Snake aquisition

[Malkavian]

So....I had an interesting day yesterday.

At work around noon my cell goes off. can't answer, with a customer..SO, i check my voicemail and it's the wife of the pastor at the church I attend...frantically telling me that another member of the church who lives right down the road from me (myself the pastor and the other family live within easy walking distance) has a snake in her bedroom and can i come get it... i call back, the phone's busy..i go "well, she's probably calling my house" and she was...i get in touch with my brother, and he's already gone into my snake room to get my gloves and was going to go get it..i told him toget a 10gal tank out of my room and use that, and just leave it in my room until i can come see. No idea what kind of snake and no description, so I asked him to call me when he could see it just to make sure it's not a copperhead. SO, i get a call back in about 20min from my MOM, who's annoyed that i "ordered" my bro to go get the snake (nevermind he was gonna do it anyway) and the pastor had apparently been to get it and mom had it at home in the container i feed my carpet pythons in...SHE thinks its a copperhead, but from what she tells me it sounds like a black ratsnake with juvie coloration.

Turns out I was right, so I now have a seven or eight inch black rat with gorgeous juvie patterns. I've handled it some and while flightly he's not offered to bite or even hissed at me. Going to try to get a pinky at the petstore on my way back to school to see if he'll eat. If no feeding problems, I'll probably keep it for a while, at least trhough the winter.

Pics forthcoming soon as i can get to my camera

 

[Iktomi]

Good story. I look forward to seeing the pics!

 

[pitbulllady]

Boy, I sure wish I had a dime-no, even a PENNY would do-for every "Copperhead" or "Diamondback rattler" I've gone to pick up from someone's house/barn/shed that turned out to be a Black Ratsnake! In fact, in many, many years of getting snakes out of people's buildings, be those buildings homes or whatever, the only two species I've found have been Black Rats and Corns, with the former predominating. The only exception was a tiny Redbelly Snake that came crawling out of a kid's bookbag in a classroom at one of the schools where I used to teach. The kid had left his bookbag outside on the lawn overnight, and apparently the little snake, which was so tiny I could barely pick it up without crushing it, had crawled inside. I'd be able to buy out Microsoft, Apple and most of the Atlantic City boardwalk, though, if I just had a penny for every "Copperhead" or "Rattlesnake" that turned into an Elaphe of some sort by the time I got there! I mean, COME ON, a juvie Elaphe obsoleta doesn't look any more like a Copperhead than a German Shepherd looks like an English Bulldog!

pitbulllady

 

[atavuss]

good on you for saving the snake!
the only thing I would like to add is that it might not be a good idea to bring a wild caught snake in the same room with your other long term captives, always a good idea to isolate new additions, especially WC ones (this is from having to deal with mites twice, not fun to get rid of them!).

 

[Malkavian]

Here's a pic of it

 

[Icey]

Awwwww he's adorable

 

[Iktomi]

Nice looking snake. Doesn't look too happy with you, though!

 

[Malkavian]

It's actually surprisingly docile for a baby Elaphe....The last black ratsnake i hd that was this small was fairly bitey, this guy is fairly calm..can get a little flighty but that's it

 

[Iktomi]

I have an Everglades Rat snake and it's a complete spaz. Nervous, nippy, etc. He's actually a blast to watch, lots of "personality."

 

[D4RK-3L3M3NT]

He looks a little dehydrated... but congratulations!!!

 

[Malkavian]

It's entirely possible he is, if it was stuck in a house for any length fo time. I THINK it ate a pinky today (not sure, someone else might have thrown the dead pink out or it might have finally eaten it)