It took Jeff Dragon about an hour and a half of clomping by means of muck and woods to seek out one thing that’s been lacking in New Jersey for almost 50 years: a queen snake.
And, it was simply dangling off a bush earlier than his eyes like a necklace on a sale rack.
“I was so excited I was hyperventilating,” stated Dragon, a herpetologist for the state’s Pinelands Commission.
And, sure, he notes, Dragon is his actual final identify and never one made he made up for his job.
Dragon’s journey started, actually, after seeing what the cat had dragged in.
What’s a queen snake?
The queen snake, final verified as current within the state in 1977, or 47 years in the past, is listed as endangered by the state and plenty of believed it extirpated, which means it was thought to now not exist in New Jersey, till Dragon’s discover on April 14.
Queen snakes (Regina septemvittata) are nonvenomous and develop 15″ to 3 toes lengthy. They are coloured inexperienced to brown. Historically, they have been unusual among the many roughly 23 species of snake identified to be current in New Jersey.
Those queen snakes current had usually been discovered alongside a slender ribbon subsequent to the Delaware River, from Trenton to Gloucester County. The snakes are choosy about their meals, and feed almost solely on newly molted, soft-shell crayfish dwelling in clear streams and rivers with rocky bottoms.
Queen snakes might be discovered looking within the water for crayfish, basking on the shoreline, hiding beneath rocks, or hanging from limbs of bushes that dangle over water.
They will not be listed by Pennsylvania as threatened, however are thought-about “vulnerable” by the nonprofit NatureServe, which many states depend on for information about species. Queen snakes are listed as “critically imperiled” by NatureServe in New York, Delaware, and New Jersey.
Where was the queen snake discovered?
Dragon, 37, received’t give the precise location the place he discovered the snake in worry that amateurs will go “herping” for extra. He will say solely that it was present in Gloucester County, and never within the Pinelands area.
“I have traveled around the U.S. and go on what we call herping trips, sort of like birding but for reptiles and amphibians,” Dragon stated. “So I’ve been looking for reptiles basically my whole life.”
Dragon began his quest for a queen snake in 2021 after being contacted by a pal. The pal had discovered a queen snake in his basement and despatched an image to Dragon.
“I thought, ‘Oh, my god, someone is playing a trick on me,’” Dragon recalled. “This is a queen snake.”
Dragon rushed to the pal’s home, solely to seek out that the pal had launched the snake. Two subsequent instances, the pal discovered a lifeless neonate, or child snake. Those couldn’t be documented as official finds as a result of their origins couldn’t be verified. Dragon suspected the pal’s cat had caught the snakes.
But Dragon couldn’t let it go. He continued his search in streams close to the pal’s home. But the searches proved fruitless.
How was the queen snake discovered?
“I started my search again this year,” Dragon stated. “I like to get in before the vegetation gets thick but it’s still warm enough for the snakes to be out. So I was like this is the window.”
After about 90 minutes of walking by means of heavy brush he noticed a queen snake “right in front of my face on a shrub and grabbed it.”
Dragon took an image and documented the placement by means of GPS. He notified Kris Schantz, principal zoologist for New Jersey Fish and Wildlife, a part of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. He launched the snake, a feminine. It was too small to tag with a radio transmitter. Custom transmitters are required to trace the snakes, Dragon stated.
“The state is now in the process of relisting it as endangered and rediscovered after more than 45 years,” Dragon stated. “So I’m pretty excited.”
He fears that poachers will begin to search the queen snake.
“Herping has become a very popular hobby,” Dragon stated.
Dragon stated it’s a very good signal {that a} queen snake has been verified. That means the water is clear sufficient to help crayfish, and the snakes. He hopes an effort might be made to seek out extra queen snakes and monitor them by means of radio telemetry.
“It’s now one of our most endangered species in the entire state,” Dragon stated. “I think it’s time to find some more information about them, and how they behave.”
Exciting information
“We are absolutely excited,” stated Schantz, the state zoologist. “It was believed to have been extirpated.”
Schantz stated queen snakes had been listed most not too long ago as endangered by the state simply in case of such a discovery.
She stated that focused searches had been carried out in New Jersey during the last 20 years, however that no queen snakes had ever been discovered. It wasn’t till Dragon’s pal — and his cat — started turning up lifeless snakes that actual hope emerged.
“We couldn’t verify where those snakes had come from,” Schantz stated, noting that somebody may have introduced them in from out of state. She credit Dragon’s dedication.
“Jeff and I just kept talking about it,” Schantz recalled. “So Jeff went out and really hunkered down and searched and spent hours out there. He finally found this female.”
She stated officers will proceed to work on monitoring down and documenting extra queen snakes.
“I think it’s important to understand that the queen snake’s range in the U.S. is roughly the Eastern third of the U.S. and extends into Canada,” Schantz added. “But in about half of that U.S. range, they’re considered imperiled or vulnerable. It is definitely a species of concern for an area greater than just New Jersey.”
