PA Envirothon Reptiles AWARE
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1.
Black Rat
Snake
Black Rat Snakes are found in forests, fields, marshes, and farmland. In the
Spring and Fall, these snakes are very active during the day; in the Summer they
are more active at night.
Rat Snakes are skillfull climbers. They will climb high in trees to find prey. They
will also hide in old woodpecker holes. Black Rat Snakes are known to climb
rafters in barns and similar buildings.
2. Bog Turtle
ENDANGERED The primary reason for the bog turtle's status is the draining or
other destruction of its habitat. Because bog turtles have always been considered
the rarest of North American turtles, they are highly valued by turtle fanciers in
this country, and possibly twice as much overseas. Many, therefore, have been
illegally removed for commercial purposes. Since their habitats are widely
separated, other turtles are not likely to move in and replace those removed.
Bog turtles live in relatively open portions of sphagnum bogs, swamps or marshy
meadows with slow moving, spring fed streams or spring runs with soft bottoms.
Common
3. Snapping
Turtle
In the wild, common snapping turtles are found mainly in ponds, canals and
streams .
Although they prefer slow moving and shallow waters, snappers can be found
living on the edge of deeper lakes or rivers - like the ones around the Great Lakes
in North America.
4. Eastern Box turtle
Eastern box turtles are amazingly versatile animals and inhabit a wide
variety of habitats from wooded swamps to dry, grassy fields. Although
these turtles can live in a variety of different habitats, they are most
abundant and healthy in moist forested areas with plenty of underbrush.
Although not aquatic, box turtles will often venture into shallow water at
the edge of ponds or streams or in puddles. Box turtles do not travel far,
usually living within an area less than 200m in diameter. In cold climates
they hibernate through the winter in loose soil at a depth of up to two feet.
5.
Eastern Garter
Snake
The genus is so far ranging due to its unparticular diet and adaptability to
different biomes and landforms, with varying proximity to water.
However, in the western part of North America, these snakes are more
water loving than in the eastern portion. Northern populations hibernate in
larger groups than southern ones.
6.
Eastern Hognose
Snake
Eastern hognose snakes prefer woodlands with sandy soil, fields, farmland
and coastal areas.
7.
Eastern
Massasauga
ENDANGERED Never common in Pennsylvania, massasaugas now may
be found in only half their historic sites, due to dam building, highway
construction, urbanization, forest succession, surface mining and
agricultural activity.
Massasaugas require relatively open old field and wet meadow habitat
with low lying areas of saturated soil and higher, drier ground nearby. In
Pennsylvania, this combination of wet and dry habitat is found only in
relict prairie terrain of certain western counties.
8.
Eastern Milk
Snake
It lives in a variety of local habitats such as fields, woodlands, rocky
hillsides and river bottoms. It often occurs on farms, and sometimes it
wanders into houses.
9.
10.
Eastern
Smooth
Green Snake
Kirtland's
Snake
Moist grassy areas in meadows, marshes, and in fields along forest
edges.
ENDANGERED Kirtland's snake continues to be a very elusive species,
with most Pennsylvania records from within, or around the greater
Pittsburgh area. Other, more localized records from Jefferson and
Westmoreland counties suggest a wider distribution in the western part
of the state.
Kirtland's snake prefers open damp habitats, such as marsh edges, wet
fields and pastures, and along creeks, canals, sluggish ponds and ditches.
Prominent occurrences of this species are recorded from such habitat
types in and around large cities.
11. Map Turtle
Common map turtles are generally found in mid-sized to large rivers with soft
bottoms and many areas for crawling out of the water to bask. They are
occasionally found in backwater sloughs or marshes of large rivers as well.
Midland
12. Painted
Turtle
need fresh waters with soft bottoms, basking sites, and aquatic vegetation.
