A young two-headed Eastern Copperhead was found in Northern Virginia. The finder emailed the Virginia Herpetological Society for identification; DGIF was then alerted and the state herpetologist picked up the snake. This week, he brought it to the Wildlife Center for radiographs. Dr. Ernesto [who is a big fan of venomous snakes] examined the baby copperhead. It appears as though the left head is more dominant – it’s generally more active and responsive to stimulus. Radiographs revealed that the two-headed snake has two tracheas [the left one is more developed], two esophaguses [the right one is more developed], and the two heads share one heart and one set of lungs. Based on the anatomy, it would be better for the right head to eat, but it may be a challenge since the left head appears more dominant. Wild two-headed snakes are extremely rare – they just don’t live that long. The herpetologist will continue monitoring the snake; if it survives, it will likely be placed in an educational facility. Please note: This snake is not currently at the Wildlife Center of Virginia; it's in the care of the state herpetologist.
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A zookeeper was killed this morning in the alligator enclosure of the Naples Zoo, while he was attempting to sexually assault a 12-foot long reptile. According to Captain Henri White, spokesman of the Naples Police Department, 24-year old Jimmy Olsen was engaged in full sexual intercourse with one of the younger reptiles, when he was surprised by one of the larger animals which attacked from behind. The young man was caught by the throat by the alligator who dragged him underwater and drowned him. Jimmy Olsen’s death took place around 6:00 AM this morning, but his disappearance was noticed only an hour later by other employees. They finally discovered his dismembered body floating in the pool of the alligator enclosure around 8:30. “The images captured by the security cameras show that Mr. Olsen had clearly placed himself in a very vulnerable position,” Captain White told reporters. “He had his pants around his knees and was lying down on top of one the animals, with his back to the others. The poor guy didn’t stand a chance! We can see him being dragged into the water, then he disappears from sight. He was probably dead within thirty seconds of the attack.” To read more on this story, click here:Florida: Zoo Employee Killed While Attempting to Rape an Alligator
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Zoos exist to display exotic animals for all the world to see. But what's going on at zoos away from the public's view? Few destinations conjure up as idyllic an image as an afternoon at the zoo. Strolling about on a nice day with some lighthearted animal-themed ice cream treat and checking out monkeys, bears, and a few sleeping reptiles is as wholesome as apple pie on the Fourth of July. But certainly, some secrets must be hidden in the shadows of those cages and fake rock formations. For those who have ever wondered about what’s really going on at your local zoo behind the locked gates and after closing time, allow us to drops some zoo truths on you. To read more on this story, click here:8 Secrets Zoos Keep Under Wraps
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- A South Carolina woman trying to protect her dog was killed by an alligator at a private resort, authorities said Monday. The attack occurred around 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head Island, the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office said in a news release. Cassandra Cline, 45, of Hilton Head Island, was walking the dog along a residential area of Sea Pines Resort when she was attacked, state and local officials said. The 8-foot alligator was later found and killed, said David Lucas, a spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. "She was walking the dog near the lagoon and the alligator came out of the water and tried to get the dog," Lucas said. "The lady tried to rescue the dog and a maintenance worker ran over to help." The alligator latched onto the dog's leash and engaged in a tug of war with the woman, authorities said. The dog was unharmed in the attack. "It's common practice when we have an aggressive alligator like that, we put it down, but it will take some take some time to confirm it's the right alligator," said Capt. Robert McCullough of the Department of Natural Resources. To read more on this story, click here:Alligator Kills South Carolina Woman Trying To Protect Her Dog At Resort
