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Sawgrass Herpetological Society

January Meeting

At our last meeting in January, we were very fortunate to have as our guests, Jeff and Barbara Harrod, who are the owners of Vanishing Species, a non-profit sanctuary located in Davie, Florida. Vanishing Species sanctuary is home for a number of non-releasable wildlife. Lions, tigers, bears, Florida Panthers, cougars, raccoons, foxes, parrots, crocodilians, large and small snakes, turtles and tortoises and other reptiles and animals find safe haven at their facility. They provide educational programs to a variety of groups throughout South Florida. Our thanks to Jeff and his staff for a great talk and we look forward to his return in June, when he will be showing us the venomous reptiles of South Florida. Jeff has invited us to visit his facility sometime in early summer. We are looking forward to this field trip, all members are invited.
In February we look forward to our visit with Jerry Conway, past member, and well respected expert on Candoia. Jerry was author of the article, Island Gems: Pacific Boas (Candoia) in the October 1998 issue of Reptiles Magazine. Jerry will be speaking to us on the breeding and care of Candoia. In March, Ron Magill, from Metro Zoo, will join us once again. His topic will be "It's All Happening at the Zoo". Don't miss this special meeting. In April, Ryan Gittman, from UnderGround Reptiles, will be speaking to us about Reptiles and the Law. Also in April we will be holding our annual picnic, at Snyder Park in Fort Lauderdale. The date will be announced soon. Our May meeting will be our members show and tell. Also in may, we will be holding our Spring Reptile and Amphibian Fair at Fern Forest Nature Center.
The most exciting thing we have to announce is the opening of our very own Website!! Thanks to Bob Sligh, of LDS, our "Buddy In the Business". Bob has been a good friend and member of the Sawgrass Herpetological Society, and is the creator of our new website. The website address is https://www.angelfire.com/fl/sawgrass/index.html. On the website you will find information about our society, upcoming dates and events, the names and e-mail addresses of officers and board members, educational committee information, care sheets and more. Check it out.
Our educational committee has started the new year with a very exciting itinerary. We will be speaking at the Sandoway House in Palm Beach in February and March. We will be at the February 9th meeting of the Everglades Herpetological Society and we are looking forward to speaking to the Royal Palm Audubon's March 11th meeting. Check our website for locations and dates. The Sawgrass Herpetological Society meets on the first Wednesday of every month at the Fern Forest Nature Center at 7:30PM at 201 Lyons Road South in Coconut Creek, Florida. Call our Herp Hotline at (954) 564-1434.

Febuary's meeting featureing Jerry conway on Candoia
Jerrys web site is http://www.kingsnake.com/candoia/

Jerry Conway showing some of his baby Candoia to club members . Below is a close up of Jerrys babies.

Mike Brennen and Dave Powell chating Gary Depalma talks to new member

At our February meeting we were delighted to have Jerry Conway as our guest speaker. Jerry was a member of SHS and is a well respected expert on Candoia. Jerry is the author of an article which was featured in the October 1998 edition of Reptiles Magazine. Jerry’s discussion included his experience with Viper Boas, Solomon Islands Ground Boas, Solomon's Islands Tree Boas, Halmahera Ground Boas and Pacific Tree Boas. Jerry owns the only known hypomelanistic Solomon Islands Ground Boa. He may very well be the only person to have bred the Halmahera Ground Boas in captivity. He is currently working with Robert Sprackland on a project to establish the Santa Isabela Ground Boa as a separate species. Our hat is off to Jerry for popularizing these wonderful little boas, which have always been overlooked by most herpers. Thanks again, Jerry, for a very informative talk, and good luck with your projects.
Thank you, Jacque Farrar, for donating the California King Snake to our raffle table, which also held three Chinese Water Dragons and an albino horned frog.
In March please join us as Ron Magill from Metro Zoo will be talking to us. His topic will be
“It’s All Happening At The Zoo”.

In April Rian Gittman from Underground Reptiles will be talking to us about “Reptiles and the Law”.

