpsoc.com

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 elec- tronic file format if possible.

See inside back cover for ad rates. Submissions may be sent to:

Jacob Mee memberatlarge3@mnherpsoc.om

The Minnesota Herpetological Society -or- newslettereditor@mnherpsoc.com Attn: Newsletter Editor Bell Museum of Natural History 10 Church St SE Minneapolis, MN 55455-0104

C om m itte e s Adoption Sarah Richard RealSarah@aol.com

612.781.9544

Education Jan Larson jan.skunkhollow@juno.com

507.263.4391

SNAKE BITE EMERGENCY

Library Nancy Haig 763.434.8684 nanchaig@citilink.com

HENNEPIN REGIONAL POISON CENTER 800-222-1222

Cover Photo drawn from MHS Newsletter Archive

© Copyright 2011, Minnesota Herpetological Society. Except where noted, contents may be reproduced for non-profit, non-commercial use only. All material must be reproduced without change.

Proper credit will be given including the author/photographer and the Minnesota Herpetological Society Newsletter citing: volume, number and date.

The Newsletter of the Minnesota Herpetological Society

December 2011

Volume 31

Number 12

November General Meeting Presentation - Friday, December 2nd - Starting at 7 P.M. University of MN - St. Paul Campus, Borlaug Hall, Room 335 Cindy Steinle presents..

Women in Herpetology

By Sonja Koolmo Cindy Steinle will be our December speaker. You may recognize her name, as Cindy is the site coordinator for kingsnake.com. She has said that her talk, entitled “Women in Herpetology”, was inspired by Tracy Barker.

At the height of the fight against HR669, Tracy called her to ask about statistics on kingsnake. com and they were both quite surprised to learn that almost 50% of the user base on kingsnake.com was female.

As a whole, the reptile community is often looked upon as a boys’ hobby. With Tracy’s help, they real-

ized just how many women had paved the way for reptile keepers today; and how all too often they had originally taken a back seat to their male counterparts.

Cindy will highlight a number of the women that have been influential in Herpetology; describing how they got their starts, as well as obstacles they had to overcome.

We will also hear about the changes the community as a whole has had over time and the roles women now take.”

Cindy will again join us at our Holiday Banquet on Saturday evening to present us with a lighthearted look at “Herping the Southwest”.

In case you missed Ernie Johnson’s talk at the November general meeting:

Keeping and Breeding Russian and Redfoot Tortoises in the Upper Midwest...

By Ellen Heck The speaker for November was Ernie Johnson, talking about keeping and breeding Russian and redfoot tortoises in the upper Midwest. He wrote up an article himself on Russian tortoise keeping printed elsewhere in the newsletter, so this will cover just the redfoots.

Unlike the Russian, which is very well suited to life in Minnesota, the redfoot is about as unsuited for our climate that it can get. It comes from an area where there is little variation in temperature, daily and yearround, and has humidity in the 70-90% range. Their diet is more varied than most other warm-area tortoises and is roughly equivalent to that of the box turtle. They will eat just about anything, including insects, invertebrates and small animals. Ernie recommends feeding about 60% fruit, 30% greens and 10% protein. The fruit can be papaya, mangoes, strawberries, raspberries or cantelope. The greens can be cactus pads, escarole, endive or turnip greens. They can be occasionally fed collard greens, okra pads or cactus fruit in season.

They tend to ignore timothy hay, a staple of many tortoise diets. Banana should be avoided. The protein can come from re-hydrated dried catfood, about 10 pellets per tortoise per week, and D3 supplement. Unlike many tortoises, redfoots do not need exposure to sunlight to process calcium. They can also be given mushrooms. Ernie, as a treat, feeds portobellos. As another option, ZooMed makes a forest variety tortoise food. Re-hydrated, this can be very good. And they seem to like it. Despite common belief, redfoots live on the edges of the forest, rather than on the plains, and so see very little daylight.

Redfoots are a more laid back tortoise than many and both genders can be housed together, although expect clutches if you do this. They do not have a fixed breeding season and can produce clutches throughout the year. Outdoors, Ernie keeps his animals in a heavily planted 10’x10’ enclosure, with large hostas and a cypress mulch bed. He uses plexiglass inserts to help keep the heat in and 2 150 watt heat emitters as well. They do not seem to mind the rain, although it tends to kick in breeding behavior.

