Reptile & Amphibian Forums

thought it may be interesting to start a thread on any horror stories/close calls

My ex wife but i did survive.It was touch an go for awhile.Scarey.

I suspect that could be embarrassing so people may not want to post these stories! And liquoring them up to loosen the tongue doesn't work over the internet! LOL

You have to attend Expo functions, IHS meetings, and so on to hear those stories from the experts or wanna be's.

You will find most of the stories happened a long time ago because now we know better and won't admit it happened last week!
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Tim Cole
www.Designeratrox.com/
www.AustinReptileService.net
www.AustinReptileExpo.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<
Conservation through Education

Near Miss: Many years ago, we had assisted with a large confiscation of venomous herps. Once back at my facility, we did a video log of the specimens so that we could have it on record. I normally do it but due to the volume of animals in this bust, my wonderful wife helped me out. While I was dealing with a very irascible spitter, I told my wife to get a video clip of the Cerastes cerastes that was in a large plastic sterilite tub. I told her to zoom in on the snake and I think she thought I was telling her to get closer with the video camera....so, she knelt down and dropped to w/in 8" of the large Cerastes (for a Cerastes that is). Before I could utter a word to back away, the viper struck and missed my wife's hand by mere millimeters. I gasped very loudly and ironically, my wife said "what are you gasping about?" Much to my surprise, she didn't even see the snake strike because it happened so quickly. I decided to tell her what happened and needless to say, she was a little shaken. But, it's made for a nice story to her 8th grade science classes (she uses that story when talking about taking proper safety precautions). That's it for me!....until my book comes out

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center

>>I suspect that could be embarrassing so people may not want to post these stories! And liquoring them up to loosen the tongue doesn't work over the internet! LOL
>>
>>You have to attend Expo functions, IHS meetings, and so on to hear those stories from the experts or wanna be's.
>>
>>You will find most of the stories happened a long time ago because now we know better and won't admit it happened last week!
>>-----
>>Tim Cole
>>www.Designeratrox.com/
>>www.AustinReptileService.net
>>www.AustinReptileExpo.com/
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<
>>Conservation through Education
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

No need for liquor. A month or so ago, was bitten on the thumb by a Bothrops pubescens.....IMHO, one of the worst (and substantiated by the breeder in Costa RIca, who once exported 3 of the these snakes and within a week, all 3 keepers had been bitten!) of the lanceheads, due to an innate feeding response and absolutely high strung demeanor. The bite was caused during a feeding response, and the snake knocked the lid off of the cage. This snake is a 20 inch juvenile.

Luckily, as with my only other venomous bite (By a juvenile Bothrops asper) the one fang struck my thumbnail, and the other caused a scratch, which although it bled, apparently no venom was injected. I sat by the phone with Costa Rican a/v in hand as soon as I would feel any throbbing or pain, I was calling 911.

Bothrops pubescens makes an asper and atrox seem like they are on Prozac.

MH

I lost my left index finger in july to a TransPecos Copperhead.Then I broke the same hand in december I have very little use of my hand but it is getting better.

Dang Matt! Keep your fingers outta their mouths!

While we are on the subject of lanceheads, about 16 years ago or so, I was bagging a 6' Bothrops asper to put on loan at the Lufkin Zoo, when I had a close call.

While taking the snake out of it's cage and placing it in a bag, (which was inside a large trash can), as soon as the snake hit the bottom of the can, it shot straight up and out, I mean lightining fast right back to me, I froze at it glided over my shoulder, down my back, and crawled away. I was shaking so bad, that I had to give both of us a little time out before recapturing/bagging it.
I have worked many species of lanceheads and have always thought a wound-up B. asper was a nightmare in the daytime, but IMO, a wound-up B. moojeni takes the award!

Randal Berry

That same thing has happened to me. The snake shot up over my shoulder and climbed onto a shelf that was along the wall behind me. Once the snake got a grip on the shelf, it stopped, and just sat there, with about 1/2 of its body draped over my shoulder. I stood there wondering "Hmm, now what do I do. Maybe I should let her make the first move." I slowly turned around and coaxed her to start crawling, then quickly grabbed a hook and lifted her front portion off of the shelf into into a trash can.

