Daily Reptile News

Sebastian woman hospitalized after ‘pet’ python bites her

SEBASTIAN — A woman was hospitalized Thursday after her 12-feet-long albino Burmese python bit her on the hand, according to Sebastian police and Indian River County Animal Control.

Animal Control officers went into the home in the 400 block of Tulip Drive to retrieve and euthanize the snake, named Banana, after the noontime 911 call. The unidentified woman told police she was trying to feed the reptile some poultry when it bit her hand and constricted around her arm, police spokesman Officer Steve Marcinik said.

Her husband took her to Sebastian River Medical Center for treatment, police said.

The snake is not venomous, but can grow as long as 16 feet. Burmese pythons are listed as a condition reptile by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which has prohibited personal ownership of the snakes as of July 1. Pythons have become problematic, because a large number of captive pythons have been released into the wild and made their way to the Everglades, where they have thrived, begun to reproduce prolifically, and become an invasive species.

However, anyone who owned a Burmese python and had it licensed prior to that date is permitted to keep their pets. It was not immediately known if the Sebastian couple had licensed their python.

One year ago, an albino Burmese python strangled a 2-year-old Sumter County girl to death, FWC said.

Submitted by Sara Altmyer Red snakes at Gulf Shores Elementary School

GULF SHORES, Ala. — Leslie Anson’s first-grade class at Gulf Shores Elementary School had a visit from some special friends – one who is actually going to stay for the whole year. Kelly Reetz, a naturalist with the Gulf State Park, brought red rat snakes to Ms. Anson’s class. This snake is also known as a corn snake. First-graders, from left, Bennett Reetz, Nathan Kuiken, Hannah Morgan and Chloe Dickerson show the four stages of a red rat snake. Bennett has the grown red rat snake, Nathan has the 2-year-old snake named Molly, that the class is keeping, Hannah has a one day old snake and Chloe has the egg of one that recently hatched.

Shopper takes snake to Tesco store in Newport

The man, in his 20s, was n the Newport store with the snake, which was described as thin and dark-coloured.

Ursula Berry, 72, said she initially thought it was fake, but was terrified when she realised it was live.

A Tesco spokeswoman said the man was escorted from the store last Saturday, after he had paid for his shopping.

Mrs Berry, from Pontfaen, Newport, who shops regularly at the store in Spytty Road, said other people in the aisles were also shocked.

She said one young man asked the shopper about the snake.

“He told the young man that the snake was fed mice,” she said..

‘Started moving’

She said: “I thought it was fake at first but when the head and tail started moving I was terrified.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

He told the young man that the snake was fed mice”

End Quote Ursula Berry Shopper

“I couldn’t believe he was just able to walk into the supermarket. It’s not hygenic.”

Mrs Berry said she alerted a Tesco staff member, but the man walked off after he was first approached.

She said: “The lady from Tesco then went to call security and the last I saw of him was at the self-service checkouts.”

She said the young man had coloured hair and was weating a T-shirt with the snake wrapped around his arm.

A Tesco spokeswoman said he was escorted from the premises as soon as the snake was noticed.

She said: “The man was immediately stopped as soon as the snake was noticed.

“Staff scanned his items through the self-service checkouts for him, after which he left the store.”

Mrs Berry said the incident had had a lasting impact.

“I’ll never shop there again,” she said.

Alligators being dumped in cities up north

Alligators are showing up in the darnedest places these days as more people seem to be dumping their exotic pets across the nation. In fact, a 3-foot long gator wearing a collar was found walking down a street in Brockton, MA on Sunday, while one only 2-feet long was spotted under a car in Queens, NY. In addition, the second of two gators was fished out of the Chicago River just yesterday.

“People are buying them as pets, and then they get too big and at some point they decided they just can’t deal with it,” stated Kent Vliet, an alligator expert from the University of Florida who tracks reports about the reptiles in the news.

He added that since 2007, there have been “at least 100 alligators showing up in more than 15 states (including North Dakota) where they are not native.”

