vol. 32 (2012), no. 10
DESCRIPTION
Minnesota Herpetological Society NewsletterTRANSCRIPT
MinnesotaHerpetologicalSociety
October 2012 Volume 32
the newsletter of the
Number 10
C o n t e n t s
Speaker: John Moriarty on Amphibians and Reptiles Native to MinnesotaMay Speaker Recap: Sri Lanka Animal Venom Research
Board Elections are coming!
B O A R D O F D I R E C T O R S
PresidentChristopher E Smith [email protected]
Vice PresidentDāv Kaufman [email protected]
Recording SecretaryEllen Heck [email protected]
Membership SecretaryHeather Clayton 612.886.7175 [email protected]
TreasurerNancy Haig [email protected]
Newsletter EditorChristopher Rueber [email protected]
Members at LargeJeff LeClere [email protected]
Jacob Mee [email protected]
Beth Girard [email protected]
Peter [email protected]
C O M M I T T E E S
AdoptionSarah Richard [email protected]
EducationJan Larson [email protected]
LibraryNancy Haig [email protected]
THE PURPOSE OF THE MINNESOTA HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETY IS TO
• Further the education of the membership and the general public in care and captive propagation of reptiles and amphibians;
• Educate the members and the general public in the ecological role of reptiles and amphibians;
• Promote the study and conservation of reptiles and amphibians.
TheMinnesotaHerpetologicalSocietyisanon-profit,tax-exemptorganiza-tion. Membership is open to all individuals with an interest in amphibians and reptiles. The Minnesota Herpetological Society Newsletter is published monthly to provide its members with information concerning the society’s activitiesandamediaforexchanginginformation,opinionsandresources.
GeneralMeetingsareheldatBorlaugHall,Room335ontheSt.PaulCam-pusoftheUniversityofMinnesota,onthefirstFridayofeachmonth(unlessthereisaholidayconflict).Themeetingstartsat7:00pmandlastsaboutthree hours. Please check the MHS Voice mail for changes in schedules or cancellations.
SUBMISSIONS TO THE NEWSLETTER
Ads or Notices must be submitted no later than the night of the General Meetingtobeincludedinthenextissue.Longerarticleswillbeprintedastimeandspaceallowsandshouldbeinelec-tronicfileformatifpossible.See inside back cover for ad rates. Submissions may be sent to:
The Minnesota Herpetological Society -or- [email protected]: Newsletter EditorC/OBellMuseumofNaturalHistory10ChurchStSEMinneapolis,MN55455-0104
Stay informed! Join us on our forums!And,youcanstillleaveusaVoice Mail:612.326.6516
SNAKE BITE EMERGENCY
HENNEPIN REGIONAL POISON CENTER 800-222-1222
©Copyright2012,MinnesotaHerpetologicalSociety.Exceptwherenoted,contentsmayberepro-ducedfornon-profit,non-commercialuseonly.Allmaterialmustbereproducedwithoutchange.Propercreditwillbegivenincludingtheauthor/photographerandtheMinnesotaHerpetologicalSocietyNewsletterciting:volume,numberanddate.
C/OBellMuseumofNaturalHistory,10ChurchStreetSoutheast,Minneapolis,Minnesota,55455-0104
October 2012 Volume 32 Number 10
CoverPhotoCredit:ChrisSmith,MHSPresident
The Newsletter of the Minnesota Herpetological Society October 2012 Volume 32 Number 10
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General Meeting Presentation - Friday, October 5th-Startingat7P.M.UniversityofMN-St.PaulCampus,BorlaugHall,Room335
John Moriarty will be presenting on...
Amphibians and Reptiles Native to Minnesota
And,incaseyoumissedtheSeptembergeneralmeeting,hereisarecapjustforyou!
Sri Lanka Animal Venom ResearchDanKeylerisaclinicaltoxicologistandanadjunctprofessorattheUofMinexperimentalandclinicalpharmacology. He is also a long-time MHS member (heclaimssinceNixonwasinoffice).RecentlyDanwasinSriLankaworkingwithAVRI(AnimalVenomResearchInternational)asthedirectorofresearch.TheprojectisbeingconductedincollaborationwiththeInstitutoClodomiroPicadooftheUniversityofCostaRicaandtheUniversityofPeradeniva.
