Reptiles at Risk

A Day Off

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 23, 2010 at 5:31 PM

For our first day off of our tour, we took a day to go out into the field with some old friends - James and Geoff! Both are past employees of Sciensational Sssnakes!!, and James was part of Reptiles at Risk during the Western trip a couple years ago.

This summer these two are doing research on reptiles, especially species at risk, in the Sudbury area. Though there were not too many reptiles out that day, it was a great chance for us to see professionals in action. They are looking for any sightings of reptiles in the Sudbury area, so if you are in the area please let them know! We will be posting their e-mail soon.

One species I thought we might have seen was the Eastern Milk Snake. This blotched snake spends most of the day in hiding, as they are a nocturnal species. When they are seen, however, they often fool the predators into thinking they are dangerous. The milk snake will twitch it's tail in leaves and grass, making a sound similar to that of a rattlesnake! These snakes are not venomous, however, and there is nothing to worry about.

The milk snake has also earned its name because of a mistake. People would often see them in barns around cattle, and believed that this snake was drinking milk from cows! This is not really true because even baby snakes don't drink milk, and it would be very hard for a little snake to milk a cow. These snakes do hunt for other food in barns, however, like mice.

Though we did not see any of these snakes in our travels, they do live in many of the areas we are going through. Keep your eyes open for this fascinating species!

- Robin