Daily Reptile News

Woman bitten by snake on walking trail

OZARK – Ozark officials urged alertness of outdoor surroundings after a woman was bitten by what officials believe was a nonpoisonous snake early Tuesday at Ed Lisenby Lake.

Ozark Department of Leisure Services Director Steve Sherrill said a woman was bitten by what may have been an oak snake around 9 a.m. Tuesday when she walked by the snake near the dam while traveling along the three-mile walking trail.

As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, it was reported that she did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

The snake was not located.

Sherrill said an estimated 50 to 100 people travel the trail daily.

The incident was the only one that occurred over the last year, he said.

“Anytime you’re in a natural setting with the trees and the lake nearby, there’s the possibility that a snake is there, but sometimes when you’re walking hard and have your MP3 player on you’re not as alert as you probably should be,” Sherrill said.

“Similar incidents have happened even in some open area parks in the Wiregrass. You just have to stay alert as possible.”

According to the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, oak snakes are also called chicken snakes and rat snakes and tend to dwell near forests and farmland.

Around 4,000 to 7,000 snake bites are reported to national centers every year, according to Web MD’s website.

A total of 97 fatalities in 20 years were identified, with the most occurring in Texas with 17, Florida with 14 and Georgia with 12, according to the website.

In addition to surroundings, Sherrill said residents should also be cautious of heat exhaustion while walking along any area in the Wiregrass.

“Sometimes we get out there and try to do more than we know we really can. It’s a good time to really pay attention while you’re enjoying outside,” he said.

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Breakout:
What to do if bitten by snake
Call 911 as soon as possible
Call National Poison Control Center (1-800-222-1222)
Source: U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health

First Aid
1. Keep the person calm. Restrict movement, and keep the affected area below heart level to reduce the flow of venom.
2. Remove any rings or constricting items because the affected area may swell. Create a loose splint to help restrict movement of the area.
3. If the area of the bite begins to swell and change color, the snake was probably poisonous.
4. Monitor the person’s vital signs—temperature, pulse, rate of breathing, and blood pressure—if possible. If there are signs of shock (such as paleness), lay the person flat, raise the feet about a foot, and cover the person with a blanket.
5. Get medical help right away.
6. Bring in the dead snake only if this can be done safely. Do not waste time hunting for the snake, and do not risk another bite if it is not easy to kill the snake. Be careful of the head when transporting it—a snake can actually bite for up to an hour after it’s dead (from a reflex).
Source: U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health

DO NOT
Do NOT allow the person to become over-exerted. If necessary, carry the person to safety.
Do NOT apply a tourniquet.
Do NOT apply cold compresses to a snake bite.
Do NOT cut into a snake bite with a knife or razor.
Do NOT try to suck out the venom by mouth.
Do NOT give the person stimulants or pain medications unless a doctor tells you to do so.
Do NOT give the person anything by mouth.
Do NOT raise the site of the bite above the level of the person’s heart.
Source: U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health

When to Contact a Medical Professional
Call 911 or your local emergency number if someone has been bitten by a snake. If possible, call ahead to the emergency room so that antivenom can be ready when the person arrives.
Source: U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health

Poisonous snakebite sends man to ER

TAMPA – Growing up in Tampa, Mike Hendershot thought he knew snakes. He’s even been bitten by non-poisonous ones a couple of times.

So Sunday night when he and his friends saw a foot and a half long snake under their car, Mike thought it was harmless.

“I’ve messed with snakes before. I saw this one, it looked like a garden snake to me. I just tried to, I was messing around. I tried to grab it,” he said.

But the snake turned its head, striking him. Its fangs pierced Mike’s middle finger on his right hand.’

“It was as if someone hit me with a hammer on the finger. And then a needle. It was just a stinging, numbing pain,” he recalled, from his hospital room at University Community Hospital, in Tampa.

The 22-year-old recent FSU grad said he and his friends went on the internet and saw a picture of the snake. It turned out it was a water moccasin, a highly venomous snake.

Mike’s friends rushed him to UCH, where he received 12 vials of anti-venin.

Hospital staff have had a lot of experience in venomous snake bites.

Last year, UCH treated the most poisonous snake bites than any other hospital in the country, with 15.

