{"id":8850,"date":"2011-04-17T20:01:57","date_gmt":"2011-04-18T01:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=8850"},"modified":"2011-04-17T20:27:51","modified_gmt":"2011-04-18T01:27:51","slug":"slithering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=8850","title":{"rendered":"Slithering!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"garter<\/a><\/p>\n

Common\u00c2\u00a0Garter Snake in Goldwitz Bog<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Turtle Journal team visited\u00c2\u00a0nearby bog wetlands this morning in hopes of finding their first snake of the season.\u00c2\u00a0 Last night howled with storms\u00c2\u00a0that pelted\u00c2\u00a0the South Coast\u00c2\u00a0with torrential downpours, yet temperatures remained mild\u00c2\u00a0in the mid-50s.\u00c2\u00a0 The early morning high tide, augmented by a fierce southwesterly gale, flooded banks of Sippican Harbor in Buzzards Bay.\u00c2\u00a0 As the sun rose, though, the day moderated and glistened in bright sunshine.\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps today would mark our first springtime encounter with the slithering reptiles.<\/p>\n

\"painted<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Painted Turtles Basking in Bog Reservoir<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We waltzed along bog channels to check for basking spotted turtles.\u00c2\u00a0 Alas, none were to be found.\u00c2\u00a0 At the reservoir, though, painted turtles staked out basking rocks as they increased their internal body temperatures to begin foraging and then mating.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"garter<\/a><\/p>\n

Common\u00c2\u00a0Garter Snake Basking at Goldwitz Bog<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Even though Don had been expecting to find the first snake of the season basking along the bog path today, he managed to step right over this good sized garter snake that had completely blended into the pathway as if it were a protruding tree root.\u00c2\u00a0 Luckily, Sue spotted the snake\u00c2\u00a0that Don had nearly tripped over.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Common\u00c2\u00a0Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Common\u00c2\u00a0garter snakes are widely distributed throughout North America.\u00c2\u00a0 Since garter snakes are the Massachusetts’ state reptile, it seemed fitting to be the first snake that we encountered this spring season.<\/p>\n

\"snake<\/a><\/p>\n

Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Garter snakes are not the only snakes found in the wetlands of the abandoned Goldwitz cranberry bog.\u00c2\u00a0 One of the first slithering reptiles we discovered in this locale was the northern water snake, a large, “non-venomous” snake native to North America.\u00c2\u00a0 They are darkly colored and interestingly patterned and are sometimes mistaken for copperheads.\u00c2\u00a0 These snakes aggressively defend themselves by repeatedly striking and biting when cornered, and their saliva contains a mild anti-coagulant.\u00c2\u00a0 Since Don is\u00c2\u00a0on a strong\u00c2\u00a0anti-coagulant, he has no desire to test the limits of this “non-venomous” additive.<\/p>\n

\"juvenile<\/a><\/p>\n

Juvenile Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Turtle Journal team\u00c2\u00a0ran into a juvenile northern water snake at the bog a while back that proved everything that books say about their aggressive behavior.\u00c2\u00a0 We have never seen a more\u00c2\u00a0combative critter in our field studies.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Aggressive Juvenile Northern Water Snake<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Don gently prodded the vicinity of this\u00c2\u00a0juvenile snake to assess it reaction.\u00c2\u00a0 And, boy, did it react!\u00c2\u00a0 After the first few strikes at the pole end of our ten foot long net, we were really glad that the pole was ten feet long.\u00c2\u00a0 Despite that\u00c2\u00a0energetic encounter, snakes remain one of\u00c2\u00a0our favorite Turtle Journal creatures.\u00c2\u00a0 They are extremely beneficial to the environment and the eco-system, and they’re just plain gorgeous … once you get beyond the slithering cold-blooded reptile thing (smile).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Common\u00c2\u00a0Garter Snake in Goldwitz Bog The Turtle Journal team visited\u00c2\u00a0nearby bog wetlands this morning in hopes of finding their first snake of the season.\u00c2\u00a0 Last night howled with storms\u00c2\u00a0that pelted\u00c2\u00a0the South Coast\u00c2\u00a0with torrential downpours, yet temperatures remained mild\u00c2\u00a0in the mid-50s.\u00c2\u00a0 The early morning high tide, augmented by a fierce southwesterly gale, flooded banks of Sippican […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[826],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8850"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8893,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8850\/revisions\/8893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}