Daily Reptile News

Woman finds snakes in the pool

The whirling motion in Wendy Zollo’s screened-patio pool on Thursday turned out to be more than just the gentle ripples of the water.

A closer look gave Zollo a hair-raising shock. There were five black, ring-neck snakes sliding through the clear water.

“Snakes! I said ‘holy . . .” and ran so fast from the pool that I fell and hurt my knee,” said Zollo, who quickly found a phone and called for help.

Brevard County Animal Services responded about 9 a.m. to Zollo’s Sorento Circle home in West Melbourne.

The home is fenced-off near a canal.

An animal services officer donned a glove and carefully scooped five of the snakes out of the pool and placed them in a bag for relocation.

Another snake was found in a pool skimmer, Zollo said.

The snakes were non-venomous and have distinctive bright orange markings around their necks, officials said.

Agency officials said it is uncommon to find so many snakes gathered in one pool.

“It’s a little unusual,” said Brian Figueroa, spokesman for Brevard County Animal Services.

“Looking at the photographs, they look like a glob of black lines. They typically burrow under rocks and lay eggs in the mid-summer,” he said.

The snakes were taken to a nearby wooded area and released. But that still doesn’t leave Zollo comfortable. She and other family members typically swim in the backyard pool during the afternoon.

“I have no idea when I’ll get back in,” Zollo said, adding that she and her husband will be checking the area around the pool for the foreseeable future.

“My 6-year-old grandson gets out of school at 3 p.m. and that’s usually the first place we go. All I can say is thank God for animal control.”

Endangered reptiles seized

KUALA LUMPUR – MALAYSIAN officials seized hundreds of endangered radiated tortoises, tomato frogs and chameleons days after a major wildlife bust of thousands of rare birds, reports said on Friday.

Customs officials at the Kuala Lumpur international airport found the wildlife in the hand luggage of two Madagascan women, the Star daily reported.

Wildlife and National Parks department head Abdul Rasid Samsuddin told the paper they found 369 radiated tortoises, five Madagascar tortoises, 47 tomato frogs and several chameleons.

‘The tortoises were bound with masking tape to prevent them from moving, while the chameleons were stuffed into socks to prevent detection,’ he told the Star, adding that the animals were worth RM250,000 (S$107,384).

Malaysian police stumbled across a massive haul of endangered wildlife, including a pair of valuable birds of paradise, as they raided a warehouse of stolen cars on Wednesday.

More than 20 protected species were found in the ‘mini zoo’ in the capital’s suburbs.

Alligator found in Johnson City

JOHNSON CITY — It was just like any other day.

Cliff Bickham III, 19, was riding his bike around the village Wednesday afternoon with his 16-year-old brother, Jared, when he saw a small turtle scurry into a drainage area at the corner of CFJ Boulevard and Lester Avenue.

“Let’s follow it,” he yelled to his brother.

Follow it they did, and one creature led to the discovery of another: an American alligator.

The 27-inch striped reptile had somehow made its way into the inches-deep water under the Lester Avenue overpass, just across the street from CFJ Park.

Cliff Bickham snapped a few pictures of the alligator with his cell phone and sent them to his parents.

“We came down there and we said, ‘Holy cow, it really is an alligator,” said the boys’ father, Cliff Bickham Jr. “You don’t expect to find that here, near JC, New York.”

The father cautiously snapped up the creature by grabbing it by the back of its neck and tail before taping its mouth shut and covering its eyes in an attempt to settle it down. The family then loaded the gator into their black Chevrolet Tahoe and headed to the Johnson City Police Department, with the now-calm alligator sitting in the father’s lap as the boys’ mother Holly Bickham drove.

Police tried contacting the state Department of Environmental Conservation with no luck before the Bickhams came up with a temporary solution. They called Jordan Patch, former owner of the Reptile Co. in Endicott, who picked up the alligator and took it to his home in Conklin.

Now the gator sits in a kiddie pool while Patch waits to hear from the DEC, which contacted Johnson City police on Thursday.

How the reptile got to Johnson City is anyone’s guess. Patch said it has some marks on its mouth that appear to be from a cage the reptile was kept in but had outgrown. New York state law does not allow alligators to be kept as pets; they can be kept only with a permit if the owner can prove they are being used for educational purposes.

David Riehlman, a wildlife biologist with the DEC, said incidents like this happen once every few years. Venturing a guess, he said the alligator was likely being kept as a pet illegally and escaped or was let go.

“Most likely, this is an American alligator that somebody might have picked up in Florida and had it for a while and decided they didn’t want it any longer,” Riehlman said. “That’s probably the most likely source of an animal like that that ends up in a body of water in New York state.”

The alligator was a welcomed sight for Patch, who said it was well-cared for. He closed down the Reptile Co. — a pet shop that presented educational programs at area schools and was permitted to keep three alligators — a year-and-a-half ago after opening a bar and grill in Conklin. Now, he said, the reptile, which can grow to up to 9 feet long, has him thinking about opening up a new shop.

He’s even given it a name: C.J, after the park.

“With C.J. now falling on our doorstep, this would be the perfect way to get back into the educational shows if we can get relicensed,” said Patch, who may try to obtain a DEC permit to keep the reptile himself. “I’ve been re-inspired. He’s a perfect ambassador animal.”

Jane Lane resident says snake attacked her

BRISTOL — After going face-to-leg with a 5-foot-long snake while taking groceries into her Jane Lane home, Janet King does not agree with a R.I. Department of Environmental Management (DEM) report stating the snake is indigenous to the area.

“I’ve lived in Bristol for 32 years and I’ve never seen a snake like that, even a garden snake or a grass snake,” she said.

