Reptiles at Risk: On the Road is an outreach education project which will to spread important messages of reptile conservation in places where species at risk reptiles are actually found. We target specific locations and deliver exciting, hands-on programs featuring live animals. These programs have proven effective in increasing knowledge and positive attitudes about these creatures and their conservation.
This project is a partnership between Laurentian University, the Canadian Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Network, and Sciensational Sssnakes!!
We're back in Val Marie, having delivered another program in conjunction with Jessica the snake researcher, and Sherry from the Val Marie Ambulance. This one was for the local community, at the theatre in town before the Friday night movie. It went very well, and it was
great to speak to so many local ranchers about the reptiles in the area. Many of them raised their hands when asked if they'd seen short-horned lizards on their land, which was pretty cool!
Before coming back here, we headed off to Regina, to send Sean home, and pick up James for his rotation on the road. Everything at the airport went smoothly. We also fit in an interview with CBC radio while we were there- they gave us nearly nine minutes on the morning show. A CBC TV crew was also supposed to meet us at the airport, but they were delayed, so instead they caught up with us at the local Canadian Tire. We did a short interview in the parking lot for the evening news, though we have yet to see how it turned out. It is always great to have the media help get positive messages about reptiles out to lots of people!
It was sad for us to see Sean off, but also great to see James again. I'm sure we'll feel the same when we send Lenny back from Calgary, and welcome Sara to her portion of the project!
Minor mechanical difficulties continue to plague us, but so far nothing really major. We got the vacuum pump replaced in Maple Creek at Cypress Motors Ford, and it is nice to have power brakes again! We had a new trailer tire installed in Leader, due to a wayward piece of metal. Our trailer lights are finicky, and I'm in the process of rewiring them. Good thing we don't drive much after dark. And, our forward diesel tank is leaking, so we currently are using just the rear tank. Perhaps we'll get a chance to fix it in Alberta, since we do have a little down time coming up later in the week.
Bulls and Rattles
Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 27, 2008 at 1:38 AM
We've been in Saskatchewan for a few days now and our shows have been going really well. The audiences in Saskatchewan have been smaller than in the other provinces, however they are still just as enthusiastic to learn about all our snakes.
At our Saskatchewan shows our Bull Snakes seem to be the most popular. Everyone always seems really excited to meet them and most people have stories of seeing them in the areas that we've been to here. A lot of people seem to have fears or misconceptions about the Bull Snakes before our shows, but once we bring out Brenda or Ferdinand, our two big Bull snakes, and tell them all about what they do, the audiences are won over and excited for a chance to hold Canada's second largest snake (Black Rat Snakes can get slightly longer). Bull Snakes live on the prairies and use gopher or ground squirrel holes as shelter from the sun or cold. These holes are great for the snakes because Bull snakes love to eat, you guessed it - gophers and ground squirrels! It's like an all you can eat buffet in you own home! These snakes are great for farmers to have around because they help to keep the numbers of these hole digging rodents down.
We've also had a couple of afternoons to go out in the field recently. Grasslands National Park was really beautiful and we spent a great day wandering around in that park. We've already written about that experience though so I'll talk about our most recent outting.
After our show at the Leader Community Centre, James, a local resident, offered to take us out to a place near the town where Prairie Rattlesnakes can be found. It turned out that James had a ton of experience researching Rattlesnakes in Canada as well as the United States. He had a wealth of knowledge and we had a great time chatting with him. It was lucky for us that he attended our show! We spent a great evening wandering around the hills next to the Saskatchewan river with James looking for Prairie Rattlesnakes. Unfortunately we didn't see one - well James saw one just as it went down a hole - but we can't really count that. It was still a great evening though. Prairie Rattlesnakes are Canada's largest Rattlesnakes and are found over a much larger area than either of the other two Rattlesnakes found in Canada (Massassauga and Pacific Rattlesnakes). But even with that distinction there have been no recorded deaths from a Prairie Rattlesnake bite ever! Not something the you have too much to worry about. Most of the residents that live near where the snakes can be found know that the best thing to do is wear cowboy boots and jeans when you go into the field. That way, in the unlikely event that a rattlesnake were to bite you it wouldn't even be able to bite you through your boots with it's short teeth.
Right now I'm sitting in the laundry room at Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park. We're doing a bunch of laundry before heading out to Regina tonight. In the morning we will have a session with CBC radio then we're off to the airport to send Sean off (with CBC television in tow) and pick up our new crew member, James. Once we have James with us we head back to Grasslands for another show at the community movie night in Val Marie next to the park. Should be an interesting day!
- Heather
Tuesday, July 22nd,
Within the last four days we went from Spruce Woods Provincial Park to Turtle Mountain National Park, both in Manitoba, before crossing over the Saskatchewan border. We gained another hour that day, giving us more time to get to Val Marie, our first stop in this province. The drive over the border was long, we totaled about nine hours on the road between driving and stopping for a couple of short breaks. If that is not surprising enough, Heather drove the whole way! It is no surprise that we were all wiped by the time we reached Grasslands National Park, near the small town of Val Marie, in Southern Saskatchewan.
We woke up the next morning to the prairie sun and an opportunity to go for a hike around the grasslands before our 2:00 show. We wandered the park, which turned out to be very scenic, interesting, and unlike any other terrain I have seen yet. And we saw a Bull Snake! Heather and Sean spotted it about 10 minutes after we set out on our hike, and it was perfect timing because our wild snake sightings have been quite limited. Jeff measured the big guy and discovered that it was 160 centimeters long.
Following the show, we headed out into the field again in search of Short-Horned Lizards and Bison. Grasslands is one of two areas that are working to re-introduce these Bison back into the wild prairie landscape. Jeff has been telling me about how the staff at Grasslands National Park are working closely with the locals to ensure that the Bison do not negatively affect any of the nearby farmland. We did not see any bison up close but we may have spotted a heard in the distance while on our hike. The elusive Short-horned Lizards, Saskatchewan's only native lizard species, also failed to surface during our walks, but it was nice to spend the day out in the warm sunshine.
This brings me to today, which has already been eventful. We had our earliest morning yet, waking up at 4:30 am, early enough to see the sun rise, and headed out into the field with two researchers. They were two enthusiastic young ladies, (especially for the early wake-up), Jessica and Ashley, that are tracking Yellow-bellied Racers and Bull Snakes to study their behaviors and hopefully gaining a better insight into their lives and habits. We did not have any snake encounters but it was an interesting experience nonetheless.
Following that adventure, we piled into the van again and drove North-West a couple hours towards Shaunavon, Saskatchewan, where we recently finished a show. The audience was full of little snake enthusiasts who were all exited about handling snakes, many for the first time.
I think I will stop there and let the adventure continue...
Lenny
The ROM Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Ontario