Then, I laughed and I laughed and laughed............

For whatever reason, I've never had problems with big aspers, its the little guys that keep me honest.

MH

With regards to these snakes....is it just that they "explode" into action and catch you "flat footed" so that they are able to climb up and over you? Like something distracted you so you were unable to react to their advance?

I've never worked with anything like that so just curious that several people here have posted in this thread and in previous versions of this same discussion that have had mambas and other snakes literally climb them, shoot threw their legs etc.

If they could do this any time they wanted to....wouldn't there be a lot less people in this hobby?

Any further explanation as to how this happens etc. please let me know.

P.S. I recall another story posted here about a guy that pulled out his normally docile Forest Cobra in front of some friends and the thing went ballistic...sprayed them with feces and took off....fortunately biting no one.

>>With regards to these snakes....is it just that they "explode" into action and catch you "flat footed" so that they are able to climb up and over you? Like something distracted you so you were unable to react to their advance?

Although I haven't had to let a venomous snake go over me yet, I've let a few pass by and maybe one go between my feet. It's not that they finish the whole manouver before you have a chance to react. It's more a matter of them getting far enough that you have to decide between pretending to be a tree and letting them pass or moving and attracting their attention and a possible bite.

It's really a judgement call and may not always work, so I'm certainly not reccomending it if you can help it.

It's USUALLY not that they are so fast that this is an expected problem, but some mistake led up to allowing the snake to get too close. Either you took your eye off the snake or stood too close to a container while opening it or worked in a room without enough space to move.
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.

thanks.

That's the thing about bothrops, is that they can catch you off guard, even for a seasoned bothrops keeper, like Matt. One minute calm, the next, spastic. They are super agile for a large viper and can move very quickly. Even when you feel them tense up, and try to unbalance them, they can move before you know it.

"P.S. I recall another story posted here about a guy that pulled out his normally docile Forest Cobra".

Docile forest cobra? I'd love to know who the yahoo was that was showing off with it. He sounds like an accident waiting to happen. What happened to the days of letting someone look at the snake inside it's enclosure? Hell, I think I've only shown my snakes to 2 people. My snakes, for me, not for show and tell.

Back in november I had a kidney stone. It was the most severe pain I have ever felt.
No close calls with any hots. Although I did go for a ride once on the back of a 12ft burmese while my wife was trying to give her a shot
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Jason

I second the kidney stone pain...had one about 2 years ago. Ouch! The worst pain I have EVER felt in my life...Glad we guys don't have to give birth (you gals are STRONG!)!

I've kept venomous for 14 years (on and off)... Probably about 5 years ago I got a dry bite from a Wagler's Temple Viper... It was completely my fault and it woke me up a bit... We all get kinda "comfortable" with hotts after working with them for so long and let our guards down every now and then. Stories like these re-enforce the fact for me to never let my guard down... one small, quick, mistake can turn a normal day into a nightmare very quickly.

Be safe! Thanks for sharing the stories!

Graham

Back in 1984 my friend and I use to catch snakes out near Fakahatchee near Everglades City. We had a bunch of cottonmouths and diamondbacks in mesh cages in the bed of a little Toyota truck. We stopped at the store in Copeland and some guy with a bicycle wanted a ride up to the alley. We said you have to ride in the back with the snakes. He did it but was scared to death. He was real weird and we dropped him off at u.s. 27 and Alligator Alley, which at that time was really in the middle of nowhere. At night. We later found out he had escaped from some prison and stolen the bike. We had inadvertantly helped this guy steal the bike and escape, I guess. There was alot of drug activity out there and we were always most fearful of people and stumbling on something we weren't suppose to see more than anything we might encounter in the field. We also met a guy out there who had a panther in his freezer- and was eating it! People are more scary than snakes.

My first Crotalus molossus scared the **** out of me. At the end of a LONG night of solo road cruising in west Texas, I spotted a beautiful 4' molossus. I decided to bag him for a photo session the next day. He was too agressive and alert for me to coax him into a bag. Finally, I decided to pin and pick him up. BIG MISTAKE.

