Daily Reptile News

Snake in SUV’s AC vent was no fraternal prank

Was Patty Everett scared when she saw the snake coming out of the air-conditioning vent in her Buick SUV?

“Well, somebody crapped in my pants,” she said.

Everett was driving in late afternoon rush hour traffic last week on South Congress Avenue when she noticed something moving to her right, by the AC vent.

“I’m driving with my grandbaby in the back seat in his little car carrier,” said Patty, who lives in Spicewood. “My brother is in the passenger seat. I’m looking forward, and in my right eye, I saw something move. And I quickly looked over, and there’s a snake head popped out of my AC vent.”

This couldn’t be real. “I thought my brother had started a joke. I thought it was a rubber snake, and my brother was just waiting for me to react.”

The snake kept coming out, slowly, then stopped and looked around. “I’m thinking about 31/2, 4 inches of his body was hanging out of my vent,” Patty said. “I started screaming, ‘There’s a snake in the car.’ ” She was glad her brother Darryl Cruise, a musician, was along for the ride. He told Sis she should pull over. It was timely advice.

“I was about to slam on my brakes and possibly get in a wreck,” Patty said.

So Patty pulls the SUV over on the side of South Congress Avenue, south of Ben White Boulevard, near Hill’s Cafe. It was time for a hasty exit from the car. “We couldn’t get out of our seat belts fast enough,” Patty recalled. “I grabbed the baby, and I still see the snake coming out of my vent, looking around.”

Now she’s out on the street, and other drivers are watching her, wondering what the big problem is. “I didn’t realize I had lost a shoe. And I’m running around with the baby, one shoe, panicky. People are looking, wondering what is going on.”

Patty remembered there was a veterinarian clinic nearby, so she sent brother Darryl there to find some help.

“He came in all huffing and puffing and said he had an emergency,” said Dr. Matt Scroggs of the Capital Veterinary Clinic. At first, he thought it might be a dog hit by a car. Wrong.

“They said it was a copperhead stuck his head out of the AC vent, so I grabbed some dressing forceps and went out there to the car,” Scroggs said. By now, the snake had retreated back into the AC vent. “I couldn’t see real well,” Scroggs said. “I sent somebody back for a flashlight. Once I could see, there was a pretty good-sized snake up inside the AC vent.”

Scroggs turned up the car’s air conditioning, to slow down the snake by chilling it. Then he grabbed the snake with the forceps, bagged it up and took it away. The snake has now gone to that great slither in the sky.

At first, Scroggs thought it was a rattlesnake, but after further investigation, he figures it was a bull snake. American-Statesman outdoor writer Mike Leggett checked out the photo of the snake and puts his money on rat snake.

Regardless of type, it got Patty’s attention. She said it was an 18-inch snake, but it seemed larger while she watched Scroggs pulling it out of the vent. Or, as she put it, “The body got longer and longer.”

600 species threatened by spill

NEW ORLEANS – MORE than 600 animal species are threatened by the expanding oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, officials say.

Louisiana’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says the threat affects some 445 species of fish, 134 birds, 45 mammals, and 32 reptiles and amphibians.

Among the birds, the biggests fears centre on the brown pelican. State biologists Robert Lover said the graceful state bird of Louisiana lays eggs on the coastal islands and may be ingesting fish contaminated with oil. Similar threats may face the piping plover, royal tern and sandpiper.

For amphibians and reptiles, Kemp’s Ridley, a severely endangered sea turtle, is seen as threatened because its migration for the nesting season, which has begun, is cut off by the oil slick. Alligators, frogs and sea snakes face threats as well.

Sea mammals in peril include the bottlenose dolphin, manatee and various whales. But land mammals including coyotes, raccoons and foxes could also see their habitat polluted.

Many species of fish and crustaceans also face obvious threats in a region that has a huge fishing industry. They include the bluefin tuna, red snapper, tarpon and cobia along with crabs, shrimp and oysters.

Rattlesnake takes life of Berrien County man

BERRIEN COUNTY, GA (WALB) –A Berrien County man was killed by a rattlesnake.

Authorities say 82-year old Eddie Dorminey was repairing his lawnmower Wednesday morning.

A snake was hiding in the lawnmower and bit him several times.

This is the time of year when more snakes are out and active.

This is the rattlesnake that took the life of 82-year old Eddie Lee Dorminey Wednesday morning in Enigma.

It was first thought that Dorminey had died of a heart attack but when Lt. Larry Tabor looked under the lawnmower, he noticed a rattlesnake wrapped around a pulley.

“When we found out the snake was alive we checked out the body again and on his wrist he had several areas that were punctured, a snake bite in the main artery,” said Lt. Tabor.

Investigators said Dorminey was apparently changing the lawnmower belt and didn’t notice the snake was there.

“The sheriff got a stick and went to punch it and all of the sudden the snake started moving,” said Lt. Tabor.

The venomous snake was then killed.

Dorminey’s grandson says he misses the man who he called “Papa D.”

“I miss him. I love him alot.”

He says his “Papa D” was always there for his entire family.

“His lawnmower was like a tractor to him. I always helped him with his lawnmower.”

Statistics show only about a dozen Americans die from snake bites per year.

