Natural History: The Coppperhead Snake

    While at the Sand Dunes archery range in Myrtle Beach, SC, my father and I stumbled upon a copperhead snake. The Copperhead snake, also known as Akgistrodon controtrix, is a member of the pit viper group, Crotalinae. Copperhead’s are native to the United States and are commonly found in the southeast. They are typically found in forests and woodlands, and the archery range we encountered the snake on was surrounded by woodlands. They can also be found in wetlands and entering water.

    The copperhead we discovered was slightly larger than 2 feet, typically, they can range from 20in to 34in. Male copperheads tend to have longer tails, while females are greater in length. At a closer observation, we were able to determine the copperhead to be a male. These snakes can be recognized with a copper colored body, brown crossbands, and keeled scales.
    Copperheads are known to be social snakes, as they hibernate, court, eat, and drink in areas near one another. They will often attempt to overpower one another during mating seasons but pinning one another to the grown. Copperheads are carnivores; they typically consume mice, small birds, lizards, other snakes, etc. They have fangs which they use to inject prey and swallow it whole. It uses it’s heat sensitive pits to detect warm species.
    I was slightly shocked as I had nearly stepped on the snake, not expecting him to be in an area with a large amount of people around as pit vipers tend to avoid humans. Due to the venomous nature of the copperhead, many members of the archery club wanted to dispatch the animal. Disregarding its venomous nature and worrying more for its life, my father was able to capture the snake and release it into the woods. Although, I would not recommend grabbing it with your bare hands like my father, as shown below.

Natural History: Cottonmouth

On Thursday March 12, 2015 we went on our first class field-trip to Caw Caw County Park. As we were walking over the small bridge that led us to our second location of traps we were lucky enough to see two larger Cottonmouth snakes (Agkistrodon piscivorus) as well as one smaller cottonmouth. Later in the field trip, after we collected our second batch of traps, several students went back to where we had original seen the three snakes and saw a fourth cottonmouth. The smaller cottonmouth was very close to where we were walking in the wet grass beneath the boardwalk which made the snake very visible and easy to observe, from a safe distance of course, considering these snakes are venomous. 

The picture of the snake I took shows a dark brown coloration, although there is a wide range of patterns and colors observed within this species. Although the snake pictured was smaller than the other two observed I believe it is still an adult because adult cottonmouths are usually dark and solid colored whereas juveniles tend to be more brightly patterned with a yellow tip on their tail. The smaller adult cottonmouth could have possibly been a female since it was smaller than the other two and males are larger than females in this species of snake, but this is only an educated guess as I did not get a close enough look to confirm. The head of the snake was large and triangular and had a facial pit. You could see the keeled scales on the snakes body as well. Their facial pit is a characteristic that defines them as “pitvipers” under Family Crotalidae.

At first it was hard to spot the snakes in their habitat. They were well camouflaged within the brush and water (as you can see in the picture posted above). The snakes were out of the water at the time we observed them but they were all within close distance to get back in the water. This one in particular was laying on top of the tan grass. This makes sense for this species because cottonmouths are semi-aquatic snakes.

While at our first site on the field trip I was hoping to find and identify a non-venomous snake. I was prepared with my snake hook in case we were lucky enough to spot one. Unfortunately we did not see any at the first site and we did not find any non-venomous snakes at the second site either, but I was excited to get to observe these snakes from the boardwalk. Hopefully we get to see more snakes and other herps in their natural habitat on the upcoming trips!

Eastern Rat Snake at Beidler Forest

This eastern rat snake was spotted by my Ecology class on Tuesday, March 16th. We were walking along the boardwalk at the Francis Beidler Forest in Harleyville, SC when a classmate noticed this snake wrapped around a nearby tree. This individual appears to be a Yellow Rat Snake, showing a lighter yellowish-green base color and four prominent dark stripes along the back. The eastern rat snake, also known as Pantherophis alleghaniensis, can be found throughout the southeast, but the most common types seen in South Carolina are the Yellow Rat Snake found mainly along the coast, and the Black Rat Snake in the central and Piedmont areas of the state. Although this snake is fairly small, Rat Snakes can grow to be large, with an average length of 42-72 in when mature, and have a characteristic cross-sectional body shape of a loaf of bread. Rat Snakes have a black tongue and several rows of weakly keeled scales along the mid-dorsal line and smooth scales in other areas. Younger Rat Snakes usually have bold patterns such as dark spots or blotches and some types retain these markings as the mature while others may fade with age. Rat Snakes are part of the harmless, egg-laying Colubrid family and will lay their eggs sometime between June and August in a hidden area such as a hollow log or a burrow.  When these snakes feel threatened they often rise up with their head drawn back in a S-shape and mouth wide open, ready to strike and may hiss, lunge forward, and vibrate their tail. This snake did not seem to mind us admiring him and taking pictures though, as he just stayed quietly in place. Rat Snakes are excellent climbers and feed by constriction on mice, small rats, birds, and juveniles may eat some lizards and frogs. With their extensive range, Rat Snakes occupy a wide variety of habitats such as mountains, hills, hardwood forests, floodplains, and swampy areas. They are also often found in suburban places such as abandoned buildings, barns, and garages.  

 

Ranges of the different types Rat Snakes in the southeast.

Yellow Rat Snake seen at Beidler Forest

Natural History of the Redbelly Snake

During our most recent herpetology optional field trip half of the group had tired themselves out near the end of the day and decided to head towards the nearest road.  This led us to a dirt path we started to walk with a clear concept of how far away the van was.  As various quizzing of plant-life between classmates occurred around me (who has never taken a botany class) my mind wandered around along with my eyes, only sighting something unusual after the rest of the class had stepped over it.  In the middle of the road was a body being eaten by ants, with red all over looking akin to a particularly large worm.  Only the bumps indicating jaws were the only sign this was instead a snake.  After clearing off the ants and calling the rest of the group together we decided to try and identify the corpse, the job could have been particularly difficult due to various injuries presumed to be the cause of death.  However after a brief talk with our menagerie followed by flipping through pages of the field guide, this small snake with a red belly had at least one surprisingly distinct marking.
Warning, graphic images of a crime scene below.