I grasped him firmly behind the head with my right hand and mid-body with my left. Seconds after lifting him, he thrashed around and wrapped around both my wrist and started to constrict. In effect, he had me hand-cuffed. I still had his head firmly secured but I had no way to free myself from his grip. He continued to squeeze, pull, twist, and jerk, while I continued vain attempts to disintangle myself. To make things worse my hands were starting to cramp-up from the stress, strain, and absolute terror.

After what I quess was 15-20 minutes (though it seemed longer), he finally unwrapped himself. I then bagged him and collapsed to the ground in utter exhaustion and an extreme adrelaline crash.

about 15 years ago a friend and i travelled to southern missouri to find timbers, copperheads, and hellbenders. we caught three yearling copperheads. on the way home driving 70mph on the freeway, at night, we were just talking and carrying on. for some reason we simultaneously looked down at the armrest between the two seats. one of the little guys escaped from his bag, and was just sitting there, bobbing his head to the bumps in the road. eric and i just looked at each other. eric pulled over, and i hooked the snake into a secure bag. following the recapture, we both took long leaks at the side of the highway, doubled up all remaining snakebags, and headed home. no way of telling how long that copperhead was there.
joe

Last summer I was helping a friend move his collection to the new home he had built about 30 miles away. He had recently acquired a pair of black mambas, about 18 months old. I asked for and received the honor of transporting them, along with a bunch of other snakes,in my station wagon. As I neared the destination I noticed a slender blackish snake crawling at my feet. In truth it only took 1-2 seconds to recognize it as a young black rat snake that had escaped. Not a true close call, but a very bad moment nevertheless. I learned that it only takes a second to start shaking so badly that it's hard to stop a car and catch a black rat.

Transporting herps can be intense, to say the least. My husband and I helped a friend move his collection from one store site to a new one. Hubby was driving, I was riding shot gun with a HUGE african frog in an aquarium in my lap.

Our friend was riding in the back of the van with a 18 foot burmese in a sealed tub, and two five foot caimens in large rubbermade-type containers. He had custom built strong wire screens for the tops of the enclosures.

No sooner did we hit the highway, out of the corner of my eye, I spied a snout come up through the wire top like it was tissue paper. Our friend used his elbow to push the animal down and adjust the top. No sooner done,the other one got frisky, and I saw it's head behind my husband's head. At that point my breathing changed dramatically from the adrenelin.

I didn't want to freak my husband, who was dealing with crazy traffic, finding the exit, etc.. Our friend did an excellent job controlling "his boys" whenever they tried to get out--but I was scared. Firsthand I could feel the strength of those animals close by. I kept telling my husband to drive the speed limit because I didn't want to explain or deal with getting pulled over! I still shake my head in disbelief at how close we came to having 2 black caimans loose in our mini-van!

no horrow stories here, but ya all can sure scare the curious right back into the house. Thanks for sharing your stories. They've been enlightening to say the least.

I was called to do a removal in Phelan in the high desert. Guy saw a scute go under his house, so I get there, get all my junk together and venture under and lo and behold here is said scute, not a problem even in this tight space as I have done this many times, got it contained and was backing out when I heard the buzz........I looked at the bag and knew it was not the one I had, very slowley turned my head and saw a hertofore unnoticed one six inches from my lower calf.......I turned ever so slow and got my boot around just as it hit, it got the sole of my boot TWICE as I scooted out I went back and got it in a few and took a look and yup it was a boy and a girl looking for some privacy, I took them out not too far and released them into a nice brushy, craggy area and wished them well. Then changed pants.....(not really LOL)

Whew, lots of hair raising adventures in this thread so far. I'll be curious to read more as they're posted.