Watch where you step, watch where you reach, because rattlesnakes can blend in with their environment. This time of year, they’re on the move.

Rattlesnakes like to stay where it’s cool and near a food source.

While his death is difficult to deal with, Dorminey’s family wants others to be aware of the venomous snakes out there.

Eddie Dorminey’s funeral will be Saturday at Lovein Funeral Home in Nashville.

Woman bit by rattlesnake prompts warning to others

Yucaipa police and fire personnel are issuing a joint warning to residents about rattlesnake season.

This reminder that the weather is drawing out snakes, which are indigenous to the Yu­caipa and area and live in our dense vegetation, hills, trails and have appeared at local parks, comes with the first victim of the season.

On  May 13, about 3:20 p.m., Yucaipa and Oak Glen fire crews were called to the 39100 block of Harris Road in Oak Glen in response to a report that a 68-year-old female had been bitten by a rattlesnake.

The woman was airlifted to Loma Linda University Med­ical Center in serious condition and her current status is not known.

Residents are reminded to be cautious when hiking, playing at parks, doing yard work and to generally be on alert whenever outdoors throughout the summer months when rattlesnake season is at its peak.

Local snake study makes encyclopedia

A study into the ambush habits of venomous cottonmouths has earned two Savannah River Ecology Lab researchers a spot in Encyclopædia Britannica’s 2010 Book of the Year.
The study by SREL’s J.D. Willson and Christopher Winne, and Davidson College’s Evan Eskew, was included in the book’s Life Sciences section, which featured other new studies horse domestication, coral reef ages and ecological impact on reduced sheep size in a Scottish island.

The SREL study researched the changing foraging habits of cottonmouths from juvenile to adult. The study found that juveniles and adults engaged in varying strategies for finding prey. Juveniles utilized a “sit-and-wait” technique alongside wetlands, often opting for a tight coil position, and featuring the juvenile’s bright yellow tail as a lure to frogs and salamanders. Adults, meanwhile, were often outstretched and actively foraging for food near the wetlands.

The article reported that, “The findings underscored how developmental changes in coloration and the behaviors that affect the animal’s risk of becoming prey can influence foraging strategy and the choice of microhabitat within a predatory species.”

10-Foot Gator Looks For Love Near Millenia Mall

Millenia had an unwelcome, early-morning guest on Wednesday.A 10-foot alligator parked himself along the sidewalk near the mall.

It isn’t clear how long the gator went unnoticed, but as soon as he caught someone’s eye, trappers were called in.

Trappers said they see more of the reptiles around this time of year when mating season begins.”Most of the time when you have a big single alligator, it’s usually a male adult searching for a girlfriend,” gator trapper Terry Parlier said.

Exotic animals found at third location

The investigation into the people believed to be responsible for hundreds of reptiles found living in squalid conditions last week has spread to a third location in Milwaukee, a Milwaukee police spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Officers found an alligator and a snake Monday inside a house in the 3300 block of S. Kinnickinnic Ave., police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said.

The alligator was frozen and the snake was dead, according to WTMJ-TV (Channel 4).

The house is listed in court records as the residence of Terry Cullen. Cullen has kept reptiles for years, has spoken at conventions for people who keep reptiles and has consulted with several local agencies that work with reptiles, including the Wisconsin Humane Society.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Cullen said he has devoted his life to the conservation of reptiles.

“I have basically given my life to conservation, and I’ve been repaid with a shattered reputation and life,” he said.

Cullen, 60, said he is in the Milwaukee area and is “engaging in all appropriate and necessary legal endeavors relating to this case.”

Cullen has not been arrested, but police want to speak with him, Schwartz said.

Cullen’s girlfriend, 50-year-old Jane E. Flint, was arrested May 12 on suspicion of mistreating animals and violating regulations regarding endangered or threatened species.She has not yet been charged.

The case began last week when officers investigating a sexual assault complaint found at least 250 animals at two south side addresses.

Police haven’t identified the target of the assault investigation.

Dozens of animals, including anacondas, were found inside a house in the 3400 block of S. 17th St. Flint owns the house, according to Milwaukee property records.

Flint and Cullen are listed in tax records as running a nonprofit organization called Cullen Vivarium Wildlife Conservancy Inc. in a building at 2323 S. 13th St.

Police and officials from area zoos who searched that building last week found more than 200 animals, including at least 24 boa constrictors and more than a dozen crocodiles.

Hundreds of mice and rats blanketed the basement floor, and many of the animals – ranging from alligators to turtles – were unable to turn around because the containers in which they were kept were too small and filled with waste, according to an arrest report released last week.

Prosecutors could begin reviewing the case later this week, Milwaukee County Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern said.

Three crocodiles and a 175-pound alligator snapping turtle are being housed temporarily at the Racine Zoo.

The rest of the animals are being kept in several locations that police have declined to identify.

Cullen said he was told most of the animals are being kept in unheated city garages. He said cold temperatures can harm the animals.

“To me, the utter cruelty is beyond belief,” he said of the treatment of the animals since they were discovered.

Schwartz responded in a statement:

“Milwaukee Police, with the help of accredited animal experts, removed these animals from the deplorable conditions in which they were being kept. The animals are now being held safely and in healthy environments, which was not the case when they were discovered during the search warrants.”

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