South FL: Any interest in going herping in the Everglades?

Hi,

That's actually been bothering me lately. :weirdface

I was waching a tv show which mentioned some snakes actually being poisonous as opposed to venemous owing to their diet.

But my google-fu is seriously weak and I cannot find any actual scientific literature to back it up.

I did find this on answers.com;

Quote:

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Venomous snakes include several families of snakes and do not constitute a formal classification group used in taxonomy. The term poisonous snake is mostly incorrect - poison is inhaled or ingested whereas venom is injected. (There are... two examples - Rhabdophis sequesters toxins from the toads it eats then secretes them from nuchal glands to ward off predators, and a small population of garter snakes in Oregon retains enough toxin in their liver from the newts they eat to be effectively poisonous to local small predators such as crows and foxes.)

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Kind of threw me for a loop.


dr del

I have to work darn it

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

That's actually been bothering me lately. :weirdface

I was waching a tv show which mentioned some snakes actually being poisonous as opposed to venemous owing to their diet.

But my google-fu is seriously weak and I cannot find any actual scientific literature to back it up.

I did find this on answers.com;



Kind of threw me for a loop.


dr del

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Very interesting...Thanks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DutchHerp

Poisonous snakes in Florida huh... :rolleyes:
:8:

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Poisonous, venomous, whatever. When you feel like throwing up are you feeling nauseous or nauseated? (Don't look it up!) :D:D

It was explained to me that this forum prefers the potentially more accurate term venomous, but after spending years and years reading the word "poisonous" in all the books I've read and park literature, it's going to stick.

This conversation reminds me of a very cool spot that used to be out in Big Cypress, that was absolutely crawling with snakes. I had accidentally dropped an exposed roll of film (film??) while shooting these snakes from a boardwalk, and I had to jump down into the muddy pit to get it back. So first I had to look carefully to see if any of the snakes were poi... venomous. But they were just water snakes :gj:

Unfortunately, they redid the boardwalk and I'm not sure if that spot is still there. It's on the way to everything else, though, so we'll stop for a quick look.

Yeah, I'm just very anal about poisonous and venomous. There is a clear difference between the two, and there are poisonous snakes.

i won't be able to make it. that is the weekend my wife's family is coming over for her b-day.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DutchHerp

Yeah, I'm just very anal about poisonous and venomous. There is a clear difference between the two, and there are poisonous snakes.

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I never really thought about it, but yes, there is a difference. Either way, though, I know not to touch them out in the wild.

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Originally Posted by Lucas339

i won't be able to make it. that is the weekend my wife's family is coming over for her b-day.

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Well, for those of you that can't make it, I'll set up another date next month, or maybe earlier, and we'll head down south to the national park.

sounds great! let me know what the date is in advance so i can plan for it.....i need to get some boots!

I grew up in Florida, near tampa, and I never did get to do down to the everglades.

I wish I could go :(

o tampa.....how i miss the city!!