This is about the first forest cobra I ever handled. I had handled numerous Najas before this particular snake and felt pretty confidant in my ability to deal with it. Sure I'd read forest cobras are more like mambas than other cobras but I guess I had never really thought anything about it. So when I get hope, I proceed to open the crate. I had been told the snake was shipped inside its trap box, and sure enough it was. The door to said box had been screwed shut, so I unscrewed it and slowly slid the door back with my hook. Nothing stirred, so I peered inside with a flashlight. There were black scales glistening right beyond the opening, so immediately I was glad I hadn't done something more foolish and get closer, lest said snake decide to show herself. After closing the door, I unscrewed an entire side of the box, because I needed to get the snake out and into an enclosure already prepared, but into which the box would not fit. As soon as the side was lifted, she stood up. She was only about 5' in length or so, but managed to lift her body a good 2.5 to 3' in her fury. I proceeded to do as usual and lift her tail into my hand to transfer her into the enclosure, but she did what forest cobras are known for - i.e. their climbing abilities - and went straight up my hook, ricocheting off my closed fist (what lots of cobra keepers would calling giving one a nose butt). Needless to say, I dropped the snake immediately and proceeded to finish handling it with tongs, rather than the old hook and tail method.

That particular snake proved to be more challenging to handle than any other I've ever had.
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Chance Duncan
www.rivervalleyexotics.com

See, I didn't think forest cobras counted for this thread, because what most people would call horror stories are just average handling days for forests. Although I bet most people who have worked with them would probably call their first time with a forest a "horror story" if they thought about it.

My first couple of times with them were rather "interesting". First one would sit on the hook, STANDING UP giving me a hood and looking me right in the face. Then he would LEAP off the hook in my direction! I was using a tall plastic trash can as a holding container, and he would climb out before I could get the lid on. Sometimes lunging off the rim of the can towards me! My mentor forgot to tell me about the tail ting, so when I gave up trying to use hooks along and tailed one, it scared the crap out of me, and got loose in the room. The room was very secure, but he managed to get under the cages and we didn't have the best lighting at the time, so it was prety spooky crouching down, looking around the room for him and not being able to see him or being sure where he might come out from... That was one of the handful of times I actually called my mentor in to bail me out...

While I would like to think I have things more under control these days, I've actually had to dig the same snake out form behind cages in my snake room twice in the last few weeks (about four years after my first experience). Sometimes he just does things that there's no good counter for and I just find it safer to drop him and regroup...at which point he makes a mad dash for the nearest dark space.

(Note to self: get around to blocking all the easy routes behind the cages.)
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.

Forest Cobras can be crazy. You get so used to monocoleds that a forest really gets you shaken up the first time you mess with one. That was the first snake (other than coachwips) that made agressive advances towards me... They are a notch up from "regular" elapids... Never messed with mambas, but I have alot of repect for guys who do!

I'll certainly agree with you about forest cobras being nearly in a league of their own. I've handled one adult black mamba, two adult WA green mambas, one adult and one juvenile EA green mambas, and one adult and two juvenile Papuan taipans, and none of them presented quite the challenge that one forest cobra did. I remember when I was needing to stick her in a deli to take her to a show, after becoming frustrated with her lack of cooperation with going in the tube, I finally said to heck with it and though I'd just pin her. After a few seconds on the hook, I ended up having to spin in circles (not too quickly, mind you) to use the centripetal force to keep her head - with it's very wide open jaws - away from my legs. Needless to say, that was not a snake I minded seeing go away.
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Chance Duncan
www.rivervalleyexotics.com

Several years ago my husband and I were searching for wild ginseng, so we were taking turns looking up or keeping an eye out for snakes. I spied a large clump up high, so we both stopped, eyes turned upward, to debate whether he could shoot it out of the tree without damaging either the tree or the ginseng. We were about 8 feet apart when we both heard the rattle. Conversation ceased and we froze.

"Don't move" were the next words out of his mouth. No sooner had he spoken than a 3.5 ft. canbrake came sliding between my feet. Just clear of my boots, the snake decided to stop, lift it's head, taste the wind. I remember wishing for my camera.

The animal then took off, slowly sliding towards my husband. It did not seem stressed at all until a large pine cone fell, hitting the snake. Immediately it went into defensive mode. The snake was now about a foot from hubbie and rattling up a storm. Our eyes met, and I remember giving him an encouraging smile. My husband rarely sweats, but I saw that the collar of his shirt was dark.

