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THE PRESS (Carthage, Missouri) 19 June 04 Local snake sets state records (Becca Smith)
Though many people would turn and run when coming across one of the largest snakes in Missouri, Frank Martinez, happily scooped it up, adding it to his collection at home.
After receiving a call from a friend in Webb City, Martinez rounded up his equipment and retreived the snake. Martinez noticed that something was special about this bullsnake upon its capture. He noticed that it was extremely long, but it took him a couple of weeks to get the measurement of how long.
"We measured him when we first got him, but he was really tense," said Martinez. "We measured him again at the Kids Fishing Day at Kellogg Lake, in Carthage, and he finally relaxed so we could get his full length. He beat the old record of Missouri's longest bullsnake by two and a quarter inches."
The average length for a bullsnake is about 60 inches for adults, but this one weighed in at five pounds and was 78 1/4 inches long.
"All the growth was while he was in the wild," said Martinez. "That is what makes it unique. I have only had him for about a month, so the growth is all natural."
Considered one of the most misunderstood animals, Martinez says snakes are feared because many people grow up believing that snakes are nasty, slimy, sneaky and evil things.
"In reality snakes are very beneficial creatures," said Martinez. "The sad thing about snakes is that they aren't fuzzy and cute, so people don't try and protect them as much as we should. We should be aware of these, and all animals, in the state of Missouri. We should try and preserve and protect them."
The bullsnake's menu includes small mammals, especially rodents, as well as birds. This species is necessary in controlling destructive rodents, said martinez.
"His purpose is to control the rodent population," said Martinez. "They are very useful to humans by handling rodents and can save farmers hundreds of dollars in rodent damage. Some people will let a bullsnake live in a barn or under a porch to control the mice. They are better than cats."
The bullsnake is one of many reasons the Kellogg Lake area should be preserved and improved, said Martinez.
"If we are involved with the progress of Kellogg Lake, it has the potential to attract this and other animals," said Martinez. "It will make it both a more educational area for people and a better transitional area for animals. The animals will be able to move more easily from a prairie to a wetland area, if we are able to do everything we want to."
Martinez is a senior biology major at Missouri Southern State University, and enjoys his position as a teacher as well.
"I am going to maintain and use (the bullsnake) for educational purposes in the outdoor classroom and classes on amphibians and reptiles at Missouri Southern State University," said Martinez. "It is important that we learn about these animals because they are extremely important to us, even though we might not think that. Knowledge can put our fears in perspective."
It is easy to see that Martinez enjoys the outdoors and the work he performs there to improve and conserve it.
"That is where life is," said Martinez. "Biology is the study of life, and life happens outside, not within four walls. That is the objective of the outdoor classroom, to introduce people to life in all of its forms."
Though they are fierce and deadly to rodents, the bullsnake is virtually harmless to humans.
"Their fake teeth markings on their skin looks menacing, but they aren't poisonous," said Martinez. "Many people are confused about the differences between bullsnakes and rattlesnakes, so they kill any large, patterned snake they see. Their population is down in various parts of the state because of people. Unfortunately, if bullsnakes are cornered and frightened they will vibrate their tails. If they are in dry grass, the noise that is made can be mistaken for the rattle of a rattlesnake. They can bite you, but other than a little blood there are no worries."
Local snake sets state records

I was born in that area and lived there until I was 16. Caught many many bullsnakes but never one over 5 1/2'. Thanks for the report!

Great article. No truer words have EVER been spoken: "They are better than cats."