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The Newsletter of the Minnesota Herpetological Society Indoors, Ernie recommends at least a 4’x8’ enclosure for 2 tortoises. It is lit by a 75 watt incandescent bulb and 2 100 watt heat emitters. The lights should be timed for 12 hours of “sunlight” per day. As they are native to an area near the equator, there isn’t much variation in the amount of sunlight they would naturally get. Like most tortoises, carapaces can become pyramided if their needs are not met. Pyramiding can be caused by too much food, too much protein, not enough room to wander and dehydration. Contrary to popular belief that they get all their moisture from the food they eat, tortoises should be offered water and/or be soaked twice a week.

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Redfoots are naturally curious, social animals. They also tend to be prolific; Ernie had one lay eggs on Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and finished her year with a small clutch on New Year’s Day. The eggs incubate 110-120 days before hatching. The viability rate of younger females, when they start laying about 8 years of age, is very low – in the 25-40% range. As they grow older, however, this goes up to almost 90% in the 30-60 year range. The gender of the hatchlings is determined by the incubation temperature. Males are produced in the 82-85°F and females 86-89°F.

Board Minutes for September 10, 2011 The meeting was called to order at 6:07pm at the St. Louis Park Byerly’s.

and the speaker lined up, but someone is still needed to chair it. Bruce will contact possible candidates. For now the board will handle the chair duties.

Old Business Adoption – Options were reviewed for handling the increased numbers of animals coming in, including not accepting animals from the Humane Society, limiting the numbers of certain animals accepted each month and making animals available to non-members. It was decided to post the list of adoption animals on the public-side forums, with a notice that only members are eligible to adopt. The vote was 5 ayes, 2 nays and 2 abstentions. Bruce will follow up with Sarah for her opinion Newsletters – Matt will finish scanning the last of them. Chris R needs to get 2011 YTD to Matt. All will be available to members but the public will not see the current or previous year’s newsletters.

Website Heather will enter the expiration dates for members 2 months out to give some leeway, as right now their access is cut off immediately on the first of the month their membership is due. Anne-Marie is working on an automatic notification, to be sent out a month in advance, that a membership is about to expire.

An area for MHS documents, such as new member packets, by-laws, etc, will be set up by Chris S. New Business Holiday Banquet – The room is reserved

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Occasional Papers – Funds have been allocated in the budget for these but a specific cost still needs to be determined.

Quantities and the possibility of an e-document were discussed.

Motion to spend up $500 on a colored version of Jeff’s latest occasional papers, quantity to be determined: Nancy; 2nd Matt. Motion passed; Jeff abstained.

Motion to adjourn: Jeff; 2nd: Matt Meeting adjourned: 9:19pm

The Newsletter of the Minnesota Herpetological Society

December 2011

Volume 31

Number 12

Board Minutes for October 8, 2011 The meeting was called to order at 6:10pm at the St. Paul Student Union.

RenFest Committee Brandy Snyder Danaki and Rae Jacobs are the proposed new chairs.

Old Business Webmaster Duties: Matt needs to step down as webmaster.

He estimates the position takes 1 to 4 hours a week, answering concerns and updating things Website: After debate about the possibility of moving the White Pages online, it was decided that an online directory should be setup based on the member’s permission and what information they provide to be listed. Anne-Marie will look into how to do this.

Holiday Banquet: The room has been reserved but the permits still need to be submitted. A projector will probably be required. Bruce will follow up with Chris S. Adoption: After discussion on how to house and care for animals that are not adopted, it was decided to form an animal fostering committee to relieve Sarah of the burden of organizing this. Its duties will include housing and tracking the animals being fostered. A chair person will be appointed at a later time. Caging can be obtained from the Sarah, as many animals are turned in with cages. Nancy and Jeff will help organize the committee.

Newsletter Printing: As there have been issues with the current printer, the next newsletter will be sent to FedEx to print as a test to see how they do.