Concern may arise if you see that your turtle is refusing to eat. Not only does it increase the possibility of starving, but it also could have fallen ill. This article will show you how to get your turtle to eat and what to do if it still refuses to chew. Many turtle owners have trouble getting their pets to eat. Your turtle is most likely not eating due to environmental issues. However, your turtle may also be suffering from some sort of illness. By adjusting your turtle's environment, recognizing signs of illness, and being creative during feedings, you can get your turtle to eat. Determining Why Your Turtle Won't Eat Check the temperature. Turtles are cold blooded reptiles and will not eat if the temperature is too cold.[1] If you have an indoor box turtle, provide a warm area and a cool area. The cool area should be between 68 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit and the warm area should be 85 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. At night, the temperature can drop to between 60 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.[2] For aquatic turtles, the water temperature should be about 78 degrees Fahrenheit. The basking area should be between 80 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. If your box turtle lives outside, the turtle will become too cold if the outside temperature drops below 60 degrees Fahrenheit. You may need to add a ceramic heater to your turtle's environment to get it to reach an adequate temperature. Check the temperature of your turtle environment using a thermometer and make adjustments if necessary. To read more on this story, click here:How to Feed Your Turtle if It is Refusing to Eat
The photo of this Albino Burmese Python looks so real, Francesca Pitcher of North Star Cakes in Kent, U.K., was prompted to add this tagline: "****I DO NOT SELL SNAKES****. This photo is of a snake CAKE made to look like an Amelanistic Burmese Python for a birthday party." Yes, the snake is a fake. It's a fake snake cake. And it truly is awesome, as many of the commenters on North Star Cakes' Facebook page have stated emphatically. "The detail is absolutely spot-on!! As a long-time reptile keeper I know you would do well to advertise this in local pet shops and reptile specialists." Indeed. Just take a look at this real Albino Burmese Python for comparison sake. The fake snake cake has an incredible resemblance to the real Albino Burmese Python, which is one of the six largest snakes in the world with most averaging 12-feet long. But it can grow up to 19 feet, and, if not handled properly, can be quite dangerous. The only danger with Pitcher's snake, however, is to the waistline. According to the UK Daily Mail, Pitcher's now-6-year-old daughter Claudia, who loves reptiles, wanted a spooky-themed birthday party. She wanted something that would scare her friends. Pitcher suggested a snake cake. She regretted that idea immediately and for good reason. Pitcher has a snake phobia. From the UK Daily Mail: 'At first I couldn't even look at the images of them online but as I kept researching them I realised they weren't so bad and had quite beautiful patterns. 'Once I had got over my phobia I just cracked on with it...' Over the course of three days, Pitcher spent 12 hours baking and shaping sponge layers, using "a white chocolate fondant with special dye to make the skin and replicate the distinctive markings of the dangerous snake," according to the Daily Mail. As it turned out, none of the kids at the birthday party were afraid of the snake. Instead, they fought over who was going to eat the head. Would you eat this cake?
For those of you interested in making a Snake Cake!
Bearded dragons are pets that are more common than you’d think and are quite interesting little creatures. This bearded dragon named Frankie is no different. She happens to be obsessed with one kind of fruit and will do anything to get at it. If you think that bearded dragons are not that fast, you are most definitely wrong. They move like lightning, and Frankie went NUTS when she saw a piece of fruit on the ground. Little did she know that her owner was tricking her… Talk about a workout!! To read more and see the adorable video, click here:Bearded Dragon Addicted to Unexpected Object that Makes Him Go Crazy–I Couldn’t Stop Watching!