We will be holding our annual Picnic on April 10th at pavilion 15, in Snyder Park, from 10:00AM until
5:00PM. No admission to the park will be charged to SHS members. The picnic is free to SHS members.

At our May meeting will be our member Show & Tell and 2nd Annual Auction. Also in May, we will be holding our Spring Reptile and Amphibian Fair at Fern Forest Nature Center on Mary 23rd from 10:00AM until 5:00PM.

We would like to welcome the staff from the Daggerwing Nature Center in West Boca Raton, and the staff from the Sandoway House in Delray Beach as new members to SHS. They have been very helpful to our Educational Committee and we look forward to a great relationship with them in the future. Don’t forget to help support our Educational Committee.

The Sawgrass Herpetological Society meets on the first Wednesday of every month at 7:30PM at the Fern Forest Nature Center, at 201 Lyons Road South, in Coconut Creek, Florida. Meetings are free to the public.

Call our Herp Hotline at (954) 564-1434

Submitted by Michael Brennan, Secretary, SHS

March meeting

     Our apologies to those who came to hear Ron Magill from Metro Zoo at our March meeting. Ron became ill and had to cancel. We look forward to seeing him sometime in the future. Many of our members brought their own animals and we had an impromptu show and tell . We still had a great raffle table and our thanks to Frank Menzer for the Chinese Rat Snake he donated. Please join us in April to hear Rian Gittman from Underground Reptiles. He will be speaking to us about Reptiles and the Law.
    Be sure to come to our annual picnic on April 10th, at pavilion 15 in Snyder Park, from 10:00AM until 5:00PM. No admission to the park will be charged to SHS members. The picnic is free to SHS members. At our May meeting we will hold our second annual auction, and a members show and tell. Feel free to bring your animals to show off. We also need donations for our auction. We would appreciate it if you could help.
    On May 23rd, we will be holding our Spring Reptile and Amphibian Fair at Fern Forest Nature Center from 10:00AM until 5:00PM. Admission is $2.00 for everyone over 6 years old, children under 6 are free. Tables are still available for vendors. Anyone interested in a table, call Gary DiPalma at (954) 564-3450. Come and enjoy wildlife and reptile lectures, displays, and exhibits. Purchase captive bred reptiles and amphibians, as well as pet products. There will also be raffles, food, and beverages. Please, no personal pets allowed. Don't forget to check out the great books in our club library. If you have any old books or videos to donate to our library, it would be very helpful.
    Our educational committee donated a scarlet king snake and a Florida king snake to The Sandoway House in Delray Beach. We have done two very successful talks there. We also recently did a talk for the Royal Palm Beach Audubon Society, which was greatly appreciated by their members.
    The Sawgrass Herpetological Society meets on the first Wednesday of every month at the Fern Forest Nature Center, at 201 Lyons Road South, in Coconut Creek, Florida. Meetings are free to the public.
Call our Herp Hotline at (954) 564-1434

Submitted by Michael Brennan, Secretary, Sawgrass Herpetological Society.

Do you have news you would like to see in the news letter ? Submit any text to a board member!

May meeting
We are very pleased to announce the success of our semi-annual auction, which was held during our May meeting. We had many generous donations and would like to thank everyone who donated. It seemed as though virtually everyone donated something. We would especially like to thank Vincent Mastroni for donating the magnificent breeding pair of Carpet Pythons. Gary DiPalma was our awesome auctioneer, who did a fantastic job, and was very entertaining to us all. Everyone had a great time and many went home with some wonderful treasures. We also had our Show & Tell, which added to the fun. Thanks again, to all whom participated in making this a great meeting.