Motion to adjourn: Ellen; 2nd: Chris R Meeting adjourned 8:28pm.

New Business

Change in Newsletter Delivery Notice In an effort to cut costs and be more environmentally friendly, the current Board of Directors has made the decision to move the monthly newsletter to a digital format.

It is our hope that as the society reduces the volume of its printed materials, it will open up additional funds that can be turned around and used to further benefit the members of the MHS, along with furthering the goals of the society with things such as by bringing in additional high-quality speakers and funding herpetofaunal research.

As of January 1st, 2012 all new and renewing MHS memberships at the $20 (Basic), $40 (Contributing), $60 (Sustainable), and $25 (Business) levels will receive ONLINE ONLY newsletters by default. Memberships expiring after the first of January will be grandfathered into the printed newsletter system at no additional cost until their 2012 renewal deadline. The most recent 12 online newsletters will be viewable (to current members only) by logging into the MHS’s website. All newsletters older than 12 months will be viewable to the public.

If a member desires to continue receiving printed copies of the newsletter in the mail, they will need to opt-in.

By opting in, the member is also agreeing to pay an additional $5.00 above the cost of their standard membership.

That additional fee would need to be paid each year upon renewal.

Current members can NOW view the most recent MHS newsletter online!! You will need to sign up and log into the MHS website, however, to do so - an email option will be available soon. It may take 48-72 hours to authenticate users (verify current member status) so please be patient. ** Starting January 1st, 2012, any member can request to be moved to the online only newsletter system. This is encouraged!

Sincerely, MHS Board of Directors www.mnherpsoc.com

Board Positions filled for 2012!

President Christopher E. Smith Vice President Dav Kaufman Treasurer Nancy Haig Recording Secretary Ellen Heck Membership Secretary Heather Clayton Newsletter Editor Chris Rueber Members-At-Large (4) Jeff LeClere Beth Girard Kat Rorvig Peter Tornquist

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The Newsletter of the Minnesota Herpetological Society

December 2011

Volume 31

Number 12

A Case of Mistaken Identity; A Re-evaluation of Pantherophis obsoletus Distribution in Minnesota Christopher E. Smith1, 2 and Kenneth H. Kozak1 1

Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, 55108, USA 2 Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC, Saint Paul, Minnesota, 55127, USA

The Texas Rat Snake (Pantherophis obsoletus, sensu stricto) (Crother et al. 2008), also commonly referred to as the Black Rat Snake, (Pantherophis o. obsoletus, sensu lato), is one of the largest snake species native to Minnesota with adults ranging from 48 – 72 in (121 – 183 cm) (Conant and Collins 1994). Adult P. obsoletus from Minnesota are typically dark black, but retain much of their juvenile pattern into adulthood (Fig. 1). When young, juvenile Texas Rat Snakes (P. obsoletus) and Western Fox Snakes (P. vulpinus) have similar colors and patterns (Fig. 2) and are most reliably identified by counting the number of ventral scales, with the latter species having less than 217 and the former having greater than 220 (Powell et al. 1998).

Figure 1. Adult male captive-bred Texas Rat Snake (P. obsoletus) from wild-caught parents collected in Houston Co., Minnesota.

In Minnesota, P. obsoletus is restricted to the southeastern portion of the state with specimens reported from four localities within Fillmore, Houston, and Olmsted counties (Oldfield and Moriarty 1994, Hall and Moriarty 2011). The vouchered specimen from Fillmore County (JFBM P258) was later determined to be an escaped pet when the original collector discussed the finding with a local reptile keeper (Eric Thiss, pers. comm.). Carol Hall (MN DNR, pers. comm.) received a photo of an additional P. obsoletus reported from Fillmore County but a local population has not been verified.

This reduces the number of known and verified localities to three, all within Houston and Olmsted counties.

Figure 2. Top (A) is a neonate Western Fox Snake (P. vulpinus) and bottom (B) is a neonate Texas Rat Snake (P. obsoletus). Both specimens are from Houston Co., Minnesota localities.

