The last of the Illinois swamp rattlers

 Back in April, I was invited to assist University of Illinois researchers in searching for eastern massasauga rattlesnakes down in Clinton County (IL) for continued demography research.  Never in a million years did I ever think I'd get the opportunity to see one of these incredible animals in Illinois - not just because they are exceedingly rare but because those in charge of managing the population are understandably tight-lipped about location specifics and whatnot.  I was legitimately geeking out.  My sole experience with a "wild" Illinois massasauga previous to this entailed seeing a recently-caught captive at the Grove when I was a kid back in the late 80s or early 90s (in fact there may have been two animals in the same enclosure but my memories are a bit fuzzy).  That one was one of the last of the Cook County ratters.

Two weeks later I was down at the research base and tech housing with a couple of other invitees, meeting all of the young researchers and getting prepped to hit the fields.  What struck me most was just how little habitat these snakes have available to them.  Years ago when there were multiple massasauga populations in the state, the Clinton County population was regarded as the best.  But that's relative to populations that were so small and threatened that they consequently disappeared.  In Clinton County, the population has been widely split apart into mini-populations by roads, agricultural fields, and a big lake.  In fact it was stunning to know that these animals could persist in these tiny shards of habitat.  

Carefully transecting the first locale, we all stepped very gingerly, keeping our eyes peeled for massasaugas as they emerged from the crayfish burrows they utilized to bask in the late morning sun.  At this time of year, the vegetation consisted mostly of dried prairie grasses, sometimes in thick clusters.  A few bits of greenery were poking through, including rattlesnake master.  We were all spread apart (as spread apart as we could be at such a small site) when one of the techs announced that he had found a massasauga.  Everyone made their way over - the other techs in a careful and deliberate fashion, and me nearly tripping and falling into the mud.  I was ecstatic.  When I reached the tech, he pointed down at the snake.  

I didn't see it.

Scanning the tangled mass of dried grasses below me, I thought and may have even asked out loud, "Where?"  The tech pointed his snake hook down in the direction of the snake.  A few more seconds of looking, and...THERE IT IS!  Barely visible was a two to three inch section of massasauga showing through the dried brown grass.  The tech was good.  I would have walked right over it, I think.  I now had the picture etched in my head to improve my approach at finding massasaugas.  This first snake was carefully collected for processing at a later time.

There is a massasauga here

Convening at a sauga spotting

Not long later, another massasauga - a large adult female.   A healthy, husky animal, coiled on a raised berm in the dappled sunlight.  It was stunning.  In the frontier years, this animal would have been killed immediately.  Now, one of a very few left in the state, it was being handled very carefully.  A minute or two later, and an announcement that an eastern box turtle was caught rang out.  And maybe ten minutes later, I passed a tech double-fisting box turtles.  I guess this was a good site for those too!  As it turns out, box turtle research is also occurring here so these too were collected for processing before being released on-site.

Large female

Young adult female boxie

Later, we moved on to another site nearby.  This second site was decidedly more "remote" and difficult to access, and it supplied us with even more massasaugas.  The first or second snake found here turned out to be especially light colored and clean, perhaps freshly shed.  It was the only snake I saw in situ here, as the others were found as I was off on the other end of the field, searching.  I did stumble upon a couple of box turtles and a bald eagle skull (no, I did not take it).  I ended up losing contact with the others until I wandered toward the sounds of a pair of techs chatting.  A few hours later, we convened at the rendezvous spot and moved on to the final location, which was located very close to a busy public park.  It seemed doubtful that a rattlesnake could find peace in a place like this, and as it turns out very few are actually documented here.  One of the last ones seen here was killed by a park goer a few years prior.  Yet we did find a couple more box turtles here, before heading back to our vehicles and then to base.

An easier in situ massasauga 

A particularly light colored animal, in situ

In situ box turtle

In-hand

Another box turtle

The real work took place back at the base.  As part of the ongoing study, each massasauga is PIT-tagged, measured, and swabbed for possible Ophidiomyces infection (snake fungal disease).  There were eight snakes total!  Not a bad day for 2022.

A Fowler's toad at base camp

Two techs measure a massasauga's length

Measuring a box turtle

Implanting a PIT tag

It is an atrocity that these beautiful animals are mostly gone.

I'll be completely honest in saying that the entire process looked to be pretty stressful on the animals.  Between being caught and carried around for a few hours, each snake is (carefully) handled as briefly as possible although it still seems significant.  BUT I'm not a herpetologist and this was my first rodeo.  The head of the project has been carrying out this study for decades and I should trust his method.  Ultimately the animals are placed back into the exact same spot they were found in, hopefully to reproduce and make more massasaugas.  

The overall consensus is that the massasauga isn't doing well.  There simply isn't enough space allocated for them.  Snake fungal disease has taken its toll on the population, and people still kill them when they see them.  Factor in natural predation, winter kills, and other uncontrollable factors, and you have an estimated expiration date for the Illinois animals (possibly during my lifetime but hopefully not).  In my opinion, the loss of the massasauga throughout mostly all of the state and Midwest is one of the most devastating losses in the natural world, up there with the passenger pigeon and American elm.  To me, no other snake better embodies the spirit of the prairie than the eastern massasauga.  I was honored to be in their presence and humbled by the experience.

Not a massasauga!  Bycatch - a common garter snake, and yours truly.  Photo by Jeremy Schumacher.