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PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY (New Jersey) 10 February 06 EHC man faces $10,000 in fines after exotic snake bites woman (Meggan Clark)
A city man faces as much as $10,000 in fines after his illegal pygmy rattlesnake allegedly bit a young woman, sending her to the hospital.
The state Department of Environmental Protection did not identify the man or the victim. The snake, which is black and gray and about the size of a pencil, is in the custody of the Philadelphia Zoo.
DEP spokeswoman Karen Hershey said the woman was bitten Jan. 22 at an Egg Harbor City residence. The snake was confiscated by the Division of Fish and Wildlife last weekend. The woman, believed to be 22, was hospitalized and released.
The man was charged with possession of a potentially dangerous species and possessing a nongame exotic species without a permit, Hershey said. Each offense carries a fine of up to $5,000.
“It is certainly a species of wildlife that you are not allowed to possess in the state of New Jersey without a permit,” Hershey said. “We consider it to be a serious offense and we ... aggressively pursue reports of individuals who may possess a potentially dangerous species.”
The snake is in the Philadelphia Zoo's animal health center under quarantine, zoo spokeswoman Ginette Meluso said. It's standard for animals to be quarantined when they come to the zoo to ensure they don't spread disease, she said.
Meluso said the snake is gray with black blotches and about the size of a pencil.
“It appears to be healthy, just from everything we can tell from its outward appearance,” she said.
According to the Stetson University Department of Biology, which has conducted extensive study of the snakes, the pygmy rattlesnake is found in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. It feeds on amphibians, small mice and insects.
The snake has a small rattle that is quite soft and rarely used, the university says. The snake is also generally nonaggressive when grabbed, striking only 2.5 percent of the time in a university study.
The snakes grow to an average of 18 inches, Meluso said.
She said the zoo will keep the snake until the Division of Fish and Wildlife decides what to do with it.
“We're not interested in it as a collection animal, but if Fish and Wildlife decides they would like to place it elsewhere, we can help them do that,” she said.
EHC man faces $10,000 in fines after exotic snake bites woman

of how this actually happened would be nice to know. I know there are very few cases of envenomation occuring due to a captive snake to someone other than the owner.
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Tim Cole
www.Designeratrox.com/
www.AustinReptileService.net
www.AustinReptileExpo.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<
Conservation through Education

I can't imagine too many keepers expose visitors to the risk of snakebite.

It seems there are one or two of these a year, just like one or two people die each year during Spring Break after drinking 30 beers and climbing from balcony to balcony about 10 stories up.

" The snake is also generally nonaggressive when grabbed, striking only 2.5 percent of the time in a university study."

what study??? I don't keep any hots and never have but I have caught loads of pigs and I can't think of many that would not have missed the opportunity to strike. am I missing something here?

here ar 2 photos, one of a pig I found in my garage eating a skink.

Excerpts from the quoted study ...

The Pigmy Rattlesnake Homepage (Sistrurus miliarius)

The Home of the Stetson University (DeLand, FL) Pigmy Rattlesnake Research Group
...
Defensive Behavior

Pigmy rattlesnakes first line of defense is to remain motionless. Their color pattern makes them hard to see in grass or leaf litter, especially when they are coiled. Pigmy rattlesnakes almost never warn approaching people by sounding their rattle. They are likely to remain motionless until stepped on or over. When molested with a gloved hand coiled pigmies usually remain motionless, but occasionally flee (16.4% of encounters), strike (2.5%) or flee and strike when grabbed (3.3%). Snakes that are stretched-out when approached are far more likely to flee (39.5%), or flee and then strike when grabbed (21.1%) than are coiled snakes. Pigmies with high body temperature are far more likely to strike than cool snakes (May et al., 1996). Hudnall (1979) also found pigmies were unlikely to strike when harrassed by a moving boot. It would be interesting to see how pigmy rattlesnakes react to more natural predators. The nasty reputation of pigmy rattlesnakes (for example in Allen and Neill, 1950) may be a result of people often finding warm, moving pigmies in the road were they are likely to react very aggressively to people. Pigmies are more like to warn predators by rapid head twitches (side-to-side, with the head moving only a centimeter or two) than by rattling.
...

respects
Wes
http://www.stetson.edu/artsci/biology/piginfo.shtml

I found the 2.5% bite ratio way low also. I have had extensive experience with barbouri & have found them nearly always ready to defend themselves vociforously. They average ten inches, but act like ten feet. Perhaps the gloved hand was the key, since the glove would hide the heat. I personally would count a defensive posture as a threat, not a full-blown strike.

~~Greg~~
Florida's Venomous Snakes

What I find interesting is that they said a warm snake strikes more readily"... I have found the colder the snake the more unpleasant the disposition...I always chalked that up to the snakes not warm enough to run, so they adopt a stand and fight attitude... Two specific instances were 'cooled' C. atrox and the most frightening snake I ever saw was a PNG Taipan at about 65 degrees...
I would have thought that percentage was rather low for a barbouri as well, but the thing we need to remember is for a study to be "accurate" it must be duplicatable...
It's all interesting stuff though....
This bite and the Aspidelaps to the teenage girl a year or so ago are the stats that everyone didn't think existed...!
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It's what you learn AFTER you know it all that counts!

Terry Phillip
Curator of Reptiles
Black Hills Reptile Gardens
Rapid City, SD.

www.reptilegardens.com

Thanks for the reply and info.
most of my pigs are found in the early eve warming themselves on sandy roads. Most seem very defensive and willing to strike.
I have never tried to grab one or tail one but they certainly dont seem to like my hook or camera much. Of course my old ugly face probably doesnt help. Copperheads in the field seem downright friendly in comparison.

Please tell me that you will never, under any circumstances, attempt to "tail" a Sistrurus. They are not elapids, & they are not long enough to hook & tail like a big Crotalus. Tailing one will get you hurt.

~~Greg~~

I never have tried to tail a pig. They certainly don't seem to have adequate body weight. I pretty much don't tail anything unless I really need to get them off the road quickly. I also have never held a hot behind the head. I will leave that to you pros. Life just isn't that boring yet that I need to take chances. I don't keep any hots. But some of my collection does have some impressive dentition!

I've only had pigmys stike at me upon capture. I've never had one strike at me in captivity (I currently keep 4, 2.0 westerns and 1.1 duskys). I have one wild caught western that has never struck at me, including capture.

I'd say that 2.5% strike rate is not all that far-fetched. I'd say that a pigmy sitting hidden in the grass would be very unlikely to strike unless severely molested.

Someone mentioned copperheads in another post, so I'll offer my 2 cents on them. They're extremely placid until they know that the gig is up and that they aren't hidden. At one of my study sites for my Masters we encountered over 100 copperheads (and only copperheads) in about a 400 sq ft area in a weeks time. They'd cruise about, and unless grasped harshly with tongs or severely molested they'd just go about their business and would completely ignore us being there (which is good, as on one occasion I caught one adult snake at eye level while I was going down to catch a juvinile on the ground, and then when I put both of them in the holding bin I turned around and there was a third individual (adult) that was about 3 ft behind me that hadn't been there even 15 seconds prior. Really intersting stuff we're discovering, and I'll be talking about it at IHS for all of those interested.

Bobby Neal