Northern Brown Snake (S.dekayi) Neonates August 9, 2014

I have had in captivity a single Northern Brown snake since September 2013. The snake was acquired from a Western Fairfax county park where I am employed as a part time Naturalist. Brown Snakes are nonvenomous snakes and about the thickness of a pencil and growing in length to max of 19 inches. They are generally brown in color with two parallel series of small dark spots running down the length of the back. A lighter stripe or color may run inbetween the spots giving the appearance of a stripe. They also have a relatively large eyes for a small snake indicating that they may prefer to most active at night. They feed on invertebrates like worms and other insects. Reproduction begins sometime in March and continues through May. Gestation occurs from 100-110 days. Young are born live, viviparous, and look somewhat different than the adults. Color are usually darker than the adults and if one looks closer can see the pattern of spots as in the adults. The young, however, do have a distinct “collar” or ring around the neck region which is lost in the adult stage. P1120341P1120321 - CopyP1120318 - Copy

The video below shows the release of the neonates or young snakes back into he area where the adult was originally found. Northern Browns have been recorded of giving birht to 20+ snakes. In this instance there were approximately 13 a typical size brood for this small animal.

Tubing a Northern Copperhead 7/24/14

Tony had received a northern copperhead the other day at work. It had been delivered to the park by a local resident. The snake had been entangled in “deer netting” a common material used to keep deer from entering and eating your garden. Tony with the help of another park staffer carefully and successfully removed the snake. I then arranged to pick up the snake to first examine it for abrasions and treat with triple antibiotic if necessary before releasing it into a suitable habitat. In order for me to properly examine and possibly administer the antibiotic I needed to first tube the snake. The video below shows the process of how this was done. The first attempt summarizes how I plan to handle the animal. Unfortunately I was not successful the first time. The second video I try a slightly different approach which ultimately does work. In either case it took a total of approximately 18 minutes to get the snake into and out of the tube.

Thank You Ryan Collister May 27, 2014

By Ryan Collister
May 19
Mark Khosravi – my high school environmental science teacher, and one of my greatest mentors. I still remember meeting you before I even took your class – I happened to notice the latest issue of Reptiles Magazine sitting in your classroom after the science fair, and I had the same one in my backpack! Thanks all for the awesome adventures, and for sharing your knowledge with me to make me a better naturalist and a better person. You should be extremely proud of how you do your job, and I am proud to be your student. If we had more teachers like you, the world would be twice as green.

If you’re ever in Texas, I owe you some sweet herping opportunities for all the ones you showed me!
Photo: Mark Khosravi – my high school environmental science teacher, and one of my greatest mentors. I still remember meeting you before I even took your class – I happened to notice the latest issue of Reptiles Magazine sitting in your classroom after the science fair, and I had the same one in my backpack! Thanks all for the awesome adventures, and for sharing your knowledge with me to make me a better naturalist and a better person. You should be extremely proud of how you do your job, and I am proud to be your student. If we had more teachers like you, the world would be twice as green.

Ryan\'s Birthday