Reptile & Amphibian Forums

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7578799
Loose Nile Monitor in TX, shot by *humble* homeowner to "protect other people" from it.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/07/20/2010-07-20_5foot_yellow_snake_appears_in_garbage_pile_in_bronx_eventually_captured_by_cops.html
And a "yellow python" loose in NYC? Looks like a Yellow Ratsnake based on the image.

http://ksax.com/article/stories/S1683743.shtml?cat=10230
OH NO, a BLACK MAMBA on the loose! (More like a Black Ratsnake)

It never ends...

I grew up in South Texas so this doesn't surprise me one bit. It's the same here in Fl. when they find a loose nile monitor no where near as bad as tx. with shooting things but still not good. The last loose nile story around here was 3 or 4 years back in Casselberry (and orlando suburb.
It was on the loose for a few months and then a local cop shot and killed it. The problem with that is this was in a heavily urbanized area and there was a serious danger of stray bullets hitting someone when of course in spite of everyone's ridiculous fears the worst thing the nile would ever do is eat cuban tree frogs and roof rats which in both cases would have been a good thing.
Ironically enough btw for all the hype you hear about pythons and monitors running loose here in Fl. and doing ecological damage You NEVER hear about Cuban tree frogs .
They are a very devastating force on native tree frogs here in Fl. particularly in urban areas. In fact I worked in a neighboring town to casselberry called longwood at a retirement community located on the edge of the wekiva river. There were thousands of cuban tree frogs in the area and in the surrounding woods and no signs of any native tree frogs to be found. Being a groundskeeper there I definitely would have found them if there were. This last freeze knocked their population back pretty hard, I'm sure they aren't all gone but I haven't seen any yet while doing any landscaping work. Hopefully it stays that way.

A Houston suburb/bedroom community. I saw that on the local SA news the other day. Looks like the guy had plenty of time to go get his gun and come back out and shoot it. He so much as said that. He didn't like it. He didn't understand it. He didn't appreciate it. He wanted it dead. So, he killed it. "Hey Bungalow Bill, what did you kill?...Bungalow Bill, what did you kill?"
The old geezer had a little excitement in his life for a change...for the children's sake, of course.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

John you have spent way to much time on Austin if that whole thing surprises you. I would have been more surprised if he DIDN'T shoot it.
For one thing he 's an old timer and for another the Texas culture has evolved around a hatred of snakes.
I have never been convinced for one minute that Indigo snakes' protection protection has anything at all to do with conservation but everything to do with the fact that they prey on other snakes and rattlesnakes in particular.
The same thing with roadrunners, God knows there is no way in hell THOSE things are endangered (not that I could see a reason to hunt them anyway...I'm sure they're quite tasty considering their diet.).
Indigos are the true point of what I am saying however, I cannot tell you how many Indigos I caught kept and eventually released as a kid and never once got turned in for it, in spite of lots of people knowing I kept them.
God forbid anyone ever kill an indigo however, someone would have been on the phone to the game wardens quicker than if you killed a person. ("You did what????Killed an Inido????why in sam hell would you go and do something like that? Hell, they kill rattlers. Boy I'll tell you what"
This in a part of Texas where I am relatively sure there is an un-official open season on game wardens.

I grew up in Houston. Only herpers I knew back then were at the Houston Zoo. Doesn't surprise me at all. Doesn't mean I have to like it. Have spent my life trying to deprogram the populace. Ask anyone that's known me, even from that far back.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

In both snake cases they were ratsnakes I emailed the writers of said articles with the proper identification of both,wont do any good I suppose but I had to try.
My favorite was the "brave" boy attacking the "killer Black Mamba" with an icepick for crying out loud,had it been a real Mamba dare I say the results may have been different and it probably would've "gotten him before he got it".

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1.0 c.b.02' 7' Pastel Colombian Boa(thanks Bill!)"Maverick"
0.1 c.b.06' 6' Firebelly x Pastel boa "Betty Boa"
0.1 c.b. 07 5' Amazon Basin Redtail Boa"Lola Boa"1.0 c.b. 05 6' Blonde Bullsnake "Boo"
1.0 c.b. 05'2' Snow Corn "Zero"
1.0 wc 4' Fl.Cornsnake "Iggy"
0.1 cb 18"Okeetee Cornsnake "Bella"
1.0 wc 3'everglades x yellow ratsnake "Achmed"
1.1 wc LTC Southern WhiteLip PYthons "Thorne and Ariel"

Yeah, funny how the Nature Nazis are doing such a good job of exterminating snakes with their tall tales and scary folklore. Unintended consequences, I guess.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

The Black Mamba case was really a missed opportunity for the ARistas. They should have jumped on it immediately and barraged the media with mamba hysteria and started a propaganda storm on irresponsible owners releasing dangerous snakes in MN and demanded that legislators immediately outlaw all reptile ownership.
They didnt strike while the iron was hot, and allowed the obviously competent DNR make a hesitant but tentative ID of ratsnake. Too Bad!

I think it can be demonstrated/proved we are an identifiable socioeconomic CLASS in society. And as such, we should then take these perpetrators of myth an fantasy to court for defamation, libel, slander, negligent or willful economic harm, malfeasance, violation of the Publics' trust, and discrimination.
Get retractions, corrections, admissions of error. Take them to court and sue their butts off if that's the only language they understand. They need to stop with the cavalier indiscriminate and mischaracterizations of us as a CLASS.

jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

last line should read "...stop with the cavalier and indiscriminate mischaracterizations of us as a CLASS."

jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer