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We will be accepting Cash, Check or Credit Card at the sale. Current membership is required to bid as your membership number is your bidding number.

If you are interested in donating to the sale, or have any additional questions, please contact Rae at WSS@mnherpsoc.org. We can arrange for prior drop off or have you bring your items the night of the sale.

Please no donations of live animals. We do not support the purchase or sale of animals at auction because it encourages impulse buying and is often not in the best interest of the animal.

Please do not bring any large tanks or set ups into the sale. Instead bring a picture and description of any large items you wish to donate. They can be bid on and the buyer will coordinate with the seller to pickup. You are welcome to bring the larger items and leave them in your car to hand off night of, but please be aware any unsold or unclaimed large items will be yours to take back home with you. MHS will not be able to house these items.

Hope to see you all there!!

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As part of this process, they are looking for good homes for many of their animals!

On Sunday, December 1 from 1 to 5pm, they will be having an animal adoption day, along with a zoo exhibit and infrastructure sale at the zoo. Not all of the zoo’s animals will be available for adoption. They are going to be continuing their traveling reptile programs, so they are saving many animals, but will have a large number of animals available for adoption as well.

Some of these animals would make good pets, but many of them will require the care of more advanced animal keepers. Venomous snakes and crocodilians will not be available for adoption as they will be going to other zoological institutions. There will be adoption fees for many of the animals that are going out for adoption. Animals can be picked up on the day of the event, or arrangements can be made for you to come and pick them up over the 10 days following the event during regular business hours.

Come prepared with snake bags, or other suitable containers to transport anyone you might like to take home!

The Zoo address is 6750 W. Frontage Road, Suite 402, Medford, Minnesota. You are welcome to contact them with any questions at mnradzoo@aol.com.     

A brief walk on a paved path leads through beautiful woods from the parking lot to the front door. (People with mobility issues or large items can be driven to the door and dropped off before parking.) Members may enjoy walking on the extensive boardwalk that winds through the wetlands before meetings.

We will meet in the main (upper) level of the building, which features large windows overlooking the nature preserve, a gas fireplace, a full kitchen, on site herps (a friendly fox snake and box turtle), nature displays, and seating set up for our program.

Rows of chairs will face the screen and speaker in front. Behind the chairs, there will be eight tables with chairs for people who need them (such as those who grab dinner on the way to the meeting). There will also be two tables at the back of the room for adoption animals. (We can modify this setup after the first meeting or two if we think a different arrangement might work better.)

We need to be completely out of the building by 10 pm (so they can take down our setup and restore the building’s exhibits for its opening to the public in the morning).

We are very excited about moving to HANC! This is the first time MHS has changed our meeting site in decades. We could no longer use Borlaug Hall at the University, so a new venue was really needed. After a lot of looking, we were delighted to find a place that is more beautiful than the old classroom, via an organization that is more in line with our mission.

We can’t wait to see you there!

              On May 6th, she spoke to the MHS about a new joint project with HerpMapper, aimed at putting community science to work documenting Minnesota’s only endangered amphibian, the Blanchard’s cricket frog. Her talk covered the frog’s status and history, phenology, habitat and ecology, distribution, how to identify the species, and a new citizen science survey seeking help from MHS members. 

              Blanchard’s cricket frog (Acris blanchardi) is Minnesota’s only endangered resident herp. (Although the massasauga is listed as endangered, this rattlesnake is not thought to actually be present in the state.)    

              Blanchard’s cricket frog was recently elevated to full species status. It is probably a “boom and bust” species, with years of plentiful reproduction alternating with “bust” years.

              There was a sharp decline in the frog’s populations across the Midwest in the 1980s.That may have happened due to a perfect storm of habitat loss, climate change and disease (including chytrid fungus). The frog was added to the endangered list in 1996—with just one or two populations left in the state.

              Blanchard’s cricket frogs are tiny tree frogs, less than an inch long. Their toe pads are small or absent, so they are probably poor climbers. Their color is quite variable. An adult’s base color may be brown, green or tan, with dark black, red or green dorsal (back) markings.   

              The frog’s skin is bumpy, with dark banding on the hind legs and a dark triangle pattern between the eyes. Tadpoles are small, with black-tipped tails.

              The frog’s call sounds like a rapid series of metallic clicks or like pebbles knocking together, increasing in speed. Biologists clicking pebbles together in the right pattern can encourage frogs to respond.

              In April or May, depending on the temperatures, adults usually emerge from hibernation and move to breeding areas. In June or July, breeding is stimulated by temperatures and precipitation. Recent rain and warmth lead to reproduction. Hot, humid nights are when the DNR typically goes out to survey the frogs.

               Eggs (400+) are deposited singly or in small clusters and may be attached to the bottoms of lakes and ponds, or to emergent and floating vegetation. In August there is an explosive emergence of newly metamorphosed frogs. They move onto shorelines where they may cluster in great abundance.

              In September or October, surviving frogs move to their hibernacula for hibernation. The average age of an adult is just one or two years. Most that hibernate in the fall were hatched in that same year.  They hang out near the hibernacula when it’s warm, and duck inside when it’s cool.

