Tim Brust
M.S.
in Biological Sciences Candidate
Department
of Biological Sciences
Marshall
University Herpetology Laboratory
E-mail: brust@marshall.edu
Introduction
For
as long as I can remember I’ve had a passion for herps. I caught my first snake, and got bit by
my first snake by age 6 and from then on I was hooked. I received my B.S. in
biology with a concentration in ecology at the Virginia Military Institute in
Lexington Virginia. During my last
two summers of undergrad I did mammalian field research on the roosting habits
of male Eastern Small Footed Bats (Myotis leibii). If
your curious about our findings don’t hesitate
to e-mail me. I’m now in my first year of graduate school at Marshall,
hoping to get my Master’s Degree focused on herpetology. If all goes well, I’ll graduate
May of 2013.
Interests
Wrestling
any kind of animal that you can get close to, from opossums and fawns to any
kind of herp. I’m also an avid hunter and fisherman, and pretty much
everything else outside. I love
sports as well, and played baseball for 2 years at VMI.
Thesis Research
I’m
looking at Queen Snake feeding habits at North Fork Short Creek at West Liberty
University. Queen Snakes are
considered crayfish specialists, and they only eat molting crayfish. In this particular stream there are two
species of crayfish, and the species that makes up 90% of the crayfish biomass
only molts twice a summer, and they all molt in a two week period. I’m interested in seeing if these
snakes only really eat during these two molts, or are they eating something
else in between molts to hold them over.