Daily Reptile News

Copperhead snake bites man in his bed

78-year-old Earl Perkins told his niece that he thought he was bitten by one of his cats while he slept on his couch. Turns out, he was actually bitten by a copperhead snake.

Laura Sammons says her uncle was sleeping on the couch and reported feeling a weight on his stomach. When he awoke, his arm was hurting. He decided to go down the road to her house in hopes that she might have an idea of what bit him since it was clear it was far more serious than a cat bite.

“I told him it was a snake bite,” Sammons said.

She called an ambulance and Perkins was taken to an area hospital.

Perkins never actually saw the snake that bit him.

Kentucky Reptile Zoo curator Kristen Wiley says this type of incident is very rare.

“I can’t imagine any reason a snake would get into a bed on purpose,” she said, “I think it would just be an accident on the snake’s part.”

Wiley says snakes generally will only bite a person if they feel threatened. She said it’s entirely possible that the snake in this case did feel threatened if Perkins rolled around in his sleep or startled due to a bad dream.

Wiley adds that most copperhead bites do not cause systemic damage but can be very painful and may cause localized tissue damage.

Perkins is expected to make a full recovery.

His family says they have urged him to move out of his home as it is falling into a state of disrepair. However, he has shown no interest in doing so.

Perkins was also bitten by a snake in his home last year but this recent bite was more serious.

Man Bitten by Snake in Holliday Lake

Appomattox Co., VA – A man is recovering after being bitten by a snake while swimming in Holliday Lake.

Holliday Lake State Park manager Robert Chapman says an adult male says he saw a snake in the water shortly being bit in the leg Thursday afternoon.

Chapman said the man had a strong reaction to the bite and went into some type of shock. They called 911, but because of his poor condition,

requested a helicopter.

Chapman said he is now out of the hospital and doing fine.


In his 13 years of working for state parks, Chapman said has never heard of someone being bit by a snake in the water. He also says there are no poisonous water snakes in the area.


There is speculation that the snake Thursday could have been a Copperhead snake, although unlikely because they don’t live in water.

Rare snake spotted in Royalton

My parents (John and Charlotte Wuepper) photographed a ring-necked snake at their home in Royalton Township last week. Although found throughout Michigan, this snake is very uncommon.

Found in moist woods, it is chiefly nocturnal and its diet includes the red-backed salamander, which also inhabits moist woods.

Ringnecked snakes are brown or black in appearance and have a cream-colored “ring” around the neck area and a yellow bottom.

Sandhill cranes (adults and young) have been seen by several observers over the last two weeks in and around Grand Mere State Park. These large birds have made a remarkable comeback over the past 40 years, as they were once highly susceptible to the pesticide DDT.

Sandhill cranes are commonly seen during spring and fall migration throughout Southwest Michigan, but nesting pairs (in summer) are more difficult to find in Berrien County. In addition to Grand Mere State Park, the species breeds at Sarett Nature Center, near Boyle Lake near Buchanan, Topinabee Lake Preserve near Niles and several other south Berrien County locations. They are found during the nesting season all over Cass County, which has more intact wetlands.

Wayne Gleiber of Lincoln Township reports seeing a cattle egret in a cow pasture June 2 along Livingston Road in Lake Township.

Cattle egrets migrated to the Western Hemisphere on their own accord from Africa and Asia in the late 1800s. They reached the United States during the 1940s and Michigan in 1963.

They are uncommon migrants in Michigan and have never nested in Southwest Michigan. Gleiber’s sighting represents a late spring wanderer, perhaps blown off course during one of the major weather fronts within the past few weeks.

On Sunday, I ran a breeding bird survey route through the southern portion of Berrien County. A project of the United States Geological Survey, breeding bird surveys have been performed every summer since 1966, documenting status and distribution of our breeding birds.

A typical survey route is 25 miles long and 50 stops (one every half-mile) are made in which the observer counts the different birds that are singing in that spot. I tallied about 60 species this year. One of the more noteworthy birds was a blue-winged warbler (small songbird) seen at the Boyle Lake State Game Area.

American robin, gray catbird, indigo bunting and song sparrows were found in great numbers. This is the first time in several years I failed to hear a single ring-necked pheasant crowing along the survey route.

Parking lot gator caught bare-handed

Ohio: A man used his bare hands to capture a four-foot alligator

An employee was with his dog in the parking lot of a Columbus company when his dog focused on an alligator in a puddle.

Police brought a reptile wrangler, Chris Law, who grabbed the gator.

New Zealand: Politician Russel Norman accused the Chinese vice president’s security staff of pushing him, hitting him with an umbrella and tearing a Tibetan flag from his grasp during a protest.

Trafford man not bitten by snake

A Trafford man who thought he had been bitten by an unknown species of snake early Thursday morning was not treated for a snake bike and was discharged from a Pittsburgh hospital on the same day.

At 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Chad Heasley, 39, was flown by STAT MedEvac helicopter to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital three hours after it was thought he was bitten by a snake. He and his friends were riding ATVs in a wooded area off of Casparis Road.