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Since its collection in 1968, many have questioned the validity of the Olmsted County specimen’s original identification as a juvenile P. obsoletus (JFBM R2746). Only recently has the curatorial staff at the James Ford Bell Museum (JFBM) had the time and resources to attempt to verify the specimen’s identification, at which time the identification was determined to be incorrect.

Figure 3. Distribution map showing county with extant and verified P. obsoletus records in Minnesota.

The Newsletter of the Minnesota Herpetological Society

December 2011

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Number 12

Hereafter, we provide morphological evidence that suggests the specimen (JFBM R2746) is most likely a melanistic form of Garter Snake, Thamnophis sp. or possibly a Northern Water Snake, Nerodia s. sipedon. Using ventral scale count data (Table 1) and other Table 1. Ventral scale counts for the four most likely candidate snake species. Values shown here morphological characters, we are able are averages with corresponding range. to determine that the specimen is Sample Ventral Scale Species Range Source Size (n) Count (Average) neither P. obsoletus nor P. vulpinus.

While the specimen may be lacking Mann 2007, Unpub.

Texas Rat Snake 12 229 221 - 235 Thesis Pantherophis the dorsal and lateral stripes typically obsoletus observed on Thamnophis spp., other melanistic examples of Thamnophis 12 201 189 - 208 LeClere et al. In Press Western Fox Snake Pantherophis vulpinus have been documented in Minnesota (John J. Moriarty, pers. comm.).

Common Garter Snake 269 162 152 - 173 Dohm and Garland 1993 Another morphological character Thamnophis sirtalis used to distinguish the specimen form Plains Garter Snake Pantherophis is the presence of 174 154 142 - 166 Arnold and Bennett 1988 Thamnophis radix heavily keeled scales along the dorsal and lateral surface of the body. In Northern Water Snake N/A N/A 128 - 155 Clark 1938 Pantherophis spp., this dorsal surface Nerodia s. sipedon is weakly keeled and often appears JFBM R2746 1 155 N/A smooth on the scale rows just above of the ventral surface.

In light of this recent discovery, the current known distribution of P. obsoletus in Minnesota has been reduced to two extant localities, both of which are found within Houston County (Fig. 3). Even though Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources (see: Brecke 1997) and field herpetologists have spent a great deal of time surveying the herpetofauna of southeastern Minnesota, no additional localities of P. obsoletus have been recorded and verified by professional biologists. Please report any P. obsoletus sightings to Dr. Kenneth H. Kozak (kozak016@umn.edu) at the Bell Museum of Natural History, and remember to look up when herping in SE Minnesota (Fig. 4).

Acknowledgments!

We would like to thank Ben Lowe, Don Shepard, and Erica Hoaglund for discussion regarding species identification and for comments on this note. A special thank you goes out to the members of FieldHerpForum.com that provided insightful comments on the topic.

Literature Cited Arnold, S. J., and A. F. Bennett. 1988. Behavioural Variation in Natural Populations. V. Morphological Correlates of Locomotion in the Garter Snake (Thamnophis radix).

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 34: 175-190.

Brecke, B. J. 1997. Documentation of Ratsnake (Elaphe obsoleta) Dens in Southeastern Minnesota. Report submitted to the Natural Heritage and Nongame Research Program, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 3 pp.

Collins, J. T., and T. W. Taggart. 2008. An Alternative Classification of the New World Rat Snakes (Genus Pantherophis [Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae]). Journal of Kansas Herpetology, 26: 16-18.

Clark, W. M. 1938. A Synopsis of the North American Water Snakes of the Genus Natrix.

Copeia, 1938: 173-182.

Crother, B. I., J. Boundy, F. T. Burbrink, and J. A. Campbell. 2008. Squamata – Snakes.

IN B.I. Crother (6th ed.), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, pp. 24–45. SSAR Herpetological Circular 37.

Dohm, M. R. and T. Garland, Jr. 1993. Quantitative Genetics of Scale Counts in the Garter Snake Thamnophis sirtalis. Copeia, 1993: 987-1002.

