New Contact Sport

Tennis. Unfortunately, the racquet should contact the ball, not someone's noggin. Ella knows this now that she watched her mother get examined for a broken nose and sewn up with 4 stitches.

It does look much better. At least she can see out of it now.

Latest Project

I believe the Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum) to be one of most intriguing salamanders of Ohio. First of all, it is a beautiful animal; just click the link above to see for yourself. (That is a really neat site, by the way; most if not all the photos there were taken by fellow named Jason Folt.) Additionally, their life history is somewhat different from that of most other Mole (Ambystoma sp.) salamanders such as the Tiger (Ambystoma tigrinum) or Blue-spotted (Ambystoma laterale).

While these latter make their way to the breeding ponds in early Spring when they are usually quite swelled with February snow-melt and March rains, the Marbled Salamander arrives at its ponds in Autumn, when they are no more than empty depressions that have been dry since Summer. They then lay their eggs-- not too near the bottom (so they don't hatch at the first rain then dry out if no further rain arrives), and not too near the top (to avoid being just above the water line if it never rains enough to fill the pool that high)-- then wait there with them until the rain does arrive. Because of this behavior that is curiously divergent from that of like genera, it is very difficult to sample vernal pools for this particular Ambystomatid species in the typical way-- using partially-submerged minnow-trap-like-thingys around the perimiter of the pond in early Spring. Marbled Salamander adults are months gone by then.

So, in order to sample a pond for opacum effectively, you really need to dip-net said pond in spring and early summer, then check out the larvae that you find. The dip-netting part is not too hard-- I have had good success two years running now at a pond in a Hancock County, OH woods that has, historically, held Marbled Salamanders. It is the checking out larvae that I have a bit of trouble with. First off, they are kind of small and look pretty fragile. It seems that belly and throat pigmentation are key to discriminating between the different species, and these little guys just don't want to lie on their backs while I get a good enough look. I always feel like if I hold them in place long enough to see what I need to see, I am going to break a tiny leg, tear of a gill, or just plain crush them.

Therefore, the former snake room in my basement now houses a new project.

Yes, folks, we're growing baby salamanders.

Let me explain what you are seeing here. Each larva now lives in it's own little tupperware container. This makes it easier for me to keep track of how much each one eats (presently I feed them dried bloodworms one by one by hand and forceps), and keeps them from eating each other's gills off. I collected these larvae on Saturday and, until tonight, I had them all in one larger plastic tub. As of last night a couple of the little guys were already missing gills. This arrangement also allows me to track individual progress as they mature.

My hope is that one or more of these little guys grows up to be the striking creature you saw if you followed the link at the top to the photo. Admittedly, the chances at this are not great. The woods in which these were found is now much smaller than it was when the records were vouchered back in the 1960s, and the habitat is somewhat altered, so opacum may no longer persist there. Even if I don't get what I am after here, I will still end up with interesting animals. Smallmouth Salamanders (Ambystoma texanum), perhaps, or one of the several hybrids involving the Jeffersons (Ambystoma jeffersonianum) and Blue-spotted species.

OK, it's not a puppy, but who could say no to this cute little face?

Valentine's Day Poem*

The lovely Angela found this in her card this year:


A Valentine's Day Heart

looks nothing like the muscled pump
thumping behind skin and ribs;
instead, its pointed symmetry resembles
more an arrowhead which once, perhaps,
graced one of Cupid's mystic shafts--
even that which left his grasp a night
fifteen years ago. (He turned his back
before it struck; the arc it traced was true.)
Now, broken from its stem and drenched
in love's pure distillate, I hand it
back to you and pray your kisses soothe
this precious wound I hope will never heal.


*American Life in Poetry, formerly a regular feature at The O-Files, will not be published here until further notice. To those (few) of you who were coming here for your regular poetry fix, I apologize.

It's Time To Light The Lights . . .

My wife, the lovely Angela, is playing Elsa in our town's Light Opera production of The Sound of Music. Tonight is opening night, but via the magic of one of our friend's (who is also in the play) camera phone, I can provide you with an exclusive behind the scenes preview. Not only do the songs sound great, but Angie looks great in her costumes! Please join me in wishing her well.

Did I mention she looks great?

Go, Angie!

