SocialSnakes

Snakes Are Good Neighbors

How viper* behavior increases their effect on prey populations *Vipers are a family of venomous snakes that includes Copperheads, Cottonmouths (Water Moccasins), and Rattlesnakes in North America. The sound of domestic cats fighting is probably familiar to many readers. Like most predators, cats defend their turf and the resources within. Prey is often scarce and …

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Social reptile bloggers

In one week (9 December 2013) Social Snakes will join a group of bloggers to draw attention to ecosystem services provided by snakes. Social media has become an important tool in conducting effective science education and outreach and snakes have much to gain from this. Many reptiles and amphibians occur in large numbers in the …

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Western Patch-nosed Snake Digs for Her Dinner

Have you ever watched a Whiptail Lizard run from you at lightning speed and wondered how anything ever manages to catch and eat them? Well, I’m about to tell you. One summer afternoon, I noticed a Western Patch-nosed Snake stretched out in the bare soil next to a walking path. She immediately continued on her …

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A very long engagement

There’s been so much happening this summer, we haven’t had a chance to introduce our new guy, DoubleR. Since we got back Bane’s old and newly repaired transmitter (see here and here), we’ve been on the lookout for an appropriate candidate. Jeff had a few individuals in mind; big black-tailed rattlesnakes that we’ve seen near …

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Life becomes death

Over the summer of 2013, SocialSnakes was blessed to be visited by many great people, including the author of this post, Jennifer Fill. We were honored to host Jennifer for part of her first annual trip to Arizona and introduce her to our neighbors which she had never seen before (western diamond-backed rattlesnakes, patch-nosed snakes, …

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What a cluster!

This time of year at Muleshoe, it’s not hard to see snakes every day if you mean to. Even though it’s hot and dry and they aren’t moving much, we have a couple of “regulars” that hang around headquarters as well as four snakes that we radio-track. And even though the monsoon has not yet …

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