While small animals don’t really pose much threat to humans (although they might bite if handled), the greatest risk is to the gators themselves who won’t survive in northern climates. North Carolina is the farthest north they are found naturally.

Although alligators can be kept as pets in some states, Connecticut law forbids anyone from possessing potentially dangerous animals. Citation:  CONN. GEN. STAT. §26-40A, as well as CONN. GEN. STAT. §26-55 – Permit for importing, possessing or liberating fish, wild birds, wild quadrupeds, reptiles or amphibians which states,

“No person shall import or introduce into the state, or possess or liberate therein, any live fish, wild bird, wild mammal, reptile, amphibian or invertebrate unless such person has obtained a permit therefor from the commissioner provided nothing in this section shall be construed to require such permit for any primate species that weighs not more than fifty pounds at maturity that was imported or possessed in the state prior to October 1, 2003. Such permit may be issued at the discretion of the commissioner under such regulations as the commissioner may prescribe. The commissioner may by regulation prescribe the numbers of live fish, wild birds, wild mammals, reptiles, amphibians or invertebrates of certain species which may be imported, possessed, introduced into the state or liberated therein. The commissioner may by regulation exempt certain species or groups of live fish from the permit requirements. The commissioner may by regulation determine which species of wild birds, wild mammals, reptiles, amphibians or invertebrates must meet permit requirements. The commissioner may totally prohibit the importation, possession, introduction into the state or liberation therein of certain species which the commissioner has determined may be a potential threat to humans, agricultural crops or established species of plants, fish, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians or invertebrates. The commissioner may by regulation exempt from permit requirements organizations or institutions such as zoos, research laboratories, colleges or universities, public nonprofit aquaria or nature centers where live fish, wild birds, wild mammals, reptiles, amphibians or invertebrates are held in strict confinement. Any such fish, bird, mammal, reptile, amphibian or invertebrate illegally imported into the state or illegally possessed therein shall be seized by any representative of the Department of Environmental Protection and shall be disposed of as determined by the commissioner. Any person, except as provided in section 26-55a, who violates any provision of this section or any regulation issued by the commissioner as provided in this section shall be guilty of an infraction. Importation, liberation or possession of each fish, wild bird, wild mammal, reptile, amphibian or invertebrate in violation of this section or such regulation shall be a separate and distinct offense and, in the case of a continuing violation each day of continuance thereof shall be deemed to be a separate and distinct offense.”

Those looking to see wild and exotic up close are encouraged to visit The Beardsley Zoo, 1875 Noble Ave., Bridgeport, CT 06610-1646 203 394-6565.The Zoo is open 362 days a year 9am-4pm

Lizards lurking in Northern Ireland’s hills

Ask most people and they’ll tell you there are no lizards in Northern Ireland. But they’d be wrong. St Patrick might have managed to drive the snakes off the island but he overlooked the common lizard.

But because Ireland’s only native reptile is so shy and elusive, the public perception is that the common lizard is one of those exotic species which are only found across the water.

Indeed, one member of the public who found a lizard in the Belfast Hills recently handed it in to National Trust warden Dermot McCann, believing it had escaped from a pet-owner.

“I had to tell her to let it go again,” he said.

But new research published by scientists at Queen’s University reveals that the lizard may be more common than previously believed — in fact, it has been spotted in every county in Northern Ireland.

Conservation efforts have suffered in the past because scientists simply didn’t know where the lizards were and how well they were doing.

One of the reasons why this information was so scarce was that on many occasions the lizards were mistaken for smooth newts. It was also thought that lizards occurred mainly around the coast.

However, the QUB research on sightings records dating back to 1905 reveal that there could well be large populations of lizards in upland areas such as the Antrim plateau and the Mournes.

The paper, in Amphibia-Reptilia, revealed that lizards were sighted in heathlands, coastal habitats and bog — and were even spotted in non-native conifer forests.

Large areas of suitable habitat still exist in the Sperrin mountains, Mourne mountains, Antrim plateau, Slieve Beagh uplands and west Fermanagh, but habitats in lowland areas are much more fragmented, including some coastal areas, such as Murlough dunes in Co Down, the Peatlands Park in Co Armagh and the Magilligan and Downhill dunes.

