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Making a Rare Appearance

Redbelly snakes first show since 40

By Bryn Nelson | Staff Writer

November 23, 2003

Red-bellied snake on the grounds of Brookhaven National Lab in Upton. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Photo/Jeremy Feinberg)

It's been a good year for the creepy-crawlies at Brookhaven National Laboratory. By early October, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service herpetologist Jeremy Feinberg had already tallied 24 species of amphibians and reptiles found on laboratory grounds.

Make that 25.

Feinberg was checking beneath a plywood coverboard near the lab's main entrance when he spotted two Long Island residents that hadn't been officially heard from in more than 60 years: Northern redbelly snakes. The snakes had gone unreported on the Island since a 1940 sighting in Calverton, with the exception of an unconfirmed report to the state in 1999. Feinberg said the two newcomers bore distinctive color variations akin to multi-patterned puppies born into the same litter: One snake appeared reddish brown with a bright red belly; its red-bellied sibling boasted a blackish back.

"They were really young. That's good, because it shows that there's a reproducing population," he said. "These are not just two fluke animals."

The redbelly snake is common elsewhere around the state, but Feinberg said the nocturnal creature has always been considered rare on Long Island, unlike the closely related Northern brown snake. Why the discrepancy? "We do tend to have pretty sandy soil," said Hofstra University herpetologist Russell Burke, noting the sandy habitat influences much of what is -- or isn't -- found on Long Island. "I don't know, but I would presume that has some impact on redbellies as well."

Burke conceded that researchers know little about the secretive snake, and that any thoughts on its scarcity amount to little more than speculation. "It's certainly a weird distribution," he said. "I've certainly lifted a lot of pieces of plywood in Suffolk County, and I've never seen one."

Some answers may come from beneath the plywood coverboards that Feinberg has set out to entice more redbelly snakes, though the chilly weather has likely spurred the reptiles to slither toward their underground winter havens, called hibernacula.

With any luck next year, they may follow the lead of another snake previously considered rare on the lab grounds: the Eastern hognose. An intensive survey over the past year has detected nearly two dozen of the hognose snakes, famous for their fake death scenes. "I would say now that hognose snakes are common at the lab, which I wouldn't have said to you a year ago," Feinberg said.

Five of the captured hognose snakes were fitted with radio transmitters in the spring, and Feinberg was able to track three of them as they moved from grassland to forested areas to avoid the summer heat. But technical difficulties and fading transmitter signals scuttled the research project in the fall, leaving unanswered the question of where the snakes go when winter approaches.

At least Feinberg has other reptiles to keep him busy. As part of a separate tracking and reintroduction effort, Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery & Aquarium director Norman Soule donated 16 spotted turtles to the lab this fall. Researchers released the turtles in two wetland areas on lab property, outfitting six of them with radio transmitters before bidding adieu. From the tracking signals, expected to last up to six months, Feinberg said it's clear the turtles have already hunkered down for the winter in burrows of mud, leaves or grass.

By spring, however, they should be ready to venture further afoot -- very, very slowly.