Venomous Snakes Native to Florida

  There are six venomous snakes native to the state of Florida. Four of these range practically the entirety of the state: the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, the Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake, the Florida Cottonmouth, and the Eastern (“Harlequin”) coralsnake. Two species can only be found in Northern counties: the Eastern Copperhead, and the Canebrake (“Timber”) Rattlesnake.Read More

What is a Species?

It seems there are members who are unsure what a species is, why we use this term, and why scientific nomenclature is preferred to common names. The use of scientific nomenclature dates to the 1700’s with Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy. Linnaeus was the first to organize and assign names to specific organismsRead More

Countering Copperhead Misinformation

There has been some misinformation being spread around Facebook lately concerning Copperheads (see above). The original post was been shared thousands of times before the original poster finally deleted it. Unfortunately it continues to spread.   Hopefully this post will work to counteract that misinformation and I encourage everyone who reads this to share it.Read More

Hibernation vs. Brumation: Changing Seasons

Baby “yellow phase” Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) venturing a short distance from its birthing rookery. Found and photographed Oct 2018 by Mark Lotterhand.

What do snakes do when it gets cold? In locations with temperate and subtropical climates, snakes take various cues both from their environment and internally as winter approaches. There is no exact timeframe or duration, rather a group of exogenous and endogenous changes that tell snakes it is time to reduce activity and overwinter. ChangeRead More

Snake Bites & Misinformation

Our society has an unfortunate propensity to demonize snakes. Humans tend to fear what they don’t truly understand and snakes are no exception. It is a shame considering how beneficial they are to keeping our ecosystem healthy and thriving. From a young age, it is ingrained in many a mind that any snake you seeRead More