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Category Archives: Herp Attacks

NC Leads Nation In Copperhead Snake Bites

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RALEIGH, N.C. –

North Carolina leads the country in copperhead snake bites, according to Carolinas Poison Center.

Five venomous snakes call North Carolina home, including copperhead, cottonmouth, eastern diamondback, pygmy, and timber, but it’s the copperhead snake that causes the most bites.

According to CPC, in 2009, almost 500 snake bites were reported. Of those, 228 were identified as copperhead bites.

“Snake bites happen in urban and rural areas. Unfortunately, North Carolina has a high occurrence of snake bites because of the number of snakes we have native to our area,” said CPC Assistant Director, Anna Dulaney. “Pine straw, dried leaves, and wood piles are all popular hideouts for snakes.”

Bob Jankowski of Critter Control of the Triangle tells NBC-17 that snake calls are on the rise due to the heat. Jankowski says he removed a copperhead snake from a home in Cary Wednesday night.

The CPC provides the following tips to avoid snake bites:
• Make sure your home foundation area is clear of debris.
• Don’t allow shrubs to become overgrown.
• Don’t store wood piles right up against the house.
• Keep grass trimmed.
• Wear shoes when outside.
• If you see a snake, do not try to catch or kill it. Back away slowly and keep children or pets away until you don’t see the snake anymore.
• If you are bitten, don’t panic. Do not ice the wound or apply a tourniquet. Don’t cut the wound and attempt to suck out the venom. Do keep the bite site still and seek medical attention right away. Call the poison center if you have questions about snake bites.

Crews detach snake from bitten boy in Stoke-on-Trent

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The 5ft 6in (1.7m) snake was coiled around Callum Walters’ arm when crews arrived at his Stoke-on-Trent home.

Ozzy, a non-venomous California King, was attached to the 11-year-old’s thumb. His arm had been submerged in water in a bid to free the pet.

Emergency care assistant Shaun Smith “managed to gently prise open Ozzy’s jaw freeing Callum”, the service said.

Callum, of Lightwater, was treated for multiple puncture wounds to his thumb and taken to hospital.

Headquarters visit

He is keeping the pet after last month’s incident.

A spokeswoman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said Callum’s family had submerged his arm in water in an attempt to free the reptile.

“After a while it became apparent to Callum’s family and the crew that the snake wasn’t going to give up that easily,” she said.

“There was only one thing for it – someone would have to physically attempt to release Callum from the snake.”

She added that after Mr Smith’s intervention, Callum was now “fighting fit”.

He is planning to visit the ambulance service’s Staffordshire headquarters to be re-united with the crew and the person who took the emergency call.

Humble man finds huge Nile Monitor in his backyard

Posted on by Posted in Herp Attacks, Lizards, Reptiles, U.S. News 1 Comment

HUMBLE, TX (KTRK) — A Harris County man says he was nearly attacked in his yard by a Nile Monitor, a large, mammal eating lizard native to Africa.

It happened at a home in Humble and the 75-year-old man says when he saw it, he had to do something so that it wouldn’t hurt anyone. Imagine being in your backyard startled by a four-legged reptile nearly five feet long. Howard Theiss was working in one of his flowerbeds at his northeast Harris County home. “He crawled on underneath the fence over there,” said Theiss. In his almost 75 years of life, he was sure he’d never seen a critter like this in his yard. “I’ve seen different animals in different places, but that don’t belong in this area,” Theiss said. He’s never seen anything that comes even close to this four-legged reptile. “He was moving quickly, faster than I could walk,” he said. Theiss described the reptile as making “a little hissing sound.” He ran inside. His wife peered out the kitchen window, giving him a play by play as the creature milled around their yard. “The way it was walking, it was on a stalk to get something to eat,” Theiss said. He knew it was obviously some kind of lizard, but he wasn’t going to wait around to find out more. We took pictures of the reptile to Stan Mays, curator of reptiles and amphibians at the Houston Zoo. He quickly identified it. “Yes that looks like a Nile Monitor to me,” Mays said. While they do not have any at the Houston Zoo, the Nile Monitor is a distant relative to the mother of all lizards – the Komodo Dragon. “I want to say there’s about 53 species of monitor lizards ranging in size from less than a foot to the Komodo Dragon which of course can reach up to 10 feet,” said Mays. Mays says the Nile Monitor is native to Africa, but is a common exotic pet in the US. He believes this monitor had been well fed which leads him to believe it was someone’s pet and does not believe it had been roaming around for long. “They can be aggressive, but only most likely if they feel their life is in danger,” said Mays. Theiss had gone inside to call animal control, but before anyone answered he decided to take his rifle outside. He fired a few shots. “Here is where he met his end,” said Theiss. He was afraid if it left his yard where it might go next. “I wasn’t going to let it go and hurt somebody,” he said. Now working in his flowerbed won’t quite be the same. “I don’t want no more of them to come around,” Theiss said. Texas Parks and Wildlife responds to animals that are only native to Texas. Harris County Animal Control said they cannot legally regulate reptiles, so basically there are no leash laws when it comes to lizards.

