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let me just say... it wasn't me!!!! and it wasnt a car... it was a pick-up truck.

GLOUCESTER - Police searching for a highly venomous snake reported missing from a parked car in Gloucester Thursday morning don't know if they're dealing with a hoax or a genuine emergency.

"We're going on that it's real. I hope that changes and we find out it's not," said Maj. Tim Doss, Gloucester sheriff's chief deputy.

He said police did not have any way to corroborate the anonymous tip they received around 9:30 a.m. The anonymous call was placed to the Gloucester Sheriff's Department's crime line, which Doss said is unsecured and untraceable.

The caller claimed the snake, a deadly pit viper known as a fer-de-lance, had been in a box inside his car when entered the Super Wal-Mart. When he came back to his car, the caller said, the box and the snake were gone.

"He said, 'Hey, I'm not going to identify myself because I'm probably not supposed to have this snake, but I'm sort of a reptile lover,'" Sheriff's Maj. Darrell Warren said of the tipster.

The snake is "highly venomous," the man continued, and the person that stole it would "more than likely be bit," Warren recounted.

The fer-de-lance is a type of pit viper, native to South and Central America, known for its aggressiveness and the potency of its venom, said Michael Wauhop, a former herpetologist at the Virginia Zoo who now runs ZooPro Wildlife Removal in Virginia Beach.

"The fer-de-lance causes more deaths in South and Central America than any other snake, and the reason it does that is it's an ambush predator," he said. "If it's true, they've got a problem."

If the snake was let free in the Wal-Mart parking lot, Wauhop said, it likely would retreat to a shady area off the pavement to escape the heat. If somebody sees it, he said, "they need to get the hell away."

Police are asking anyone with information about the snake's whereabouts to call Gloucester's anonymous Crime Line at 804-693-COPS or the sheriff's office at 804-693-3890. They're offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to the snake's recovery.
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~Sober Serpents~
www.freewebs.com/soberserpents
Corns, Creamsicles, A Black Rat, Thayeri, Cal Kings, A Jungle Corn(Just A Pet), A Bearded dragon, Leopard Geckos, Green Anoles, a Snapping turtle, and a white cheeked mud turtle

Our rescue:
0.1 green iguana about 3 1/2 feet (Spikey) **PENDING ADOPTION**

Just another nail in the coffin for responsable hot keepers. The problem is that people are selfish and into making money. And do not care about any thing else. This guy most likely had no right owening a venomous snake, and the person who sold it to him is to blame just as much. People who sell venomous snakes need to ask some questions and know ther clients before they sell a snake to someone. I have been to many Hamburg shows, and see kids (18 years old) walkiing around with cobras and gaboons in deli cups. Cobras and gaboons have no business in deli cups let alone an 18 year olds hands. It is only a matter of time.

I'm guessing a hoax - possibly by an activist group trying to tighten laws on exotics.
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I decided my old sig was too big.

n/p
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Most everybody envolved believes it is a hoax most likely done by PETA or similar organizations to facilitate banning reptiles and it just happens that it is in a county that already banned the ownership of snakes over 6 ft in length regardless of recommendations to the contrary by herpetologists from the area.....they just didn't want to hear it!! Sounds like they already had their minds made up, ie. PETA infiltrated, and are now creating there own exigent circumstances so as to be able to enact "protective legislation".

Remember their HQ is not far from Gloucester County.

Wow!,....same thing keeps happening to me too!!,....EVERYTIME I shop at Wal-Mart while traveling with my pet fer-de-lance's, they always get stolen out of the parking lot too!

Geesh!,....what NONESENSE!!!,......talk about a bunch of "opheophobes" to even dream something like that up!

The more I see how people act, the more I love my snakes!

~Doug

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Hey Doug great looking snakes. What kind of Honduran milksnake is he last pic? It is crazy beautiful. Is the top one a Miami corn? On another note a few years ago someone in the plant dept. of a Walmart down south did actually get bit by a baby timber rattlesnake / canebrake. The baby snake was a local species and made its way into one of the large potted shrubs. When the person went to pick up the bush they got bit. You may even beable to find the story under the venomous fourm archives. I think that is where I read it a few years back, or venomousreptiles.org. Cheers Greg

Thanks Greg!,........yeah, I've heard of that "Wal-Mart" story with the Canebrake, and others too, there was an incident involving a Cottonmouth too I believe a few years ago in the garden department. I even over-heard some idiot talking about bringing his own baby Moccasin to the store, so he could get bit there!..LOL!!!

BTW, the cornsnake I posted sort of looks a little "Miami-ish", but really isn't what I would consider getting close to a genuine "Miami" phase, She was captured by me on the east coast of central Florida. The second pic is a killer looking "extreme" hypo Honduran, and the last pic that you asked about is a gorgeous "aberrant patterned" hypo Honduran.

BTW Greg, this pic I'm posting is what a "Miami" corn is REALLY all about!, she's a "genuine Miami" Corn that I owned that was captured in Broward County, Florida many years ago, just above Miami/Dade County Florida. In my opinion, she's probably the nicest Miami I've ever seen in my entire life,....bar none!

thanks again!, ~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

That is one beautiful looking corn. And I must keep my eyes out for one of those Hondurans. Awesome snakes!

n/p
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"