Snakes in a bag - bring back the iconic Eastern indigo snake

[csziggy]

Snakes in a bag
Service and partners work together to bring back the iconic Eastern indigo snake

By Dan Chapman, Public Affairs SpecialistMay 25, 2018

Andalusia, Alabama — A gaggle of biologists, zookeepers, college students and government officials traipsed through the Deep South longleaf pine forest one recent, gorgeous spring morning carefully clutching white pillowcases.

They were looking for holes. More specifically, gopher tortoise burrows into which they could deposit their precious cargo of Eastern indigo snakes, aka “Emperors of the Forest.”

The smooth, black, long — longest in North America — indigo snake is listed as federally threatened under the Endangered Species Act and in dire need of propagation and restoration to historical habitats. An all-hands-on-deck approach towards saving the much-loved, non-venomous indigo from extinction creates odd bedfellows.

Tony Brady, deputy project leader at Welaka National Fish Hatchery.
Photo by Dan Chapman, USFWS.

“There he goes,” said Tony Brady, a fishery biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as a snake slithered from his pillowcase into a burrow at the Conecuh National Forest. “When we release them, we know we’ve done our job.”

https://www.fws.gov/southeast/articles/snakes-in-a-bag/

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. What a fascinating story, my dear csziggy!

I'm glad to see these snakes getting the proper upbringing so they can live in the wild. Amazing!

Thanks for sharing.

[csziggy]

5. We have a black snake that lives under our pond

Well, "pond" is generous - it's a 300 gallon blue plastic stock tank with a 200 gallon fiberglass mold of a syrup vat above it. But the way the two water containers come together lets the snake live in a pocket between the two and the water keeps his hole cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. The pond also provide him with lots of frogs to eat.

I was hoping it was an indigo - but alas, it isn't. Once I saw him raise his head, I could see the lighter underbelly and realized it is a Southern black racer. Still a cool snake, but not the rarer indigo.

[DemoTex]

2. I took courses in the 1960's under the late, great Dr. Bob Mount at Auburn.

The Eastern indigo snakes were near and dear to Bob's heart. Bob was my cousin-in-law, and he was a good friend of my father's (another great naturalist.) Bob was closer to my dad's age than to mine. The Eastern indigo lost a good friend and protector when Dr. Mount died in 2017.

[Solly Mack]

3. I like snakes

The indigo was one of the fun snakes when I was growing up in Georgia.

It wasn't poisonous and it wasn't terribly angry over being held for a few minutes.

They could be found in the corn going after rattlers. We'd make noise to scare the rattlers - they avoid human contact when possible. The indigo made the job easier - fewer rattlers.

People started keeping them as pets and that has hurt their numbers as well.

They're happier free.

[longship]

4. Lovely. Absolutely lovely!!!

R&K

[Judi Lynn]

6. Hooray for Eastern Indigo Snakes and their kind friends.