I love my job sometimes...

I'm a 911 dispatcher, and especially this time of year I start getting the "OMG THERE'S A KILLER SNAKE IN MY YARD!!!!". Now, our animal control is like....eh. Basically if I called him to respond to this he'd say "Tell them to call back when it's INSIDE the house, it belongs outside" lol. So, I always ask them to send me a picture to my work email so I can ID it and let them know if it's harmless or not (I live in Massachussetts by the way, we don't even HAVE dangerous snakes in our region lol). I've had two such calls this week so I figured I'd share the pictures of the cuties!

The first one was from a man, concerned because his wife is freaking out because there's a snake sunning in his yard and he has a two year old daughter. Here is the culprit.

http://i45.tinypic.com/347xsea.jpg

I of course advise him that it is a harmless little eastern milksnake, and if he really needs to get rid of it for his wife's sanity, use a broom and shoo him towards the woods. I promised him it wouldn't fight back. He sent me another email, thanking me, said he was on his way without a fight, and they named it "Hershey" lol.

The second one actually just occurred right now. A woman called very VERY scared and said her landscapers found a HUGE snake and they put it in a tub because they don't think it's wild. I calmed her down and told her to email me a picture lol. Are you ready for this HUGE snake??

http://i47.tinypic.com/a4bz38.jpg

I also advised her it was an eastern milksnake and it's harmless, and it's more scared of you than you are of it. She laughed it off, then told me she asked her landscaper to "relocate" it. They agreed to bring it back and release it in the woods behind their business so she can be at peace.

Two beautiful snakes, I've saved the day yet again. Most people jump to killing it if they don't know what it is, so it's nice when I have people calling for help. I thought my fellow herpers would enjoy seeing the vicious beasts

Couple of man eaters right there!

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Originally Posted by Rob

Couple of man eaters right there!

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Hide yo' kids, hide yo' wife!

That's awesome! My job is similar with people freaking out this time of year about "big" snakes also. We do have venomous snakes, but you don't see them too often.

calling 911 because there is a snake outside your house... is that even legal lol

I'm glad that these cute little guys were spared and that the people who called them in got ahold of you.

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

calling 911 because there is a snake outside your house... is that even legal lol

I'm glad that these cute little guys were spared and that the people who called them in ahold of you.

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You'd be surprised the crap people call 911 for :rolleyes: I don't mind getting these calls though lol

Excellent idea to have the callers send you photos of the suspects in question, and good work on saving those guys!

I used to date a dispatcher for the county sheriff where all the local 911 calls came in. She had the funniest freakin' stories about the stuff people would call about! My all-time personal favorite was the Domino's guy who called in to report being robbed while trying to make a delivery, and mentioned that the suspects took all his money and all his weed....

Nothing beats the call I recently got from a lady in Detroit about a killer duck that was stalking her and waiting for her to come outside. She was petrified.

You have got to keep an eye on those man eating ducks lol

Thats great that you got them to relocate them instead of killing them. Have you ever thought of trying to find a site with info on the local species and how to identify? Then you could send them the link to look it over, that way they know what is and isn't dangerous.

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Originally Posted by cmack91

Thats great that you got them to relocate them instead of killing them. Have you ever thought of trying to find a site with info on the local species and how to identify? Then you could send them the link to look it over, that way they know what is and isn't dangerous.

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I sent that link to the first guy, which he appreciated. The second woman just wanted it gone, she was all skeeved out it was funny. I told her "aww it's tiny!" she was like "Oh my god it's huge! It's like 2 feet!!" I said, "don't ever come to my house LOL". She was a good sport, I made sure I told her it was harmless. I think the only venomous species in MA are copperheads and timber rattlesnakes...but they are much further north and west I believe. We're right near the RI line. There is a website called MASnakes.org that has an "identification guide" that's pretty useful. We really only have 14 indigenous species for the most part, so they usually aren't too hard to ID, for me anyways lol. I love calls like this :D

Good job I hope that kind of thing happens in arizona when ppl call in. I hear a lot of stories of bull and gopher snakes being killed on sight in fear that it is a rattlesnake and if only they used common sense and looked at two major things on the snake tail and head no rattle skinny head not venomous real easy no question about it