Conservation of reptiles is something I’m passionate about. Whether it’s radio tracking fox snakes in Lake County, Illinois, being involved with Eastern Massasauga conservation through captive breeding, helping to raise awareness for the endangered Atlantic Bushmaster, Lachesis muta rhombeata, or my continuing efforts with the Guatemalan Beaded Lizard, I am passionately involved with trying to make a small difference in this world.
I will regularly update this area with some of my recent findings.
Wednesday, April 16:
Dr. Michael Corn from the College of Lake County has been studying a population of western fox snakes in Lake County, Illinois. Though once common, this harmless constrictor has seen its population plummet due to habitat destruction and human encroachment. Dr. Corn and I are conducting a radio telemetry project where we are tracking 6-8 snakes to better understand their movement patterns and habitat preference. This is a well publicized population because they den/brumate in a basement of an old house where people currently live. Unfortunately, the house is up for sale and could be purchased by developers who will most likely demolish the home to build a shopping mall. If this happens, we may have lost our last healthy population of fox snakes in the county. This site is an old cattail marsh that is shaped like a soup bowl with forested areas surrounding it along with old farm fields and private homes.
One of the things we are trying to determine is to see if we can possibly move the hibernaculum to a new area - one that is safe from human harm. That’s a risky proposition and one that has, to our knowledge, never been successfully accomplished.
I put a picture of me radio tracking one of our fox snakes. More to come!
Conservation of reptiles is something I’m passionate about. Whether it’s radio tracking fox snakes in Lake County, Illinois, being involved with Eastern Massasauga conservation through captive breeding, helping to raise awareness for the endangered Atlantic Bushmaster, Lachesis muta rhombeata, or my continuing efforts with the Guatemalan Beaded Lizard, I am passionately involved with trying to make a small difference in this world.
I will regularly update this area with some of my recent findings.
Wednesday, April 16:
Dr. Michael Corn from the College of Lake County has been studying a population of western fox snakes in Lake County, Illinois. Though once common, this harmless constrictor has seen its population plummet due to habitat destruction and human encroachment. Dr. Corn and I are conducting a radio telemetry project where we are tracking 6-8 snakes to better understand their movement patterns and habitat preference. This is a well publicized population because they den/brumate in a basement of an old house where people currently live. Unfortunately, the house is up for sale and could be purchased by developers who will most likely demolish the home to build a shopping mall. If this happens, we may have lost our last healthy population of fox snakes in the county. This site is an old cattail marsh that is shaped like a soup bowl with forested areas surrounding it along with old farm fields and private homes.
One of the things we are trying to determine is to see if we can possibly move the hibernaculum to a new area - one that is safe from human harm. That’s a risky proposition and one that has, to our knowledge, never been successfully accomplished.
I put a picture of me radio tracking one of our fox snakes. More to come!