The paper’s authors — Aodan Farren, Paulo Prodohl, Peter Laming and Neil Reid — say many sightings are clustered in areas which attract summer visitors, such as the north Antrim coast, suggesting there could be many more lizard colonies living in less-visited areas.

But they warn that lowland raised bog has declined from 25,000 hectares to 2,000 since the start of the 19th century, while sand dune systems are also threatened by sea level rise, human recreation, over-grazing and invasive species — so the uplands are now the main stronghold for lizards.

The authors said: “In Northern Ireland, upland heath and coastal dunes are of major conservation concern and are under continued threat of destruction.

“Establishment of an ecological network to preserve connectivity of remaining heath and bog will not only benefit remaining populations of common lizard but biodiversity in general,” the authors advise.”

Snake bites are up slightly this year

A young girl, a 63-year-old woman and 12 others around Palo Pinto County all have one thing in common – they have suffered a snake bite.
Tragically the girl died from medical complications, but others have or are apparently recovering.
“It’s a little higher than normal, but they (bites) have been extra venomous,” said Harris Brooks, CEO at Palo Pinto General Hospital.
Part of that, he believes, is due to high temperatures. He explained that snakes’ vision is like a thermal camera, they see heat signatures. When temperatures are high, it blurs their vision and their strikes are neither as accurate nor as controlled.
He said the venom from rattlesnakes and copperheads, common in this part of Texas, works as an anti-coagulant.
“Basically, it gets in your blood and the victim starts bleeding under the skin,” said Brooks.
From there, organs begin to fail as the bleeding spreads through the body.
If a person is bitten by a snake, hospital administrators across the area agree, get to a hospital as quickly as possible.
“Basically, get to help as fast as you can,” Brooks stressed.
AT PPGH there is anti-venom available.
“It’s ridiculously expensive,” said Brooks, adding that each vial costs $2,000.
He said depending on the severity of the bite, eight to 10 vials could be needed for treatment.
“Unless they show symptoms, we don’t give shots,” Brooks said.
In Young County, Graham Regional Medical Center carries the anti-venom and can treat patients.
Steve Hartgraves, CEO of GRMC, said each box contains two vials, the cost is $4,000.
“You can’t buy just one vial,” he said. “You wouldn’t want to buy just one.”
Depending on the severity, patients can be treated at Graham or might be transported to a larger hospital.
“If it can be treated here, we do,” said Hartgraves.
He said there have been six bites treated at Graham this year.
Farther west, Stephens Memorial Hospital CEO Shane Kernell in Breckenridge also confirmed that hospital carries Crofab anti-venom.
“We stock it here,” he said.
Kernell has been at Stephens about a month, having been the chief financial officer at the Eastland hospital.
“We had a dozen snake bites in Eastland,” he said.
He agrees, if bitten seek immediate medical treatment.
“Folks just need to get to the nearest emergency room,” he said.
Whether or not the anti-venom is administered is a doctor’s decision.
“It’s always going to be a doctor’s decision,” he said. “It (anti-venom) is about as toxic as the real deal.”
Kernell noted that an injection of Crofab could be fatal if the patient has not been bitten by a venomous snake.
“They have to be certain before they’ll administer the anti-venom.”

Woman leaves pillow case with 4ft boa at Barnet home

A woman who left a pillow case containing a 4ft-long snake at a north London home is being sought by police.

The mystery caller knocked on the door in Cricklewood, Barnet, at about 0100 BST and asked for “Andrew”. She then walked away leaving a pillow case.

When the pillow case started moving, officers were called and found a South American boa inside.

The snake, named Kojak by officers, is said to be “friendly” and appears to be used to being handled, police said.

Metropolitan Police said the reptile was healthy but might be about to shed its skin.

Kojak was kept in the media office at Colindale Police Station for a few hours before a veterinary nurse from London Zoo collected it.

Officers are trying to trace the owner of the reptile. The woman who left the snake has been described as a white woman aged about 25.

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