In June, please join us as Jeff Harrod from Vanishing Species Wildlife Refuge, will be our speaker. Jeff will be bringing some of the animals from the refuge to share with us. Jeff has also invited us to be his guests for a tour of his facilities. Anyone interested in joining us for this field trip on Saturday, June 26th, is welcome. Details will be discussed at our June meeting.
Our Educatinal Committee recently participated in two Earth Day events. The 5th Annual March for Parks, held on April 24th, raised over $ 7,000 which will be used for the "Signature Playground" at Holiday Park. Later the same day, we participated in a special Earth Day Celebration at Daggerwing Nature Center, where we presented "Vanishing Herps". We schedule talks on a continuing basis for the Sandoway House, Daggerwing Nature Center, Books-A-Million, as well as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. The Sawgrass Herpetological Society and Educational Committee chairman, Mike Brennan, received a plaque from Snyder Park, in appreciation for our continued participation in Snyder Parks Nature Program.

We will be losing two of our mostdedicated members, Roy and Jane Klinger. They are moving on to greener pastures in Indiana. Roy and Jane have always been eager participants in all of our Educational Programs. Jane did a great job of handling our memberships, which is no easy task. They also managed our raffle table, which was always bountiful. Their delightful personalities made them perfect for the job of welcoming committee. They are two wonderful people and will be sorely missed. Thank you, Roy and Jane for all you have done for our Society. We are sorry to see you go, and wish you the best of luck.
The Sawgrass Herpetological Society meets the first Wednesday of every month at 7:30PM at the Fern Forest Nature Center, located at 201 Lyons Road South, in Coconut Creek, Florida. Meetings are free to the public.

Call our Herp Hotline at (954) 564-1434 or check out our website at
http://www/angelfire.com/fl/sawgrass/index.html
Submitted by Sandy Brennan

June meeting After having had a very successful auction, which was held during our May meeting, we were very fortunate to have had a very successful Reptile and Amphibian Fair. We would like to thank our volunteers for their help. We would also like to thank our vendors. We can always count on quality animals and professionalism on the part of all those involved with our semi-annual Reptile and Amphibian Fair. This very important fundraiser generates revenue for Fern Forest Nature Center and the Sawgrass Herpetological Society. We are more than happy to share what we can with Fern Forest in exchange for the use of the assembly hall each year. Our club T-shirts have been ordered and will be available at our next meeting.
In July our guest speaker will be Jerry Marzac, who will be speaking to us about the snakes of Indonesia. In August we are looking forward to our guest speaker, Skeet Jon, who will be presenting Florida's Native Venomous Snakes. Our Educational Committee was very fortunate to be able to obtain a South Florida Mole Kingsnake, Lampropeltis calligaster occipitolineata. She is a very welcome addition to our collection of Florida's native non-venomous snakes. These snakes have been displayed throughout the tri-county area to hundreds of people. Children and adults of all ages always enjoy our presentations, which are available to various organizations. Our primary goal is to educate the general public about these and other herps. We look forward to obtaining even more exciting specimens and learning materials. We are seriously pursuing the steps toward obtaining an Eastern Indigo Snake and the required permit.

Don't forget to take advantage of our library, which is open to members at every meeting. The library has been up and running for some time now. Connie Powell, our librarian is doing a fine job. Donations of books or videos are always welcome.

Members are invited to make suggestions regarding new ideas for fundraisers, field trips, guest speakers or any other related events. Call Gary DiPalma on our Herp Hotline at (954) 564-1434 or e-mail anyone on our website at http://www/angelfire.com/fl/sawgrass/index.html

The Sawgrass Herpetological Society meets on the first Wednesday of every month at 7:30PM at the Fern Forest Nature Center, located at 201 Lyons Road South, in Coconut Creek, Florida. Meetings are free to the public.