JOPLIN GLOBE (Missouri) 24 June 04 It's hissss hobby (Andrea Lorenz)
Frank Martinez looked troubled as he waved a car into the driveway of his rural Joplin home.
Instead of a greeting, he knelt at a spot on his back lawn and offered a sobering assessment of the injured animal that lay before him.
"It's a fawn," he said.
The baby deer was curled in a fetal position. Flies swarmed above it, and upon closer inspection, ticks and flies were pouring out of its ear.
Martinez swatted the flies away in a futile gesture. He ran his hands up and down the fawn's twitching body, then patted it gently.
"She's not going to make it," he said.
He had already called the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. While he was certain the department would put the fawn down, he said, he didn't want to watch it.
"I did three tours in Vietnam," he said. "I've had enough killing."
While Martinez loves all animals, his real passion is for snakes, a fact to which the occupants of his basement can attest.
A gate on the stairs leading down to his basement keeps his three small dogs from descending. The bottom of the stairs opens up to a carpeted room with a fireplace. His basement is dim, cool and silent except for a humming sound. It would be the perfect spot for a home-theater system or a cozy lovers' escape.
Instead, there are reptiles and amphibians. Every inch of wall space is taken up by glass aquariums, the producers of the humming noise. If a squeamish person were to enter the room unwarned, one could picture the horror expressed at every turn.
Martinez said that it took some time for his wife to be able to venture down into the basement.
"She's getting better," he said.
Behind the glass are snakes, frogs, turtles and salamanders. In a large aquarium in the corner is his latest, and most famous, addition.
At 78.25 inches - just over 61/2 feet - the bullsnake is the longest of its kind ever recorded in Missouri.
In May, an acquaintance saw the snake in a gate valve on his property and called Martinez.
Martinez drove over, prepared as always with snake tongs, gloves and old pillowcases to hold the snake.
They pulled the snake out of the valve and Martinez brought it home. The state record for the longest bullsnake was 76 inches. The U.S. record is 109 inches - just over 9 feet long. Because snakes grow longer until they die, Martinez said, it is possible the snake could break the record.
Martinez clarified that his collection of animals, aside from his dogs and two cockatiels (which the snakes would like to have for supper, he added), are not pets. When a snake becomes a pet, it defies the very purpose for which he keeps them: to teach others.
"I limit the handling of them to a minimum because I want people to see their defensive behavior," he said.
Martinez teaches a lifelong-learning class at Missouri Southern State University on reptiles and amphibians. He is working toward his bachelor's degree in biology, but he is a self-described herpetologist, meaning an expert on reptiles and amphibians.
Martinez caught his first snake, an 18-inch sand boa, in Morocco around the age of 7. His dad was in the Air Force, so the family lived "all over," he said.
"I got hooked up with herpetologists in my dad's unit. I read every book I could find on them," Martinez said.
During his three tours in the Vietnam War, he saw bamboo vipers, cobras and pythons. There was no time for study, he said; they were occupied with other business. But he did admit to pointing out the names of snakes to his fellow soldiers.
Down in his basement, Martinez held the tail of the record-length bullsnake so it wouldn't slither away. The snake moves slowly, he said, especially since it ate just a week earlier. Snakes need only 750 calories a month to survive, so he feeds them stunned rats once a month. He stuns the rats by throwing them against a wall - a necessary step, he said, because the much more aggressive rats would gnaw on the snakes' bodies.
Bullsnakes bite, but only if they feel threatened. It doesn't hurt, he said; it's just like being stuck with pins. They are not venomous, but people sometimes assume they are because of the diamond shape their heads form when flattened. Diamond-shaped heads don't automatically mean danger, he said.
He said that milk snakes, which are common in Southwest Missouri, are often mistaken for the venomous coral snakes. Well-intentioned do-gooders often end up killing milk snakes, thinking they are doing a good deed. But milk snakes eat venomous snakes, making them more helpful than harmful.
When the Department of Natural Resources worker arrived at Martinez's house to pick up the injured deer, Martinez - his bullsnake entangled in his arms - led the man over to the fawn.
The worker agreed; the fawn would have to be put down.
Thankfully, Martinez said, they take care of things like that at some other place.
"I don't want y'all to see me cry," he said.
Martinez's class - Amphibians and Reptiles in Missouri - is offered on Tuesday evenings through Continuing Education at MSSU. The next course starts Aug. 24 and meets for six weeks. The cost is $60. For more information, call 625-9577.
t's hissss hobby