              From mid October to April, the frogs hibernate. If there’s a big warm-up early or late in the winter, some may come out of hibernation, and then go back in, bouncing in and out. The overwintering phase is hard on these frogs. It is believed that less than 5% of them survive the winter! This is likely due to the species’ confusing and specific overwintering approach.

              They prefer stiller water (such as river backwaters and ponds) for breeding—and flowing water for overwintering. They don’t seem to require emergent vegetation (such as bull rushes or lily pads), but will use it if it’s present.

              They are able to quickly adapt to new habitat and have been found colonizing “new” water (that recently appeared) over a mile from the next nearest occupied habitat.

              Surprisingly, the frogs don’t require clean, clear water or high dissolved oxygen as many amphibians do. They may occupy low-quality water locations. They don’t require a fishless breeding habitat, which is unusual for frogs (because fish eat their eggs). Cricket frog tadpoles know how to hide if predators are present. The frogs seem to have an affinity for habitat with unvegetated bottoms of mud, gravel and clay.

              Cricket frogs have been found breeding in less than optimum places such as a flooded gravel pond at the bottom of an active gravel mine, and a pond in a grazing pasture with a lot of cattle activity.

              But seasoned biologists have really been floored by the frog’s overwintering approach.

              In Minnesota, most frogs and toads go into the water for the winter where they can float or tuck down into the mud. They are not freeze-tolerant and would die if the water froze solid. Freeze-tolerant species such as tree frogs and wood frogs overwinter terrestrially; they come out of the water and hide under bark or piles of leaves, freezing solid.              

              Blanchard’s cricket frogs overwinter terrestrially, but they are not freeze tolerant. They typically pick small cracks, crevices or holes in exposed soil by flowing water, which are formed by the sloughing of river banks. They seek out cracks or crevices that are right at the water line and have very narrow openings, with enough moisture or humidity that it buffers them from completely freezing.  The frogs often overwinter in groups in a good crevice (which is not very deep). They pick south, west and east facing river banks, probably because those warm up earlier in the spring.

              The frogs cannot stand being underwater for more than 48 hours yet they need to stay damp, and cannot freeze. They have a very narrow window of habitat! Their specific needs contribute to their poor winter survival.

               They also require a matrix of habitat types that they must be able to move between (so there can’t be major barriers between them): ponds or river backwaters for breeding, possibly adjacent uplands for the active season, then banks by flowing water for overwintering.  This is one of the reasons that the Blanchard’s cricket frog is so rare.

              Currently, the frog seems to be recovering or in a boom cycle. Its range has been expanding and changing since around 2017 or 2018. Known populations seem to be colonizing new habitat, sometimes a couple of hundred meters away from their previous location. This has been noted Midwest-wide, not just in Minnesota. No two species range maps from different sources line up anymore.  

Join the Citizen Science Project

              Members of MHS can help detect, monitor and protect this endangered species. The DNR needs assistance to locate the frogs as they quickly expand into places where they haven’t been for decades—or ever.

              As part of a new project, they are asking MHS members to go to locations where the frogs breed and listen for their calls. (Remember that endangered animals cannot be handled or harassed, only observed and photographed.)

              At the MN Cricket Frog Survey website (acris.mnherps.com)—note that the site and survey details are still being finalized—there is a map showing locations where biologists think there may be cricket frogs. These “potential” frog sites include helpful notes about location, such as access and where to park. People can also select likely sites on their own to listen for cricket frogs.

              On the Survey website, there’s information on how to download the smartphone app powered by HerpMapper. Frog calls can be recorded in the app and photos can be included. Add helpful notes. Was the GPS accurate? Was there one frog or a whole chorus?  Were there any other species present?

              If no frog is heard, record that as well. (Example: “I checked this pond. It was great weather. No cricket frogs were calling.”) That’s valuable data, too.  

              The best time to search for cricket frogs is late May through mid July, from sundown to midnight. Conditions are ideal when humidity is high, there has been a recent rain, and nighttime temps are over 70 degrees.  Avoid cool, windy nights or heavy downpours.

              This survey will provide critical data to expand knowledge of the species in Minnesota and help protect local populations from destruction or degradation.  It also supports opportunities to manage habitat for Blanchard’s cricket frogs, so they remain in Minnesota for future generations.  

              Lots of Minnesota rivers are used commercially and managed aggressively—and the cricket frog is at risk because of this. The Mississippi is dredged regularly, and what is pulled up from the bottom may be piled in places where there could be cricket frog habitat.

              Pay attention to what is going on in the state. Minnesota has an environmental review process. The Environmental Quality Board produces the EQB Monitor, which tells people about big projects that are going on—and people can submit comments.

              Even one comment can make a difference. Some herpers submitted a comment that there were cricket frogs where a development was happening and it changed the whole course of the development!

              Anyone who knows or suspects that protected species are being impacted is encouraged submit a comment. Find the EQB Monitor at: https://www.eqb.state.mn.us/eqb-monitor.

