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Snakes (General; Miscellaneous)

Must be a good year for snakes, 2 dogs have already been bitten in the Lake District
which is a bloody pailful place to be bitten I would expect, If you dog happens to be bitten
if you can carry it to the car and get it to a vet, some vets in the Lakes carry anti venom.
 
Must be a good year for snakes, 2 dogs have already been bitten in the Lake District
which is a bloody pailful place to be bitten I would expect, If you dog happens to be bitten
if you can carry it to the car and get it to a vet, some vets in the Lakes carry anti venom.
The trouble is with dogs is they'll go often after the snake stating the possible unfortunate confrontation. I've seen dogs that have attacked eat bees, scorpions and porcupines. I believe it's highly instinctual behavior.
 
Probably escaped from the kitchen.

A 12-inch (30cm) snake has been found "abandoned" at a McDonald's branch on Teesside.

The reptile was discovered in a closed plastic tub at 23:00 BST on Saturday by a staff member at Middlesbrough's Cambridge Road restaurant. The worker took it home until an RSPCA inspector was sent out.

The charity's Shane Lynn, who collected the corn snake, warned of a continuing problem with exotic pets being dumped by their owners. It is believed the snake was about three weeks old.

"A kind member of staff took him home until I was able to get to them," Mr Lynn said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tees-48936618
 
And now a snake in a kitchen drawer.

A woman was left "terrified" when she opened a kitchen draw to find a large corn snake inside.

The police and RSPCA were called to the home in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, on Sunday. The animal - believed to be someone's pet - was taken away to be looked after by specialists and will be re-homed if its owner cannot be found. The animal charity said corn snakes were "talented escape artists" but harmless.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-48963485
 
Interesting job: snake whisperer.

A snake, trapped on a city street, was rescued by a "snake whisperer" who stroked it under the chin".

The 1.5m-long boa constrictor was spotted at the entrance to a basement in Wellington Street, Gloucester, at about 14:00 BST.

It was reported to Gloucestershire Police, who called in city protection officer (CPO) Paul Cook.

He said the animal was frightened, and by stroking its "chin and belly" it relaxed, allowing it to be freed.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-49816684
 
Interesting job: snake whisperer.

A snake, trapped on a city street, was rescued by a "snake whisperer" who stroked it under the chin".

The 1.5m-long boa constrictor was spotted at the entrance to a basement in Wellington Street, Gloucester, at about 14:00 BST.

It was reported to Gloucestershire Police, who called in city protection officer (CPO) Paul Cook.

He said the animal was frightened, and by stroking its "chin and belly" it relaxed, allowing it to be freed.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-49816684

S'true.

Stroke a Lizard under the chin and it calms right down - except for those big, sea going bastards up north.
 
I would like to see you try that with a Komodo dragon

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/24/man-mauled-death-komodo-dragon

Or as Sharon Stone's husband found out, when the bloody thing is trying to eat your foot then tickling it under the chin is probably the last thing on your mind...

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jun/11/news4

Yeah Nah XBergMann, I'll pass mate - reckon I'll put Komodo's in the same category as those other bastards - also from the North.

Perenti are big enough though. Beautiful animals.

 
The snake in this photo is alive. It's a victim of "snake fungal disease" (SFD), which seems to be spreading.

SnakeFungalDisease-A.jpg

This Fungus Makes Snakes Look Like Mummies. It Just Turned Up in California.

A newly emerging disease infects snakes and causes their skin to crust, eyes to cloud and faces to swell — and now, a stricken serpent has been spotted in California.

This is the first case of "snake fungal disease" seen in the state, according to a statement from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). The infected California kingsnake was found in the Sierra Nevada in Amador County by a member of the public who brought the "emaciated and suffering" animal to a wildlife care center. Tattered skin clung to the animal's warped face, making the cloudy-eyed snake look more like a mummy than a living creature.

As of yet, officials don't know how the disease might impact snake populations in California. Right now, their top priority is to make sure humans don't spread the fungus to snakes across the state.

There's no danger of humans catching the disfiguring snake disease, though. "There is no evidence that SFD is transmittable from snakes to humans," the report added. ...

Scientists first characterized snake fungal disease in 2008 and learned that a fungus called Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola causes the infection, according to CDFW. Since then, researchers have found the infectious organism in 30 snake species in the U.S. and Europe, 23 U.S. states and one Canadian province. Snakes can pick up the fungus through abrasions in their skin or physical contact with infected snakes. A severe infection causes the skin to become bumpy and molt repeatedly, while the affected snake's face may become too disfigured for the animal to feed properly. The weakened snakes tend to rest in open areas, vulnerable to the elements and nearby predators. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/snake-fungal-disease-in-california.html
 
Both Varanidae, both venomous.

I don't know about the Komodo, but the Perentie's mouth is bacteria laden due to it's consumption of carrion.