It felt like slow motion or National Geographic or something! It was several minutes before the agitated reptile quieted and resumed it's path between my husband's feet and slid under a large, rotted log behind him. We were done for the day. Even though he was holding his rifle, he says it never occured to him to shoot the snake. Instead, he was wishing for a snake hook. (lol)

Another time I snagged a lure on a log that jutted out into the water. I went to retrieve it. As I bent down I noticed a well camoflaged cottonmouth sunning itself not a foot from where I was crouching. It watched me as I slowly backed away--decided to let him keep the lure.

rgds,
althea

I was looking into an atrox den with my face about 4 inches from the ground. When I noticed a tounge flicker about 3 inches from my eye.I slowly backed away and a yearling atrox came into clear view. THE SNAKE WAS NOT EVEN HIDDEN.I was in such a hurry to find a snake i never looked at the ground at that hole. I backed up tapped the snake and it went in the hole. He let me make it so I let him. I ran into a mountain lion while hunting a mountain in pecos county at night alone we were about 5 feet apart.We both freaked I went down the mountain he went up.Then i drove 200 miles home after hunting about a half hour.

A mountain lion is formidable. My husband came face to face with one behind a shed on our property, not far from the house. He went out to check on the well, making sure water lines were not frozen. He locked eyes with the cat couching in the tall weeds about 6 feet away from him. The cat turned and left He came flying back into the house, face as white as a sheet, and trembling all over--could barely articulate the encounter. We still don't know if the cat was lost (they're not indigenous to our area), or simply walked away from/was released by someone who'd been keeping it as a pet.
Whew!

See now, THAT is a situation that would warrant real cause for alarm. Kinda creepy just thinking about it. No snake will stalk and potentially try to eat you like mt. lions occasionally do to mt. bikers in CA. So you never found out if it was just an escaped captive?
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Chance Duncan
www.rivervalleyexotics.com

We notified the local wildlife agency and were told that ours was another of a series of sitings of the cat. At that time the sitings ranged over 40 miles.

The sitings began close to a small facility that takes in unwanted big predators like lions and bears. Supposidly all of their animals were accounted for, but that's not to say that there wasn't one without paperwork that got out. As the wildlife agent said, if the guy had an illegal animal that got loose, he wasn't going to admit to it. Such facilities fall under USDA authority, so there were questions of jurisdiction during the investigation.

The sitings stopped several months later. Many people (myself included) believe that the cat was shot by either a hunter or farmer. After that we saw only the usual coyote and bobcat predators indigenous to the area.

rgds,
althea

This wasn't by any chance in Iowa was it? A couple years ago one was shot and another hit by a car. There are also more and more rumors of sightings within 30 miles of the Minnesota border. I highly doubt those are legitimate, but some of the people making the claims do or should know better, so who knows? Doubtful or not, just about anything's possible with an animal that doesn't know the "rules".

There is more then a few of them in IA. and they are way more than 30 miles south of the border. Like 30 or so mile south of Winterset Ia. A friend has a video of one on his dam on his property.
It jumped about 8foot in the air when his SKS went off. :-}

I know that there's a surprising amount in the state, but everything I hae heard that's verified was at least that far south, but last winter there was a persistent rumor of one in Mitchell County attacking dogs-One person insisted he shot it but "couldn't find it". Never heard anything else, or anything from news sources, just hand me down stories that this guy's brother saw one or Bob found a track-interesting to run into someone who has actually seen one.

I know that they are farther south, but you know how people talk. I would love to be the one who proved some were this far north though(and keep quiet where it actually was).

No, not in Iowa--much farther south. At the time we were living near the TN river in western Tennessee.

althea

I have never had any close calls with any of my captive snakes
But a large Agkistrodon Picivorous Conanti that I was moving from the middle of very busy road came as close to biting me as you can get without getting bit. It was a very heavy male about 3.5' long, still wet and had pieces of duck weed stuck on it from crawling through the ditch on the side of this two lane road (SR415 near SR44 if you are familiar with central FL).

This snake would not let me pick him up on the hook, so I decided to pin him since several semi trucks had whizzed pass me way to close and I was ready to get out of the road. I pinned him with the metal end of the hook rather than the handle as I should have and as I reached down I felt something hit my thumb hard! a direct hit on my left thumbnail with only one fang. Other than ruining a perfectly good pair of underwear the only thing that happened was that the skin sloughed off from around the nail and there is still some discoloration many years later.
Ryan Mccullah,