August 2007 GGA Meeting Notes

The August ’07 meeting was our annual “snake show”, held in McDaniel Farm Park in Duluth, Georgia in a huge pavilion provided by our host and guest speaker.

We had 78 people and 1 dog in attendance, as well as some slithery participants.
The roster listed 30 new members under 19 geonicks and 36 old members under 34 geonicks.

Erik opened the meeting by welcoming the attendees, and providing some info on upcoming meetings, then introducing our guest speaker: Dr Mark Patterson.

Dr. Mark spoke a bit about geocaching, as he’s involved in authorizing those in Gwinnett County Parks. He said the county is moving toward a 1 year permit for caches, as in some parks the demand to place new caches is so high that some of the older ones would have to be phased out to allow the new ones.

Dr. Mark’s primary presentation, though, was about the venomous spiders and snakes we might encounter while geocaching.

It was interesting to learn that all spiders are venomous, but only two need to cause us concern. The Brown Recluse is a small spider with a fiddle-shaped design on its back. It’s often found in damp leather hiking boots or shoes. The Black Widow has a red hour-glass design on its back, and can be found in woodpiles, rockpiles, rotting logs, and (yikes!) under toilet seats. Both spiders can also be found in geocaches that are not tightly sealed. Dr. Mark had preserved (i.e. dead) examples of both that were passed around.

There are 44 species of snakes in Georgia. One snake is toxic (which means don’t eat it), that being the ring neck snake. Only a few snakes are venomous – the Coral Snake, and vipers like Copperheads and Timber Rattlers. Dr. Mark will be glad to identify particular snakes if you send a photo to him at gaherpsoc@bellsouth.net. Be sure to include the county where it was found and any descriptive info that might help.

Dr. Mark brought along several snakes that he displayed to the audience: The Black Racer (can move up to 8 mph), the Black Rat Snake (with it’s checkerboard belly markings), the Red Rat Snake, or Corn Snake (with a belly that looks like Indian Corn) were the first brought out. These were followed by other common and harmless snakes we might encounter: The Pine Snake, the Coach Whip, the King Snake (which eats other snakes), and the Hog Nose Snake.

The last snake Dr. Mark displayed stayed in it’s cage – a Copperhead. Dr. Mark stressed that snakes won’t harm us if we leave them alone, and killing one will only aid the rodent population.

Because of the fairly lengthy presentation on a very hot day we skipped the usual raffle, but did enjoy socializing, and those who stayed late enjoyed the watermelon provided by apeterbilt75 and water brought by Joebids.
Event logs and photos can be viewed here.

Check out the pix that were emailed to me. I posted them in a new log for the event. 4 1/2' Timber Rattler killed by our White County Asst Fire Chief, here in Cleveland.

Pity he had to kill it, but seeing the playground equipment in the background I can understand the concern.

That looks just like the snake we saw at Elachee: short fat body, little copper colored head.

~erik~

Sounds like I missed a good 'un. Dang.

Check out Martin FF's log on my Towaliga Point cache.

Oh, and the Black Widow spider's hourglass marking is on the belly, not the back.

See y'all this Sat!