Storeria occipitomaculata, commonly known as the redbelly snake is a nonvenomous colubrid found across the majority of the eastern United States.  Often found in forests or near swamps, these snakes are named appropriately for their typically bright red belly.

While the back of the snake typically has keeled scales and markings along the nape of the neck useful in identification and at times with multiple stripes on the dorsum or a light middorsal stripe (sometimes both), the underside marks these animals as redbellies.  This belly is typically a bright red, but has a range of colors possible including yellow and orange.

Like the other members of the genus Storeria the redbelly eats invertebrates such as worms, slugs, and snails.  The redbelly on average is between 20 and 25 cm, with the record longest coming in at 40 cm.  This one in particular came in at around 22 cm, about the average size, and was around 9 inches in those unites.

After a truck came by to carry us to the class van, and some misleading gestures by the driver of that van as to the identity of the snake we were pleased to hear our hypothesis was proven by a few professionals in this line of work.  Sadly the suspect is still at large for the murder of this redbelly snake, though at least the body was given a burial of several twigs rather than being left on the road for roaming ants to take apart.

Natural History: The Southern Leopard Frog

About a month and a half ago, while I was playing disc golf, a frog jumped on my disc. I didn’t know what species it was at the time but with further research, I determined that it was an adult southern leopard frog or lithobates sphenocephalus. Of course, no one in my disc golf class understood why I was so excited to see one but it was pretty cool to observe it in its natural environment. It was about three inches long with a mid-sized body. It was light brown with darker round spots on its skin. It also had a slightly pointed snout. I did not get a chance to tell if it was a male or female, as it quickly hopped away when I tried to pick it up. We were in a woodsy damp environment at the time of discovery.

The southern leopard frog is found throughout the Southeast of the United States. They are generally green and brown. The one I saw was all brown but there are some that have a light green dorsum. All have brown round markings on the backs, limbs, and sides. They tend to breed in shallow freshwater where eggs and larvae will develop. Southern leopard frogs breed in the winter and spring which probably explains why I found one in a damp environment in late January.

Finding this frog while out in James Island made me really excited for the field trips we were going to do in this class. It made me realize that I needed to start learning the names and distinguishing characteristics of the local species, so that the next time I observed one, I would know exactly what it was. I had never seen this species of frog before, so it was really exciting to unexpectedly come across one in its own habitat. 

Thamnophis sauritus: The Eastern Ribbon Snake

On Tuesday, March 10, during a sampling field trip at Caw Caw Interpretive Center, the South Carolina native snake, Thamnophis sauritus, was caught and identified.  Although once considered part of the Colubridae family, recent phylogenetic evidence has lead to the formation of a new family, Natricidae.   Snakes in this family are typically aquatic/semi aquatic, are harmless (no venom), have keeled scales, and are viviparous!  Thamnophis sauritus are commonly known as Eastern Ribbon snakes because of the long strips running laterally along their very long and very slender body.  Only the ribbon and the garter snake have these pronounced lateral markings, and they are both in the genus Thamnophis.  When very small, these two species may be difficult to tell apart, but this individual was much too long and slender to have been a Garter snake.   Ribbon snakes typically eat small vertebrate such as fish, amphibians and reptiles.  Not surprisingly, this individual was found on the bank of a freshwater wetland where it was likely searching for its next meal.  The snake appeared to be healthy adult snake. It was around 2 feet long with vibrant patterning.   These snakes are quite common in South Carolina, and can be found along the banks of fresh and saltwater sources.  These snakes are known to be semiaquatic and can also be seen swimming on top of the water with their lateral bands expose for easy identification.  This sex of this snake was not identified, and they are not easily identified unless they are probed. 

Although the snake was clearly attempting to leave the situation, I was surprised at the docile nature of this snake.  I have never encountered, and collected a snake from the wild so I was unsure to how it may react.   You may notice its composed posture in the photos added.   This was the only handleable snake found on this trip, and it has me excited to search for more next week!

Herps Spring Break Edition: The Green Iguana

   The Green Iguana, Iguana iguana 

 I found this beautiful specimen while roaming around Puerto Rico while on Spring break. I didn't catch the animal because it was large so determining the sex is a little difficult without checking for femoral pores that exist in a line on the undersides of the back legs in both sexes, but are much more pronounced in mature males. I believe this iguana was a male due to its relatively large jowls and large subtympanic scales (those large circular scales on its neck). These reptiles can grow up to 7 feet long and weigh upwards of 18 pounds, this one was about 5 foot in length. The juveniles are generally a brighter green and lose coloration with age as seen with this adult (male?). These iguanas are both arboreal and terrestrial, I spotted a group of 5 all hanging out in a tree one day but had no way of taking a picture. Males reach maturity faster than females and mate in the early dry season of the fall, this is when the males become more aggressive. Normally they are fairly lackadaisical but can exert quick bursts of speed when pursued, as I witnessed while chasing a few around. Dominant males will establish their territory, usually choosing one with ample vegetation (food), basking spots, and females. Reproduction is internal, males having a hemipenes, females will lay their eggs in a nest at a site other than their home base. During my trip I went up to Aguadilla from Rincon and was walking down a remote path where I encountered several large Iguanas. I decided to try my luck and catch one, I approached a large iguana and jumped to reach it thinking it would dart away but instead it held its ground and whipped it's tail at me. I ended up being the scared one and ran off, after that I was content with just observing.