Ms. King said she was standing in her driveway holding a bag of groceries on Monday, July 5, when she looked down and saw a large snake curled up near her foot.

She screamed, at which point the snake darted at her leg. She narrowly avoided being bitten and ran into her house.

“It went after me,” she said. “It was angry. It’s mouth was open.”

After she “pulled herself together,” she called 911 and asked for police to come and check out the area. Neighbors with young children joined her to make sure the snake was removed.

“It was frightening. My neighbors have a pool, and snakes like water. … We wanted it out of the water,” she said.

By the time Bristol Police and DEM officials responded, the snake had wrapped itself in a nearby tree. Officials cut down one of the trees’ branches to apprehend the snake and put it in a cage.

Ms. King said one DEM officer told her the snake was “not of this region” and would be taken to Providence. She did not know what would be done with the animal.

DEM Deputy Chief of Environmental Police Kurt Blanchard said the snake was most likely a king or milk snake, a species indigenous to Bristol and it was not removed from Jane Lane.

Ms. King said the snake did not look like those species and must have been a python.

DEM officials did not return phone calls for this story

Giant Snake Sparks Concern at Grover Cleveland

As Heidi Spiegel was on her third lap around Grover Cleveland Park Tuesday night, an unusual sight caught her attention in the creek on the Essex Fells side of the county park.

A closer look revealed a fish was being devoured by a large snake.

“It was my third lap around the creek and I must have missed it the first two times I went around,” Spiegel said. “I probably wouldn’t have seen it if it wasn’t for the fish’s tail that was flipping out of the snake’s mouth. The fish’s tail caught my eye.”

Spiegel, a North Caldwell resident, grew up in the Poconos where she became familiar with various types of snakes.

Considering this snake’s striping, color and shape of its head, Spiegel was concerned it was a venomous—and potentially dangerous—Copperhead.

Spiegel and others gathered at about 8 p.m., as Essex Fells Police Officer Ryan Hoyt responded and called for the West Orange Animal Control, which has a shared-service agreement with the borough.

However, Animal Control Officer Adrian Delgado’s netting was unable to reach the snake, which could not be captured and continued down the creek.

“Snakes are very difficult to catch. They can slither away very easily, especially when they are in water,” said Theresa DeNova, West Orange’s health officer. “If there was another sighting, we certainly would have come back out.”

But Lawrence Hajna, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, said Wednesday there’s no reason for concern.

According to Hajna, one of the department’s snake experts identified the reptile through pictures taken by The Caldwells Patch as a non-venomous Northern Water Snake, commonly found in the area and often mistaken for the poisonous Copperhead.

According to the state DEP, there are 22 species of snakes found in New Jersey, including the venomous Copperhead and Timber Rattlesnake.

The Copperhead is usually found in rural, mountainous regions and ranges in length from 20 to 40 inches. It’s bite is poisonous and considered painful, but rarely fatal, experts said.

The Northern Water Snake is one of the most commonly found snakes in New Jersey and ranges in length from 22 to 53 inches. These snakes are found throughout the state in freshwater streams, ponds, lakes, swamps, marshes and bogs.

The Northern Water Snake’s color and striping often cause alarm that it’s a Copperhead.

“It’s a common misconception,” Hajna said.

Saturday, July 17: PETCO Reptile Rally

According to PETCO, reptiles are often misunderstood. For instance, many people think owning a reptile would be fucking gross, and probably require throwing live baby mice into the mouth of something that looks like a cold-blooded, mini dinosaur. Not true, says PETCO, and the mega-corporation aim to prove just that at stores across the country Saturday with the nationwide Reptile Rally, where reptile experts and aficionados will gather at your local PETCO store and offer all the info you’ll need to get your home reptile sanctuary started.

PREDICTION: You’ve often wondered how those creepy guys that walk around public events with huge snakes around their necks spend their downtime. Well, events like the Reptile Rally are a good start. On a side note, the Olympia PETCO Reptile Rally will (predictably) be marred by a swath of protesting crickets that organize a sit-in outside.

PETCO

1530 Black Lake Blvd. SW, Olympia
360.956.0698

4028 Tacoma Mall Blvd., Tacoma
253.473.1296

5700 100th St. SW, Lakewood
253.984.6903

Man eats snake for a Rs 100 bet, survives

SURAT: It was more important for this 35-year-old man from Bhatpor village to win a Rs 100 bet than fear for his life. For, Zaver Rathod ate a raw, poisonous snake to win the bet. Although he survived, he landed at New Civil Hospital in Surat on Tuesday night with severe nausea and symptoms of other illnesses.

However, on Wednesday morning, Rathod fled from the hospital after he was hounded by media and other citizens, all of who wanted to meet the man who had eaten a raw snake to win a bet.

Rathod was brought to the hospital on Tuesday for treatment of severe vomiting, which doctors realised was due to eating a snake.

Doctors at NCH confirmed that the snake Rathod had eaten was indeed poisonous, but he survived as the poison had gone to his stomach and not his blood stream. “It is when the poison spreads in entire body through blood that it becomes life threatening. However, if treatment is provided in time, when the poison goes directly into the stomach it does not affect severely.

Rathod, a resident of Bhatpor village, works as a farm labour. On Tuesday evening, he was with his friends Sanjay and Bhupendra in the village when a snake bit Sanjay. Soon after the bite, Sanjay became unconscious. In a fit of rage, Rathod and Bhupendra killed the snake with stones.

However, later, Bhupendra challenged Rathod to eat the snake for a Rs 100 note. Rathod took the snake and ate it up from the front side and within minutes of eating it, he started vomiting and fell to the ground.

On being brought to NCH, he was immediately given treatment and his situation improved by Wednesday morning.

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