As kids, we believed that any bite from a Goanna would fester and erupt every year on the anniversary of the bite. Also, that if you stood still, a Goanna would run up and climb a person if there wasn't a tree handy.

Their claws are things of nightmares.
 
Pillow Pythons.

Thirteen snakes have been dumped inside a pillowcase featuring Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear.

A member of the public spotted movement and opened it to reveal the royal pythons, the RSPCA said.They had been dumped next to a bin behind Farringdon Fire Station in Sunderland on Thursday night. One of the snakes later died. The others are being cared for by a vet and will be moved to a reptile facility later.

An RSPCA spokesman said: "It's quite unusual for someone to have this many pythons and to abandon them in what appears to be a child's pillowcase."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-51515104
 
Sociable snakes.

Snakes should be good at social distancing, at least according to what we know about reptiles:

Most are solitary creatures that come together to mate and hibernate, but not much else. Not so garter snakes, the harmless serpents that live throughout North America and part of Central America. Researchers have discovered that garter snakes not only prefer to hang out together, but also seem to have “friends” with whom they spend much of their time.

“Snakes are really difficult to study due to their secretive nature,” says University of Witwatersrand herpetologist Graham Alexander, who was not involved with the research. This new study and others, he adds, are lifting that veil of secrecy and “revealing snakes to be cognitive beings.”

To learn how socializing affects individual animals, comparative psychologist Noam Miller and his graduate student Morgan Skinner at Wilfrid Laurier University have started to study a wide range of species, figuring that different animals may have different ways of interacting in groups. Because few researchers had looked at snakes, Skinner decided to test 40 young eastern garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) to assess their personalities and social preferences.

He placed sets of 10 snakes, each with a colored dot on its head, in a walled enclosure less than 1 meter per side. A camera kept track of the snakes’ movements. Twice a day, Skinner photographed the snakes’ groupings, removed the reptiles, cleaned the enclosure to erase any odors, and put the snakes back in different positions. The cameras then tracked whether the same groups re-formed.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/202...ly-social-forming-friendships-fellow-serpents
 
Pillow Pythons.

Thirteen snakes have been dumped inside a pillowcase featuring Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear.

A member of the public spotted movement and opened it to reveal the royal pythons, the RSPCA said.They had been dumped next to a bin behind Farringdon Fire Station in Sunderland on Thursday night. One of the snakes later died. The others are being cared for by a vet and will be moved to a reptile facility later.

An RSPCA spokesman said: "It's quite unusual for someone to have this many pythons and to abandon them in what appears to be a child's pillowcase."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-51515104

Now it's 29 snakes but it's still a mystery.


The search for a culprit who abandoned 29 valuable snakes in February is continuing, but it's a case that has everyone mystified, reports Chris Stokel-Walker.

The wriggling inside the pillowcase signalled that something wasn't right.

The evening before Valentine's Day, firefighters working at Farringdon Community Fire Station, a modern, two-storey building in Sunderland, were asked to deal with an unusual incident.

The location was a bin around the back of their station, where Buzz Lightyear bedding hid 13 royal python snakes, each between two and four feet long. (Tyne and Wear Fire Service were approached for this story, but declined to participate.) The RSPCA was called and the officer who arrived at the scene took the cold and already lethargic animals home to warm them up.

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-52462123
 
Researchers in Guam have discovered a new, previously unseen, form of snake locomotion that allows a tree snake to scale smooth upright cylinders such as light poles.
Scientists Discover Bizarre New Mode of Snake Locomotion – “Nothing I’d Ever Seen Compares to It”

Snake-Lasso-Locomotion.jpg

A team of researchers from Colorado State University and the University of Cincinnati have discovered a new mode of snake locomotion that allows the brown tree snake to ascend much larger smooth cylinders than any previously known behavior.

This lasso locomotion, named because of a lasso-like body posture, may contribute to the success and impact of this highly invasive species. It allows these animals to access potential prey that might otherwise be unobtainable and may also explain how this species could climb power poles, leading to electrical outages.

Researchers said they hope the findings will help people protect endangered birds from the snakes.

The study, “Lasso locomotion expands the climbing repertoire of snakes,” is published today (January 11, 2021) in Current Biology. ...

For nearly 100 years, all snake locomotion has been traditionally categorized into four modes: rectilinear, lateral undulation, sidewinding and concertina.

This new discovery of a fifth mode of locomotion was the unexpected result of a project led by CSU Emeritus Professor Julie Savidge aimed at protecting the nests of Micronesia starlings, one of only two native forest species still remaining on Guam. ...

FULL STORY:
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists...comotion-nothing-id-ever-seen-compares-to-it/

PUBLISHED REPORT:
“A novel mode of locomotion expands the climbing abilities of snakes”
11 January 2021, Current Biology.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.11.050
 
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A venomous snake escapes its terrarium in Germany, causing the evacuation of multiple apartments ...
Snake escapes in Cologne, 10 apartments evacuated

The Cape coral snake escaped a terrarium inside a Cologne apartment building, prompting a search by 20 firefighters with help from the local zoo. Ten apartments were evacuated as authorities sought the slippery suspect. ...

