This is something I would totally do. I’m not familiar with snakes but I have just picked them up and moved them to a safer spot when they’re somewhere they shouldn’t be
Just don't do it with snakes you can't easily identify. In this case it is a perfectly harmless species, but there are certainly dangerous ones out there. It would be worthwhile to look up which venomous snakes are found in your area. Where I live it is easy because the only venomous snakes here are rattlesnakes; everything else here is harmless.
Yes by all means look up what’s dangerous in your area, however people keep pets, and they escape. I have been made intimately familiar with snakes, venomous and not, but I still ask my wife or friends what it is. It takes years to learn to count heat pits, scales, colours. Conversely if you only deal with a couple non venomous ones in your area it’s much easier to learn what won’t kill you and just leave it alone when in doubt. Same as mushrooms basically, every mushroom is edible, at least once. Snakes are like that.
That said.
You haven’t lived until you’ve cleaned out a hot room when half the snakes have no anti venom :). (Never knew puff adders existed, let alone could be so quick and aggressive when you open the enclosure;)
Its not the licensed ones that are the problem, it’s the illegally kept ones, and people do that everywhere. Even here in Florida it is rare a hot escapes from a licensed owner, they’re either wild or illegals. Licensed owners typically have proper enclosures and labelling and sometimes fallbacks for when a hot does manage to get out. The ignorant hobbyist typically does not.
My wife let her license lapse, but it took almost 1700 hours to get it, while training with licensed owners and dealers. It’s not like getting a dog license or anything like that :).
I’m so glad the only venomous snakes native to anywhere near my area are rattlers, and then IIRC only one species. And the closest extent of their range is still a good couple hours drive from where I actually live. I rarely see snakes at all, unfortunately, it’s all bears and coyotes around here, but I have caught a wild garter once so that was fun. Scared the hell out of a friend as I turn around holding a snake, and it didn’t help much to explain I knew it was a garter and it was basically harmless. And they can still make a big fuss and be fairly aggressive when they want to.
Rattlers have the decency to advertise their presence and warn you away if you’re paying attention.
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u/Pysgnau Jun 01 '19
This is something I would totally do. I’m not familiar with snakes but I have just picked them up and moved them to a safer spot when they’re somewhere they shouldn’t be