Police dog bitten/snake ID needed

[guidofatherof5]

Today I received a call from one of my fellow Deputies. He is one of our K-9 handles. He told me that one of the City Police K-9 handles thinks his dog was bitten by a large snake and was concerned. I explained to him that we don't have any poisonous snakes in the area but to be on the safe side he should have the other officer call me so that I can try to ID the snake. A few moment later he called, he was still at the location the bite occurred so I asked him to describe the snake to me. I could tell he was looking at the snake but he said he could only see its head. He said the head was brown and triangular. Not a description of a normal area snake. He was only about 15 miles away so I drove to the location.
The head was black and everything but triangular.
His dog had disturbed a 4 foot beautiful female Bull snake. I was able to pull her out of her hide and gave her a quick check over. She appeared to be in good health and her weight seemed normal. I released her back into the shelter. She repeatedly tried to thank me for the experience:D

[infernalis]

Steve to the rescue!

[charles parenteau]

Very nice Steve!!!

[Jeff B]

Good thing your fellow deputy knew you were a snake guy and called you first, rather than shoot the snake and ask questions later, huh? Which is what I would guess most people do when they see a big snake if they don't have someone that knows snakes to call, they would just kill it first then try to figure out what it is, sad but true, however this story had a happy ending. Great job Steve! By the way I am pretty certain that bull snakes are protected in Iowa, so it would actually be illegal to kill it or capture and even disturb it, but I am not sure most people are aware of that and probably a lot of bull snakes are killed in Iowa every year mistaken as rattlesnakes.

[cowsymbola]

Nice save! People usually give very poor descriptions of snakes. Good thing you were able to go to it.

[ssssnakeluvr]

great job Steve!! glad they called you!!

[Stefan-A]

Nice save! People usually give very poor descriptions of snakes. Good thing you were able to go to it.
Tell me about it. Afew years ago, there was a huge news story in Sweden about people having spotted a bright green snake about 2 meters long, which people speculated was a "green mamba". Well, it turned out to be a quite ordinary grass snake.

[infernalis]

probably a lot of bull snakes are killed in Iowa every year mistaken as rattlesnakes.


Ironically here in NY it is illegal to kill a rattlesnake.

A local den site near my home is fenced with heavy chain link fencing to keep people away from the dens, To protect the snakes.

The D.O.T. even closed a highway rest stop because gravid females were basking on the asphalt.!

[gregmonsta]

Excellent :D ... it is worrying how easily some people blow things out of all proportion out of fear.

[drache]

a good story to wake up to

[tminc]

Thanx Steve,She is one lucky snake,9times out of ten she's history.

[guidofatherof5]

Thanx Steve,She is one lucky snake,9times out of ten she's history.

To be honest, I first thought I'd be identifing this snake from it's dead body.
Jeff, I made a point in letting them know Bull Snakes are protected.

[ssssnakeluvr]

Ironically here in NY it is illegal to kill a rattlesnake.

A local den site near my home is fenced with heavy chain link fencing to keep people away from the dens, To protect the snakes.

The D.O.T. even closed a highway rest stop because gravid females were basking on the asphalt.!
thats great!!! snake dens are protected by law here too.....but unfortunately it isn't working. I am sure DWR would jump up and protect a rattlesnake den, but they let a garter snake den be pretty much destroyed....:( also, it's illegal to kill reptiles in Utah, with the exception of rattlesnakes in your own yard as a public safety issue.

[Snakers]

nice save(as usual);)

[guidofatherof5]

I can only hope that the word is getting out. Since I will probably retire within the next month, I hope I will continue to be used as a resource.

[Spankenstyne]

Nice to see a happy ending, good work. Usually those incidents end up as you say with someone identifying a corpse

[guidofatherof5]

Bull snakes in Iowa have been and continue to be on the decline(loss of habitat). They are such a awesome and powerful snake. One can be docile and the next psycho.
My momma always said: "Bull snakes are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get":D Momma always did have a way with explaining snakes to me:D

[Jeff B]

Steve I think that loss of habitat, may be some of the cause but I really don't think it is the major one, I think it is human encroachment in general, because even when the CRP was at it highest whitetails, pheasants, mice, hawks, coyote, fox populations all rose dramatically, but not the bull snakes. But all the new roads, more traffic and more roadkills, and also peoples mentalities have changed, farmers used to love having them around because they new that they would eat the mice and rats in the corn crib, and that equated to putting more food on the table, I know this because my grandparents, aunts and uncles farmed, but now with more people building houses out in the country and many of them not realizing the benifits of bull snakes or they come from another part of the country were venomous snakes live, the assume the only good big snake is a dead one and go out of their way to kill them, and bull snakes are very vunerable because they are so big and easily seen. I used to see bull snakes all the time even in suburban area as a kid with less than ideal habitat, but people didn't automatically kill them, they respected them, and knew there value, and left them alone. I can't remember the last time I even saw a road kill bull around here. Just my thoughts

[guidofatherof5]

I totally agree with you Jeff. What you said is exactly what I was thinking. Thanks for clarifying it.
It's a shame to see their numbers dropping the way they have. They are a magnificent snake and a benefit to everyone.
I know that Allen Andersen, President of The Iowa Herpetological Society has been doing a couple year study on Bull snake numbers in a few of the Iowa counties. When I talked to him the last couple of times he was very concerned. He too remembers the days when finding/seeing Bull snakes was common.

[mustang]

cool steve the police man who prefers reptiles over dogs (almost everyone here deservs a title like this with blank spots for "insert your proffesion")