The photo of this Albino Burmese Python looks so real, Francesca Pitcher of North Star Cakes in Kent, U.K., was prompted to add this tagline: "****I DO NOT SELL SNAKES****. This photo is of a snake CAKE made to look like an Amelanistic Burmese Python for a birthday party." Yes, the snake is a fake. It's a fake snake cake. And it truly is awesome, as many of the commenters on North Star Cakes' Facebook page have stated emphatically. "The detail is absolutely spot-on!! As a long-time reptile keeper I know you would do well to advertise this in local pet shops and reptile specialists." Indeed. Just take a look at this real Albino Burmese Python for comparison sake. The fake snake cake has an incredible resemblance to the real Albino Burmese Python, which is one of the six largest snakes in the world with most averaging 12-feet long. But it can grow up to 19 feet, and, if not handled properly, can be quite dangerous. The only danger with Pitcher's snake, however, is to the waistline. According to the UK Daily Mail, Pitcher's now-6-year-old daughter Claudia, who loves reptiles, wanted a spooky-themed birthday party. She wanted something that would scare her friends. Pitcher suggested a snake cake. She regretted that idea immediately and for good reason. Pitcher has a snake phobia. From the UK Daily Mail: 'At first I couldn't even look at the images of them online but as I kept researching them I realised they weren't so bad and had quite beautiful patterns. 'Once I had got over my phobia I just cracked on with it...' Over the course of three days, Pitcher spent 12 hours baking and shaping sponge layers, using "a white chocolate fondant with special dye to make the skin and replicate the distinctive markings of the dangerous snake," according to the Daily Mail. As it turned out, none of the kids at the birthday party were afraid of the snake. Instead, they fought over who was going to eat the head. Would you eat this cake?
At the Zurich Zoo in Switzerland resides an 80-year-old tortoise named Nigrita who had 9 little hatchlings over 8 months ago. Some would say that’s quite old to have a baby, but for tortoises, it’s just the opposite! Giant tortoises are said to be one of the longest-living vertebrates on earth, with a life expectancy of over 100 years. The oldest tortoise was recorded to be 152-years-old. Now that’s impressive! According to National Geographic, tortoises live a long life because they have a slow metabolism and large internal stores of water, allowing them to live up to a year without food or water. Tortoises nap for up to 16 hours a day, sunbathe at their leisure and enjoy a diet of grasses, leaves, and other leafy greens. Unfortunately, these amazing creatures are on the list of endangered species. They were hunted as food by pirates, whalers, and merchantmen during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries where up to 100,000 tortoises were killed for their meat. Plus, feral animals are a threat to their food supply as well as their eggs. Nigrita, her 54-year-old mate Jumbo, and the 9 babies are kept safe at the Zurich Zoo, where they are part of a breeding program that is designed to protect the species from extinction. These remarkable creatures even have a chance of living until the year 2216. That’s longer than any of us mortals can say! It’s quite a miraculous feat to live an extensive, slow, and relaxing life. When born, tortoises weigh between 4 and 5 ounces, and when they are fully grown, both male and female tortoises can weigh up to 400 and 700 pounds.
Phoenix, Arizona - A man was hospitalized after surviving a rattlesnake bite to the face while trying to show off to friends at a party by attempting to cook the reptile on a barbecue grill. Victor Pratt, 48, was bitten Sept. 7. He was first treated at a hospital near his Coolidge, Ariz., home and then transferred to Banner-University Medical Center in Phoenix. Coolidge is nearly 60 miles southeast of Phoenix. While celebrating his child's birthday with friends, Pratt said he decided to show them how to catch and cook a rattlesnake after one of the reptiles showed up in his yard during the party. Pratt, who was interviewed Friday, grabbed the venomous snake and was showing it off to friends and family, posing for several photos. But he lost his grip on the snake's head, and it attacked him. After being bit twice, once on the chest and once on the face, Pratt said he knew immediately that something was wrong, having been bitten once before when he was 19. "I said, 'We gotta go now,' because I knew what was going to happen," Pratt said. He was taken immediately to a local hospital, which doctors said saved his life. He also has received doses of antivenom. "If an airway is not established in the first few minutes, in our experience less than 15 to 30 minutes, then those patients really don't have a chance to survive,'' said Dr. Steven Curry, Banner hospital's toxicology director. Curry said getting a tube inserted into the patient's airway is vital, especially in face bites. "If they can get their airway established, they're very lucky," Curry said. "That is, you're lucky to have been bitten and been able to make it to the hospital in just a few minutes in order to have those emergency procedures done that are needed to save your life." Pratt was sedated as the procedure was being done, and remained that way for five days, including when he was transferred to the Phoenix hospital. "I lost five days of memory," Pratt said. "I didn't know where I was for five days." This kind of memory loss is common, Curry said, because the drugs needed to keep a patient under prevent memories from forming. For their own safety, patients with face bites are kept heavily sedated, and have their hands wrapped in large, bulky bandages to prevent them from pulling out the endotracheal tube. "(If) that endotracheal tube would come out, because of severe neck swelling, it would be difficult or impossible to immediately put it back in or immediately perform ... an emergency tracheotomy," Curry said. "Because if that tube were to come out, then we would expect that they would be in very big trouble immediately, and perhaps might even die in four to five minutes." Curry said rattlesnake bites are divided into two categories: bites where the victim didn't know there was a snake or tried to get away, or those where the person recognized there was a snake present but did not immediately try to get away. Most bites, he said, are the latter kind. Rattlesnake venom is toxic and can cause swelling, paralysis and numbness at the site of the bite, damaging the tissue. It can cause a person's airwaves to swell to the point of blocking air, and cause internal bleeding. Curry said seeking medical care quickly is critical, noting that home treatments are a mistake. "First-aid measures such as tourniquets, ice, incisions or taking the time to apply suctions ... are dangerous and harmful," he said. "Or completely ineffective, as in the case of suction."