The small, young, but venomous, Cape coral snake (Aspidelaps lubricus) prompted 10 Cologne households to flee their apartment building before dawn on Monday.

"They were all tossed out of bed at 6 a.m.," a neighbor told Cologne's tabloid-style Express. "Their nerves are shot."

City authorities, deploying 20 fire and animal rescue personnel to search, said the terrarium's owner, who had permits to keep snakes — 12 in all — had noticed his 20-centimeter (7-inch) juvenile missing on Sunday.

Failing to find it, he then alerted the city's fire brigade, which in turn consulted with experts at Cologne Zoo during its response. ...

Sawdust to detect crawling movements and food traps had been laid, and the man's apartment had been sealed off, said the city. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.dw.com/en/snake-escapes-in-cologne-10-apartments-evacuated/a-56577333
 
Re: the python dumping, the new FT mentions one dumped this year in Greenock, Scotland, and wonders if it could be connected to the others. Seems a very specific example of animal cruelty (it was rescued but died anyway, thanks to the cold).
 
Re: the python dumping, the new FT mentions one dumped this year in Greenock, Scotland, and wonders if it could be connected to the others.

l’m surprised it escaped being deep-fried in batter.

maximus otter
 
Scientists discover there's more to a rattlesnake's rattle than meets the eye... er ear

Nature: Rattlesnakes' sound 'trick' fools human ears​

By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent

Published2 hours ago

Rattlesnakes have evolved a clever method of convincing humans that danger is closer than they think, say scientists.
The sounds of their shaking tail get louder as a person approaches, but then suddenly switches to a much higher frequency.
In tests, the rapid change in sound made participants believe the snake was much nearer than it was in reality.
The researchers say the trait evolved to help snakes avoid being trampled on.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58270599
 
A new study suggests that snakes owe their existence, in part, to the asteroid strike that killed the dinosaurs.

"Snakes owe their success in part to the asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs, according to a new study.

The impact caused devastation, with most animals and plants dying out.

But scientists say a handful of surviving snake species were able to thrive in a post-apocalyptic world by hiding underground and going long periods without food.

The resilient reptiles then spread out across the globe, evolving into the 3,000 or more species known today."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58559735
 
This northern Californian homeowner found out why she'd had no rodent problems. There were over 90 rattlesnakes living under her house.

If you think that's amazing, consider the guy who crawled under the house to capture and remove them all ...
Meet the man who pulled nearly 100 snakes from under an SF Bay Area home

... {T}here was definitely a movie-worthy amount of snakes living under a house in Santa Rosa, a city in California's Wine County 60 miles north of San Francisco.

Al Wolf, director of Sonoma County Reptile Rescue, responded to a call Oct. 2 from a woman who said a snake den was under her home.

On the first visit, Wolf found 59 newly born babies and 22 adults, as well as a dead cat and a dead possum.

On two follow-up visits, Wolf wrangled 11 more adults.

"I've been doing this 32 years," said Wolf, who runs the Sebastopol-based nonprofit offering wildlife rescue and relocation. "I get calls with snakes under the house pretty often. The most I've done under a house is four or five."

Wolf noted that he has seen dens the size of the one under the Santa Rosa house in the wild, but never in an urban area.

All the snakes were Northern Pacific rattlesnakes, the only venomous snake found in Northern California. ... The Northern Pacific isn't aggressive unless provoked. ...

Crawling on his hands and knees and even on his stomach at times, Wolf tipped over rocks and scanned the area for three hours and 40 minutes to retrieve all the snakes.

"Exciting" is the word Wolf used to describe the situation and the moment when he first realized he was coming upon a big den.

"You go under the first part of the house and there's storage and then it goes into the area that's tight and you have to crawl into it and you can smell the rattlesnake smell," he said. "It's the smell of their droppings. I got in, and I smelled that and it's like when you smell popcorn and you go 'Oh!' Right away, I knew I might have something special and I was hoping ... and occasionally your hopes come true."

Wolf doesn't kill the snakes he retrieves from people's properties, and these were released overnight in areas where there are no people. He said he also often brings the snakes to ranches where the owners request them for pest control.

The situation at the Santa Rosa home was unique as the house was built on top of a rocky area and access from the area under the foundation to the outdoors was left open, creating an environment snakes like. ...

Wolf was impressed by the homeowner, who he said was calm about the situation.

"She told me, 'Now I know why I haven't had any rodents all these years,'" he said.

Wolf plans to return to the house one more time this month and again in the spring.

"This lady wasn't afraid of them," he said. "She doesn't mind having them there. There were just a couple too many." ...
FULL STORY: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/m...kes-from-under-an-sf-bay-area-home/ar-AAPtD5C
 
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