Abandonment Syndrome in Domesticated Herpers

I am, apparently, our cat Murphy’s new best friend. Because it is spring break, the lovely Angela has taken the kids to Wisconsin to visit the rest of the family and generally have a blast. This means a couple of things. First of all, the cat has nothing to do all day. I would think that this would suit Murphy, who spends the majority of her time fleeing the kids or sleeping, perfectly. It does not. I know this because when I come home in the evening, she is lying just inside the door, tummy-side up, mewling to be rubbed. I know this because she follows me from room to room, jumping on the table when I sit down to eat and leaping on the sink when I brush my teeth. I know this because she tried to sleep on top of me last night. Turns out that she, like me, misses the rest of her family.

Secondly, I myself have very little to do in the evenings. I have a few projects I could be working on, and have spent some time on these, but the general family hubbub as well as the leisurely conversations with my wife after the kids are in bed are sorely missed. Frankly, without the family here, the house is too big, too quiet, and way too lonely a place to hang around. I have been abandoned.

However, rather than mope or beg for attention like a silly kitty-cat, I am spending some of my discretionary time while the fam is away doing some of the things that I rarely get to do. This Saturday, I am thinking of going to the Mad River to do some trout fishing, something I have not done in nearly four years.

And last night, I went to a nature preserve about an hour away to look for snakes.

This locale is the same place that my brother, Joel, and I found our first venomous snake, so you have already heard one rattlesnake tale from this area. However, it is also supposed to harbor Red-bellied, Kirtland’s, and Black Rat snakes—none of which have I seen in the wild. It was nearly 6pm when I first got there, having come straight from work, and I decided to start in the same portion of the preserve as I had found the Massasauga last year because of a) the variety of species I had seen there and b) a particular corner of the field that has some nice big sheets of tin for cover.

After having struck out at the tin area, I followed a narrow “alley” between two wooded lots to a small marshy pond. Here I found more tin sheets!
It was under the piece pictured above that I found my first ever Northern Red-bellied Snake/Storeria o. occipitomaculata. The snake was both pretty and small—they are the smallest species of snake in Ohio, even more diminutive than the Worm snake.

I also had a difficult time getting pictures of it. I would get it posed and before I could bring the camera around and get it to focus, the snake would be a foot away from where I had put it. Getting a shot of the red belly was even worse. The snake would just not lie belly up for me. I finally got it worked out by holding it in my semi-closed hand. This apparently scared it because it coiled up with its head under its body and wouldn’t move. I quickly flipped it over and took a shot while it was still too terrified to move. Talk about wildlife harassment!
Despite several more minutes searching the area, I found no more snakes, and decided to move on. I began driving slowly through the rest of the preserve, scanning the terrain for likely habitat and cover. It was after 7 pm when I noticed the corner of a piece of tin sticking up out of the short spring grass. After getting out of the car, I noticed several other sheets of tin; this looked like a very promising spot.

I began cautiously looking under the pieces of tin, first lifting them high enough with my new snake hook (thanks, Joel) to safely grasp them with my hand. The third piece held the jackpot—the endangered Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake. Since I did not have my camera with me last time, I was determined to get some good shots of this one.

The lateness of the hour and the resulting cooling temperatures were on my side, the snake seemed hardly disturbed by my presence, barely lifting its head to see what was disturbing its little hideout.

The first thing I noticed about this 'sauga was the coloration. It was almost the same tones as a fox snake. Most of the pictures I have seen, as well as the only actual specimen I have come into contact with, were much more a dull gray.

You may be wondering what this Rattlesnake is doing lying in what is essentially a mudpuddle. After all, aren’t rattlesnakes usually found in the desert or the mountains? While it is true that many rattlesnakes are found in such habitats, the Eastern Massasauga is one of the exceptions. In fact, one of the vernacular names for this snake is the “Swamp Rattler”. It is at home in swamps and moist meadows, and even hibernates in crayfish burrows in such environs.
As I said, the snake did not see to concerned that I had “blown its cover” and was taking pictures of it. It didn’t rattle, even when I carefully positioned (with my hook) its tail so that I could get a clear shot of the noisy little attachment.
It was not until I actually tried to pick it up with the snake hook that it began buzzing at me, and only then for a couple seconds. I did, however get a couple of good looks at the fangs—as I lifted it, it snapped at me. Again I was amazed at how fast these animals can move when they want to. I really did not feel like pressing my luck playing Steve Irwin, and there was no one there to photograph me holding it, so, after having replaced the sheet of tin, I gently lowered the snake to the ground and went my way.

