Western Yellow-Bellied Racer

[skiploder]

On Monday, while prepping a country road for paving, one of my crews unearthed a hibernating Western Yellow-Bellied Racer.

We were using the grader to scrape shoulders which have accumulated quite a bit of dirt and vegetation over the winter. The little guy appeared to have moved into a gopher hole made in this built up material.

Anyway, he's about 35" long and is a nice light blue color with a bright yellow belly. Outside temperatures are still dropping into the high 30's low 40's at night so being early morning, he was extremely sluggish after being exposed.

A quick examination showed that he had several potentially broken ribs. I set him up in a sterilite file box in my office until I could take him to our vet after work. She confirmed the broken ribs.

I have set him up in a quarantine cage at home and am slowly warming him up but keeping him in a darkened cage far away from any vibrations or foot traffic. I have not handled him since Monday nights but he has proven to be quite tractable. The plan is to get him nursed back to health.

After discussing his rehab with a local wildlife hospital, I received conflicting opinions regarding releasing him back into the wild. At this point, the idea is to get him properly rehabilitated then re-solicit some additional opinions from people more qualified than I to make this decision.

Once I get him eating again, I will snap some pictures.

[myounguf]

got to love other wildlife warriors. Keep up the good work!

[myounguf]

cannot wait for pics

[John_E_Dove]

Release ASAP as close as is safe to the capture point would be best IMO. You would be suprised at the injuries a snake can survive in the wild if left to their own devices.
That said, it's den place has been destroyed and relocation studies on Rattle Snakes have demonstrated that the primary killer of 95% of relocated Rattlers is the inability to find a place for the winter in their new location.

If you keep it till the injuries heal then you need to keep it period.

	In My Opinon IMO = In My Opinion and IMHO = In My Honest Opinion

[skiploder]

Originally Posted by John_E_Dove

Release ASAP as close as is safe to the capture point would be best IMO. You would be suprised at the injuries a snake can survive in the wild if left to their own devices.
That said, it's den place has been destroyed and relocation studies on Rattle Snakes have demonstrated that the primary killer of 95% of relocated Rattlers is the inability to find a place for the winter in their new location.
If you keep it till the injuries heal then you need to keep it period.

Problem is that it's still too cold to release him, he would need to find a burrow ASAP or be easy pickings for predation.

In warmer weather, the situation would have been different - as you have already noted, his chance of survival would have been better if the need to re-home was absent.

If his injury had not been due in part to my actions (injury due to predation, natural illness, etc) I would not have bothered. Since a Cat 14G grader is not part of the natural order of things, I need to at least make an attempt to keep him alive.

If worse comes to worse, I will either keep him or donate him to the locale wildlife center. They keep local herps on display. I have a nice 6' cage that he could be kept in if need be.

	In My Opinon IMO = In My Opinion and IMHO = In My Honest Opinion

[telefrag]

I'd keep it

[X-Factor]

I agree. I think it would be bad for the snake and other wildlife in the area if you released it after rehab.

[el cascabel]

Originally Posted by telefrag

I'd keep it

what he said.

[skiploder]

I am lucky to have a wildlife museum/rehab center less than two miles from where I live. Providing he pulls through and I decide not to keep him, I would "donate" him to them.

They would then do one of two things - (a) make a determination as to whether or not he can be released, or (b) keep him and put him in the wildlife center.

I have taken injured pond turtles and a large cali king to them before. The turtles they re-released - the king snake was rehabbed and donated to a zoo.

Coluber Constricter Mormon don't generally make good captives - they are finicky eaters, like to climb and need a much larger enclosure than their size would indicate. They can also be quite snappish. While I have the cage space, I was hoping to use it on something else................