RARE ENDANGERED NH VENOMOUS SNAKE!

[nastygunz]

ANYBODY WANNA SEE SOME PIX? 

[alscalls]

 

[FinsnFur]

  ohhh gawd...this should be good

[pitw]

I think I'm ready.

[Bills Custom Calls]

 

Did I miss them pics

[nastygunz]

DAMMITT JIMBO I WAS TRYING TO BUILD UP ANTICIPATION  ....AND HERE IT IS!
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OK, I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR ONE OF THESE CRITTERS LITERALLY FOR YEARS!..VERY EXCITING FOR A PHOTOG AND NATURALIST....HERES THE STORY OF HOW I FINALLY CAPTURED ONE ON CAMERA....IM AT WORK, WORKING HARD FOR THE COMPANY AS ALWAYS.... ....WHEN I HEAR SOME LOUDISH BACKGROUND NOISE AND SOMEBODY SAYS TO ME AS THEY ARE GOING BY, HURRY THERES A SNAKE IN THE KITCHEN!...
WELL I FIGURE THEY ARE PULLING MY LEG BUT I GRAB MY CAMERA AND COFFEE CUP AND HEAD TO THE KITCHEN...APPARENTLY A LADY WAS IN OUR OFFICE KITCHEN GETTING A COFFEE AND ANOTHER LADY WALKED IN AND NOTICED
WHAT APPEARED TO BE A LARGISH SNAKE UP AGAINST THE EDGE OF THE WALL...SHE POINTED IT OUT TO THE FIRST LADY THINKING IT WAS A RUBBER "PRANK" SNAKE....WHEN THE SNAKE STARTED GLIDING OFF!!...WELL AFTER THAT A FELLOW EMPLOYEE USED SOME PLASTIC JUGS TO HERD THE SNAKE OUT THE DOOR...
SO THEN I ARRIVED AND ASKED WHERE THE SNAKE WAS...SO MYSELF AND THE GUY, KEN, WENT OUT AND WERE LOOKING FOR THE SNAKE ON THE BACK PATIO OF OUR COMPANY BUILDING...WE WERE MOVING THE LEAVES ON SOME DWARF BUSHES AND ALL OF A SUDDEN HEARD A LOUD HISSSSSSSSSS...WELL THE HANDS CAME BACK QUICK!! HAHA...THEN WE MOVED SOME BRANCHES AND THERE WAS THE SNAKE...
I TOOK THE PICTURES THEN I WAS LOOKING CLOSELY AT THE SNAKE WHICH AT FIRST I THOUGHT WAS A COMMON NORTHERN WATER SNAKE...THEN AFTER LOOKING CLOSELY AND FROM ITS DISPLAY OF PUFFING UP AND HISSING VERY LOUDLY AND THE SHAPE OF ITS HEAD I SAID I THINK IT MIGHT BE THE VERY RARE ENDANGERED EASTERN HOGNOSE SNAKE!....
SO I EMAILED NH F&G AND THEIR SNAKE EXPERT BIOLOGIST, MIKE MARCHAND CALLED ME QUITE EXCITED AND ASKED IF HE COULD COME LOOK FOR IT...AND CONFIRMED IT WAS AN EASTERN HOG NOSE SNAKE....HE DID COME AND SEARCHED VERY THOROUGHLY BUT IT WAS GONE BY THEN...WEIRD WAY TO GET THE PIC BUT ILL TAKE IT! AND HERE IS SOME INFO ON THE SNAKE:
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Eastern Hognose Snake
(Heterodon platirhinos)

Hognose snakes put up a good bluff but are not dangerous. Hognose snakes often flatten and spread out their heads like a cobra. If this doesn't work, they often flip over and play dead. Hognose snakes have an upturned nose that is helpful for digging in soil.

NH Conservation Status: State Threatened, Wildlife Action Plan Species in Greatest Need of Conservation.

State Rank Status: Imperiled

Distribution: Southern NH along the Merrimack River, Concord to Massachusetts border.

Description: A thick-bodied snake measuring 20-35 inches. Has a characteristic upturned snout and keeled dorsal scales. Light and dark blotches vary in color from brown to red and orange. There is also a dark phase in which the body is almost uniform in and grayish-black color.

Commonly Confused Species: Garter snake; Timber rattlesnake

Habitat: Requires sandy, gravely soils such as open fields, river valleys, pine forests, and upland hillsides. Feeds predominately on toads; therefore needs breeding habitat (e.g., wetlands, vernal pools) for amphibians.

Life History: During summer lays eggs a few inches underground or under woody debris. Hibernates in mammal burrows, under woody debris, or under trash piles. Has a dramatic defense display including hissing, mock striking, and playing dead.

