Checking on hibernating snakes

Publié lejanvier 20, 2021parOjibway Massasauga|Crotale massasauga, Actualités et événements, Rétablissement des reptiles des prairies Ojibway

What is the Ojibway Prairie Reptile Recovery Program? The Ojibway Prairie Complex and Greater Park Ecosystem (OPCGPE) in Ontario’s Windsor-LaSalle region is home to several reptile species threatened by urban development, habitat fragmentation and road mortality, including eastern foxsnakes, Butler’s gartersnakes, Blanding’s turtles and a critically endangered population of massasauga rattlesnakes. The Ojibway Prairie Reptile Recovery Team (OPRREC) works to protect, recover and monitor these species.

In this video, Kelly Antaya, field technician for the Ojibway Prairie Reptile Recovery program in Windsor-Essex region, Ontario, uses a borescope camera to check on the eastern garter snakes hibernating in one of our artificial hibernaculum.

WPC’s hibernation habitat study is just one part of a larger effort to prepare for an eastern massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) reintroduction. Snakes have a unique natural history and complex needs to survive the winter, including requiring appropriate overwintering burrows. The perfect burrow will allow snakes to get below the frost line, and be deep enough that they can access the water table to prevent desiccation while hibernating.

Read more about WPC’s hibernation habitat study by clicking here.

What to know more about how the artificial hibernacula are built and installed? Watch the video below!

Kelly Antaya

Field Technician – Ojibway Prairie Reptil Recovery

Kelly started working with Wildlife Preservation Canada as an intern, and is now a field technician. She has worked in reptile conservation throughout Ontario, and has also assisted on population studies of skinks and snakes on islands in northern Madagascar. Kelly is a graduate of Fleming College, where she received her diploma in ecosystem management.