drainage manholes and herpetofauna

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drainage manholes and herpetofauna

Postby Michal Szkudlarek » Fri Dec 21, 2012 10:06 pm

Hi
As You probably have observed, herptiles fall in different kinds of drainages and wells. In my neighbourhood there is a problem with drainage manholes like this one below.
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When crossing roads, road traffic is not the only problem for herptiles, there are also high curbs (that can't be passed by newts and often toads) and mentioned drainage manholes. Herptiles which can't pass crubs walk along it till they are smashed by car or swooped into manholes. Usually amphibians migrate during rainy weather, so they find water column in a height of horizontal drainpipe, what allows them to continue wandering further into drainage system till ther stuck somewhere. Here is the list of species whose I encountered in drainage manholes:
Triturus cristatus
Lissotriton vulgaris
Bombina bombina
Pelobates fuscus
Bufo bufo
Pseudepidalea viridis
Rana esculenta complex
Rana temporaria
Rana arvalis
Natrix natrix

I suppose, that amphibians that are looking for place to hibernate are attracted by high humidity in drainage manholes and as a result they are falling into them. Sometimes I have been finding them death, ill or in agonal state. For example- toad with an eye infection
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Crested newt with injured leg
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My experience shows, that rescuing amphibians is most effective at night, during or after rain. Animals are released in possibly safe, nearby location. When it is cold I use gloves to handle with them, not to transmit heat. Sometimes long stick is very useful to place herptiles in a dredge to pick them up. I recommend to find out if there is a similar problem in Your area. In my street I have rescued moor frog and green toads although there is no big reservoir in neighbourhood. Are constructions like this http://www.amphibtec.ch/4.1deramphibienschacht.html present in Your country?

moor frog
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common toad, crested newts, common brown frog, green frogs, spadefoot toad
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smooth and crested newts
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B. bombina
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L. vulgaris
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P. fuscus
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some of rescued amphibians
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Greetings
Michał Szkudlarek
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Re: drainage manholes and herpetofauna

Postby Francesco Tri » Sat Dec 22, 2012 10:38 am

Michal you're a genius!

The problem here is that in Italy, for example, an individual may not tamper with the public water networks .... : :roll:
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Re: drainage manholes and herpetofauna

Postby Niklas Ban » Sat Dec 22, 2012 2:38 pm

Never thought about it.. So in the next season I will take a look in those holes, maybe it is also a problem in my area. I am going to tell here!
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Re: drainage manholes and herpetofauna

Postby Michal Szkudlarek » Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:41 pm

Same thing in Poland, in addition newspapers has recently reported about thefts of these manhole covers, so people would call the cops. Then it is useful to have permission from regional director of environmental protection and shirt with a logo of an environmental protection organization. Though it is sufficent just to localize to which drainage manholes herptiles are falling, im some places they are immediately penetrating further parts of drainage system so You can't find them there. Then You must rely on factors like proximity to pond or grassland. Finally just send an report to Your local authority of nature protection.
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Re: drainage manholes and herpetofauna

Postby Niklas Ban » Sat Dec 22, 2012 6:44 pm

Michal Szkudlarek wrote:Same thing in Poland, in addition newspapers has recently reported about thefts of these manhole covers, so people would call the cops. Then it is useful to have permission from regional director of environmental protection and shirt with a logo of an environmental protection organization. Though it is sufficent just to localize to which drainage manholes herptiles are falling, im some places they are immediately penetrating further parts of drainage system so You can't find them there. Then You must rely on factors like proximity to pond or grassland. Finally just send an report to Your local authority of nature protection.

I have a few holes like that in mind, which could be very dangerous for herps.. So if I find something the deparment for the area will get the informations!
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Re: drainage manholes and herpetofauna

Postby Bobby Bok » Sun Dec 23, 2012 11:55 am

Good work Michal! In the Netherlands there has been a study about what are the best constructions to place in these gully or holes, for amphibians to climb out. On the following links some more infomation, in Dutch but google translate could do the trick:

http://www.ravon.nl/Publicaties/tabid/2 ... -2012.aspx
http://www.ravon.nl/OnderzoekAdvies/Ond ... fault.aspx
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Re: drainage manholes and herpetofauna

Postby Niklas Ban » Mon Dec 24, 2012 2:00 am

I saw helps like that for herps already in De Meinweg. I think, that is a good and cheap idea to safe some of them.
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Re: drainage manholes and herpetofauna

Postby Ilian Velikov » Mon Dec 24, 2012 1:56 pm

There's no doubt that manholes like that are dangerous for herps (especially aphibians), but I just want to say that I've observed a case from Bulgaria where such a manhole was full of water and rather than being trapped crested newts were breeding there. I watched them lay eggs and than wathced the eggs hatch. I'm not sure if any of the young survived but I don't see any reason why they wouldn't.

However, fitting some kind of device that would help them climb out is definitely a great idea.
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Re: drainage manholes and herpetofauna

Postby Michal Szkudlarek » Mon Dec 24, 2012 3:28 pm

I have even heard about N. natrix that has been living in undergroung tank of drainage system since three years. The tank does not freeze in winter, and amphibians falling into are as food for that snake.
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Re: drainage manholes and herpetofauna

Postby Niklas Ban » Mon Dec 24, 2012 3:47 pm

sounds a little bit like the alligators which live in the New York underground :lol:
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