The common denominator across all snake-bite deaths in Arizona, he said, was the victim not receiving medical attention immediately. Often, this is because the victim is out hiking, or in an area far from civilization, Curry said. But in other cases, it's because they thought they could treat themselves. Banner Hospital treats, on average, 70 snake-bite victims a year, Curry said. While face bites such as Pratt's make up less than 1% of them, they are often the most serious. Pratt, however, said he was done dealing with the venomous reptiles. "Ain't gonna play with snakes no more," he said.
Video captured a massive king cobra appearing to drink out of a man’s water bottle amid extreme droughts across southern India. The extremely venomous reptile ― described by Caters News as 12-feet long ― is seen turning to the higher ups, who cautiously pour the water while holding its tail and a hook near its head, presumably in case it turns on them. The people in the video are wildlife rescue workers, according to Caters. The video was reportedly shot from a village in Kaiga township. A similar video uploaded to YouTube in 2014 shows a man sharing a drink with another cobra but in an unknown location. (Talk about friends in low places.) According to Smithsonian’s National Zoo, king cobras can grow up to 18 feet in length. Though they’re considered to be aggressive snakes, they’re said to attack people only when cornered or trying to protect their eggs. “Throughout its entire range from India to Indonesia, the king cobra causes fewer than five human deaths a year, about one-fifth as many as caused by rattlers in North America,” the zoo’s website states.
Washington, DC - Calling all turtle lovers! Red Head and Golden Girl are just two red eared sliders looking for their forever homes. They've been at our New York Avenue Adoption Center for far too long and deserve a pond of their own. Red eared sliders are named for the little red stripe on their ears and the way they easily slide in and out of water. If these two sound like the perfect pets for you, adopt them today! www.washhumane.org/adopt
Red Head Animal ID: 32164229 Species: Reptile Age: 5 years 2 months 3 days Sex: Female Color: Black/Red Declawed: No Site: Washington Humane Society-Washington Animal Rescue League To learn more about Red Head, click HERE.
Golden Girl
Animal ID: 32203269 Species: Reptile Age: Sex: Female Color: Black/Red Declawed: No Site: Washington Humane Society-Washington Animal Rescue League To learn more about Golden Girl, click HERE.
District of Columbia Animal Care and Control (New York Avenue Adoption Center - WHS is contracted by the Department of Health to operate this facility) 1201 New York Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20002 202-576-6664 Adoption Center Hours: 12:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Tuesday - Sunday* Closed for adoptions on Mondays Click for holiday hours » Stray animals are accepted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week Please Share!
