
Unfortunately, the demolition could not be delayed.
Iowa's laws are a bit weird in places. As far as I know,
there was nothing stopping the land owner from demolishing the well with all
the snakes inside...
But, it would be illegal to remove them without permits. I contacted a few people with the Iowa DNR to find out what could be done. Normally, obtaining permits take some time and we did not have much to spare. Thankfully, it was decided that since my name is on Linn County Conservation permits I could be given permission to remove the snakes and keep them for the winter.
But, it would be illegal to remove them without permits. I contacted a few people with the Iowa DNR to find out what could be done. Normally, obtaining permits take some time and we did not have much to spare. Thankfully, it was decided that since my name is on Linn County Conservation permits I could be given permission to remove the snakes and keep them for the winter.
I met the land owner on the property on the morning of November 9th. He told me a little about what was going on with the construction and
then showed me to the well pit.
Three snakes were immediately visible.
Three snakes were immediately visible.
That didn't seem so bad. He had mentioned seeing more
though, and I suspected some others were hiding in the nooks. Sure enough, they
were.

It seemed like every time I broke open a new brick I would find another group of snakes.
It is a good thing the well was being demolished, and this
wasn't just a case of a home owner wanting the snakes to be removed, because I
feel like I got a good start on the demolition.
Fortunately, most of the snakes were restricted to that
wall. I did some checks on the other three sides, and did find a few snakes,
but nowhere near as many.
One of the snakes I found was a racer high up in the southern wall that looked to be in the process of crawling into the well through a hole that was drilled for a wire. I had broken into the brick below it, and reached up and felt it. Pretty much every other snake I had done that to would start to flee into another cavity. This racer didn't move though. I very carefully broke out the brick around him, I got a better view, and he seemed pretty stuck.

In the end, we ended up pulling out 38 Western Fox Snakes
(Pantherophis vulpinus), and 11 Racers (Coluber constrictor). I have no doubt
we missed a few in the walls, but there was some places I just couldn't safely
break into. The snakes I was able to catch are currently being kept in a cold place in my house to
keep them inactive for the winter. In the spring they will be released back on
to the property where they came from.
Don Becker is a
self-employed IT professional, that is fortunate to have free time to devote to
activities he is passionate about (e.g., conservation, education). He is the
Chief Technology Officer for the 501(c)(3) non-profit HerpMapper citizen
science project, and volunteers with Linn County, Iowa Conservation Department
doing educational programs, wildlife surveys, and habitat restoration.
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