Snake Rescue & Relocation Pensacola

14/12/2023

02/12/2023

If you missed our Estuary Twelve Days of Christmas countdown a few years ago - you are in for a treat. We are back for 2023!

🎼On the first day of Christmas,
My Estuary gave to me,
a Gulf Salt Marsh Snake in an Estuaryyyyyyy!

Gulf Salt Marsh Snakes prefer living in estuarine areas such as salt marshes and tidal mud flats.

🍤This seafood loving santa likes to dine on small fish, crabs, shrimp, and other invertebrates - so maybe skip leaving out the cookies.

14/11/2023

You never know what might cross your path on a rainy day! We found this young Water Moccasin crossing Gopher Tortoise Trail. Cotton Mouths or Water Moccasins are semi-aquatic venomous snakes. Venomous snakes seem to have a bad reputation, but these guys serve an important role in the food chain. Water Moccasins are an important food source for larger birds like the Great Blue Heron and young snakes may even be eaten by large fish such as largemouth bass. They also help keep our waterways clean and prevent other species from overpopulating by scavenging and preying fish, amphibians, mice, and other snakes.

28/10/2023

More pics of musky bois relocation from yesterday, taken by the homeowner before capture. He was an absolutely beautiful and perfect specimen 🤩

19/10/2023

Museum Resource 🐍
Florida Snake ID Guide
Our popular guide to our state's snakes is a great visual tool to figure out what snake you may have just spotted! Or get to know your local wildlife by learning about the snakes most likely to live near you. Browse by color, pattern or region, or just search for the venomous species and check out some look-alike snakes:

Identify your snake below by filtering results based on the region you saw the snake and its main color or pattern. Guide to Patterns: Search Filters:

11/10/2023

On my way home today, I passed a large turtle in the middle of the highway. From my perspective, it looked like she was trying to finish crossing the road, with her guts dragging the ground behind her. I was sure she had already been hit by a car. Not wanting her to suffer, I quickly turned around to catch up to her, with the intention of euthanizing her on the spot, as her injuries were so great.

To my relief, as I caught up to her and pulled over onto the soggy, grassy shoulder, I saw that she was not injured. She was a snapping turtle, and the "guts" dragging the ground behind her, was only her tail. It was long and plated, not unlike a stegosaurus.

Now I don't know if you've ever tried to help a large snapping turtle cross the road, but it goes something like this:

First, you try to pick it up. You know she has a long neck, and jaws powerful enough to snap the bone in any given finger, but you figure that if you grab her directly from above, and exactly in the right spot, that she won't be able to reach you. So you go for it. And instantly realize that this method isn't going to work. Because you forgot to take into account the speed with which she can extend her long neck and snap her jaws. It's so fast, that if you blink while she is defending herself, you will miss this move entirely. And you quickly lose confidence that you will even be able to hold her in a spot, that her long, snappy, hook-like jaws can't reach.

So you quickly recalculate. Logically, nudging her in the right direction with your foot seems to be the next best option. And if you're wearing knee high, thick rubber rain boots as I was today, you think that this will probably work. So you go for it, thinking that a little tap with your foot on her rear end will send her scurrying off into the right direction. But no such luck. She's already mad at you for trying to pick her up, and now she wants to kill you. So anytime your foot comes within 6 inches of her body, she attacks, and you quickly realize that she would bite right through your otherwise invincible rain boots, and probably have one of your toes for dinner.

You would then glance up at the growing line of cars behind you, and realize that it probably wouldn't be too much longer before people lost their patience with your snapping turtle shenanigans and start to honk at you to get out of the road. And so you know you've got to find a solution. And fast. Because Miss Snappypants is holding her ground in the middle of the road, and has lost all interest in crossing it. She wants blood.

In a last-ditch effort to give her safe crossing, you would glance around to see what tools you had at your disposal. Nothing but swamp, and sticks.

And sticks! Eureka!

I grabbed a small branch from one of the slash pines that lined the edge of the road, about the length of a golf club. I went to gently nudge her with it, and just as I had imagined, she quickly latched on. I pulled her in the direction of the side of the road a few inches before it broke off in her mouth. The break was partially because she had jaws of steel, and partially because she was pushing 20 lbs. So I did it again. And again, I was able to pull her a few more inches off to the side before it broke off. In this instance, the fourth time was the charm, and she was safely on the mucky shoulder as we bid each other adieu. I watched her for a second to see if she would turn around and head back into the swamp, but instead she held her ground, staring at me with contempt as I hurried back to the car.

Thankful this ordeal was over and everyone was safe, I turned the car around and headed home once again. But I didn't get very far. Because about a half mile away, there was another large snapping turtle on the side of the road. This one looked like it was getting ready to cross, so I turned around and caught up to it as I had done with the previous one, with the intention of acting as a crossing guard, and making sure she had safe passage, as this was a rather busy highway.