July meeting
Lions, tigers, and bears…pumas, cougars, and Florida panthers. This is what our members saw and handled, during our field trip to The Vanishing Species Wildlife Sanctuary. We were invited by Jeff Harrod to visit his facility and those of us who went, enjoyed seeing these animals as well as a Red Wolf, who by the way, will be appearing in the TV show Walker Texas Ranger, next season. His facility is also home to a bobcat, several various jungle cats, as well as some large snakes and lizards. All of these animals were rescued and are being rehabilitated by Jeff, his wife, and volunteers. This was an excellent field trip and we would like to thank Jeff and his staff for allowing us to visit. Our hats off to Jeff and the work he does with these animals, which includes public appearances to help generate the necessary funding to keep these animals healthy and comfortable.
Our guest speaker for our July meeting cancelled at the last minute, so we decided to have an open floor. We were fortunate to have several new faces, who shared their herping experiences with us. Many of us old-timers shared our experiences with the Sawgrass Herpetological Society, as well as our own herp adventures. This made for a very enjoyable meeting and we recommend this type of meeting for the future.
Our club T-shirts have arrived and can be purchased at our monthly meetings. Staff shirts are $15 and T-shirts are $10. Get them while they're hot! Our guest speaker for August will be Skeet Jon, who will be presenting Florida's Native Venomous Snakes.

With any luck at all, and maybe some help, we hope to have our own newsletter once again. Anyone who would like to submit an article, picture, story or classified, please give them to Christopher Brennan, who has taken on this challenge. Christopher can be e-mailed at CapnLoogie@aol.com.

Our Educational Committee is excited to announce our presentation of Florida's Native Non-Venomous Snakes at the Graves Museum of Archeology and Natural History on July 25th, at 2:00PM. We will also be presenting a talk on Turtles and Tortoises at Daggerwing Nature Center on the last Saturday in July. Don't forget to take advantage of our club library, which is open to members at every meeting. Donations of books or videos are always welcome. Members are welcome to make suggestions for new ideas regarding fund raisers, field trips, guest speakers or any other related events. Call Gary DiPalma on our Herp Hotline at (954) 564-1434, or you can e-mail anyone on our website at https://www.angelfire.com/fl/sawgrass/index.html

The Sawgrass Herpetological Society meets on the first Wednesday of every month at the Fern Forest Nature Center at 201 Lyons Road South in Coconut Creek, Florida at 7:30PM. Meetings are free to the public. Submitted by Michael Brennan

Do you have news you would like to see in the news letter ? Submit any text to a board member!

Augest meeting
THE SAWGRASS HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETY Our thanks to James Peacock for speaking to us at our August meeting. James is the curator of animals at Native Village at the Seminole Indian Reservation in Hollywood, Florida. He spoke to us about Florida's venomous snakes. James also does educational lectures on snakes, crocodiles, Florida panthers and birds of prey. We have all been invited to Native Village for a hands on experience with these animals.
In September our scheduled speaker is Ron St.Pierre.
In October at our meeting, we will hold our semi annual auction and show and tell. We now have club T-shirts, which can be purchased at our monthly meetings. Staff shirts are $15 and T-shirts are $10. Our first issue of the SHS Newsletter was available at our last meeting, thanks to Christopher Brennan. We plan to issue the newsletter monthly. Anyone who would like to submit an article, picture, or classified, please contact Christopher at e-mail address Capnloogie@aol.com or see him at our meetings. Our October Reptile and Amphibian Fair is right around the corner. It will be held on Sunday, October 3rd from 10AM to 5PM at the Fern Forest Nature Center at 201 Lyons Road South in Coconut Creek, Florida. Admission is $2, children under 6 will be admitted for free. The fair will feature wildlife and reptile lectures, displays and exhibits, captive-bred reptiles and amphibians. Pet products will be available for purchase. We will offer raffle items and door prizes. Food and beverages available. Anyone wishing to volunteer, please contact one of our board members. Vendors who are interested in a table, please contact Gary DiPalma at our herp hotline at (954) 564-1434. The Sawgrass Herpetological Society meets on the first Wednesday of every month at the Fern Forest Nature Center at 7:30PM at 201 Lyons Road South in Coconut Creek, Florida. For more information call our herp hotline at (954) 564-1434 or visit our website at https://www.angelfire.com/fl/sawgrass/index.html Submitted by Michael Brennan, Vice President