I did have one short moment of pure terror. When I got back to the car, I realized that my keys were not in my pocket. Or in the backpack I had been carrying. Or in the car I was now frantically searching. Not cool! I figured that I must have dropped them somewhere along the way.

I retraced my steps and sure enough, there they were, right next to the piece of tin under which I had found the ‘sauga. Can you blame me for dropping them at the sight of a rattlesnake? Probably not. I know, they should have been in my pocket in the first place.

At this point, the sun had set, and it was time to get home. I was tired, hungry, and there was a cat that desperately needed some attention.

The next post (my first snake of '06) will be slightly out of chronilogical order, but I couldn't wait to show of my cool new pics. Enjoy!

We Interrupt this Broadcast . . .

Sunday, April 2nd, 2006, at 4:50:22 p.m., my wife Angela finished her first ever Marathon. I do not have to go on and on about how unbelievably impressive this is. She ran a marathon. In case you just arrived from Mars 5 minutes ago, that is 26.2 miles. Here she is 10 minutes before the race. Compare this pic to the one right after she finished-- surprisingly little difference.
The race, The Glass City Marathon in Toledo, began at 8:00 a.m.. While there were 398 people that finished the race, I am not sure how many began the full marathon. Lots of others ran five or two leg relays, and there was also a 5k run. All in all, we were told, about a 1000 people participated in total. Here is the main field just before the start.
Angela finished in 4 hours and 50 minutes, averaging 5.4 mph overall. Not too shabby. She got to know a couple folks, including a marathon vet named Jane (pictured below), who encouraged Angie along. She said she would not have been able to finish the run without Jane's help.

The kids and I also provided encouragement every couple of miles. We hopscotched from drink station to drink station, parked, and waited for her to come by, at which point we would hoot and cheer appropriately.

The 26 plus mile trek started downtown and stretched to Maumee, then back to downtown. It seemed a pretty scenic route-- they crossed the river twice, and ran along some picturesque bluffs and gorgeous homes at the beginning of the second half.

Of course, most of the second half Angie spent focusing on just finishing and not much else. After she passed the 22.5 mile drink station, I knew she would finish. She had come too far, and she is either just the right amount of determined or a teeny bit stubborn. Either way, I say good for her.

The kids and I had wanted to park and get to the finish line in time to take her picture as she crossed. Unfortunately, I don't know Toledo all that well and ended up gettin parked a full half mile from the finish and having to book it down there (with the kids!) to try and beat her-- we could see her coming up the route.

Again, because of my unfamiliarity with the area, I ended up having to dash in with the runners to get to the finish line-- we all kind of got funnelled into this boardwalk thing. Because I had not been running all day and I had to get to the finish line before my wife, I was blowing by everyone else. Of course, when I got to the finish table, everyone thought I was a participant and started yelling and cheering. So embarrassing. I handled it pretty well, turning around and whipping out the camera to get the finish pics. That quieted everyone down.

Here she is coming down the last 20 feet or so.She did not need the help this lady offered. She was just relieved to be done.
Here is the conquering hero with her biggest fans, save one. Congratulations, Angie!!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

You Have a WHAT in Your Basement?!

I run a snake farm.

This is a comparatively small operation (four breeder snakes, none over 4 feet long), more analogous to the guy who lives on the edge of town and keeps a chicken or two, than a full blown, free range, acre-upon-acre, ranch-type deal.

I feel it is only appropriate to point out here that the lovely Angela allows this to go on in her house with relatively little resistance, and I am deeply grateful. In order for you to be able to fully appreciate the magnitude of her tolerance, let me relay a charming anecdote from our first year of marriage.

