STOCKTON RECORD (California) 05 December 07 Yes, there is (or was) a snake out there - Only it's not quite as large as people feared (Tara Cuslidge)
Stockton: Call it a fisherman's tale in reverse.
The so-called 15-foot python several people reported slithering in Mormon Slough is nothing more than a 6-foot Colombian red tail boa.
Credit reptile enthusiast Bobby Fucci for discovering the creature's true identity.
The Stockton man, 20, and his brother Michael Fucci, 27, of Sacramento ventured into the slough in search of the snake Saturday.
They found shed skin and excrement from the reptile, down a ways from the Wilson Way bridge where some of the city's homeless said the snake dwelled.
"I'm disappointed we didn't find it," said Bobby Fucci, who works at a local veterinary hospital. "It will die if it stays out there too long."
Fucci alerted animal control to what he thought was the snake's nesting area.
Animal control officer Steve Fortney met him at the site Monday afternoon.
Fortney took the skin to William Gillingham, owner of the Great Valley Serpentarium in Lodi, on Tuesday to confirm the snake's species.
Gillingham identified the skin as coming from a Colombian red tail boa.
The snake was likely someone's lost pet.
"It's very common for snakes to end up getting loose from people and being recaptured in the city and county limits," Fortney said.
There's no evidence the snake is still alive. Fucci estimates it was shed within the past week and a half. Snakes shed for a number of reasons, including illness, Fucci said.
Red tail boas average 7 to 8 feet in size, Gillingham said.
"They can make nice pets," Gillingham said. "They are not considered a dangerous snake because they don't get too big."
Fucci, who climbed down into the area where the snake is or was, said it could have survived down there, at least for a little while.
"It wouldn't be around where tons of people were," Fucci said. "We were more or less just looking for certain signs."
Those signs included track marks, excrement and shed skin. They found all three.
Fucci described the area, which is covered with brush, as damp and warm.
"It's very tight quarters," he said.
On Tuesday, when Fortney and Fucci went back to the site, there was still no snake.
Fucci plans on going back out, but he is starting to doubt the snake is alive.
Gillingham said it's just too cold at night for the snake to survive.
"It won't make it through the winter," Gillingham said. "They don't last too long under 70 degrees."
Animal control services does not advise looking for the snake.
"If someone was to come across any snake," Fortney said, "I would recommend they call animal control and let us handle it."
Yes, there is (or was) a snake out there