Conservation Threats: Loss of habitat from rapidly developing southern New Hampshire; mortality on roadways, loss of amphibian populations; people killing individual snakes because of fear (hognose snakes are not dangerous to humans or pets!!...unless you are a toad).
Heterodon means 'different tooth', which refers to the enlarged teeth on the rear of the upper jaw. These teeth inject a mild venom into its prey, and also serve to pop inflated toads like a balloon to enable ingestion. They use their blunt nose to search through leaf litter and soil for prey.
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AND FINALLY, HERES THE PICTURES:
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[pitw]

Well that's way cool that you got to see and take pictures of something so rare.   Personally I would have missed out on the photo op due to running scared .

[FinsnFur]

"Working hard for the company as you always do" . PHFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTT!!

How come someone didnt stay by it till the guy got there?

[nastygunz]

"Working hard for the company as you always do" . PHFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTT!!

How come someone didnt stay by it till the guy got there?

I have no resposne I just wanted to double-quote....

[vvarmitr]

So they're venomous, but not dangerous. 

[slagmaker]

Well thats cool. Not every day does someone get to see something rare and endangered.

I have to agree why didnt someone stay close to the snake if the snake guy was on his way?

[nastygunz]

We run a 15 million dollar a year business...snake wrangling is not in our mission statement and what happened was I took the pics then everyone disbursed and I went back to my office and downloaded the pix and emailed them to NH F&G who usually respond in about a week, if ever....in this case the guy called very excited and confirmed it was a hognose and asked permission to look for it, i told him to give it hell, so from the actual pic taken to biologist arrival was about 1+ hours...during which time the snake made his move ha-ha...although I was surprised he moved as it was pretty damn cold out....they are mildly venomous, but are a colubrid or rear fanged snake and very non aggressive so youd have to practically shove your finger down ones throat to get a possible bite....the venom is for toads not humans, that body mass thing..
     It was sheer luck I got pix anyways I heard about it and assumed it was a garter or northern water snake...never even thought of a hognose!....i still cant get over after literally keeping an eye open out in the field for years, the danged thing showed up in our company kitchen!!...I might slide over...no pun intended...and poke around this weekend and see if I can spot him or any others....interestingly enough...the whole area behind our building is a pine barrens which is fenced off completely and a reserve for the rare Karners Blue Butterfly,my office is about 50 yards from the one entrance to the pine barrens:
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Concord Schoolchildren and New England Zoos Participate in Karner Blue Butterfly Restoration

CONCORD, N.H. -- Many helping hands are involved in the effort to restore New Hampshire's state butterfly to the Concord Pine Barrens, one of two locations in New England able to meet the endangered insect's specialized habitat needs. Students representing every Concord public school, as well as South Meadow School in Peterborough, will participate in a planting project May 21-23, 2007. Staff from the New England Zoo Conservation Collaborative will pitch in on May 30, 2007, to plant more of the native lupine and other nectar-producing plants that the endangered Karner blue butterflies rely on to survive.

The Karner blue butterfly is both New Hampshire's State Butterfly and the Concord City Butterfly. Its restoration to the remaining pine barrens plant community in the Concord, N.H., area has involved a collaborative effort between state and local government agencies, non-profit organizations, private businesses and civic groups. Restoration efforts are focused at the Karner Blue Butterfly Conservation Easement, part of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Great Bay Wildlife Refuge, located at the end of Chenell Drive (an educational kiosk near the site explains the Karner project). The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department's Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program oversees Karner blue restoration efforts in the state.

The upcoming planting activities mark the eighth year of an ongoing partnership between Fish and Game, Concord Schools' Project SEE (Science Enrichment Encounters) and the National Wildlife Federation. "Over the 8 years that we have been involved in this project, students have seen the Karner blue butterfly move from extirpation in 2001 towards recovery," said Fish and Game Wildlife Educator Marilyn Wyzga. "As they arrived to plant their lupine in 2005, students had the rare experience of watching a biologist net, tag and release a wild Karner blue butterfly in the easement. This endangered species success story has provided the students with real-life experience in saving a local species

[nastygunz]

p.s. youll note in the last paragraph they talk about netting and tagging a butterfly?....the danged butterflys have little tiny tags with serial numbers on them! :shck:

[FinsnFur]

Yeah those are the same people singing in that video THO posted in the Tailgate

[wv_yoter]

I always thought they were non-venomous. I guess you learn something new everyday. Cool Pics

[nastygunz]

The butterflies arent venomous

[wv_yoter]

The snake not the butterfly

[nastygunz]

i know WV i was funnin ya... ....i had the office girls wound up, i told them i was catching the butterflies and selling them on ebay for $50.00 each haha 

[vvarmitr]

i had the office girls wound up, i told them i was catching the butterflies and selling them on ebay for $50.00 each haha 

What a brat!