Love snakes? Hate snakes? Would you like to learn more about the snakes of Lake Gaston and how to tell the difference between a venomous and non-venomous one? The guest speaker at the LGA's Annual Membership meeting was Carter Ricks. Carter is from Halifax, NC, and has had a passion for reptiles and amphibians since a young age. He has a bachelor's degree from NC State University in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, with a concentration in Wildlife Biology. He is currently a master's student at Western Carolina University, hoping to receive a degree in Biology this summer, with a concentration in Evolutionary Ecology. He has been a member of the NC Herpetological Society for several years and his presentation focused on copperheads, cottonmouths/water moccasins, and the species often mistaken for them, highlighting the traits that can be used to tell them apart. He also went over some other species that live around the lake that people could encounter (black snakes, green snakes, etc.), explained why snakes are ecologically important and helpful to people, plus dispelled some myths (rattlesnakes in the area, etc.).

 

The business portion of the meeting runs until the 18:20 minute mark, which is when the snake presentation begins.