Jim Maister, a clinical pharmacist with UCH, said this is the season for snakes.

“Yes, it is the season. Summertime. They are cold-blooded animals, so they do need to warm themselves in the sun. It’s one of those things, we have to be careful and we have to respect their environment too,” Maister said.

He’s particularly worried right now too.

“Because this week, next week, all the kids get out of school. And there are lots of areas that are under construction. Areas that are plowed out or mowed over. These animals need some place to go, so they are going to end up in your garage, under your car,” Maister said.

Maister also says we all need to respect these animal’s environment, and Mike Hendershot agrees. He admits it wasn’t as easy as he thought to detect the differences between the poisonous snakes and the harmless ones.

“Don’t grab them, that’s for sure. Just don’t even get around them,” Hendershot warned.

Steve Irwin surveillance-crocodiles travel across oceans

Before his death, legendary Aussie reptile-botherer Steve Irwin helped to plant tracking bugs on a large number of saltwater crocodiles. Boffins analysing data from the bugs now report that the crocs, despite being poor swimmers who mainly live in shallow estuarine waters, are capable of making long ocean voyages.

According to Dr Hamish Campbell of Queensland uni, who tagged up 27 full-grown crocs with assistance from Irwin and others some years ago, the toothy creatures have managed to spread throughout the Indian and Pacific ocean by making long voyages across the open sea.

“The estuarine crocodile occurs as island populations throughout the Indian and Pacific ocean, and regular mixing between the island populations probably occurs,” explains the doc.

Famous crocmeister Irwin, who died after being poisoned by a stingray in 2006, was apparently instrumental in the tricky business of bugging the huge, several-metre-long estuarine Crocodylus porosi involved in the study. According to Queensland uni:

The late Steve Irwin, the original Crocodile Hunter, developed innovative capture techniques of crocodiles to ensure the team were 100 percent safe. Steve was instrumental in the strategies developed to minimize stress on crocodiles throughout the research and he was integral to the success of the research project.

The doc has gone through 1.2 million data packets from the crocs bugged by Irwin and his other colleagues, and added records from other projects too. He has logged crocodiles making open-sea journeys across hundreds of kilometres.

His analysis indicates that the crafty crocodiles don’t swim much during such trips, but rather travel with the tides and ocean currents. If the sea isn’t flowing the way the croc wants, it will normally beach itself somewhere handy and wait for conditions to change.

“Because these crocodiles are poor swimmers, it is unlikely that they swim across vast tracts of ocean,” says Campbell. “But they can survive for long periods in salt-water without eating or drinking, so by only travelling when surface currents are favourable, they would be able to move long distances by sea. This not only helps to explains how estuarine crocodiles move between oceanic islands, but also contributes to the theory that crocodilians have crossed major marine barriers during their evolutionary past.”

The doc’s research is to be published this month in the Journal of Animal Ecology, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2010.01709.x

Pet Snake Freed from Drain; How Did It Get There?

A pet snake freed from a drain below the South Omaha Veterans Bridge on Monday now rests at the Nebraska Humane Society. Experts say the 6-foot long boa constrictor had either escaped or been dumped in the area.

The first question everyone had involved whether the snake was even there anymore after the Channel Six Exclusive on Sunday night.

From the scene, Kristie Biodrowski with the Nebraska Humane Society answered it rather quickly. “We have located the snake in question inside of the drain pipe here.”

Experts from various fields — the Humane Society — the Henry Doorly Zoo — and plumbing yes, plumbing — discussed options.

“We just used an ordinary cable for a sewer line and with the un-ordinary rags tied to the end of it,” says Jose Belez with Roto Cop Plumbing.

The metal snake didn’t work on nudging out the real one. “You can’t even see him anymore because it bends,” says one worker.

Buckets of water couldn’t create enough pressure to get him out and neither could a big trash can of water dumped into the pipe.

“His head is pointed at us,” says another worker peering into the pipe.

The next option involved a city water truck. Would it work?

It did. The snake wasn’t aggressive at all. Experts say cold water will calm a boa — especially since its native land is Central and South America and not Nebraska.