Hall, C. D., and J. J. Moriarty. 2011. Minnesota’s Amphibian and Reptile Distribution Maps. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Accessed, November 1, 2011. http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/eco/mcbs/herp_maps/p_obsoletus_ecs.pdf LeClere, J. B., E. P. Hoaglund, J. Scharosch, C. E. Smith, and T. Gamble. In Press. Two Naturally Occurring Intergeneric Hybrids (Pituophis catenifer sayi x Pantherophis vulpinus; Lampropeltini, Squamata) from the Midwestern United States. Journal of Herpetology.

Mann, A. M. 2007. A Taxonomic Investigation of the Black Ratsnake, Elaphe o. obsoleta (Say) [Reptilia, Squamata, Colubridae], in West Virginia using Morphometric Analyses. Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia. 75pp.

Figure 4. In-situ photograph of a P. obsoletus approximately 15 feet up in cedar tree, Houston County, Minnesota.

Oldfield, B. and J. J. Moriarty. 1994. Amphibians and Reptiles Native to Minnesota.

University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota. 237 pp.

Powell, R., J. T. Collins, and E. D. Hooper, Jr. 1998. A Key to the Amphibians and Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. University Press of Kansas,

Kansas, USA.

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The Newsletter of the Minnesota Herpetological Society

December 2011

The Midwest Herpetological Symposium committee would like to thank the following Coordinators for their contribution of time and talents: Dan Keyler-Speaker lineup, Heather Clayton- Vendor line-up, Sally Brewer- Graphics, Ann Porwoll- T-shirts & bag printing and promotional items, Ellen Heck- snake bags, Fred & Liz Bosman-Hospitality Suite, John Morairty- Auctioneer, Beth Girard & Jim Gerholdt for their exceptional live animal display of native MN herps. We would also like to thank the MHS members who stepped up and helped out during the Symposium weekend, Skyler Bouley -all around volunteer par excellence, Sarah Richard, Chris Smith, Erica Hoaglund, Jan Andreasen, Jacob Mee, Nina Katayama, and Terry Odegaard. As well as Bill Moss and Nancy Hakomaki for their Renfest tribute Friday night and Beer wenches Heather and Christa.

Number 12

Treasurer’s Report for Oct 2011

Message from Midwest Symposium Coordinators The Minnesota Herpetological Society would like to thank Great Lakes Breads for their generous donation of Scones, Breads and Muffins given to share at the Midwest Herpetological Symposium. We would also like to thank Surley Brewing for the donation of items for the raffle and quality beer which was shared in our hospitality suite.

Thank you, Liz Bosman

Volume 31

Prepared by Nancy Haig

Beginning Balance

$13,415.54

Income: Membership

Raffle

Adoption

Rodent Sales Renfest Donations Midwest Registration Renfest Payment Other

$130.00 $78.00 $365.00 $362.00 $5,283.47 $2,810.00 $2,750.00 $40.00

Total Income $11,818.47 Expense: Program Rodent Cost adopt/Vet Printing Midwest Donation Renfest Library

$50.00 $302.90 $180.00 $965.61 $968.97 $1,000.00 $240.57 $72.00

Total Expense $3,912.58 Cash Increase/Decrease

+$7,905.89

Ending Balance

$21,321.43

Placement of cash holdings

Checking Account TCF/Paypal

Paypal

Cash on hand

$21,321.43 $2,421.09 $164.28 $175.00

Total $24,081.80 Notes: Other income is from Misc donation & Holiday Banquet. Midwest numbers are not full totals, $1000.00 to World Chelonian Trust. Printing costs include MHS leaflets & occasional papers

November Adoption Report

Posted by Sarah Richard, Edited by Chris Rueber Red Eared Slider, Bearded Dragon Juv, Iguana Juv, Leopard Gecko, (4) Boa, (2) Ball Python, (2) Corn snake

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rodentorders@mnherpsoc.com

MINNESOTA HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETY BELL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 10 CHURCH STREET SE MINNNEAPOLIS, MN 55455-0104

Non-profit Organization U.S. Postage Paid Twin Cities, MN Permit no. 92275

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Next Meeting: Friday - December 2nd - 7:00 pm Room 335 Borlaug Hall, U of M St. Paul Campus

MHS Voice Mail: 612.326.6516 MHS Web Page: www.mnherpsoc.com

This newsletter is printed on recycled paper