Authorities said that Heasley’s vehicle became stuck and when he tried to move a rock from under the vehicle, he believed a snake bit his right wrist. His wrist was injured and swollen, police said.

Because Heasley and his friends were so deep in the woods, first responders couldn’t find him until nearly 7 a.m. when a state trooper located Heasley’s party and lit a flare, which was spotted by one of the two STAT MedEvac helicopters.

The call came into emergency crews at 3:30 a.m.

According to a representative with UPMC, Heasley was discharged from the hospital later that morning.

Along with state police, Fayette EMS and fire departments from Connellsville Township and Normalville assisted in the search and rescue.

There was no word on what Heasley was actually treated for at the hospital.

Vacuum Assisted Closure Therapy Treated a Wounded Reptile

The Singapore Zoo has made veterinary history by doing Vacuum Assisted Closure Therapy on a reptile in captivity. This zoo is one of the four wildlife parks managed by Wildlife Reserves Singapore, including the first river-themed attraction River Safari.

The Zoo had three komodo dragons and out of them Yoko became the first reptile to get a breakthrough treatment, which is commonly used to support injury healing in humans.

Last November, Yoko had sustained a 16cm injury to her back while hatching a second batch of eggs. She is a mother of the zoo’s first successfully hatched Komodo dragon bred in Asia. She laid her eggs in an underground burrow, where she stuck herself in a crevice of the cave and consequently sustained abrasions to her spinal region. The damaged tissue started to deteriorate and the open wound was susceptible to possible infection.

Dr. Serena Oh, Assistant Director, Veterinary, WRS said, “We kept infection at bay with daily manuka honey dressings and antibiotics. A major challenge was the nature of the Komodo dragon’s skin”.

Several medical experts were consulted and the team decided to use the V.A.C Therapy, which has been clinically proven to treat serious or complex wounds through the use of negative pressure.

Though, reptiles heal very slowly, but Yoko made great progress in her recovery with the V.A.C. Therapy.

Conservationists release Indigo snakes to re-establish Alabama population

MONTGOMERY, AL (DRN)- Alabama conservationists are one step closer to re-establishing a population of the Threatened Eastern indigo snake with the release of 18 juveniles into the wild Wednesday.

The snakes were released on the Conecuh National Forest, which contains longleaf pine habitat suitable for the snake’s survival and potential expansion.

The release is just one part of a multi-year project and the beginning of what Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) biologists hope will be a new start for the snake’s survival in the state. Historically, the Eastern indigo snake lived throughout Florida, the coastal plain of southern Georgia, extreme south Alabama and extreme southeast Mississippi. Today the indigo snake survives in peninsular Florida and southeast Georgia, and persists in the Florida panhandle in low numbers. In all likelihood, it has been extirpated from Alabama and Mississippi. In 1978 it was listed as “Threatened” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act.

Some may wonder why an increase in this snake’s population is beneficial for the environment. According to Alabama Natural Heritage Program Zoologist Jim Godwin, a healthy population of Eastern indigo snakes in a longleaf pine forest setting is an indication of an ecologically functional forest. “The loss of this snake from Alabama and other areas is the loss of a significant part of the biodiversity of the forest. To return the Eastern indigo snake to the south Alabama landscape is to restore a piece of the natural history of the state,” he said.

Several different state, federal and private organizations have contributed to the project that makes the release possible. Five years ago, nongame wildlife biologists with WFF began research on the Eastern indigo snake. After two years of field surveys, no evidence of indigo snakes was found in Alabama. In 2007, the project was expanded by WFF through a contract with Auburn University to start an Indigo snake reintroduction project. This was made possible by a grant through the State Wildlife Grants Program and private contributions from Project Orianne. The State Wildlife Grants Program was established by Congress as a funding source to identify and focus management on species in greatest need of conservation. This program is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

WFF Division Director Corky Pugh says this project puts emphasis on a part of the division the public might not know about. “Most people associate the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries with hunting and fishing related activities,” he said. “However, our Division is responsible for all wildlife resources.”

Project Orianne is a wildlife conservation organization dedicated to the range-wide conservation of the Eastern indigo snake and its habitats. The Kaplan family founded the organization when the daughter (Orianne) developed a fondness for the Eastern indigo snake and wanted to help. Project Orianne uses a comprehensive approach to conserving the Eastern indigo snake including captive breeding, reintroduction, land protection, management and restoration, inventory, monitoring and research programs.

“We are fully dedicated to the restoration of eastern indigo snake populations in Alabama,” said Chris Jenkins, executive director of Project Orianne. “We envision a landscape in south Alabama where indigo snakes hunt the longleaf pine forests for rattlesnakes and rodents and people appreciate these resources that allow them to maintain their cultural connection to the land and their rural way of life.”

The 18 snakes released Wednesday were bred in captivity from wild-caught snakes from Georgia through the cooperation of Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Fort Stewart. The snakes were raised at Auburn University and the Atlanta Zoo during their early life stages.

Each captive-raised snake with this project has been implanted with a Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT tag) for permanent identification as well as a radio transmitter to track them and assess their survivorship. Auburn University will be monitoring the snakes to track their movements and survival.

Join the fun now!!

Please click on the forum before you leave and join in the fun.