The Tri-State Herpetological Society made its first field expedition to South FL January 14 through January 20. While we intended to collect and observe many specimens of reptile, finding adult specimens of the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake was our main objective. A research physician recently contacted me wishing to purchase EDB venom for research he is conducting on the HIV virus. I have supplied small quantities of venom to researchers in the past, but this particular one needed a quantity higher then I was prepared to produce, so more specimens were needed. I had a theory that would allow us to cover large areas very quickly, but it had not been tested in the field on EDB to my knowledge, so I was skeptical. Eight members confirmed the trip, and six actually showed. I was pleased with the group that we were able to field. All six were experienced venomous collectors. The group consisted of four students, a serpent handling preacher, and myself. Three members of the group are intending to study herpetology in college and make their living in the field. Two members of the group are nationally recognized honor students.
Left to right: Silas, Chuck, Dustin, Jessie, Phillip, and Jeremy.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the TSHS is a very tight nit unit. We are closer then most families.
Ok, so this has nothing to do with herping, but this car was parked at our first motel and I just had to share it with the rest of the world. Only in FL could you see this!!!!
The theory I developed panned out and we captured this exaggerated size male early in the morning on the first day. We have not put a tape to this animal as of yet, but from the picture he appears to be longer them me, which would make him over 6’3”. A friend housed this animal till we were ready to return. He told me that it weight 12.5 pounds on his bathroom scale.
Later that morning we captured this adult female specimen using more conventional and proven methods of collecting. She is around 5 feet and weighted in at my friends house at about 7 pounds. Large snake in her own right, but still small compared to the mammoth male we first collected. I was very impressed by the color/pattern of this animal, and will also be using her for captive breeding as well as venom production. The head pattern reminds me of some of the South American rattlesnakes. The diamond pattern is absent from the head and about 3 inches down the back.
I discovered this shell beside a rail road truck just north of the everglades. My first impression was that it had been hit by a train, but the bottom of the shell was still intact. This turtle and been cracked open by a very strong predator, perhaps a FL panther or a black bear.
This unfortunate turtle trapped itself in the RR tracks and probably starved to death. It was crawling inside the tracks, but they narrowed and trapped the animal. It captured my interest as it seems to have plenty of room to back out of the tracks, but didn’t. I know that crocodilians are unable to move backwards; perhaps this is true of large water turtles on land. The shell was completely hollowed out, so I collected it to use as decoration in my water snake display at the nature center.
We observed probably 50 to 60 alligators in the wild and possible one crocodile. It appeared to be a croc, but we could not get close enough to make a positive ID. The pictured specimen was the largest that we were able to make a good observation of. This one was around 10 feet in length. We observed one that was possibility larger, but only for a second before it dashed into the water.
We captured this 5 to 6 foot specimen for a short time. Some members of the group had not collected an alligator before and wanted to see one up close. I have proper permits to collect snakes, but did not have permits for alligators, so this guy was released back where we found him after a few pictures and a good up close observation.
On our last night I was asked to speak at the St Lucie County Herpetological Society meeting. I introduced our group and gave a speech on Timber Rattlesnakes.
As I said, one member of our group was a serpent handling preacher. As you can see Brother Silas kept things interesting in the motel room. (I refused to go to sleep before him) I will go ahead and answer two questions now. 1. Yes, that is a Puff Adder. 2. No, it is not a venomoid. Silas free handles as part of a religious practice. I posted this picture because it is very interesting, but bear in mind neither I nor any group I represent advocates free handling venomous reptiles.
Some interesting notes from the trip. Dustin was knocked completely out and Silas was pinned on a nest of fire ants when we dropped a large piece of metal we were checking under. I was about 100 feet away at the time. I saw Dustin get knocked out, but did not realize Silas was under the metal till I got closer. I was headed for Dustin when I heard Brother Silas yelling “fire ants, fire ants.” Since neither of them died, once they were out of pain, we had a great laugh about the whole thing. The second day of the trip, I collected an extremely large Cuban Tree Frog. I made the error of rubbing my noise after collecting it. For those of you that are unaware, CTF are quite toxic. My nose began to burn and drain. My eyes dilated and my vision was blurred to the point I could not tell other members by sight. Of course we were all laughing, but I can assure you, it’s a pain you would rather do without. I washed up well back in the room and rested for about an hour, after that I was fine.
We didn’t keep every thing we collected and I can’t recall everything we had now. Aside from collecting, we also traded some animals, bought some animals, and were given some animals. When all was said and done, I think this is what we actually brought back.
5 Diamondbacks. (1 albino)
3 Pigmy rattlesnakes
3 copperheads
3 black racers
1 Asian vine snake
1 south FL gater snake
1 south FL corn snake
1 Coral snake
2 broad headed skinks
3 Cuban Tree Frogs
3 geckos
1 ground skink
30 anoles
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