Sri Lanka is an island in the northern Indian Ocean offthecoastofIndia.Itencompassesapproxi-mately25,000squaremilesandisprimarilyBud-dhist.Thepopulationisjustover20million,nearlyhalfofwhichliveintheprincipalcitiesofColomboandKandy.Until1972itwasknownasCeylon,thename given to it by the British. Because of its varied terrainandlargetractsofundevelopedland,thereisalargevarietyofwildlife,includingsomeincredibly
toxicsnakes.
Sri Lanka has one of the highest rates of snake bite mortalityandmorbidityintheworld,withapproxi-mately40,000biteseachyear.Reasonsforthisincludetheabsenceofoptimallyefficaciousanti-venom,thepresenceofmultiplevenomoussnakesfrombothviperidae(themostsignificantspeciesbeingRussell’sviper,thehump-nosedviperandthesaw-scaledviper)andelapidae(spectacledcobraandseveralspeciesofkrait),thelackoflocalmedi-calhelpandthelackofeffectiveanti-venom,result-ing in large doses of ineffective anti-venom being injectedintothevictim,whichraisestheoccurrenceof side effects. AVRI’s goal is to change this by pro-ducing an effective and economical anti-venom that is produced locally.
Thefirststepwastogetpermissionsandpermits
It has been almost 20 years since Amphibian and ReptilesNativetoMinnesota(OldfieldandMoriarty1994)waspublished.Theinterestinandinformationon amphibians and reptiles increased greatly over thattime.Inparticular,thenaturalhistoryanddis-tributional information grew steadily over the years. TheMinnesotaCountyBiologicalSurveyhasvisitedmost of the state’s counties gathering large numbers of distributional records. The Minnesota Herpetological Societyhasalsoincreasedtheirfieldtripsandsurveywork.Lastly,thegeneralpublicprovidedagreatdeal of important information by way of sightings and other observations. We received many records from peoplewhoreadthefirsteditionandrealizedthefrogor snake in their yard was not mapped or was doing something not described in the book.
Therehavebeenthreeadditionalspecies,Spotted
Salamander,Four-toedSalamander,andCommonMusk Turtle found in the state and one introduced species,PondSlider.Thetaxonomyhaschangedtremendouslywithover40%ofMinnesotaspecieshaving a change in their genus or species names.
The interest in the conservation of reptiles and am-phibians has grown. This can be seen in the large volunteerresponsetotheFrogandToadCallingSurvey or the public’s concern about turtles crossing roads.
John is the co-author of both editions of the book. He has been keeping and studying amphibians and reptiles,especiallyturtles,inMinnesotaforalmost30years. He has been a member of MHS for the same length of time.
The Newsletter of the Minnesota Herpetological Society October 2012 Volume 32 Number 10
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Board Minutes for August 4th, 2012Board present – Chris Smith, Ellen Heck, Nancy Haig, Heather Clayton, Chris Rueber, Jeff LeClere, Jacob MeeBoard absent – Dav Kaufman, Beth Girard, Peter TornquistNon-board Present – Kathy Claugherty, Rebecca Markow-itz, Natalie Tovella
The meeting was called to order at 6:15pm. There were 70 people at the general meeting. The calendar was reviewed for action items.
Ellen read the minutes. Motion to accept the minutes as corrected: Heather; 2nd: Jeff. Motion passed.
Old Business
RICA – Various aspects of a new agreement between MHS and RICA were discussed, including when an animal can be surrendered, what lead-time must be given to RICA before the surrender can be made, criteria for rejecting a surrender and how to handle emergency situations. Heather will write up the notes and send them out to people.
Website – Chris is still looking for help or a replacement webmaster. The email only allows 100 emails to be sent per hour, so the newsletters mailing needs to be broken up into smaller batches.
