{"id":809,"date":"2020-07-03T09:24:33","date_gmt":"2020-07-03T16:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/?p=809"},"modified":"2023-06-11T19:45:02","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T02:45:02","slug":"on-herping-with-speckled-rattlesnakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/science-and-education\/on-herping-with-speckled-rattlesnakes\/","title":{"rendered":"On Herping with Speckled Rattlesnakes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A note to herpers in AZ as we enter July and begin the monsoon season. In particular: those looking for Speckled Rattlesnakes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is definitely not aimed at any one person one group, but a common trajectory that plays out again and again. If this is you, listen up. This isn\u2019t criticism; this is to help you see more snakes in the future and progress at what you love to do.<\/em> I will also try to avoid the rant-format these types of posts tend to take on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is when you might find groups of Speckled Rattlesnakes (or other species, sometimes together), in small groups on your hikes. That\u2019s one of the most exciting feelings you can have. I remember very well the season where things finally started to feel like it all made sense, and I could find specks at will any morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But something happened to those spots, and I want to talk about it so you can avoid making the same mistakes that I did, and many of us make early on. You don\u2019t have to listen of course, but I guarantee that if you do, both you and the snakes you want to see will benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The microhabitat that low-desert rattlesnakes choose for estivation and gestation sites is very specific. You can have a giant group of hillsides and ravines that all boil down to a handful of small holes where they gather to stay cool and safe throughout the hottest part of the year. These sites may be one of many they rotate between, but sometimes it appears to be just one, especially in areas where hikers and development have limited their options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These summer sites are the hinge that their entire lives revolve on. They are every bit as sensitive and critically important as Winter dens for snakes in cooler environments. They are easily impacted and can be destroyed by what may seem like nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Speckled Rattlesnakes can be easily disturbed and may alter their behavior.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So if you are visiting for starting to find these groups as described, here\u2019s how this is going to go:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year you\u2019ll see so many specks \u2013 it\u2019s going to be amazing, tons of photos, lots of learning, so many great experiences, etc. You\u2019ll note the locations and feel like everything is finally starting to come together into a greater understanding of it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll invite some friends \u2026 close ones you trust of course \u2026 life is good.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will return to check on these sites a few times a week, sometimes even the next day. You hook them out if they start to retreat and pose them up for some great close-ups \u2013 they crawl off just fine, what\u2019s the harm? You come home and post those photos immediately so the world can see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes you can\u2019t make it and your friends go without you. Sometimes they invite friends as well \u2026 close ones they trust of course.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But next year, you\u2019ll come back to those sites and you\u2019ll only see a handful of the snakes you saw before. Maybe it\u2019s a bad year \u2026 the moon? Humidity too low? Who knows. You\u2019ll keep visiting those sites hoping for a different result, but nothing changes. You spend most of your free herping time visiting old sites instead of exploring new ones. You still see great things, but not as great as last year! You do start to notice more footprints in that wash though, maybe a discarded gatorade bottle on the ground. Oh well, next year will be better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next year comes and now the weather and moon must really be bad, because there are no snakes at all at these spots. Where\u2019d they go! There\u2019s one snake deep in shed at one of them, but where are the others? There are now unrecognized footprints in the wash every time you go. You start recognizing rocks in photos from friends of friends of friends. You start seeing snakes you recognize on Instagram photos in hotel rooms. Herping starts to feel frustrating as you can\u2019t decide on whether or not to explore for new spots or go check the old ones and hope something is happening.
The next year, the site is dead. Occasionally a random snake is there, but it\u2019s nothing of what it was a few years ago. The last time you went there, too, you ran into a couple of guys you don\u2019t know from out of state who heard this was a good place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now the choice you\u2019ll have: evaluate what happened, or carry on and repeat this process?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dopamine response we all develop to seeing and sharing rattlesnake experiences is strong. It\u2019s like ordering a pizza and as soon as it arrives, throwing it in the fridge and going to bed hungry. It can make truly evaluating our actions in the field and potential impact to critical habitat nearly impossible. It\u2019s also the biggest enemy to having repeat encounters; to move past the point of herping being a series of random events, it\u2019s also important to overcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Just the act of waiting a few weeks to post photos of finds can help distribute traffic to even the best-known and well-herped sites.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what happens:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Small stress events, even ones that we don\u2019t even notice \u2026 like getting a close up cellphone shot and the snake never tongue-flicks, build up. There are numerous studies of stress-response in several species of rattlesnakes (specks aren\u2019t one of those, yet) if you want to look at it in depth. Those repeated stress events cause the behavior of the snakes to change. Sometimes it just means they\u2019ll spend more time under bushes and out of view and they\u2019re harder to detect, so you walk past more of them instead of the wide-open ambush positions you\u2019re used to. But with these low-desert snakes, they tend to leave entirely. They may end up at a different estivation area. Sometimes that site isn\u2019t as good as the one they originally selected, and sometimes that has negative consequences for the snake, up to and including death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A single event, or managed stress events that are spaced out adequately avoid this effect. However, there are exceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rattlesnakes die at a surprisingly low temperature. Once the body gets into there 105-110 range, they are on death\u2019s door. Even if they crawl away seemingly fine, they may not recover. On hot nights, specks will sit out until they are only a few degrees shy of their upper terminal temperature, then make a bee-line for cover. If you are buzzed during this process, then hold it up for a 20 minute photo session, then let it crawl away rattling to cover, you very well may have killed that snake and you will never know it. If the place they retreat to after the encounter is not suitable to survive a 110F+ inferno for the day: it\u2019s dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you visit a horridus den and hook the snakes out the crevices to photograph? Would you pull them out in the coldst days of winter and pose them on open ice for a half hour shoot and let them crawl off into the snow? Would you flip every rock in a stream for hellbenders and pose them in the sun before releasing them into the sand? Would you dig an eastern massasauga out of a crawfish burrow for photos and leave it in the sun? Of course not \u2013 these are ridiculous actions that we know have consequences. For whatever reason, the nature of critical microhabitat for hot-desert species is largely missing from the herper lexicon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might be that the perceived abundance of rattlesnakes in Arizona makes it harder to see. It could be that, despite rattlesnakes in general being one of the most well-studied vertebrates on the planet, what they do when temps get to 110F is poorly documented. It could be that they are common animals in common places, so people simply don\u2019t care if they are negatively affected. It could also be, and this is what I assume to be unfortunately true in many cases: the potential for damage is known, but the draw for the excitement of experience and sharing make it less important. I am sure we have all seen specks posed in the open on rocks where the shadow positions reveal the time by herpers who are experienced to know better. I can only guess why this feels acceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe it\u2019s because they never see the results, other than the die-off of estivation sites each year. If that\u2019s just chalked up to \u201cmust be a bad year\u201d, as it tends to be, the lesson is never learned personally. Unfortunately, that mess is apparent to those who look for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple of us are working on a research project in a few areas that are often herped. There is nothing stated above that has not been well-documented, and eventually published. We set out to learn about where and when snakes use different microhabitat. As it progresses, however, the regretful picture of just how quickly well-intentioned herpers can kill off critical habitat is emerging. I hate it, but it\u2019s right there and can\u2019t be ignored. Once an area is discovered by herpers and visited frequently, it changes dramatically. Compared to similar sites that are either not herped or herped at spaced intervals to manage stress, repeated visits by groups of well-intentioned herpers is third in line of destruction of those sites to development and transient use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Single or rare stress events, even if substantial, seem to not have any impact. Limiting visits to a sensitive site to just a handful a year can mitigate the negative issues I’ve described here. <\/strong>It’s an investment. You’re trading dopamine for future encounters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what gives the Arizona herping community a bad reputation as people who go overboard on coming down on how and where people herp. There\u2019s a reason for this: this is one of the herping hotspots of the world. Every person who seems over the top in their approach is coming from a position of watching sensitive sites be decimated each year. So while that message can certainly be handled better, try and see the underlying message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this is why it seems you can\u2019t so much as post a cell-phone shot of a snake here in Arizona without a bunch of old-timers coming out of the woodwork to tell you you\u2019re doing it wrong. The fact is: they are right, but they need to put it in a better package. Let\u2019s be honest about all this: we all know each other because we like reptiles, not because we\u2019re all aligned on a social level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I\u2019m asking you to try this: next time you see a speck in a wash, ask yourself<\/strong>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you want to see this snake again? Is this more enjoyable as a one-off experience, or as an observation spot to visit for a lifetime?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is my understanding and sharing of this experience better as a piled stress-ball, or as numerous future observations and hundreds of photographs of what this snake actually does?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is approaching this snake up close for a cell-shot worth it. Is what I am doing hurting or helping?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it worth it to post that photo the moment I get home? Is the experience less enjoyable if I wait until after aestivation season to do it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t think that people can triangulate your position based on a telephone pole and a dirt road in the background, you\u2019re wrong \u2026 and thanks for the site \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you think that a snake wasn\u2019t bothered by you because it didn\u2019t tongue flick after that up close cellphone shot: come back in 10 minutes and see where it\u2019s at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t think that hundreds of people planning AZ monsoon trips, some much less well-intentioned or ethical as you are, aren\u2019t watching every move you make and every photo you post: be aware that they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you value the experience of visiting specks at the sites you\u2019ve found: please consider all of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, disregard if you like. Just remember it in a few years when that speck honey hole seems to have dried up. Guess what: it\u2019s not the full moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Limiting stress events to a snake like this can help ensure I’ll be able to watch it for years to come.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A note to herpers in AZ as we enter July and begin the monsoon season. In particular: those looking for Speckled Rattlesnakes. This is definitely not aimed at any one person one group, but a common trajectory that plays out again and again. If this is you, listen up. This isn\u2019t criticism; this is to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservation","category-science-and-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1212,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809\/revisions\/1212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}