Daily Reptile News

Exploreum announces three new exhibits

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – The fun keeps coming. The Gulf Coast Exploreum has announced three upcoming exhibits for 2010. Everything from engineering to sea lions. There’s a lot to look forward to.

The Gulf Coast Exploreum is known to bring out the imagination of the young. The center announced three new exhibits making stops in the Port City for 2010.

“The Exploreum will be the only science center in the country to offer this kind of programming,” said Hela Sheth with the Exploreum.

The first is Explore TEC coming in May. TEC standing for Technology and Engineering Careers, is made possible by a $500,000 grant from NASA.

“This exhibit is full of software, a 3D printer, and it’s all going to boost students encouragement of engineering,” Sheth said.

Explore TEC focuses mainly on grades 6 through 12.

Now, for all ages, comes reptiles in Reptile Planet.

“We’ll be bringing in 30 exotic reptiles from more than 20 countries,” said Sheth.

The exhibit will include boa constrictors, pythons, snapping turtles and more.

The third exhibit will be coming in the fall, and will showcase sea lions in Sea Lion Splash.

Of course, these are all upcoming exhibits, there’s still plenty to do now.

Dinosaurs Downtown has had 68,000 visitors. There’s still three more weeks for you to have your prehistoric meet and greet. This larger than life exhibit features ten animatronic dinosaurs. They move, they roar, and one even spits. The exhibit ends on the April 25.

Fire damages Melbourne house

The Melbourne Fire Department responded to a fire at a single-family house on 719 Espanola Way about 8 a.m. Thursday.
The fire caused about $50,000 worth of damage to the house, according to initial estimates.

Firefighters entered the structure to find the kitchen and a couch on fire.

Several snakes and two lizards were rescued from the house while a cat perished in the fire.

No one was home at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported. Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire.

Officers from the Brevard County Animal Services and Enforcement were called to assist the reptiles.

Coast Guardsman describes unwelcome visitor



U.S. Coast Guardsman Jason Maddux had just gotten out of bed at his Astoria apartment 6:30 Thursday morning when he spotted a 3-foot long python cuddling the baseboard heater in his living room.

“It was just there,” he told The Daily Astorian. “Actually, I’m not a snake person, and I didn’t want to get near the thing, so I kept an eye on it.”

And took a photo.

He called in to work to say he’d be late because of his unusual situation at home, and his boss recommended he call the police. Maddux did, and two Astoria police officers, Sgts. Brian Aydt and Eric Halverson, arrived at the Exchange Street location 10 minutes later. The officers pushed the snake into a plastic bin and took it away.

Why did the snake pick Maddux’s apartment?

Maddux had just moved to Astoria and hadn’t entirely unpacked everything.

He had been having trouble with his baseboard heating unit in the living room, and couldn’t figure out how to work it. It turns out the dial was on backwards, so every time he tried to lower the heat, he was actually turning it up. The temperature in the apartment reached 85 degrees, by Maddux’s estimate. It’s likely the warmth enticed the snake out of hiding, and it slithered straight to the baseboard heat source.

No one seems to have any idea where the snake came from, or how long it’s been on the loose before turning up Thursday morning. It’s unlikely that it came in Maddux’s belongings, which were in storage in Florida and Connecticut for eight months, as it probably would have starved to death.

“It’s not like I was keeping any mice in there,” Maddux noted.

Anyone missing a rather large python?

Squeezy money

Slippery crooks escaped with nearly 50 rare snakes after breaking into a reptile breeder’s home, say police.

The thieves made straight for a tank containing 43 boa constrictors and three corn snakes in the burglary in Stade, Germany.

Experts say the rare red-tailed boas could be worth up to 7,000 GBP each when fully grown.

“Neither breed is poisonous but they are dangerous and unless these thieves are experts they’re going to have plenty of trouble on their hands,” said one officer.

Snakes in the lake … caution urged on land too

Zen Mocarski confirmed an answer that he admitted “is not one you necessarily want to hear.”

“All snakes can swim,” said the spokesperson for the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Kingman office. “Now the question, is it common? The answer would be no. In Arizona, we do not have any true water snakes. … I have heard reports of rattlesnakes in the water. Is it common? The answer would be: It depends how you define common, but the answer would be no.”

The Game and Fish Department recently released a warning to residents to be on the look out for venomous animals, such as rattlesnakes, sidewinders, and black widow spiders.

A boater recently photographed what Mocarski confirmed to be a rattlesnake swimming in Lake Havasu.

Mocarski said that although the site is uncommon, the reptiles could still strike and bite while in the water.

“Absolutely they could if they so chose,” Mocarski said. “They might view somebody on an inner tube … as a little island and they are trying to get out of the water. (They are) not necessarily trying to get after you, but just looking at getting of the water. It’s not real common. Can it happen? Sure it can. We’re not here to freak anybody out.”


Mocarski said swimming snakes would at least have their head out of the water, and their bodies’ movement would look similar to their land behavior. He said two rattlesnake myths are they have to be coiled to strike and they rattle before striking.

He said gopher snakes, which are non-venomous, resemble rattlesnakes and spend a lot of time near water.

He said area residents might start seeing snakes near roadways this time of year as the pavement helps to warm their body temperature, whereas during the summer months, the reptiles tend to stay under bushes or rocks to protect themselves from the heat.

“You can outrun a snake,” he said. “It looks like they are moving really fast because of that body movement. You can get away.”

He reminds residents to not step or reach into any blind spots.

Mocarski said if bitten by a snake, the victim should stay calm, remove any restrictive clothing to allow blood to flow freely through the body and seek immediate medical care. He said ice should not be applied to the area, and do not attempt to “suck” the venom out.

“The more excited you get, the faster you pump the venom through your system and realize that you have some time to get to a medical facility,” he said. “I’m not here to scare you. I’m here to protect you.”

170kg crocodile brings life to sleepy town

IPOH: A group of fishermen here got more than they bargained for when they hauled up a 3.6m-long crocodile.

Fisherman Lau Kim San said they found the 170kg reptile entangled in their net near Sungai Tiram in Terong, about 80km from here, on Tuesday morning.

“When we were about to haul in our catch for the day, we noticed something big in our net and were shocked to see a big crocodile,” he said.

“The crocodile began to thrash violently as we pulled the net closer to our boat.”

He added that several fishermen had to be called in to help tie the crocodile to bring it to shore.

Lau said the sleepy town of Kuala Sapeteng was all excited about the catch and some even took the opportunity to pose for photographs with the reptile, while waiting for state Perhilitan officers to take custody of it.

Perak Wildlife Protection and National Parks Department director Shabrina Shariff said the crocodile, Crocodylus porosus, was a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act 972.

“It is a healthy adult crocodile and it took about 12 men to lift it into our truck,” she said yesterday.

“The crocodile was released into its habitat later,” Shabrina said, adding that it took about an hour to get it back into the river.

Man to share room with 40 deadly snakes

A carpenter from Sussex, south England is set to attempt a new world record by spending 121 days in a room with some of the world’s most deadly snakes.

44-year-old David Jones will reportedly spend time in the room with deadly puff adders, snouted cobras, boomslangs, green mambas and black mambas.

The current record is held by a South African man who spent 113 days in a room with snakes without being bitten.

Jones says the last time someone attempted to break the record was 2009. The person was bitten by a puff adder and reportedly almost had to have his leg amputated.

Jones is performing the stunt to raise money for charity.

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