It was nearing my birthday, and Angie made the mistake of asking me what I wanted. While she knew I had a pathological interest in snakes, she had no true idea of how deeply it ran. I wanted a pair of corn snakes; of course—what else would a newlywed request from his blushing bride. I will omit the details of the lengthy discussion that followed. I’m still not sure how I ever convinced her, although I do have a vague recollection of a week long hunger strike and several nights of feigning sobs into my pillow as we went to sleep. Anyway, some time around my birthday, I had two (male and female) hatchling corn snakes housed in a 10 gallon tank that I kept in a storage nook just off the living room. They ate several meals with no problem and everything seemed to be going great.

However, like many couples’ first apartments, ours was small and drafty. This meant two things. There were only a few places that were not “main rooms” (where I had been forbidden to keep the snakes) that were also remotely warm enough that they would not immediately freeze. Hence the storage nook. Turns out it was not warm enough either, and I never did get around to installing the dimmer switch on the under tank heater. As a result the cool zones in the tank were just plain cold, and the warm zones were scorching. As you might expect, the snakes began to refuse meals due to a digestive problem, the onset of which corresponded with the worsening of a previously undetected mite infestation. The snakes got skinnier and skinnier and more and more listless, and I soon expected their demise.

Here is where things went truly awry. The snakes could not just die and prove my care inadequate. Oh no— they had to ESCAPE FIRST! I think several weeks of not eating had made them just slender enough to squeeze through the crack between the tank walls and frame of the pre-manufactured, clip-on screen top.

Words cannot describe the distress this caused my poor wife. Oddly, my assurances that the roaming serpents would not survive more than a few days to terrorize her were of little consolation. Go figure! At some point, though, she found it in her heart to forgive me, and harmony again reigned in our little home.

Then my mother-in-law came to visit. I know what you are thinking, but it is not like that. I get along with my wife’s parents just fine and, in fact, rather look forward to their visits. For her part, my mother-in-law was sweet enough not to complain about having to sleep on the couch (we had only one bedroom and one bed at that point). It was the dead snake under the seat cushion with which she took issue.

After that there was a new rule in our house. No. Snakes. Allowed.

Fast forward about 9 years. A combined set of complicated circumstances involving my job moving me to back to Wisconsin where I had access to facilities outside of my domicile at which I could keep snakes. The fountain of grace that is my wife modified the rule above and I quickly acquired 2.4 (2 male, 4 female) corn snakes that I intended to use as breeding stock. Fast forward 4 months. My job moves me back to Ohio. Somehow, I am allowed to keep the snakes in my daughters room. You read that correctly; I have no explanation (they were in hibernation and kept in a cold corner in bins under a sheet. See a picture of said bins below)

Fast forward (last ff, I promise) 3 months, we sell our home and purchase/move into one with a basement, as well as no bedroom that actually gets cold enough to hibernate reptiles in. The snake farm takes up residence in the basement and things get busy. My brother helps me construct a room so that people who do not wish to see the snakes do not have to as well as to keep the cat from trying to get at the babies.

Breeding snakes is relatively simple and the process goes something like this. You start with healthy male and female snakes of breeding age. Keep them well fed and house them separately in a suitable environment. I use plastic bins kept in a custom built rack (building this tested the limits of my carpentry skills to the extreme!) heated with electric heat tape wired through a dimmer switch. In the winter turn the heat off and let them hibernate at 45-65 F for about 2 or 3 months. Warm them in the spring and resume the proper feeding schedule. After their first shed skin of the year, they will be "in season" and introduce a single male into the female's enclosure. Breeding, in my limited experience, usually ensues rather quickly. Occasionally, if the female is not yet "ready" she will fight off the male; when this occurs, I usually wait a week and try the pair again-- this has worked every time.

After about 45 days and another shed skin, the females are ready to lay their eggs, which they do in a plastic shoe box filled with wet spaghnum moss. I usually place this in their enclosure when the female "turns blue" prior to her pre-oviposition shed. See results below

The eggs hatch after an average of 9-10 weeks of incubation. Prime temperature is about 85 F, although my incubation set up does not allow me to hold that precise a temp. Still, I have had excellent success at temps ranging from 75-85 degrees.

When the eggs are ready to hatch, the snakelings cut slits in the eggs, then emerge a day or so later. A clutch of eggs seems to take 2-3 days to hatch out, occasionally 4. I believe this window of time to be longer than "normal" due to lack of uniformity in incubation temperature.

After the snakes hatch, I put them in a miniature version of the enclosures the adults enjoy.