“I was wondering where it came from. Had to be somebody’s pet or something,” says neighbor Annie Abraham.

Based on its size and how it acted, that’s what Sarah Armstrong with the Henry Doorly Zoo believes. “Inherently, it’s a wild animal. They have one defense. They have no arms or legs to push you away so their defense is their mouth when they can’t run away.”

A six-foot boa can easily crush an adult if it gets around you. One can go 3-to-6 months without eating and do just fine. However, rabbits and small cats and dogs could have been on its radar. The types of animals owls and hawks hunt.

Boa constrictors are also legal to have as a pet. “We do get calls sometimes about people wanting to donate them,” says Armstrong. “They get them as pets when they are a foot long and then they grow and get too big and are too much for people to take care of and they want to get rid of them.”

If no one claims the boa at the humane society — he’ll be put up for adoption. No doubt sharing his story of living in the wild with others.

6/12: Phoenix Pet Expo opens doors to all pets

The Phoenix Pet Expo on Saturday isn’t just for dogs. All pets are welcome, from lizards and turtles to rabbits and birds, at the inaugural convention.

nside the air-conditioned University of Phoenix Stadium, the expo is a good way to beat the heat for cheap – parking and admission are free.

Here are four things to do at the expo:

Play

There are three main contests at the show: pet/owner look-alike, best pet costume and the smart pet/stupid-human trick competition. Each contest is free to enter and there are a variety of pet-related prizes. Check out the pet fashion show hosted by online retailer Lou’s Doggie Boutique. Bulldogs from Gilbert’s Love a Bull Rescue will model apparel for shorter, squattier pooches, and visitors can sign their pets up to participate as well. There’s also a 60-sqaure-foot agility ring that pets can try. Bring immunizations records and a non-retractable leash for dogs and cats.

Shop

More than 125 vendors, including trainers, groomers, pet photographers and retailers are scheduled for the show. Many of the exhibitors are offering show-only discounts.

Adopt

Nearly 50 rescue groups will be at the expo, some of which will offer on-site adoptions. Organizations range from dog and cat shelters to horse and parrot rescues. Visitors also can sign up for information about the shelters and learn how to support or donate to them.

Learn

Along with the fliers and brochures vendors will have, there are a variety of lectures. Check out headliner Liam Crowe, CEO and dog behavioral therapist of Bark Busters USA, and Eileen Proctor, business pet consultant and owner of Phoenix-based company It’s A Ruff Life.

UPDATE: Large Snake Captured

The Search for a large snake spotted hiding near the new Veterans Memorial Bridge in South Omaha has drawn a lot of attention.

The snake was captured Monday thanks to a cooperative effort between several local entities.

Humane Society investigators located the snake in a drain pipe around 10 Monday morning.

“The last couple of days this things had the neighbor little kids scared,” neighbor Angelo McIntire said. “The snake had its head out of the pipe about (two feet) they went and got their mom and dad and called 9-1-1, the humane society.”

“He’s back pretty far about 20 feet or so we can just get a glimpse of what we believe is the snake,” Humane Society spokeswoman Kristie Biodrowski said.

The snake was coiled inside an ‘L’ shaped drain pipe.

“We don’t get a whole lot of strange loose snake calls we do impound them from time to time but usually we don’t have to worry about rescuing them from any kind of hole or what have you,” Biodrowski said.

Now the big problem…how to get the snake out?

“We’re working with a plumbing company to see if we can’t snake something down there to disturb him so that he’ll want to come out,” Biodrowski said.

Jose Belez of Roto Cop Plumbing offered to help clear his most unusual clog yet. He said he’s never had a clog quite like this one.

“Oh never not like that one not a five foot one that’s moving,” he said.

A metal snake couldn’t snake out the live snake.

So rescuers next tried tying rags to prod the snake out.

Again…failure.

Next they tried buckets of soapy water and even a trash can full but it didn’t create enough pressure to force out the snake.

By now the Sarah Armstrong of the Henry Doorly Zoo was involved.

“There’s enough room in that pipe that he was like wrapped around the towels on there,” she said. “You could see just coils of the body.”

Finally, a city water truck joined in…creating enough pressure to safely rescue the six foot long snake.

