Hello Fellow Snake Lover,
My name is Robert Shields and I am a Wildlife Biologist in California. I specialize in Herpetology & Ornithology. On several recent reptile surveys in the high plain territories of California, we’ve found snake sheds that belonged to protected species. On one occasion, we only found sheds and no live animals. Since we were able to positively identify the species by the shed we were able to determine presence of the species in that area. Many Biologists who do not specialize in Herpetology would probably have not ID the sheds and missed determining species presence. This would have been a missed opportunity to protect the habitat and individuals of that population.
With this in mind, I’ve embarked on an adventure to create an APP with a dichotomous key for the identification of snake sheds of US & Canada. I will also include many of the species involved in the pet trade. The other group I will include are venomous snakes from around the world, since a growing number are imported into our country for the pet trade, museum specimens and research.
This is where you can come in to help. I am in need of sheds of all North American species and subspecies. I also would like sheds of the non-native snakes. If one of your animals sheds a complete or almost complete shed, just place it in a zip-loc bag and write the species name and origin on the bag with a Sharpie pen. If you get several sheds of the same species, but different specimens, include those also.
North American Native Species:
-Write on zip-loc bag the species, original county of collection (if known) & state of origin
-approximate size of specimen, and if known, gender
- Write your name
Non-native Species both non-venomous and venomous:
-Write on zip-loc bag the species & country of origin
-approximate size of specimen, and if known, gender
- Write your name
If you are a business, museum, non-profit center, Herp society or other, I will be including a link to your website(if you approve) under every species that you send me complete shed from. Individuals who send sheds will be acknowledged under every species that they provide (If that person approves).
Once you get a collection of sheds or just the species that you have, contact me and I will work out postage to deliver the sheds to me.
I sincerely hope you will help in this adventure of mine!! If you have any questions, write me at
snakesheds@gmail.com
Cheers,
Robert Shields
Wildlife Biologist