April 2007 Hotline Report

[JJFeldner]

Volunteers responded to 72 calls in the period 040407 to 043007. Please note that this only includes the calls taken while I was on duty. Mark may post his experiences elsewhere.

RATTLESNAKES

Unidentified Rattlers – 31 (Note – 1 pair was mating)
The majority of these were probably WDBs
WDB – 20 (Note – There were two pair found mating)
Mojaves – 2
Blue Speckleds – 2 (1 pair found mating – So Mtn)

GOPHER SNAKES – We removed 11 Gophers, one of which was removed from a closet. Most of these were rattlers when they were called in but miraculously morphed into Gophers just as the volunteer arrived. Same thing is happening this year as last. Got to watch those morphing Gophers in case they morph back into rattlers. One of these gophers was reported at first as being 10 feet long and 4” in diameter. It moved into a yard about 100 meters away and the homeowner reported it as 8 feet in length.
By the time Ron M arrived on the scene, the snake had shrunk to only 5 feet and 1 1/2” in diameter.

Coachwhip – Only one Coachwhip was relocated and it was found in a closet. Look for Kat’s post on this for a picture.

Gila Monsters – 3 Gilas were removed. Of those, two were taken to nearby desert areas where they probably originated. The other one was caught by a landowner who sold some of his land to a developer and the land was in the midst of being bladed for future homes. That lizard was turned over to the Phoenix Herpetological Society for safekeeping. ADDED
The homeowner who rescued the Gila from the dozers stated that he had been seeing this Gila for over 15 years and did not want it to get trashed by a blade, Hooray for him!!:hi

Rosy Boa – 1 !! This must have been a pet since rosies just don’t live in the area where it was caught.

A Desert Tortoise was recovered from a So. Scottsdale neighborhood where it was walking around terrorizing the flowers and grass. It is still in “custody” in hopes that the owner will respond to a flier in the neighborhood and call.
A nice male Bearded Dragon was captured loose in Queen Creek and the people turned it over to AHA after a couple of days.

We received many calls about Kingsnakes but all the callers were willing to leave them alone after a bit of education.
:snake2: :snake2: :snake2:

[Uncloudy]

Way to Go Jerry and to all the AHA hotline volunteers taking their time and effort to make a difference!:drinks:

[JJFeldner]

and neither do I, of how many callbacks we got saying,"The neighbor killed the snake!" It's always the "neighbor" who did it. Of course, once the snake is dead, that's when they discover that it wasn't really a rattler. Very sad.:cray:

[Andrzej]

Man, i wanna join the hotline, but im not old enought:(
but in august ill get an application:)

[C. willardi]

We received many calls about Kingsnakes but all the callers were willing to leave them alone after a bit of education.
:snake2: :snake2: :snake2:

Hey, I picked up a Kingsnake, oh and by the way, the lady snuffed me on the $40 dollars lol

[Uncloudy]

Man, i wanna join the hotline, but im not old enought:(
but in august ill get an application:)

:snake2: Good things come to those who wait, grasshopper. :snake2:

[katsnake]

Hey, I picked up a Kingsnake, oh and by the way, the lady snuffed me on the $40 dollars lol

Did you offer to put the snake back where you found it? LOL It's probably what I would have mentioned (but I wouldn't have actually left the snake there.)

[sdmessmer]

The other one was caught by a landowner who sold some of his land to a developer and the land was in the midst of being bladed for future homes. That lizard was turned over to the Phoenix Herpetological Society for safekeeping. ADDED
The homeowner who rescued the Gila from the dozers stated that he had been seeing this Gila for over 15 years and did not want it to get trashed by a blade, Hooray for him!!:hi




I loved this story! Gives a little hope that people will do the right thing sometimes.

[ArmchairDeity]

Man... what a cool report.

You guys have a very active and excellent herp society... I'm jealous. We have a good one, but it's not particularly "community oriented" other than the ren fest and school trips.

Rock on!

[JJFeldner]

"A Desert Tortoise was recovered from a So. Scottsdale neighborhood where it was walking around terrorizing the flowers and grass. It is still in “custody” in hopes that the owner will respond to a flier in the neighborhood and call."

That was in the original report. Earlier this week, the owner of the tort finally noticed the flyer, called and came over to retrieve his shelled denizen of the desert. He also gave AHA a donation in thanks. Once in a while, things work out!!!:hi :hi :hi :applause: :applause: :applause:

[bedlamm]

<SNIP>One of these gophers was reported at first as being 10 feet long and 4” in diameter. It moved into a yard about 100 meters away and the homeowner reported it as 8 feet in length.
By the time Ron M arrived on the scene, the snake had shrunk to only 5 feet and 1 1/2” in diameter.<SNIP>

This is the sad part. Homeowners can't even be counted on to maintain a feeding schedule until help arrives. It's horrible how the snakes keep wasting away before we can get to them!

[Brendan]

Did whoever picked up the pair of specks breeding get a photo of them locked up? It's always good to have a camera handy when running calls like that.

[katsnake]

I never go on a call anymore without my camera... the specks I picked up in the garage on Mother's day were not locked up when I got there, and not when I released them, but they did both go under the same bush when released.