Setbo Village, Cambodia - Being responsible parents, rice farmer Khuorn Sam Ol and his wife might not be expected to be keen on having their child play with a 16-foot-long, 220-pound snake. Yet they are unflustered that their 7-year-old son, Uorn Sambath, regularly sleeps in the massive coil of the female python, rides the reptile, kisses it and even pats it down with baby powder. "There is a special bond between them," Khuorn Sam Ol said. "My son played with the snake when he was still learning to crawl. They used to sleep together in a cradle." The boy and his snake have become a tourist attraction in Setbo village, about 12 miles south of the capital Phnom Penh, as well as a source of wonder to the locals. "People sometimes call the boy and the snake husband and wife," said Cheng Raem, a 48-year-old neighbor. "Maybe they were a couple from a previous life." Boy and snake grew up together, ever since the python slithered into the family home when Uorn Sambath was 3 months old. His 39-year-old mother, Kim Kannara, discovered the reptile, then about the size of a thumb, coiled beneath a woven mat on their bed. Khuorn Sam Ol took the snake away, releasing it into some bushes by a river, but one morning two weeks later, he found it back inside the house. He decided to keep it and named it Chamroeun — meaning "progress," in English. He came to believe the snake possesses a magical spirit that understands what he says and protects the family from illness. The snake has its own 7-by-10-foot room with a spirit house at which Khuorn Sam Ol prays for the python to keep his family happy and healthy. The snake is so familiar with his son — one of four children — that it would never hurt him, he said. According to Nikolai Doroshenko, a Russian snake expert living in Cambodia, it's true that pythons rarely attack humans unless provoked. But there is still an element of danger in allowing any young child to play with a large python with a grip powerful enough to break bones, said Doroshenko, who runs the Snake House guesthouse in the southwestern city of Sihanoukville, with its own collection of snakes and other reptiles. Chamroeun — whom it takes three adults to carry — eats about 22 pounds of chicken meat every week, posing a heavy financial burden on the family, said Khuorn Sam Ol. His meals used to be a spiritual burden as well, when they fed him live rats and chickens. Uneasy that they were breaking the Buddhist injunction against killing living things, Khuorn Sam Ol said the snake eventually answered his prayers for it to stop eating live animals. Wildlife and police officials used to come by to try to take the snake away and put it in a zoo. But they relented after seeing Uorn Sambath lovingly cuddling the reptile. They left with some pictures they took of the boy and the snake together, Khuorn Sam Ol said. "I will not let anyone take her away from me, either. I love her very much," declared his son, Uorn Sambath, kissing his pet on the head.
Did you know that animal shelters have other animals available for adoption besides dogs and cats? They have small furry animals including gerbils, guinea pigs, rabbits, snakes, birds…and yes, fish. If you are looking to adopt a pet, but can not have a dog or cat, check out the other small animals available at your local animal shelters. This Saturday, July 23rd, marks the 2nd Annual ‘Clear the Shelters’ event, and would be a good time to adopt since all fees are waived. The Washington Humane Society/Washington Animal Rescue League have several small animals/reptiles available for adoption. Please take a look at them below. Please take time to read their: Steps to Adopt
Available at the Washington Animal Rescue League (WARL) 71 Oglethorpe St NW Washington, DC (202) 726-2556 Hours: 12:00PM - 7:00PM
Biff - Rabbit To learn more about Biff, click HERE
Pluto - Rabbit To learn more about Pluto, click HERE.
Charizard - Lizard To learn more about Charizard, click HERE.
Jay Z - Small and furry To learn more about JayZ, click HERE.
Butch - Small and furry To learn more about Butch, click HERE.
Available at the Washington Humane Society (WHS) 1201 New York Ave NE Washington, DC 202-576-6664 or 202-726-2556 12:00PM - 7:00PM
Chiliarch - Rabbit To learn more about Chiliarch, click HERE.
Neon NopeRope - Reptile To learn more about Neon NopeRope, click HERE.
Romeo – Reptile To learn more about Romeo, click HERE.
Juliet – Reptile To learn more about Juliet, click HERE.
Julius – Reptile To learn more about Julius, click HERE.
Rascal – Small and furry To learn more about Rascal, click HERE.