Archived Newsletters – The archiving is nearly complete.
City of Minneapolis Permit – No word had been received from the city, although MHS did receive notification of a rate increase.
New Business
Burmese Study – A U of M grad student is looking for normal Burmese pythons for a study. Sarah can’t give him unadopted animals but MHS can get notice out to the mem-bership for people to volunteer their animals. The animals will not be harmed in the study.
Motion to adjourn: Heather; 2nd: Jeff. Meeting adjourned at 8:57pm.
to conduct the work. Despite the high bite and mortalityrates,SriLankaisveryprotectiveofitssnakes. Permits and cooperation were necessary from not only the government but also the religious andlocalcommunitiesaswell.Thenabout5acresof land was purchased and the building put up last year.Currentlyitisonelevelwhichhousesthesnakesandlabs,butthereareplanstoaddasecondfloorthatwillincludealibrary,sleepingroomsandshowers. There are about 300 snakes in the serpen-tariumatanygiventime.Thereisalsoalocaldog,whichDanpaid$2forandnamedAvri,whoistheofficialmascot.
Anti-venomisproducedbyfirst“milking”venomfromasnake.Theexactmethodofextractionvariesdependingonthespecies(usuallybecauseofthesizeofthesnakeandthelocationofthefangs)asdoes the yield from each snake. Snakes are milked onceeverysixweeks.After3milkings,thesnakesare released where they were found. Snakes are collectedfromallovertheisland,andinadditiontobeingusedtoproduceanti-venom,thevenomwill be studied to determine whether there are any regional variations.
Thevenomisthendilutedandinjectedintohorsesinaprocessknownasactiveimmunization.The
horse will produce anti-bodies to the venom. The blood is then drawn from the animal and the anti-bodiesextractedandrefinedtoproduceanti-venom.ThisphaseoftheprojectwillbedoneinCostaRica,althougheventuallytheentireenterprisewillbe moved to Sri Lanka. Horses are used because oftheirsizeandavailability.Anyanimalcouldbeused,butthelargertheanimal,themorebloodcanbeextracted.
Oncetheanti-bodiesareprocessed,theycanbeinjectedintoasnakebitevictimasapassiveim-munization.AVRIplansonmakingapoly-specificanti-venomthatwillbeeffectiveagainstthecobra,krait,andRussell’s,saw-scaledandhump-nosedvipers.Thismaybedonebyeitherbyinjectingmultiple venom types into the horse or by combin-ingthemaftertheanti-bodiesareextracted.Theresulting anti-venom will be more convenient and economical.Currently,anti-venomcostsabout$1000 per vial. The goal is to bring the cost down to$50pervial.Oncebrokendownanddried,ifstored correctly the anti-venom can be stored for years. Dan estimates that it will be about two years beforeclinicaltrialscanbeconducted,thenanotheryear for the trials.
The website is WWW.USAVRI.ORG
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No, Not the Frogs!ByJohnWhiteofClaraCity,Minnesota
Natureusedtobekinder.Gentler.Morewillingto,well,co-existwithushumans.No,I’mnotgoingdownDisney’s“YellowBrickRoad”wheredeerand wolves supposedly wrap forepaws around one anotherinfantasy,SwanLakevisualizations.
In reality it was a bear-eats-the-rabbit world in na-ture,andunlesswehumansenteredintounfriendlyenvirons,mostoftheanimalkingdomtendedtosneak away from our collective stench and stupid-ity. Those two human traits have saved oodles of lives through the eons.
Now,takethislittletwoinchfrogupintheBWCAlastweek,whosuggestedthataharshchangeinthat fauna detente may have slipped into George Orwell’s predictions from the past. This little bugger backed down to no one. Period. Our little momen-tary episodes started early Monday morning when Ipokedhisbuttwiththetipofmyfishingrod.Commonsense,andthathistoricalstanceIprevi-ouslystated,wouldsuggestthatthedarkgreenlittlewater-setterwouldtaketheopportunitytojumpsafelyawayclearouttotowardthecattails.That,at
least,wasmyexpectation.
