August 13, 2003
Rattler eludes ramblers
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
The elusive Eastern Massasauga rattle snake once again refused to show fang or rattle Saturday morning during a Rattler Ramble walk sponsored by the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy.
Guided by herpetologist Bill Gillingham, 15 attendees young and old hiked nearly three miles of trail in the Skegemog Lake Wildlife Area. Gillingham lectured on trees, rocks and other creepy-crawlies he found, such as a millipede and a red-backed salamander, as he searched under rocks, railroad ties and logs for snakes.
Leaping off the trail repeatedly to gently turn up potential snake hiding places - always returning them to their original position - he hoped that this year would be the year he found a Massasauga. Instead, he found two garter snakes, two northern ringneck snakes and one ribbon snake. Plus some discarded snakeskins and one mouse nest.
"There are 18 snakes in Michigan, 17 non-poisonous ones," said Gillingham, a part-time math teacher at a community college and a former high school science teacher. "The one is the Massasauga and they are two to three feet in length and the females give live birth with five to 20 eggs in a clutch."
Jerry Heimin of Platte Lake attended the walk hoping for a glimpse of the Massasauga. He also appreciated the chance to explore the Skegemog Lake Wildlife Area, a habitat the avid fisher and hunter had never explored.
"I've been tromping around the woods of Michigan for 60 years and I haven't seen one yet," Heimin said. "I've seen a hog nose snake and thought it was one because of the diamond patterns."
Gillingham has led the walks for the conservancy for the past five summers. He and his wife, Gail, visit her parents in Alden every summer and he likes to keep his serpentine wits sharp even while on vacation.
Gillingham works with snakes and reptiles full time at his Great Lakes Serpentarium in Lodi, Calif. This facility offers a variety of educational programs and he also breeds snakes and reptiles for sale.
Steeped in a love of reptiles, he regaled the walkers with stories of the habits, habitats, food and breeding behaviors of the snakes he found. As walkers climbed over a mound in the path, he told them they could be walking on snake eggs.
"A couple of years ago in this mound, I found six snakes eggs already hatched," he recalled. "I dug a little deeper and found six more just laid by a milk snake. She put them in the mound because it stays warm there."
The Great Lakes Regional Land Conservancy sponsors about 40 hikes a year at various wildlife areas throughout the region. Topics range from birding to wildflowers to reptiles and the hikes are meant to both educate participants both about the topic at hand and the wildlife area itself.
"A most wonderful thing is that so many area naturalists donate their time to lead the walks," said Glen Chown, executive director of the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy.
The trail on the Skegemog Lake Wildlife Area is an old railroad bed, straight and relatively well groomed. The old narrow gauge track was formerly used to run logs to the lake and on to Elk Rapids. The 3,000-acre wildlife area is now owned by the state and managed by the conservancy and Chown considers it a jewel, one of many in the area available thanks to land preservation efforts by residents.
"This area supports bobcat and bear and eagles," he said. "It has seven miles of contiguous frontage on Lake Skegemog and is one of the most extraordinary wildlife areas in the state, a world class wildlife area."