a den, and may ultimately force the snakes to find more suitable areas along road edges. The snakes in both areas of New Jersey do not remain in their denning areas for long but quickly migrate to active season foraging areas.
Small rodents and chipmunks are hunted with the aid of a keen sense of smell as well as infrared or heat sensing pits located on the snake’s face. Timber Rattlesnakes are not active hunters, however, but are termed “sit and wait predators.” This name is derived from their strategy of positioning themselves along mammal runways (often for days at a time) and waiting for prey to run past. Once potential prey comes within proximity to the snake, a strike is made and venom injected. The snake releases the prey immediately and then follows the scent of the dying animal, which may have wandered several feet away. After consuming the meal, as with other snakes, the timber rattlesnake remains sedentary in a warm location until digestion is complete (Zappalorti and Torocco 2002).
This species requires large tracts of unfragmented forest with specific features such as rocky slopes for denning and open canopy areas for basking and gestation. Timber rattlesnakes typically overwinter in root-bank refugia along cedar-lined streams where flowing water prevents freezing. The site does not offer critical basking or potential hibernation habitat. The isolation of the site by surrounding development further reduces its suitability as potential habitat or a viable travel corridor. Given the small footprint of disturbance, the absence of confirmed hibernacula and the absence of open basking areas, project activities are unlikely to reduce the availability or quality of timber rattlesnake habitat on site. Habitat is more likely to exist off site to the west and will remain available after construction.
The northern pine snake is found in the northern and eastern-central regions of the country, in areas with sandy soils and dry upland forests. They occur in the southern portion of the state in the Pine Barrens, where they are isolated from other conspecifics much farther south in Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky and the Carolinas (Burger and Zappalorti 2011). They are a fossorial species limited to sandy soil habitats of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. This species of snake, which rarely climbs vegetation and prefers to be on the ground, has the ability to tunnel underground and excavate its own nests, summer dens and places to hibernate.
In mid spring, usually April in New Jersey, northern pine snakes begin emerging from their hibernacula. Hibernacula are generally located at the edges of clearings, in areas with sparse vegetation, and in places with sparse tree cover to allow sun penetration, although some are in denser cover (Burger and Zappalorti 2011). Dens may be dug at the bases of old decaying stumps, in abandoned mammal burrows, or other suitable refugia. Dry, sandy, pine-oak to oak-pine woodlands with open canopy areas are indicative of potential foraging habitat for this species. Northern pine snakes are known to eat mammals as large as rabbits, as well as small rodents and birds. They are usually most active in early morning or late afternoon when they leave their burrows to hunt. Later in the spring and even into early summer, males may actively seek out females laying pheromone trails and attempt to mate with them (Zappalorti and Torocco 2002).
Northern pine snakes are egg-layers and typically lay their eggs in underground nests that they excavate in open sandy areas. Sandy, infertile soil provides areas with limited vegetation and is a necessary medium for potential nesting sites. Nesting areas are most often characterized by open, treeless landscapes with bare loose sand and scattered ground vegetation. Both human-caused and natural disturbances are typically involved in creating the types of openings important for nesting and basking (Golden and Jenkins 2003). Eggs are usually laid in mid-summer (June and early July), and adult females have the tendency to re-use their nest sites year after year. The female may lay three to 16 eggs in the nesting chamber and then leaves the nest.