Spatial Ecology of the Western Massasauga (Sistrurus tergeminus) in a Large Interior Wetland

Insight into the spatial ecology of a population of animals provides information valuable to the management and conservation of a species. For cryptic taxa such as snakes, radio-telemetry allows for individuals to be reliably located on a consistent basis. We used radio-telemetry to investigate the spatial ecology of the Western Massasauga (Sistrurus tergeminus) at Cheyenne Bottoms in Barton County, Kansas. Eighteen individuals (12 male and 6 female) were implanted with VHF radio transmitters during 2016-2017 and tracked twice weekly throughout the active season. Data for 15 individuals (10 male and 5 female) with more than 30 unique locations each were used for our analysis. Home range estimates were calculated using 100% minimum convex polygon (MCP) and 95% kernel density estimators (KDE), along with 50% MCP and 50% KDE to give insight into core use areas. The average home range estimate using 100% MCP was 12.9 ha and the average estimate of core use area was 2.8 ha for 50% MCP. These results are similar to the 100% MPC estimates reported in Nebraska for S. tergeminus, but considerably smaller than those reported in Missouri. Male estimates were larger than female estimates across all estimators. We question the usefulness of the low KDE estimates in interpreting important aspects of natural history within our data.