Rescued by a friend of mine at work from death, and brought to me to keep it from death. It was about to be killed on site until someone intervened.

Great way to break up a monotonous Monday at work.

Not sure if I will keep or not, I will see how it reacts and eats. This pic was taken about 30 minutes ago.

Congrats on the save!!

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

What a beauty! Congratulations!

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~Juliane~

great save. However I would be releasing it back to the wild, in a "safer" area.

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Understood, and that is always my first instinct when someone takes in a wild snake.

It is hard to let such a beauty go, though. He is very good natured as well. My 10 yr old daughter held him for about half an hour when I got home.

As I was driving home from work last night, I realized that we are actually running out of places in the city of Knoxville to release these - everywhere I go it seems the woods are being cut down for neighborhoods or widening roads.

I am seeing more and more DOR animals - racoons, groundhogs, opossums, and now snakes. I even saw a Fox about a month ago. That one hurt me more than any of the others.

I actually have a groundhog living in my back yard. Probably found us from the developement about 1/2 a mile down the road. I have left him alone because his hole is away from our foundation - at the very edge of our back yard. He comes out at dusk every night to eat our grass. We like having him around.

I may keep him. I would have to drive about 45 minutes into the mountains if I released him anywhere that I felt good about.

And it has been found that releasing a snake or other reptile in an area out of its normal location may be detrimental to them. In a strange location they do not know where to go for shelter and water.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Speaking of water, the first thing it did when I put it in the tank was to GULP down a lot of water. I have never seen a snake drink that much...

This is the temporary setup until I get the large enclosure built. He is bumping my other Black Rat due to his size:

I will probably release him after all. I have been adopting out my snakes down to my 3 faves. I am trying to clean up my snake corner of the den into one 3-level enclosure (see cages/enclosure section). He has such a great temperment. Also has some battle scars.

I am going to find a large wooded area down by the river, about 10 miles away from all the tree-cutting around here, near a stream. At least I know he will be able to find water.