CARCNET 22 Sept 2007

At the last minute I decided to attend the CARCNET General Meeting held in Kingston, Ontario. It was my original intent to drop in for one day's worth of meetings and deliver a young albino bull snake to Dan. But as it end up happening, I had an accommodations offer that made the CARCNET function affordable.

Dave Green gave a talk on the work he has been doing and as the last lecture I heard him give, it was amazing. This man has two callings one in the field of herpetology and one as a speaker! I admire his abilities to stand in front of people and appear comfortable and give an educational and entertaining talk that even he seems to enjoy giving. That is a gift in itself!

As with all herpetological functions, the lectures are informative and to try and do it justice in a few lines would be foolish. There were many grad students giving up-to-date information regarding the work they were currently pursuing in the field. Anyone interested in conservation or husbandry can learn so much from these talks.
As part of the meeting, there was a banquet on the final evening and as it happened we had two birthdays that evening. The young lady depicted in this picture had a birthday and that was announced by her proud parents, and Ryan Bolton, one of the university students who gave a talk on the work he was doing regarding turtle nest. Ryan had a personal serenade by a couple of devoted herpers and though it was amusing to most, Ryan I think had a different perspective! He was a good sport and suffered through our poor rendition of Happy Birthday. Best wish!

Sciensational Snakes was at the function for part of a day and had a display of some of Canada's native species. They had a nice selection of turtles and snakes on display including a stunning red sided garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) and stinkpots (Sternotherus odoratus) which I am partial to. One of the staff was holding a bull snake (Pituophis catenifer) and I thought this was an ideal version of a snake-skin belt!

All in all it was a wonderful way to spend a couple of days. Would recommend this to anyone want to further their knowledge in the herpetological field!