Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

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Greg Theos
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Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by Greg Theos »

I have become pretty adept over the past month at tracking snakes and identifying them based on their tracks. It's not a perfect science by any means but impressions in the sand usually leave more clues than the direction the snake was travelling in.

Here are your options:
-Grey rat/corn snake
-EDB
-Pigmy
-Rough Green snake
-Pine snake
-Cottonmouth
-Coachwhip/Racer
-Eastern hognose
-Southern hognose
Some of these snakes are pictured more than once while others are not pictured at all (hey, it's a test).

If you have any questions about a particular pic, just ask. Let's have some fun...

#1
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#2
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#3
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#4
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#5
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#6
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#7
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#8
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#9
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#10
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#11
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#12
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salamanderhunter
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by salamanderhunter »

Greg. great photos. tweakin' the contrast a little would probably help some. I see nobody has ventured guesses...but I'd love to get the answers. Thanks! :beer:
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Mattlesnake King
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by Mattlesnake King »

You've obviously been riding the heck out of those sand roads. Based on that and some of our previous correspondence I think that you might be the most pine snake obsessed person on the planet! I know a few of those tracks for sure. What is throwing me a for a loop though is that I've seen canebrake and EDB drags on similar sand that were way more rectilinear than any of those pictured.

Neat stuff and thanks.
Matt K
Pr0 Fr0g F1nd3r
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by Pr0 Fr0g F1nd3r »

N00bs
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Josh Young
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by Josh Young »

I'm not gonna even try and take any guesses but I just wanted to ask did you find the snakes that left all those trails?
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Tim Borski
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by Tim Borski »

Greg, I haven't got a freaking clue...but it does give me incentive to spend the entire month of June up that direction next year! :mrgreen:
So... you must've found at least several the snakes if you know what the tracks are? I look forward to the (eventual) post!
Tim
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Nick
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by Nick »

Quit teasing and post your finds!
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Greg Theos
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by Greg Theos »

You have all greatly disappointed Professor Theos. Not only did everyone fail the test, you all got zeros. Zero point zero. Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to through life...

Salamander-I need a photography mentor, for sure.

Matt-I pick my target and go for it. As another herper on here mentioned, I am hardcore. Hardcore!

Josh-yes, I found them all.

Tim, Nick-I think I will throw up my post in about another 10 days or so, after I sit for my boards. I don't have any great pics that speak for themselves so I have to supplement them with a lot of narrative which is time-consuming.

The point of this thread was to show that you cannot positively ID these snakes based on tracks alone. Some people think otherwise but I would invite them to come and spend a day with me. For example, Eastern hogs leave 3 different tracks. One of them is indistinguishable from a pine snake track. There was no southern hog track. I only listed that as option because some people on here (you know who you are!) misidentified #4 as such. I will detail some of this in my future post.

Good day, sirs.
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Kerry Nelson
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by Kerry Nelson »

I still say #4 is a simus :lol: .

I tend to agree with you that most snakes tracks are indistinguishable with much accuracy, but there are general patterns. I'm not much good with tracks, but I'll go with:

1. Rat
2. Eastern Hog
3. Coachwhip
4. Simus :mrgreen: Otherwise, I don't know, pigmy?
5. Racer
6. Rat
7. Eastern Hog
8. Rough Green
9. Pigmy
10. edb
11. Pine
12. Racer

I only have any kind of confidence in a couple of those guesses...
Zach Veal
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by Zach Veal »

HARDCORE !!! doesnt come close to the famous herp legend himself !!! Hurry and post the pics of the FL pines , btw one of those pics is clearly a hand drawn snake track haha jk
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Greg Theos
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by Greg Theos »

Kerry, thank you for taking the time to complete the test. Your results are posted below.

Your score: 0.0%

1) Pigmy
2) EDB
3) E. hog
5) Rough green
7) E. coachwhip

That's all for now.
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-EJ
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by -EJ »

They actually all look the same to me... I'm guessing that if you have that kind of field experience that you have the photos with the snakes... I suspect that you are probably the only person who could actually tell... although there are some on this forum who seem to spend as much time in the field and pay attention to minute detail.

I couldn't venture a guess in this case.
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FLjeep74
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by FLjeep74 »

Greg, I realize I'm dredging this up from the depths of the forum, but thought I would rehash this subject.

Last weekend I spent some time on a dirt road that I hadn't been to in years. The one thing I remember is the amazingly large number of snake tracks across this road, which is maybe a mile or so long. Things haven't changed much and we saw tracks almost immediately upon getting onto the road. I'm going to head back there this weekend and O.C.D. and clear the tracks and drive the road for a while.. just curious as to if a lot of the crossings are repeatedly found at the same place (there was one place where 3 different tracks crossed- could have been the same ONE snake though crossing 3 seperate times).

Any updates on your answers? I'm really curious to see the full photos and info on your post.

Here are a few from this past weekend.


Image

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If anybody else would like to chime in that would be great also.

Thanks,

Mike
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salamanderhunter
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by salamanderhunter »

Yeah...greg abandoned his post. :lol: Often when you see snake tracks at the same place, or 'superimposed', it's the result of males scent trailing females...
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Serpentes
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by Serpentes »

They're great pics. I want to know what #11 is, looks like a bulldozer!
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Greg Theos
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by Greg Theos »

I think I posted most of the unedited pics in this post:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1177&hilit=thelonius

Sorry, I don't think I ever clarified in either post what these were:
#9-Eastern Hog
#10-Racer/Coachwhip
#11-Eastern hog
#12-Rough Green

Salamander-that's my impression, too. I saw several of those last spring.

Mike-your first pic looks like a classic racer/coachwhip drag. I cannot distinguish between the two. KW claimed that he "almost" could, but I don't see how. I have observed both snakes crawling across sand roads many, many times (sometimes right next to eachother) and cannot note even the slightest difference. Do you have any other pics of that second drag? It looks like a fairly large snake, and it doesn't look like a racer/coach/rat/edb to me, but the angle makes it hard to tell. It's possibly a Pine snake. Your 3rd/4th pics look like they were made by a dainty green snake, though I suppose it could be any number of small snakes. The only small snakes I have observed leaving drags are pigmies, rough greens and a single neonate racer.

Serpentes-that one really baffled me. Fortunately, I found the snake that left that trail. I had seen a couple of drags just like that one a few days prior and the "not knowing" was driving me nuts.

-Greg
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FLjeep74
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by FLjeep74 »

Greg, here is the only other photo I have of that larger track.

Image

We spent this weekend cruising that road from about 7:30 till about 1:30pm, both Sat and Sun (today).

I'll post more about it, but was quite interesting..and believe it or not, fun! ...and a lifer with a track that I wouldn't have guessed in a million years would come from an animal that size!

Mike
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PNWHerper
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Re: Think you can ID snake tracks? Take the test...

Post by PNWHerper »

Greg, I am glad you are recording such a diversity. Cool stuff! :thumb:
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