As I got close to her though, I saw that she was injured. It looked to me like she had been hit already. The tip of her nose was gone, her right eye was hanging out of its socket, and her long tale was wrapped alongside her body, which reminded me of a dog with its tail between its legs. I bent over and looked at her more closely. She tilted her head to the side and looked up at me as best she could. There was no aggression here. It broke my heart to know that she wasn't dead yet, and probably in an immense amount of pain.

What are the odds?

I got my phone out of the car and called the Wildlife Sanctuary. I told them I had a large snapping turtle that I think needed euthanized. They said they closed in 15 minutes. I told them I would be there in 30.

I took off my sweatshirt and wrapped it over her, then gently placed her in a box I had in the trunk. And not long after, I dropped her off at the Wildlife Sanctuary. They are so awesome. They were waiting for me in the driveway. She is in good hands now. Whether or not she will survive, I do not know. But what I do know is that they immediately pumped her full of pain meds, and that they are going to try and save her life. And if they can't, they will let her go. Either way, she is no longer suffering. And that's something.

I wrote this down for several reasons. The first one being, to remember. I like to write things down to remember them, and I think that if I grow old, it will be fun to come back and read these stories one day. The second reason, is to remind everyone to pay attention to their surroundings when they drive. Seriously, it's the least we can do. After the way we've paved the great outdoors in concrete, we owe it to the displaced animals to not let them suffer should they get hit by a car. Unfortunately, hitting wild animals is a daily occurrence here in Florida. Their corpses litter nearly every roadway. If you hit an animal, STOP. Assess its injuries. If it's savable, save it. If it's not, be sure it's dead so that it does not suffer. Can you fathom getting hit by a car, but not dying instantly? Imagine lying by the side of a busy roadway, in the hot sun and rain, in excruciating pain, overwhelmed with confusion and anxiety, and counting down the minutes until you finally died. It would feel like an eternity. If you have the ability to prevent that from happening, then by all means, do it. Always always do it.

Lastly, I wrote this down to encourage all of you to support your local wildlife sanctuary. They do wonderful, amazing work, and are often all volunteer operations, that cannot survive without local support. Find the one nearest to you and see what they need.

I plan to call Wildlife Sanctuary of Northwest Florida, Inc. this weekend to get an update, and see if she made it. In the meantime, if you think of it, send a prayer her way. She is the sweetest little snapping turtle I have ever met.

*This story was originally posted on my personal page in May of 2021. With the rain approaching, reptiles will be on the move, and so I thought it was important to share it here now. And I am happy to report that though the snapping turtle lost her eye, she eventually recovered and was successfully released, thanks to the awesome staff at our local wildlife sanctuary.

30/09/2023

And snake venom is being used in breast cancer research.

27/09/2023

I had the pleasure of relocating this spicy little noodle today. He was an adorable little rascal! Using every trick he had up his sleeve to try and appear threatening. I loved watching him leave the bucket and slither away into his natural habitat 💚 He is absolutely stunning in the natural backdrop of the pinewood flat, and is close now to several small glades and streams, loaded with food for him. Happy life little one!

27/09/2023

Baby banded. Removed from someone's kitchen, on his way to his new home (in my backyard just a few streets away) 🐍

24/09/2023

This is the kind of absolute garbage I see on Facebook every summer. Big strong man posted a picture of the harmless juvenile black racer he killed next to his ax for oohs and aaahs of his bravery. No doubt he told people it was a copperhead or cottonmouth 🥴 I wish big strong man would have called me instead of killing this snake. I would have had my 9 year old daughter pick it up and relocate it for him. Snake Rescue & Relocation Pensacola

24/09/2023

Another pine woods snake hanging out by the garage, safely relocated away from the chickens. That fluid on my thumb is not from an injury to the snake, it's actually where he has musked me as a self-defense mechanism. It is a very foul smelling liquid, very hard to describe. And I still maintain from my experience (3rd time relocating one of these), that this snake has the worst musk ever. I use a pine resin cleaner to remove it, as soap and water don't help. That said, it's always a pleasure to find one of these little noodles, and I hope he comes back to visit 🐍

21/09/2023

Just saved this little man from the chickens. He is so sweet and well behaved, I just want to pinch his little cheeks! 💚

21/09/2023

What a sweet little noodle! 😍
North Pensacola area.

20/09/2023

Found this sweet little ringneck while potting some plants. These little guys love to hide in leaf litter, and are one of the many great reasons to not clear your yard over the fall and winter months.

20/09/2023

Defensive Tails 🦎🐍⁉

“Look! A snake!”
“No, that’s a legless lizard.”
“So…a snake?”

