New snake species hiding in plain sight

lj762

Explorer
Feb 18, 2017
358
227
Bass River State Forest
I think it's a really bad idea for most people (including me!) to handle snakes, but I've never heard of a law against it. Taking a snake from state-managed land home to keep as a pet, for example, would be against the law, I'm pretty sure.
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,603
8,181
I believe that handling a snake carefully does not cause it any harm. Every snake I have been around when handled has resumed what they were doing within seconds after putting them down. There are much more snake concerns we should have than handling.
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,552
2,465
59
millville nj
www.youtube.com
There is a blanket law against "harassing" wildlife in NJ.What Harassing entails I guess would be up to the game official your dealing with and the jury at the trial.I"d say if me or you is handling the snake it is harassment.If someone with a college degree in Environmental Sciences is doing the exact same thing it is much needed therapy for the snake.
 
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Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,603
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That is a good article. However, I disagree with the paragraph that says "disputed the notion that collectors were having such an effect on the population."

They have to be. I don't see them as often as in past years and had come to the same conclusion they were being taken. That needs to be stopped by reporting anyone who actually takes them from the woods.
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,552
2,465
59
millville nj
www.youtube.com
Pine snakes are so susceptible to collectors because their dens are so recognizable to those who know what their looking for and of course every year the snakes head back to the same ones,the females anyway.The males dig in wherever and are harder to pin down.The holes you see in spring where something has obviously exploded out of the sand in the middle of a sand road are often male pines emerging from hibernation and of course one out they don't go back to the same spot so their not tied down to a spot where someone can come back to and dig them up.Also their loud hissy fits they often engage in when people walk by at a distance does not in any way help them avoid detection.
 
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