RAPID CITY JOURNAL (S Dakota) 01 November 04 Rare white rattler finds home (Jomay Steen)
Rapid City: It's one in a million.
Chris and Denise Alverson, co-owners of New Earth, a private reptile collection, have secured a prized white rattlesnake.
The Rapid City couple said their snake is a rarity in the wild - a one in a million find.
"It isn't an albino," Chris Alverson said. "It's grayish, off-white color with blue eyes."
Alverson, 26, said the snake has no patterned markings on its back like other rattlesnakes. "This is the very first one I've seen caught in the wild," he said.
Alverson, whose reptilian menagerie includes six Burmese pythons, two breeds of crocodiles, an alligator, a red-tailed boa constrictor and more, began collecting snakes as a child.
"It's been a lifelong passion," he said.
Alverson's poisonous snakes include black-necked spitting cobras, East African puff adders, an Eastern cottonmouth, or water moccasin, and now, his newest addition.
Alverson said the snake is extremely healthy and that it rears up and strikes at the cage. Because of the snake's swiftness, agility and lethal potential, one of Alverson's friends and assistants, Sean Varga and Jed Johnson, always lend a hand at feeding time.
"Snakes are big escape artists," Alverson said.
This is one snake he doesn't want to lose.
"Its color is extremely rare in reptiles," he said.
On Oct. 2, Tom Sternad, 66, found the white rattlesnake sunning itself in a pasture on a Meade County ranch, 19 miles southwest of Faith.
Dressed in snake chaps, boots and jeans, and armed with a 3-foot-long snake hook and 5-gallon bucket, Sternad caught the snake adding to his total of about 600 other rattlers this fall.
With four buds, or rattles, the 30-inch-long snake represents a trophy for the trapper, too.
"It's pretty rare," Sternad said. "I've never seen one before."
The Faith man began trapping snakes with his father, Emery, 50 years ago on the family ranch south of Opal. Trapping thousands of snakes in his lifetime, Sternad said the white snake is a first.
"I call this one 'Reed' because I caught it off Jimmy Reed's ranch," Sternad said.
While in the field, he shows a healthy respect for the dangerous reptiles. Sternad has never been bitten, but he is not immune to the snake's venom or the adrenalin-pumping fear of being bitten.
"I've stepped on a lot of them - 10 to 15," he said. "After stepping on one, I could probably jump over a car."
While trapping, Sternad moves slowly, working steadily along the snakes' perimeter, trying not to rile the den. He also removes both of his hearing aids to dull the buzz of the rattlers. It all helps to keep the rancher calm and healthy.
"There isn't such a thing as a nice rattlesnake," he said. "A kid over in Union Center got bit, and his hospital bill was over $50,000."
It's a big incentive to stay bite-free, he said. Since 1996, the market for snakes has dwindled substantially, but he continues to empty out dens to help out area ranchers and sell to a few collectors.
Alverson said he paid top dollar for the white rattler but wouldn't say how much. "I gave less than what I know it's worth," he said.
Sternad's biggest hauls come in the afternoons. With the help of his friends Dan Hellekson, Tony Simons and Mike and Dawn Stocklin, all of Faith, and his wife, Carole, he makes quick work of collecting the snakes and securing them in sealed buckets.
"It's too dangerous to work alone," Sternad said.
Even after years of trapping, he doesn't take rattlesnakes or the danger of handling them for granted. It isn't a hobby for the squeamish, he said.
"At night, when I shut my eyes, all I can see is snakes crawling in and out of their hole," he said. "You can't go to sleep."
He also confirmed another legend.
Sternad recently added rattlesnake - skinned, boned and deep-fried by Tony Simons' father - to his menu.
"They really do taste like chicken," he said.
Rare white rattler finds home