Nope,notthisfrog.Whythelittlefrumpturnedtoface the rod tip and to actually bite the end of my rod!Chompedrightdownonit.Fortunatelythelittlefrogdidn’thaveOlnessforadentist!TosayIwas shocked would be an understatement.
“Hey,”IshoutedovertoCousinMick,whowasout-fittinghiscanoeforalittlebluegillfishing,“checkthisout!”
HeambledoveratjustaboutthesamemomentasIreachedtoprodthelittlefrogasecondtime,andwaswitnesstoanotherflagrantattack!Notjustonce,buttwice.Andforgoodmeasure,thelittle amphibian actually hopped a clean pivot and turnedtoeyemestraighton!Withanevilandan-gry set of eyes.
“Thatlittlethinghasanattitude,”ItoldthecousinfromMissouri,who’dactuallybeenpleasedwiththelocalmosquitoesthathecalled“slow”—be-causewherehisdaughterlivesinMexico,theyconsiderthebuzzers“fast”mosquitoes.“Yousimplycan’tslapthem,”he’dsaid.Slowmosquitoesanda
frog with an attitude. Welcome to Minnesota!
What is it with the vast animal kingdom?Thisfrog,andthosetwodifferent women who have report-ed serious otter attacks in recent weeks.Otters,yousay.Yes,thoseinnocent looking little pups who love sliding and playing along the banks of our rivers. Afewyearsagomyfishingandcanoeingbuddy,WesKonzin,andI were paddling down from the Granite dam on an April morning tofishbelowtheMinnesotaFallsdam for early season cats when we paddledpasttheislandsjustbe-
The Newsletter of the Minnesota Herpetological Society October 2012 Volume 32 Number 10
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Be Part of the Board of MHS!It’sthattimeoftheyearagain!Youwillbehear-ing more about the coming elections in the upcominggeneralmeeting,butuntilthendotryto think of any nominations you might like to make!
The Minnesota Herpetological Society is com-prisedentirelyofunpaid,volunteerpositions.Virtually everything accomplished by the Soci-ety is done through individual or group incen-tive,effortandvision.Muchofwhatisdonemaynotbevisible,butisnecessaryforthesuccess of the Society. MHS is very proud of thehighpercentageofactive,dedicatedvolun-teers. There are many opportunities available to those willing to devote their time and energy bybecomingacontributor.Contributionsneed
not be monetary to be effective. Participation of our active membership determines the direc-tion of MHS. Think of how you can help MHS grow,moveforward,andfindnewdirectionstoexplore.Thisis,afterall,yoursociety.Getinvolved!We’veincludedthedutiesandde-scription of MHS board and chair positions so youcanseewhateachjobentails.Formoreinformation contact someone on the board.
Inordertojointheboard,youmustbeacur-rent,activememberofMHS,andhavereachedtheageofmajority.
Come and join the board- Be part of the adven-ture!
yond the electric plant. On the lee side of the sec-ondisland,wheretherewasdecidedlylesscurrent,we came upon a family of otters seemingly playing on a little mud slide. As soon as we saw them we liftedourpaddlesandglidedtoastopjustasqui-etly as possible. I suspect we got in a good minute or two of watching their giddy play before we were spotted.Then,inablinkofaneye,andtruetoform,they disappeared into the chocolate waters.
AfterthefirstreportsurfacedabouttheotterattacksI seriously doubt if I was the only disbeliever of theso-calledattack,thosedeepwoundsaside.Butwhenthesecondonewasreported,well,whatcanyou say? The times must be a-changing.
Imean,frogs?TherehavebeenthoseAugustmorn-ings along the Minnesota River where the river banks would be occupied by literally thousands of little frogs. All along the banks and on both sides. As you paddled down river they would all scurry up the bank in such vast numbers and symmetry that the whole bank appeared to move psychedeli-cally.And,ifyou’veevertriedtocatchabullfrog,goodluck.Theysitquietlyuntilyouarejustready
topounce,andintheblinkofaneye,eventhoseafootlongwillleaprightthroughyourfingerstosafety.