They find their homes in shallow waters with slow-moving currents, such as
creeks, marshes, ponds, and the shores of lakes. seek especially quiet waters,
usually shores and coves. They favor shallows that contain dense vegetation
and have an unusual toleration of pollution
Northern
13. Brown
Snake
This snake lives in moist to wet areas in woodland, prairies, marshes, and in
the margins of swamps, bogs and ponds. In areas of human habitation it
sometimes occurs in vacant lots and gardens.
14.
Northern
Coal Skink
more humid portions of wooded hillsides with abundant leaf litter or loose
stones are favorite habitats. Coal Skinks' habitat may also include areas around
springs and rocky bluffs overlooking creek valleys. If pursued, they will not
hesitate to take refuge in shallow water, going to the bottom and hiding under
stones or debris.
15.
Northern
Copperhead
venomous!
The Northern Copperhead lives in rocky and wooded parts of hilly and
mountainous areas. It often is found in piles of rotting wood slabs or sawdust
that remain from former sawmills. It often occurs on farms, and sometimes
people find it in towns or cities.
Northern
16. Ringneck
Snake
Sheltered places in moist areas, typically in or near woods.
17.
18.
Northern
water Snake
Red Bellied
Turtle
Lakes, ponds, swamps, marshes, streams, and rivers.
THREATENED The limited habitat required by red-bellied turtles is under
threat from industrial uses, the demand for property in a heavily urbanized
area of the state, drainage or filing of wetlands and pollution.
Relatively large, deep creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes and marshes with ample
basking sites are preferred. The species tolerates brackish water conditions,
but is usually a freshwater turtle, found close to the coast from southern
Massachusetts to northeastern North Carolina.
Red19. eared
Slider
inhabit most freshwater systems such as lakes, streams, swamps, ponds and rivers.
They prefer the quiet waters of marshes, sluggish rivers and ponds that have soft
bottoms with numerous basking sites and an abundance of aquatic vegetation.
They are faithful to home ranges, leaving only to search for mates, nest and
hibernate. Even if the waterways in their home ranges begin to evaporate during
the summer, the sliders remain. Only after the waterway is completely dry and
conditions become unbearable, will they migrate to better areas
20.
Ribbon
Snake
Rough
21. Green
Snake
22.
Weedy wet areas such as edges of streams and bodies of water, marshes, bogs and
ponds, and in wet meadows.
THREATENED This species is recorded in Pennsylvania only from southern
Chester County and Greene County. While the Chester County population
persists, there has been no confirmation of its historical occurrence in Greene
County. Earlier records indicating a more widespread distribution were probably
based on misidentified smooth green snakes.
This snake prefers moist habitats such as wet meadows and the borders of lakes,
marshes and woodland streams. It is frequently found in woody vegetation
growing along or overhanging water, sometimes up to 20 feet above ground.
Spotted
Turtle
inhabit a variety of semi-aquatic or in other words, shallow, fresh-water areas such
as flooded forests, marshes, wet meadows, bogs and woodland streams in southern
Canada (Ontario) and the Eastern U.S.: the eastern Great Lakes and east of the
Appalachian Mountains.[3]
23.
Wood
Turtle
resides in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. Aquatic habitats are required
for mating,feeding, and hibernation, while terrestrial habitats are used for egg
laying and foraging. Freshwater streams, brooks, creeks, or rivers that are relatively
remote provide the habitat needed by these turtles. Consequently, wood turtles are
often found within streams
containing native brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). These tributaries are
characteristically clean, free of litter and pollutants, and occur within undisturbed
uplands
such as fields, meadows, or forests. Open fields and thickets of alder (Alnus spp.),
greenbrier (Smilax spp.), or multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) are favored basking
habitats. Lowland, mid-successional forests dominated by oaks (Quercus spp.),
black
birch (Betula lenta), and red maple (Acer rubrum) may also be used. Wood turtles
may also be found on abandoned railroad beds or agricultural fields and pastures.
Nevertheless, wood turtle habitats typically contain few roads and are often over
one-half of a mile away from developed or populated areas (Zappalorti et al. 1984).
Individuals from relict or declining populations are also sighted in areas of
formally good habitat that have been fragmented by roads and development