More articles are coming......

I am busy right now looking for different snakes in my area and getting pictures of them, identifying what I find, and ultimately, putting it all on here. Since the snakes are awake now, I should be having some luck. However, I didn't have any today. I did find a couple of frogs, as seen above. Slippery. Slimey. Amazing. Keep checking back. Are there any snakes in particular that you are interested in from the Ohio area? Let me know and I will do my best to find one, and what ever I can about it.

Dead Snake

I ran into this video and thought I would share it. This snake is huge!!! Let me know what you think. I am still looking into what kind of snake it is. Possibly Anaconda. All I know is when I saw it, I had to put it on my blog. Enjoy.

Me and My Friends

The winter months are cold and boring. I can't look for snakes outside so I spend a lot of time working with my rescues. I handle Ronald-The Mean Little Bastard, so he isn't so mean. I rest on my dog proof couch with Mike's Best Friends- Neecha the Rottweiler, Buster, my Snoopy, and a new little friend, Peeko.

I have also been giving a lot of my time to Harry the Boa. He is a really good snake. For all that his former owner kept him in a cage too small for him, he also seemed to be good to him otherwise. Harry has never offered to bite me, even once. That doesn't mean I would become irresponsible in handling him. He is a large boa and demands respect. You can see in the pic above where it takes my wife and I both to handle Harry. Yet another young lady has come to the house to conquer her fear of snakes. Brooke is helping me with Harry above, and she did a great job!

I get each of the snakes I have out of their enclosures several times a week and spend time handling them. The Mean Little Bastard is the only one that has ever bitten me, though that was a while ago. If you want a pleasant, easy to hold snake just follow two simple rules.

1. Never feed them in their cage. Get them out and feed them in a separate area, away from their living area.

2. Handle them on a regular basis. If need be, start out by wearing latex gloves when you hold them. If they bite you they get the taste of the latex glove and they don't like it. It does not take long for them to stop biting.

If you have any questions about snakes, please let me know. Leave a comment and I will do my best to get you an answer.

Pictures Sent In From Southern Ohio. Thanks ET!

These pics were sent in from ET in Southern Ohio. This is a wild black snake that lives in her house. She has not seen it in a while, but there was time when this snake would come out while she sat on her porch and look in her coffee cup. She became concerned and started putting water out for "Blossom" to drink. Blossom never hurt her and never, ever offered to bite.

I wish every one was like this. Too often, a snake this size found in some one's home, gets killed. I am glad that this wonderful lady, Elaine, prefers to enjoy a new experience and make a new friend.

If you have a great snake story to tell or any other animal rescue, please let me know. Send pictures if you can and I will put it on my site. I appreciate the help to try to change how people think about my long slithery friends and all the other wild animals out there, too.

Ronald The Milksnake

My wife calls him the mean little bastard. He does have attitude. His name is Ronald. He is a Pueblan Milksnake. He is about 7 months old right now. This is the only snake that has ever bitten me. And he meant business. He was just grinding his tiny teeth into my hand. Looking at it from his point of view, he was only defending himself. He didn't know me. Now he does, but it took over three months to get him settled down. He was also an owner surrender. He was infested with mites. That can take one to two months to get rid of, if you're lucky and quarantined your new snake properly in a completely seperate room.I am working on an article about Mites and will post it soon.

Anyway, meet Ronald finally.

Taking Care Of An Adult Red Tail Boa

Harry has been here

for a month and a half now and he is
doing well. As I get to know him and handle him, I am finding he is very friendly. So far, he has not offered to bite, even once. He is impatient to get out of his far too small of a cage, but other than that, he is eating well and is healthy.

People do not realize when they purchase a little 14 - 22 inch snake at the pet store that happens to be a Red Tail Boa, for example, how big they get. The enclosure above I built for Jenny. She is now over 8 feet long and her cage has to be at least that long so she can stretch out. My whole body is in her cage with ample room to spare. Harry needs one nearly this large. Hopefully it will be completed by the end of January.

My message here is to remind you that if you are looking for a snake as a pet, keep in mind that snakes live to be at least 20 years old, and if you are in the market for a large snake, you have to have a lot of room for them to live and maintain a decent existence. Jenny and Harry will be taking up an entire room in my home when I am done with their enclosures. Make sure you are willing to make that kind of a commitment.

A Turkey Buzzard At My Door

All week long we have seen an injured Turkey Buzzard in the field above our house. His wing seemed to be broken and he could not fly. There was not a lot we could do, though we attempted to lure him closer to the house. After 5 days, he finally did get closer. He was eating what he could from some bones we had remaining from Deer Season. Following the advice of a woman we managed to get a hold of from Alchemy Acres, we took a sheet out and, once we cornered him near the house, gently wrapped the sheet around him and brought him in.

He seemed cold and tired. I have never seen one this close. He was not as large as I thought he would be, and I was not surprised to find out he was only a baby. We took him to Birds In Flight Sanctuary Inc. It is operated by a very nice lady named Heather Merritt. They have a web site. http://www.birdsinflightsanctuary.com

They take in raptors of all types, including endangered species. Heather told us that this guy was about 4 months old. He still had down feathers on his head. After giving him an examination, she determined that he had a broken wing, probably suffered while still in the nest. Turkey Buzzards fly south for the winter, and sadly his parents had to leave him behind. The break in his wing is severe and Heather does not think he will fly, ever. However, there is still hope. She will be x-raying him on Monday to determine how bad his wing is. She said they may be able to use him for educational purposes. They can rehabilitate him, and socialize him to use to teach people about him and birds like him. I sure hope so.

Birds of Flight Sanctuary is a non profit organization and really needs donations. If you are interested, please check their web site out to see what you can do to help.