It took Jeff Dragon about an hour and a half trudging through dirt and woods before he found something that had been missing from New Jersey for nearly 50 years: a king snake.
Moreover, it just hung on the bush in front of him like a necklace on a sales rack.
“I was so excited that I was hyperventilating,” said Long, a herpetologist with the state Pinelands Commission.
And, yes, he points out, “Dragon” is his real last name, not one that makes up for his job.
The dragon’s adventure literally begins after seeing what the cat dragged into it.
What is Snake King?
The queen snake was last confirmed to be in the state in 1977, 47 years ago. It is listed as endangered by the state and many believe it to be extinct, meaning it is no longer thought to exist in New Jersey. Until the Dragon Team discovered it on April 14.
queen snake (Seven Dimensional Tata) are non-toxic and 15 to 3 feet long. Their color ranges from green to brown. Historically, they were uncommon among the approximately 23 species of snakes known in New Jersey.
These king snakes are typically found along a narrow strip next to the Delaware River from Trenton to Gloucester County. These snakes are picky about their food, eating almost exclusively newly molted soft-shell crayfish that live in clean streams and rivers with rocky bottoms.
Queen snakes can be found in the water feeding on crayfish, basking on the shoreline, hiding under rocks or hanging from the branches of bushes hanging above the water.
They are not listed as a threatened species by Pennsylvania, but are considered vulnerable by the nonprofit NatureServe, which many states rely on for data on the species. NatureServe in New York, Delaware and New Jersey lists the queen snake as critically endangered.
Where was King Snake found?
Long, 37, would not reveal the exact location where he found the snake for fear amateurs would go looking for more. He would only say it was found in Gloucester County, not the Pinelands area.
“I’ve traveled around the United States on what we call shingle tours, which is kind of like bird watching, but for reptiles and amphibians,” Long said. So I’ve basically been looking for reptiles my whole life.
In 2021, after being contacted by a friend, Dragon began searching for the Snake Queen. The friend found a king snake in his basement and sent a photo to the dragon.
“I thought, oh, my God, someone’s playing a trick on me,” Long recalled. This is the Snake King.
Long rushed to his friend’s house, only to find that his friend had already released the snake. On two subsequent occasions, the friend found a dead newborn or baby snake. These cannot be recorded as official finds because their origin cannot be verified. Long suspected that his friend’s cat had caught the snake.
But the dragon couldn’t let it go. He continued his search in a stream near a friend’s house. But the search turned up nothing.
How was King Snake discovered?
“I started looking again this year,” Long said. I like to get in before the vegetation gets thicker, but the weather is still warm enough for the snakes to get out. So I thought this is the window.
After about 90 minutes of walking through the thick bush, he saw a King Snake on the bush right in front of me and caught it.
Dragon took a photo and recorded the location via GPS. He notified Kris Schantz, chief zoologist at the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, which is part of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Conservation. He released the snake, a female snake. It is too small to be tagged with a radio transmitter. Customized transmitters are needed to track the snakes, Long said.
Dragon said the state is currently reclassifying it as an endangered species after it was rediscovered 45 years later. So I’m excited.
He worries that poachers will start looking for the snake king.
Dragon said herpes has become a very popular hobby.
The dragon said it was a good sign that the snake king had been confirmed. That means the water is clean enough to support crayfish and snakes. He hopes to work to find more queens and track them using radio telemetry.
It is now one of the most endangered species in the state, Long said. I think it’s time to find out more about them and how they behave.
exciting news
“We’re very excited,” said Schantz, the state zoologist. It is believed to have been wiped out.
Schantz said the queen snake was recently listed as endangered by the state just in case such a discovery is made.
She said there have been targeted searches in New Jersey over the past 20 years but no queen snake has ever been found. It wasn’t until Long’s friend and his cat started finding dead snakes that real hope emerged.
There’s no way to verify where the snakes came from, Schantz said, noting it’s possible someone brought them in from out of state. She believed in Long’s determination.
Jeff and I talked about it all the time, Schantz recalled. So Jeff went out and really hunkered down and searched and spent a couple of hours there. He finally found this woman.
She said officials would continue to work to track and document more king snakes.
“I think it’s important to understand that the American king snake’s range is about the eastern third of the United States and extends into Canada,” Schantz added. But in about half of the U.S., they are considered at risk or vulnerable. This is definitely a species of concern for areas outside of New Jersey.
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