Well,justbeforeheadingtotheBWCAwespottedand caught a couple of leopard frogs in dewy grass. Then we came up on the little green Kermit on Lake One.
That little green frog had my attention all week. EverymorningI’dpokehim,andhebitemyrodbefore pivoting around to threaten me with those eyes.Formeitwasallplay,butforthefrogitwasclearthatourlittletenfeetofBWCAbeachwashisdomainandheintendedtostandhissand!Didthe same with the blade of a canoe paddle. I sure ashellwasn’tgoingtostickmyfingerortoeinitsdirection!
Atonepoint,infact,CousinMicksuggestedIcatchthelittlefellow.“Areyououtofyourblastedmind?”I believe was my appropriate response.
Idovaluemyfingers.
The Newsletter of the Minnesota Herpetological Society October 2012 Volume 32 Number 10
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President: The president is the good will ambas-sador and spokesmen for the society. They chair monthly membership meetings and board meet-ings. Appoint all special and standing comittee chairs;subjecttotheapprovaloftheBoard.Ensure all decisions by the board are followed. Notify people of the board’s decisions. Maintain alistofallvolunteers,andkeepatallyoftotalhours. Prepare an annual schedule of society eventsandtasks.Confirmthatmandatoryde-liverablesarecompleted.Confirminsurancecoverageisadequate.Confirmthatclubdutiesarecompletedbyofficersandcommittees.
Vice President: The Vice President is responsible for coordinating and introducing the speakers atthemonthlymeetings.He/Shealsoassessesandfacilitatestheneedsofthespeakers,aswellasadjustingthelightingintheroomasneeded.The Vice Presidential duties also include as-sistingthePresident,performinghis/herdutiesincaseofabsence,notifyingthenewsletterofupcoming speakers and generating an article topromotethoseupcomingspeakers.He/Sheis also to attend the board meetings which are held the Saturdays following the monthly meet-ing.
Treasurer: Responsible for all funds and assets of the MHS. Maintain checkbook and banking accounts. Sets-up and maintains ledgers. Pres-entmonthlyfinancialreportatboardmeetingandfornewsletter.Maintainsexpenseaccounts.Reconcilesstatements.Preparesfinancialdocu-mentation on all club activities. Prepares year-end report and submits the records for audit. Serves on the annual audit committee.
Membership Secretary:Collectpaymentformembershipandprovidefundstotreasurer,maintain and update membership database. Ac-
tivates new members on the website. Respon-sible for supplying a monthly summary of mem-bershipactivities,andmaintainingafileofpriornewsletters and responding to all information andmembershipinquiries.Insurestheprintingof the annual white pages. Making backups of all reports. Newsletter label creation and distri-bution.
Recording Secretary: Records the minutes of the monthly board and general meetings and provides summaries to the Newsletter Editor. The Recording Secretary maintains: the minutes oftheboardmeetings,acompletearchiveofpastnewsletters,andalistingoftheinventoryofMHSsupplies,fixturesandgoods.OtherdutiesincludechairingtheElectionCommitteeandproviding an annual summary of any unresolved action items.
Newsletter Editor:Editssubmissions,entersmonthlybusiness,andpreparestheMHSnews-letter for printing. The Editor also solicits arti-cles,itemsofinterestandadvertising.TheEditoris responsible for the appearance of the newslet-ter.
Member-at-Large: Participate in the decision makingprocessandvolunteerforprojectsorcommittees. The Members-At-Large perform otherdutiesasassignedbythePresident(e.g.passoutinformationatmeetings,fieldques-tions,etc).
In addition to all duties listed,allboardmem-bersareexpectedtobepresentduringthemonthly board meeting that takes place the day followingthegeneralmeeting,usuallylocatedinstudentservices.Beyondthat,allOfficersareexpectedtoabidethemembershipbylawsandpolicies of MHS.
