Snakes in my tent, Scorpions in my pocket

Snakes in my tent, Scorpions in my pocket
By Tanith Tyrr

Cottonmouths are pretty good tent mates. A box of bugs, on the other hand, can keep you awake all night. The contents of the locked container next to my sleeping bag would have given most campers nightmares, but it was all part of the program at the Southeastern Hot Herp Society Apalachicola expedition.

Photo by Tanith Tyrr (c)2001

Florida's Apalachicola National Forest is one of the most ecologically diverse regions of Florida, an area where several different types of habitat can be observed. From dry palmetto scrub to pine forests to wetlands, this area offers support for an amazing diversity of plants, animals and insects. These lands are home to more than 40 species of amphibians and 80 species of reptiles, including five of Florida's six native venomous species. Our late March expedition was proposed by biologist Dr. Bob Herrington, and the challenge eagerly accepted by nine of his fellow SHHS members.

Karl and Cyndi Betz scored the first catch of the trip, a handsome young coral snake that was found right in the campground. Breaking up into groups to search different localities, the group employed tactics ranging from day and evening road cruising to flipping tin to walking through the woods in search of dead trees and loose bark to peer under. Road cruising on Friday seemed the most productive, scoring three pygmy rattlesnakes, a cottonmouth, a young pine snake, a black racer, a Florida Gulf Coast box turtle and a mud turtle. The tin flipping group worked very hard on Saturday to find one absolutely huge gray rat snake, and walking in the woods turned up several black racers, an unidentified water snake (probably a Nerodia), a number of Sceloperus and Eumeces lizards and a rewarding plethora of arachnids, insects, unusual fungus and carnivorous plants to photograph.

Having unwisely left my "bug box" behind at camp, I managed to coax several bark scorpions, two centipedes, several big spiders, a millipede and a handful of interesting beetles into a cigarette pack in my pocket for transport. Emptying the pack into the large lockbox in the car proved more difficult than filling it with each expedition into the woods. Even after shaking the pack thoroughly, there always seemed to be one more many-legged thing hiding inside. One particularly obliging spider dropped in through the window of Bob's truck while we were out walking, and was in the process of making herself a web there. I moved her to a safer location which was also a better photographic background. Nature photos look much better when they don't include truck upholstery.

Walking in the Apalachicola National Forest is beautiful, and can be dangerous. The temptations of exploring deeper into the dense woods and looking under just one more promising-looking log can easily get you lost, and that is what happened to me. By the time I realized that I had been much too distracted by all the nifty things to look at, I could no longer see the trail, or the car, or much of anything else through the thick screen of tall trees and bushes in the boggy ground. Climbing a tree didn't help, though my heavy duty Furmont field hook made this task easier than it might have been otherwise. So I stayed put and hollered, hoping one of my herping buddies who had wisely stayed out in the open palmetto habitat was within earshot and I could get enough of a fix on his voice to figure out which direction would take me out of the dense thicket. The good news is that it worked; the bad news is that even Furmont titanium hooks can be bent slightly out of shape if you use them to climb trees.

Photo by Tanith Tyrr (c)2001

The second day it rained. And rained, and rained, and rained. In fact it poured, and we had to make some more impromptu and creative use of two tarps, tent poles, sticks and a long snake hook to avoid getting completely soaked when we gathered around the fire in the evening. We roasted steaks and marshmallows and chatted far into the night. I didn't mind sharing the warmth of my tent with the snakes, but the box of bugs was so noisy that I evicted them to sleep under the picnic table instead. Fortunately I was able to mostly empty the box before the end of the trip as I successfully photographed its inhabitants.

Although it was too cold for there to be much more success with field herping, a photo session with the captured specimens on Saturday turned into something of an impromptu workshop, with everyone collaborating, exchanging tips and techniques and helping to wrangle the less cooperative animals into position. The little coral snake was the biggest challenge, and several times it launched itself off the log and sought shelter under the nearest object, which happened to be my butt since I was sitting on the ground. No, this was not an occasion for panic, just great merriment from everyone watching. No, don't try this with any other species. The technique that finally got the coral to stay still for long enough to get our pictures was to drape a pillowcase on top of the log, and allow the snake to hide under it for a few minutes. When the pillowcase was pulled off the log, the snake was exposed and briefly froze in place before taking off again. When the little snake had had enough of this and wouldn't stay still any more, his captors let him go on his way.

Photo by Tanith Tyrr (c)2001

Cottonmouths are surely a snake photographer's dream. Not only is their open mouthed display impressive, but most individuals are very cooperative and easy to pose with a snake hook. This one was no exception. When a fleck of dirt got into his open white mouth and spoiled the nice view of his sheathed fangs, I was actually able to reach in and flick it out with a stick, without triggering any reaction. He didn't need a pillowcase, but posed for us on the leaves, under a bush and on top of logs while three cameras flashed away. What a nice snake. When we were through photographing him, we took more pictures of pygmy rattlesnakes, a pine snake and assorted insects and arachnids until the rain began and the clouds covered the sun.

Photo by Tanith Tyrr (c)2001

Saturday night was a soggy one, and everyone was ready to pack up and go by Sunday morning. Some of our lucky finds were kept or given away, and others were released where they were found after being photographed. The only specimen I ended up keeping from the trip was a particularly lovely black and white furred jumping spider that is settling in nicely and eating adult crickets. And of course, plenty of photographs and great memories.

About the Author:

Tanith Tyrr is a licensed venomous keeper currently residing in Central Florida. Her fascination with venomous snakes began when she was 5 years old, and shows no sign of fading.

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