THE NEW MEXICAN (Santa Fe, New Mexico) 26 July 05 Got snakes? Give snake movers a call (Staci Matlock)
Snakes in closets. Snakes in kitchens. Snakes in yards. Tom Wyant of Los Alamos has fielded calls from panicked people who have spotted snakes in all those places and more. “Every time we go on a snake call it’s a new adventure ,” he said.
Sometimes it’s one of several species of venomous rattlesnakes. Sometimes it’s just a nonpoisonous bull snake mimicking a rattler. Whatever it is, Wyant and a small cadre of volunteers he has trained through the snake-relocation program capture and move the snakes whenever possible.
The 15-year-old program is sponsored by The Wildlife Center near Española , which rescues and rehabilitates wildlife. Wyant helped create the relocation program and conducts an annual one-day training for volunteers. The program has two volunteers in Santa Fe, one in Eldorado , one in Alcalde/Velarde and three each in White Rock and Los Alamos.
Michael Grover, a snake relocater in Santa Fe, received a call last week from a couple who thought there was a rattlesnake in the kitchen of their house near El Gancho.
By the time Grover arrived, equipped with his leather boots, hard-plastic shin guards and a snake hook invented by Wyant, the snake had slithered behind a kitchen cabinet.
“We couldn’t find the snake, so we talked about how to keep snakes out of the house,” Grover said. “People live in the hills surrounded by rocks, ideal places for snakes. Then they’re surprised they have snakes,” Grover said. “I try to help people learn to live with snakes.”
Catching snakes is a challenge . “Snakes fight like mad, they hiss and thrash around,” Grover said. “They don’t want to be picked up.”
If it’s cold or the snake is ready to shed its skin, it’s usually calmer, Grover said.
Rescued snakes are taken to a spot far enough from where it was captured so that it won’t return, and released back into the wild. Injured snakes are taken to The Wildlife Center.
Grover calls Wyant the “Godfather of Snakes” in New Mexico.
Wyant, a network design engineer at Los Alamos National Laboratory, rescues snakes as a hobby. He’s handled rattlesnakes for 30 years, and he’s sympathetic to the slithery creatures.
“Look at the poor snake,” Wyant said. “No arms, no legs. He’s cold-blooded . He depends on the environment to tell him when he can go out or not. No teeth to chew his food, so he has to swallow his food whole. Sticks out his tongue to smell, and he can’t hear.”
Wyant and Grover encourage people to identify first if a snake is venomous or not. Then they encourage people to see the good side of snakes. “Snakes are very beneficial to us,” Wyant said. “They can eat the (hantavirus- )infected critters, and it doesn’t hurt them cause they’re coldblooded . They are Mother Nature’s perfect mousers.”
Venomous snakes have triangular heads, elliptical pupils and upper jaws with fangs. They also have blunt or rounded tails. Nonvenomous snakes have rounded heads and pointed tails.
Venomous rattlesnakes in New Mexico are the prairie, Western diamondback, rock, Mojave, ridgenose and massasauga . The coral snake also is a venomous native of N.M.
The Wildlife Center requires volunteers in the snake-relocation program to take an annual training course with Wyant. He teaches volunteers how to catch snakes and prevent snakebites. He also teaches them how to deal with the often chaotic scene of a snake capture. “It is kind of a hazardous situation, when you have dogs running around, children screaming and the snake is the focus of all the craziness,” Wyant said.
Wyant isn’t sure why people react so strongly to snakes. “People see them as evil, I think because they’re so different. They think snakes are possessed or magical .”
The Wildlife Center and Wyant provide educational workshops for schools, civic groups and others on snakes. He likes seeing children overcome their fears and begin enjoying snakes. To relocate a snake or schedule a snake presentation, call The Wildlife Center at 753-9505 .
Got snakes? Give snake movers a call