Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A friend of mine was at a shooting range in Riverside, (he is a detective) and found this little guy in the parking lot about to be destroyed by someone. He managed to scoop him up and get him out of there thankfully. He texted me about it and I told him to bring him to me the next morning at church so I could get some photo's, but I had no idea he was bringing him from Riverside unfortunately. We are about an hour from there where we live. Anyhow, anyone know what his exact identity might be? He is clearly a newborn I would think as he cant even make noise with his tail yet, and is maybe only 10-12 inches long. I am gonna do the ol google search in a momento, but I wanted to post his pic here just for sake of discussion for all of us, and in case I cant get a good idea of his exact ID via google. This pic is right after I had given him a nice little meal, for hospitality sake

I will say that this little guy acts like he was captive bred, totally mellow, does not attempt to strike or show aggression in any way at all for the most part. I am not gonna test that with my hands though haha! But his attitude when I go in with the hook is quite chill, he just jumps right on and moves about with me on the hooks. We took a video of him last night when we offered a live hopper mouse (we plan to release him, didn't want to spoil him with f/t, not sure if it would but why risk it) and he acted like we were not even there, just started eating right away with us hovering over him with the lights on him. Dang if only all of my pet snakes acted this way! Sheesh!

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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

Think I figured it out:

http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/pages/c.m.pyrrhus.html

Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus - Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake

I thank me for my research. I am very grateful to me for my help
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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

Yep, definitely a Southwestern Speckled (Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus). Glad you rescued the easy-going little guy. It's neat to see that it carried on as it normally would with seemingly zero stress...

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

Yeah I would have expected it to be much more defensive and cranky! He is a little saint...with fangs

I thought giving it a nice meal before being sent back out on it's own would be a decent thing to do. Doubt it has much chance being so tiny, and also a perfect meal for a kingsnake or a hawk, but here is hoping for the little squirt.

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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

Yeah, hope the little guy does well for himself out on his own. At least it has a decent start after the meals you gave him. As long as you release him back where he was with plenty of cover to hide in, that's really all you can hope for.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

Well, not EXACTLY where he was found at the shooting range..LOL! but in fairly close proximity in an appropriate area with cover..

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

Haha! Here is what I wrote to your first message:

That's somewhat of an issue unfortunately regarding releasing him back to where he was. He was in a parking lot out in the open in a populated area. So I have a slight quandary on getting him back to the wild the right way and in the right place as I am sure the city does not want me placing it back in town haha! I'll figure something out here.

So yeah agreed 100% with your second post there, gotta find some good wilderness out that way to get him back to.

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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

Here is the vid I took on my phone of him taking a meal the other night.

It's long in the middle, skip from about 1:50 through 2:45. At around 2:49 he yawns and then goes in for the grub time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR9hrr0ec2o
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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

A rough way to go for the mouse, but the little guy sure enjoyed the meal!. That big hopper should last him a while until he can score another one on his own...

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

Yeah made me sad but I didn't want to mess with nature with him and do the normal f/t feeding. Might not have any affect on him at all if I fed him that way, but I wasn't sure so I thought it better to try and duplicate as best as I could what he will deal with on his own. Naturally he won't be in a container in the wild, I only refer to him dealing with live prey in my meanings there.
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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

He posed for a photo shoot last night and was nothing short of a saint during the whole thing. Not one sign of aggression from the little dude even with me all up in his business.

Photos can be seen here:

http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...20Rattlesnake/

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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

Yeah, he's a cool (hot) little snake!..

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"