Board Positions
The Newsletter of the Minnesota Herpetological Society October 2012 Volume 32 Number 10
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Treasurer’s Report for August 2012Prepared by Nancy Haig
Beginning Balance $15,458.69
Income:Membership $365.00
Raffle $46.00
Adoption $150.00
Rodent Sales $289.00
Total Income 850.00
Expense:Newsletter $45.00
Program $100.00
VetCosts $60.00
Grants $1,090.75
FieldSurvey $173.49
CityPermit $211.00
RodentCost $287.50
Total Expense $1,967.74
Cash Increase/Decrease -$1,117.74
Ending Balance $14,340.95
Placement of cash holdings CheckingAccount $14,340.95
TCF/Paypal $931.41
Paypal $471.84
Cashonhand $175.00
Total $15,919.20
September Adoption ReportPostedbySarahRichard,WrittenbyChrisRueber
2Red-earedSliders,1PaintedTurtle,1TigerSala-mander,3BeardedDragons,2GreenAnoles,1Iguana,1LeopardGecko,1WesternFenceLiz-ard,3Cornsnakes,1Boa,3BallPythons,1Black
Ratsnake.
2 Iguans, 4 Cornsnakes, 4 Boas and 1 Ball Python went in to adoption.
Newsletter Editor Needed!
As of the end of this term period, the cur-rent newsletter editor is stepping down from the position due to time constraints. If you are interested, please consider stepping up to take his place.
Currently the newsletter is processed using Adobe InDesign CS5 and Photoshop CS5. For more details, or if you’re interested in hearing about how the newsletter is put to-gether, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Your current newsletter editor,Chris [email protected]
Banquet Help Needed!
The MHS Holiday Banquet is upon us! Help is needed! Please contact Chris Smith for details and to volunteer!
Minnesota Herpetological Society Membership ApplicationNew
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MHS Ad Policy: The MHS assumes NO RESPON-SIBILITYregardingthehealthorlegalityofanyanimal,orthequalityorlegalityofanyproductorservice advertised in the MHS Newsletter. Any ad mayberejectedatthediscretionoftheNewsletterEditor.Duetospacelimitations,unpaidandcom-plimentaryadvertisementsaresubjecttooccasionalomission.
Classified Ads: All active members are allowed a classifiedad,runfreeofchargeasspacepermits.Adsmayberunthree(3)consecutivemonths,afterwhich time they may be resubmitted.
Submissions: All advertisements should be submitted to the MHS Membership Secretary at the general meeting or mailed to: Minnesota Herpetological Society, C/O Bell Museum of Natural History. 10 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Deadline is the night of the General Meeting for inclusion in thenextnewsletter.Makecheckspayableto:Min-nesota Herpetological Society.
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Size Cost BusinessCardSized $5/monthor$55/year*1/4Page $10/monthor$110/year*1/2Page $20/monthor$220/year*FullPage $40/monthor$440/year*
For pick-up at monthly meetings only. Orders may be placed the following ways
1. At the meeting for the following Month2. Onlineathttp://mnherpsoc.com/content/rodent-orders3. CallingtheMHSvoicemail:612.326.6516
OrdersMUSTbeplaced10DAYSINADVANCE of the date of meeting in order to guarantee availability.
MICE WEIGHT PRICE Pinkies 2-3grams $7/dzFuzzies 5-7grams $7/dzHoppers 8-11grams $8/dzWeanlings 12-15grams $9/dzAdults 25-30grams $10/dzJumboAdult 45+grams $14/dz
RATS WEIGHT PRICE SmallAdults 50-60grams $18/dzMedAdults 125-150grams $24/dzLargeAdults 200-240grams $30/dzJumbo 250-350grams $36/dz
Rodents! Order online!Did you know you can
order online? By phone? See below!
NextMeeting:
Friday - October 5th - 7:00 pmRoom335BorlaugHall,UofMSt.PaulCampus
MHS Voice Mail:612.326.6516
MHS Web Page:www.mnherpsoc.com
MINNESOTA HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETYC/OBELLMUSEUMOFNATURALHISTORY10CHURCHSTSEMINNNEAPOLIS,MN55455-0104
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