Reptile and Amphibian Survey
ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The community is being asked to partake in the 2017 Muskingum County Reptile and Amphibian Survey.
The Muskingum Soil and Water Conservation District is holding a year-long survey to help add-on to the 2016 data. According to Education and Wildlife Specialist Nicole Hafer last years survey collected data on about 306 animals. Which were mostly amphibians and this year they want to focus on snakes.
Photo By: Karysa Kent
“We’re still interested in amphibians, but we’ve noticed when we were collecting the data that we got last year,” Hafer said. “When we compare the historical data from the county which is lacking, we noticed we have really very few records for snakes in the county.”
Snakes are important since they keep down the rodent populations and the reason Hafer thinks there isn’t a lot of information on Snakes is due to peoples fear of them. However, Hafer said snakes will be more scared of people and try to get away.
“The small snakes especially they’re not aggressive, they want to get away from you,” Hafer said. “So they’re going to flee before they try to bite. We had people who took pictures of snakes for the survey last year say ‘I’m afraid of snakes, but I knew you needed these pictures. So braved it and took some pictures for you.’ So that’s really cool, because it’s a positive experience with the animals.”
Hafer acknowledged that last years survey was very successful with over 250 residents participating and nine new species being recorded in Muskingum County.
“The nine new species that were recorded last year in the county, two of them were snakes,” Hafer said. “The [Smooth Snake] and the [Dekay’s Brown Snake], which are both small snakes. Not all snakes are big actually most of them aren’t and that’s another reason why they’re hard to find. Both of those snakes had not been recorded in unglaciated Ohio.”
The survey is a year-long process and this is due to the animals cycles of when they’re most active.
Photo By: Karysa Kent
“Early in the spring we have amphibians like frogs and salamanders that are active, then by late May early June their pretty much done with their breeding,” Hafer said. “Then the reptiles kind of become active later because these animals are cold-blooded. So as the temperature warms up you get your snakes, turtles, and lizards.”
Hafer explained that towards the hot dry mid-summer months both reptiles and amphibians will hide way from the sun. Once the fall comes around the reptiles will become active once again for hibernation preparations. Then during late November salamanders and frogs may be seen during excavation.
For those interested in the survey can go to the Muskingum Soil and Water Conservation District website at muskingumswcd.org for more information. They’ll also be partnering up with Muskingum Valley Park District and let people learn, look, and collect data on amphibians at McGraw Edison Recreation Area on April 29, 2017 at 6:30 P.M.