Originally thought to be a python, Armstrong identified the captured snake as a boa constrictor.

Neighbors were glad to see this unwanted guest leave the area.

“It was cool it took them a little while to get out but I don’t mind snakes I thought it was interesting,” Annie Abraham said.

“You never know what to expect but it is different from our day to day,” Biodrowski said.

It took about two hours to remove the snake from the pipe.

It was taken to the humane society and checked out.

Now comes the hard part…locating the snake’s owner.

If no one comes forward, we’re told the snake will be put up for adoption.

Invasive lizard is latest worry for Florida wildlife officials

Reporting from Ocala National Forest, Fla. —

As if the latest reports of Burmese pythons, monitor lizards and Cuban tree frogs crawling around Florida were not enough, a disruptive new invader has arrived.

It’s an exotic lizard called a tegu, a 4-foot-long reptile from Argentina with sharp claws and a voracious appetite for meat that could possibly upset the ecological applecart. One was spotted last week in the Ocala National Forest, a place teeming with campers, swimmers and hikers.

Forest officials said the black-and-white lizard was probably dropped off in the forest by an overwhelmed pet owner.

“We’re taking this very seriously,” said Carrie Sekerak, a forest-wildlife biologist. “A tegu is known to go inside gopher-tortoise burrows and dig out mice and tortoise eggs…. It can tip the balance suddenly.”

Common in South America, tegus are one of the most abundant lizards in southern Brazil. The leather-skinned creatures have been harvested for their skins and meat in Paraguay and Argentina. They also have been used to control rat populations.

Tegus are omnivorous and have a taste for native plants and small rodents, which are food for Florida snakes and raptors.

“So they are taking away a food source for those animals,” Sekerak said.

In recent years, tegus have become popular with exotic-pet aficionados in the United States because of their usually docile nature. It’s not unusual for tegu owners to let their pets run free inside their homes, said Kevin Enge, a herpetologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“A lot of people watch television with them sitting on their laps,” Enge said.

The animals can bite, however, and will whip their tails if cornered.

Similar to other voracious exotic pets, tegus are now being released into the wild by pet owners who can no longer handle or feed them. And that’s likely how the tegu ended up in the Ocala forest. It was found by a group of state wildlife workers last month in a remote area more than three miles from the nearest home.

“It’s probably an animal that got too big, and somebody got tired of it, and they dumped it, figuring it was a big, beautiful area,” said Steve Johnson, an assistant professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Florida, who puts together Invader Updater, an online newsletter about nonnative invasive fauna. “And it’s a scary thing because tegus are very opportunistic feeders, and it will compete with the native species.”

Not knowing what it was, one of the forest workers snapped a photo of the tegu and e-mailed it to Sekerak.

“I said: ‘Oh, my gosh, that’s a tegu!’ ” she said. Sekerak told the workers to kill it, but the tegu was too quick and ran off.

In 2006, state biologists found the first tegu in the wild in Florida. In the past few years, tegu breeding populations have been discovered in Miami-Dade County, the Everglades and western Polk County.

So far, the Ocala forest tegu is the first recorded sighting in Central Florida. Biologists fear there may be more.

Tegus’ penchant for eggs of the gopher-tortoise — a native Florida animal that already faces a number of dangers, including construction bulldozers — is particularly worrisome, Johnson said.

“It’s another insult on top of another insult” for the gopher tortoise, Johnson said. “It’s like removing a nut and a bolt from an engine. Maybe nothing would happen, but if you keep removing more nuts and bolts, eventually your car won’t run.”

Unlike many exotic animals, tegus can survive cold winters because they dig burrows and hibernate.

“It’s hard to say how many there are, but we’re going to keep our eyes open,” Enge said. “If we see others, then it may be time to start an eradication.”

Tegus join a long list of nonnative wildlife that have emerged in Florida, including armadillos, feral pigs, Burmese pythons, Cuban tree frogs, walking catfish, rainbow skinks and rhesus monkeys.

Sekerak often visits reptile and pet shows to check out the latest exotic animals people are buying, because those animals eventually could end up in the wild.

“Florida is being hit by so many invasive species that it seems there’s no way evolution will be able to keep up,” she said.

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