            To take part in the Cricket Frog Survey project, email getwild.dnr@state.mn.us  and put “Cricket Frog Survey” in the subject line. Write a sentence to let them know that you are interested.

            Once the survey is completely ready to go, they will send an email with detailed directions on how to participate.

              Hoaglund plans to host meetup evenings around the metro area where participants will be able to listen for frogs and get help with the new app. She will pick places where people can hopefully hear the frogs. It will be exciting to see people in person again.

              Contact Erica Hoaglund at Erica.Hoaglund@state.mn.us.  

Submitted by Renee Valois, MHS Recording Secretary; Edited for website by Laura Windels

              Wood turtles are a threatened species in Minnesota, ranging over the eastern portion of the state. They typically overwinter in streams and emerge in the spring. They become terrestrial after nesting, but generally remain within 100 meters of flowing water (when not nesting).

              Threats to wood turtles are numerous, including habitat loss and fragmentation, road mortality, predation, nest flooding, altered river hydrology, illegal collection, forest management and agriculture, contaminants, and climate change.

              With limited time and resources, the DNR needed to come up with a Wood Turtle Conversation Plan to identify where to focus their efforts. (It’s on the DNR website at https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/eco/nongame/projects/mn-wood-turtle-conservation-plan. ) This plan will be driving their work for the next 10 years. 

              The project Crozier presented had been a collaboration between the DNRs of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, with help from additional partners. Ron Moen at the University of MN supervised three graduate students who did most of the work (with grant funding). They are grateful for the assistance of the MHS in contributing to the grant funding.

              There were four main goals for the wood turtle project: reduce adult mortality, increase nest success, conduct surveys and monitoring, and perform research to learn more about the turtles.

              Four temporary road barriers were installed to reduce the number of turtles on roads. This did reduce mortality but did not keep all turtles off the road. The barriers would be truncated at driveways etc. and It was easy for people to tear them down. Turtles also walked to the end of the barriers and went around them.

              Fortunately, they didn’t see a lot of mortality, but there were a few hot spots where there was higher turtle mortality. They plan to monitor 20 sites to see how prevalent this is.

              They found a surprisingly large number of 71 dead turtles along one stretch of river during the project. They were not sure what caused that mortality event. There was a large decrease in turtles along that stretch of the river. They are doing surveys to see if it’s still going on. They are also conducting disease testing in live turtles to see if illness has had an impact. A similar incident hasn’t happened since.

              To increase nest success, they worked on creating better nesting habitat. They restored or created 23 flood-safe nesting sites near the road barriers as an alternative to nesting on the road. During field surveys they learned that they have been able to increase the number of turtles using restored existing sites. (In one area, the number increased from 5 to around 25).

              But newly created nesting sites were not used at all, possibly because they had been placed inland from the river quite a ways due to expectations that rivers will be flooding more in the future. New nesting sites also used more dirt than sand, and vegetation grew in quickly.

              The Wisconsin DNR had 50% of their created nest sites used by turtles, but they were placed right off the river and used more sand.

              The project monitored nests using field surveys and game cameras. They found that only 5% of nests hatched. Badgers were the main predators (85%) but raccoons, red fox, skunks and ravens also raided nests. Predator presence was high during nesting season but low during the hatching period.

              Individual nest cages and electric fences were used to protect nests. The nest cages took a lot of labor. The electric fences could be put in place and maintained more easily. Protected nests had a 50% success rate compared to 5% for unprotected nests. They produced 174 hatchlings from protected nests during phase 1 of the project. They’re going to try nest boxes during the next phase.

              A long-term monitoring program has been established, surveying 16 sites. The protocol is to walk 8 parallel transects along the river for 500 m at each site, 6 times during the spring. They use the mark-recapture method to collect data on abundance, sex ratio, age class structure and survivorship.

              They plan to monitor sites every 5 years to get an idea of population trends. They collected baseline data in Phase One.

              Doing surveys helps them to better understand where turtles are found and where nesting sites are located, so they can identify where to focus conservation efforts in the future.

              As part of their research, they have collected telemetry data on 22 female and 6 male turtles for 1-3 seasons. They are analyzing the data to determine preferred habitat types and movement patterns and will use this information to update their wood turtle management guidelines.

              Turtles show strong site fidelity to nesting, foraging and hibernacula sites. The average home range size was 544 acres for females and 146 acres for males. Maximum movement along the river corridor was 5.4 miles. Females moved 128 m/day during nesting season (further than expected) and males moved 48m/day consistently across seasons.

              They have created a population model based on 30 years of mark-recapture data. The model shows that a 95% survival rate for adults is required to maintain the population. That’s very high.

              Increasing egg/hatchling survival is the best strategy for increasing the population, assuming the adult population remains high. There is a lack of data on hatchling survival, and that is needed.

              Modeling suggests the population has been fairly stable over the past 30 years—but the growth rate has declined over the last 15 years. That is concerning.

Review submitted by Renee Valois, MHS Recording Secretary; Edited for website by Laura Windels