Nationwide recall of reptile food

Posted on by Posted in Amphibians, Conservation, Foreign News, Herp Attacks, Laws, Lizards, Reptiles, Retards, Snakes, Turtles, U.S. News, Uncategorized 1 Comment

Mice Direct, a supplier of reptile food has announced a recall of frozen mice, rats and chicks after receiving reports that 30 people in 17 different states came down with salmonella poisoning after feeding the items to their pets. The company says the recall is based on Food and Drug Administration sampling of the frozen mice. The products were shipped to every state with the exception of Hawaii, and  available for purchase through pet stores, mail order as well as direct delivery.

Most common symptoms of salmonella are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever. It can be life-threatening, especially to those with weakened immune systems.

Consumers can contact Mouse Direct at P.O.Box 1554, Cleveland, GA 30528 888 747-0736. You can also report any problems to either the Department of Consumer Protection, 165 Capitol Avenue, Hartford CT 06106  800-842-2649 or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave.,
Silver Spring, MD 20993  1-888-463-6332

Raoul Moat’s snake killed girlfriend’s chinchilla

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Shotgun killer Raoul Moat poses menacingly with a 12ft-long python wrapped round his neck.

Moat, who had an obsession with reptiles and had a huge dragon tattoo on his chest, kept two of the huge snakes in the tiny one-bedroom flat he shared with the mother of his eldest daughter.

He fed them frozen rats which he’d warm up in a microwave oven. The picture was taken by a pal just before Moat, 37, met girlfriend ­Samantha Stobbart, 22, who he went on to shoot at the start of his gun rampage three weeks ago. It showed musclebound Moat – at the height of his steroid abuse and weighing a hulking 19stone – proudly ­gripping the python by its neck.

He kept the snakes in aquariums, but loved to handle them and even let them loose to slither round the living room of the flat he shared with ­Marissa Reid.

One killed the pet chinchilla of then-­girlfriend ­Marissa, 32. But rather than tell her, Moat put the animal back in its cage for ­Marissa to discover it dead four days later.

A friend said: “Raoul has always loved snakes. He had two – one normal python and a rare albino one with pink eyes. He also had smaller ones, and lizards as well.

“He would always let his snakes out of their aquariums and they’d have the run of the flat. They’d even climb up the curtains, which was a bit unnerving.

“He had little snakes which he also kept in the same aquarium and they’d just slither around over the big ones.

“Raoul genuinely loved those snakes – but they absolutely stank. When you went round the flat he’d have all the windows open and the place would still stink.

“It got to the point that people didn’t want to go round because the smell was so bad. The fact he fed them rats which he had to warm up in the microwave didn’t help either. When he met Sam he gave the snakes up, but he still had a ­fascination with them. He even had a walking stick with a serpent’s head as the handle.

“He also used to breed husky dogs –I think he just liked ­anything that was really powerful, because he felt they were like him.

“And he had an aquarium for fish and terrapins. For a while, he even had a couple of piranhas. He loved them because they were ­dangerous.

“He was a bit like a big kid. His mum and step-dad didn’t let him keep many pets, other than one miniature dragon lizard, so when he had his own place he pretty much turned it into a zoo.”

Anthem man almost dies from snake bite

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ANTHEM, AZ – A Valley man almost lost his life this week after a rattlesnake sunk its fangs into his right thumb Sunday evening.

Bill Johnson of Anthem was taking out the trash after his daughter’s birthday party when he heard a “hissing sound.”

“I thought I might have either a gas line or water line that had come loose,” Johnson said.

It was 10 p.m. when he said he reached down into the darkness and was struck.

Johnson didn’t see his attacker, but said he knew from the power of the “bee-like sting” that it was a snake.

He rushed inside and said within five minutes, he passed out.

His wife called 911. The first hospital he went to did not have enough anti-venin to treat his severe condition, so he was airlifted to Good Samaritan hospital in Phoenix.

Johnson is the 14th rattlesnake case this month alone to receive treatment there.

Toxicologist Michael Levine said most rattlesnake bites aren’t life threatening, but Johnson’s was.

He was put on life support for 24 hours.

“This gentleman was critically ill,” said Levine. “I think he very well would have died if he didn’t get therapy.”

Good Samaritan sees an average of 60-80 rattlesnake bites a year, with monsoon season being the busiest time for the deadly desert dwellers to attack, according to Levine.

Not only did Johnson spend his daughter’s “Sweet 16” hooked to IVs, he also celebrated his 18th wedding anniversary in a hospital gown.

“It was kind of odd because it was like I’d do anything to upstage those events,” said Johnson.

He was discharged from the hospital on Friday.