jaxom1957
New member
I need help to identify a snake I received from a friend. The snake was found inside her society finch cage. To get there, the snake had to crawl into the garage, from the garage to the family room, up an armchair, onto a bookcase and through the 1/4" bars into the cage. When discovered, it had just finished eating one of her birds (the bulge was quite prominent!).
Her boyfriend removed the snake from the birdcage using hotdog tongs. The snake was then shoved into a coffee can, and the coffee can was put into a one-gallon ziplock bag JUST INCASE the snake managed to open the lid to the coffee can.
My friend, Pat, then phoned me, in a state of panic, and begged me to PLEASE get the snake away from her house. She is terrified by snakes, and has been known to scream and run at the sight of a garter snake twenty feet away and moving in the opposite direction. Prior to being captured, it had struck at Brian, the boyfriend, and vibrated its tail in a fair imitation of a rattle snake. It obviously is not, but that makes little difference to Pat's peace of mind.
I went over with a critter carrier and transferred the snake from the coffee can, all the while listening to Pat begging me not to open the can JUST IN CASE. The snake seems in good health, between 18 and 24 inches long, nicely patterned. I am not an expert in local fauna, but I think it is a Pacific gopher, one to two years old. From the tail shape, my guess would be female, but it would be just that, a guess. Her house is nowhere near any open fields or orchards, so I am not sure how it came to enter her livingroom, but it may have been found by a local kid and released when Mommy went screaming into the bathroom (pure conjecture, but a lovely image LOL)
In any case, here are some photos I shot today, having let the snake (Chuckie Jr) be alone in the vivarium for a couple of days to digest its meal and get over some of the stress. If someone could please let me know for sure if this is a Pacific gopher, or, if not, what it might be, I would appreciate it. Thanks!
Her boyfriend removed the snake from the birdcage using hotdog tongs. The snake was then shoved into a coffee can, and the coffee can was put into a one-gallon ziplock bag JUST INCASE the snake managed to open the lid to the coffee can.
My friend, Pat, then phoned me, in a state of panic, and begged me to PLEASE get the snake away from her house. She is terrified by snakes, and has been known to scream and run at the sight of a garter snake twenty feet away and moving in the opposite direction. Prior to being captured, it had struck at Brian, the boyfriend, and vibrated its tail in a fair imitation of a rattle snake. It obviously is not, but that makes little difference to Pat's peace of mind.
I went over with a critter carrier and transferred the snake from the coffee can, all the while listening to Pat begging me not to open the can JUST IN CASE. The snake seems in good health, between 18 and 24 inches long, nicely patterned. I am not an expert in local fauna, but I think it is a Pacific gopher, one to two years old. From the tail shape, my guess would be female, but it would be just that, a guess. Her house is nowhere near any open fields or orchards, so I am not sure how it came to enter her livingroom, but it may have been found by a local kid and released when Mommy went screaming into the bathroom (pure conjecture, but a lovely image LOL)
In any case, here are some photos I shot today, having let the snake (Chuckie Jr) be alone in the vivarium for a couple of days to digest its meal and get over some of the stress. If someone could please let me know for sure if this is a Pacific gopher, or, if not, what it might be, I would appreciate it. Thanks!