Within a week or so of hatching, the neonates will shed their skin for the first time. After this they are usually ready for their first meal-- they are fed newborn, or "pinkie" mice. Most pet stores will buy a newborn snake after they have voluntarily eaten two or three meals. Average price I get from a pet store is $12.50 per snake. Private parties have paid me $15 to $22.50.

Sounds like a breeze doesn't it. I have, however, encountered some difficulties.

Snakes can get sick. If it is anything more than the most minor of illnesses, they require veterinary care. This is not something I wish to pay for, nor do I really have the means. So, when one of my females quit eating after laying her first clutch of eggs, I was truly worried. Then green goo started oozing from her mouth, and I knew I was going to lose a productive animal (her first year of egg production for me she laid one less egg than the snake who laid the most, even though she was much smaller). Rather than let her waste away, I put her in a ziploc bag and tossed her in the freezer where she simply went to sleep and never woke up. That took me down to 2.3. With only three females, I really only needed one male so I sold one to a pet store for the same amount I paid for him. Down to 1.3.

The other problem I ran into was getting some of the more stubborn neonates to start eating. In the wild a baby corn snake's first several meals will often consist solely of cold blooded prey such as small lizards and tree frogs. This means that captive bred snakes, especially if they are the offspring of wild caught breeding stock (which 4 of my original breeders were) are not always too eager to start eating pinkie mice right out of the egg. It is not that they are too small, just that the mouse smell does not trigger a feeding response from the snake.

The solution to this difficulty is rather simple, but for some reason it took me a long time to break down and implement it. I was sure those little guys would get hungry enough and just start eating mice eventually. Finally I gave in. I went to the local pet store and bought an anole. Most of you know what this lizard is even if you don't think you do. They are often sold in pet stores as chameleons, and while they can change from green (their normal color) to brown to gray, they are not true chameleons and are, in fact, native to the southeastern US-- same as corn snakes. I took the pinkie mice I intended to feed to the heretofore non-eater snakes, and rubbed them all over with this lizard to impart it's scent to them. It worked like a charm. 100% of the snakes that had not taken a meal started eating and were quickly trained to eat unscented mice.

Oddly, this year, even the lizard scent trick has failed to get some of my meal refusing snakes to eat. I have lost 3 to self-starvation so far.

That may prompt some of you to wonder just how many snakes my farm produces anually. Last year, 49 of 52 eggs hatched, one baby died for unexplained reasons, and I had sold the rest by march of this year.

Despite haveing one less female, my remaining snakes produced 55 eggs this year, largely due to a better feeding schedule. 54 eggs hatched and so far three have not made it due to meal refusals. I have already sold 15, and am getting rid of 12 more next week. Below is one of the more attractive hatchlings I produced last year.
Corn snakes come in a staggering assortment of selectively bred color and pattern mutations. These are called cultivars. To veiw the variety available click here. I am currently working with a male that appears to be hypomelanistic (having less than the normal amount of black pigment, sort of halfway to albino). I am conducting breeding trials to confirm this. Two of my females are anerythristic (having no red or "black albino"). These snakes are greay and black. When you combine the two traits, you get ghost corns. Kind of a faded version of the anerythristic. The cool thing about this is that, once I finalize my breeders, I can get 4 different kinds of offspring from just one pair of snakes due to two different recessive traits combining differently in the offspring (you may want to review your punnet squares from high school science). One clutch of eggs could theoretically produce normal, hypomelanistic, black albino, and ghost corn snakes.

It is just this sort of thing that holds my interest in this endeavor and makes all the work worthwhile.

L'anniversairre!

As of tomorrow I will have been married to the lovely Angela for eleven years, and so I have composed a poem

Upon Entering the Twelfth Year of Our Marriage

These years, eleven in all,
Baptized in tears,
Tried as by fire,
Haunted by "headstrong violence",
Arrayed in forgiveness,
Confirmed in strength,
Guarded by grace,
Sustained by sacrifice,
Preserved in patience,
Lit by laughter,
Warmed by gentleness,
Accompanied by peace,
Followed by "goodness and mercy"
Hallowed by love,
Are more precious to me than
Gemstones set in finest gold.
Therefore, I have "no need of spoil";
I have you.