Another snake den being destroyed

[MlizGr]

Poor things. If St. George wasn't the kind who would eat other snakes I'd take one or two of them in. Good luck finding them homes!

[ConcinusMan]

Here's a quick snapshot of the group I gathered from that location.



I honestly don't understand Steve's magic powers of taking care of so many snakes but I won't question it. I'm sending him some snakes for sale and I'll be including this group of snakes in that shipment so all is well. They won't suffer the fate of the bulldozer and they won't have to struggle for survival in the cold, in the absence of their traditional winter home. I know it isn't much in the grand scheme but these 8 snakes will not be homeless this winter.

Well worth an hour of my time to go gather them.

Oh, BTW, that arial photo of the airport? The entire area within the picture's frame, which is now residential and commercial developments, was undeveloped forested and/or farmland as late as the early 1980's.

I mean, it was the "boonies". It was countryside with barns and livestock when I move here in 1977. It's now heavily urbanized and the main road went from a 2 lane country road, to one of the busiest traffic-congested 5-lane roads in the county. The only reason this empty space (and the pocket of snake habitat) exists now is because the airport didn't close until about 4 or 5 years ago.

[Selkielass]

Man, this group has been on my mind all night long- I'm glad they'll be finding refuge on the Ranch. Those two big orange stripes are very pretty- I wish I could say I'd take one in, but we really can't afford any more mouths to feed.

[infernalis]

Glad it's panning out.

[ConcinusMan]

Thinkin' 'bout keeping one of those orange stripe males. They are very pretty. All of them are nice and calm and don't mind handling too.

I kinda like that white 3-stripe one too. Pretty cool.

At any rate, can't keep every cool looking snake I find. If I keep any, it will be just one.

[guidofatherof5]

If a citizen went before the City Council or other governing body with a request to halt construction because of Garter Snake habitat being lost or any other animal habitat being lost they would be laughed at.
Progress comes before them.
Noting that if it involved an endangered or Fed. protected species you may get them to look but only if it was substantiated buy a Government agency.

[ConcinusMan]

I got news for you. They wouldn't be laughed at, they would be ignored, which is pretty much what happens around here regardless of the reason for the request.

[tennfan56]

I really think what you are doing is great. In "immediate" danger or not, those snakes have no future in that area. And also if you save any more, I wouldn't mind taking a few in.

[ConcinusMan]

I'm going back then. It's not far and shouldn't take more than an hour or so. I'll see if I can find some more.

[ConcinusMan]

I understand then. I honestly don't think it would hurt a dang thing to move them a mile or two east to a more suitable habitat where other garters currently live relatively free of any immediate danger, however, there is a potential there to do the new population some kind of harm so no matter how slight that potential is, I'd rather adopt them out because there is no way for me to know if I did the new population any harm. It is my opinion, and I'm not the only one, (others have PM'd me) that all this talk of depleting resources and introducing pathogens is a bunch of garbage. Nothing personal toward you but I think I know the local snakes a bit better. You've never even seen one in the wild. If I were to move them, it would only be a mile or two east to a population that has only been separated in recent years by development. I also don't agree that the population was doomed simply because they are surrounded by development. They've been there, in that situation for more than decade and seem to be doing just fine on that patch of land. They have everything they need there to sustain a modest population. I've found small populations of this species in small empty lots in the middle of big cities surrounded by old development.

Also, I don't need a blasted excuse to collect a few NW garters. If I wanted to do that, I'd just do it. They are so dang common I could seriously collect a thousand of them and not even make a noticeable impact. Seriously. And in spite of the laws on paper, the State of WA doesn't give a darn one hoot if someone wants to scoop up a bunch of T. ordinoides and keep them as pets and certainly would give a hoot about me saving a few from this doomed location. They would have a problem if I was collecting hundreds or thousands of them and selling them off for profit but that is not the case here.

I think we can agree on two things here.

#1, those snakes would likely be dead or homeless within a few days, forced to cross streets and parking lots in search of cover. To make matters worse, it's nearly time to brumate. It's already beginning to freeze overnight in some areas and this morning was dang near at freezing when I got up. So, no dens or habitat, wandering around in hopes of shelter for winter is no place for a snake to be. Agreed?

#2 I could just let them die like so many others before and affect nothing. It probably wouldn't hurt a dang thing to let them die. The species is certainly under no threat of extinction. But it also won't hurt a dang thing to save a few and send them to caring keepers to live their lives in captivity. Agree?

Heck, I was going to go back today but we're having a very odd weather event. It went from dang near freezing this morning to hotter than heck very quickly, windy and extremely low humidity. Desert air is being funneled from the east side through the channel of the Columbia River Gorge. Bad time to find garters unfortunately. I do have the 8 of them. They are fine snakes and will make good pets. Just not for me. Lord knows I have enough snakes. I'm actually working on reducing the numbers a bit, at least for the near foreseeable future.