Nope – you just named two entirely different animals. Though we wouldn’t blame you for thinking this eastern glass lizard was a snake — they look pretty similar, after all (in fact, their genus, Ophisaurus, translates to ‘snake-lizard’). Unlike snakes, legless lizards have moveable eyelids and ear openings. Did you know that Florida is home to four species of glass lizards? The eastern glass lizard is the most abundant and can be found statewide. Check out these other differences between glass lizards and snakes:

💚 Unlike snakes, glass lizards can separate their tails from their bodies when they feel threatened. It may break off into one or more pieces, like shattered glass. Each piece continues to wriggle after detachment to distract whatever predator is after it.
💚 More than two-thirds of the lizard's total length is made up by its tail!
💚 While glass lizards can’t “unlock” their jaws like snakes, their bodies can slightly expand due to the presence of lateral folds. This is handy after a big meal or if a female is carrying eggs. Snakeskin is much more elastic.
💚 Speaking of eggs, after laying, our native glass lizards will remain with their eggs throughout incubation. Most snakes, with some exceptions, typically don’t do that.

So there you go, our glass lizards are visually similar to our snakes, but have several key differences. Have you ever come across a glass lizard? Share pictures of your encounters with glass lizards in the comments.

Photo by Carli Segelson

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20/09/2023

Fall weather means more active wildlife! As temperatures start to cool, you may be more likely to find animals crossing the roads - especially easy to miss babies like this one. Roads are one of the greatest sources of mortality for snakes, and dead snakes on the road can attract other wildlife species like small mammals, hawks, vultures, and eagles who feed on the carcasses and become at risk themselves of getting killed in a vehicle collision. 🦅🦝🦊

You can save our native wildlife species by staying alert and driving carefully this season! Watch for snakes and other animals on the roads and give them a brake! 🐍💚

19/09/2023

If you walk the Ball Trail at UWF, do not, I repeat DO NOT EAT any snakes you might find along the trail. They are poisonous! 😆

19/09/2023

Sweet little rat snake relocated from a backyard in West Pensacola. This little guy had been hanging out in a tree in someone's backyard for a few days. I tried to convince the homeowner to let him stay, but they wanted it removed. So I released him in a huge wooded area near a creek with lots of tasty treats, far from humans, where he can live out his days. Happy life little buddy! 💕

19/09/2023

One of these is a harmless banded water snake, and the other one is a venomous cottonmouth. Can you tell the difference?

This is why it is so important not to kill every snake you see. Unfortunately, many banded water snakes are needlessly killed every year after being mistaken for cottonmouths. Regardless of what kind of snake you have in your yard, if you leave it alone it will move along on its way.

Many of the non-venomous snakes we have here in the Florida panhandle actually prey on the venomous ones, so if you are afraid of venomous snakes, killing a non-venomous one is really not a mistake you want to make.

*both of these snakes were safely relocated to an area far away from humans where they can live out their lives in peace 🐍

19/09/2023

Beautiful banded catching some rays at Bayou Marcus Birding trail

18/09/2023

Just found this little ribbon hatchling in the road while I was walking the dog. He's been dead for a while, poor thing. I'm guessing he was picked up and dropped by a bird based on his injuries.

18/09/2023

Snakes are some of the most misunderstood creatures around; whose instinctually driven brains, reactions, and energy can be hard to comprehend and so it can be hard for the mainly logic-driven human to relate.

18/09/2023

Sweet little garter in my backyard. I can tell by her cloudy eyes that she is getting ready to shed. I hope she comes back to visit 🐍

16/09/2023

Beautiful healthy adult banded water snake relocation. These snakes are often unnecessarily killed after being mistaken for cottonmouths.

16/09/2023

A rare sight for me! An adult pinewoods litter snake, removed from someone's garage and safely relocated to their backyard. Worst musk EVER.

16/09/2023

Juvenile cottonmouth out for an evening stroll in the bayou 💚

16/09/2023

Adult cottonmouth safely removed from a chicken coop and relocated to a wooded area with a small stream (as he seemed very dehydrated) far away from humans, where he can live out the rest of his days. Notice the old injury at the tip of his tail.

16/09/2023

Sweet, inquisitive little ribbon moved safely out of someone's garage 💕

15/09/2023

Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus)

Timber Rattlesnakes in Florida reside most often in hardwood hammocks, pine flatwoods, swamps and fields in North Florida.

The Florida Wildlife Corridor extends from the panhandle to the Everglades providing connected habitat for many of Florida's native species.

📸: Nicholas Hess

14/09/2023

Juvenile cottonmouth relocation. He was on somebody's front porch, but safely relocated to a wooded area far away from humans, where he can live a long and happy life 💓

14/09/2023

Banded water snake relocated from my neighbor's front porch, to my backyard 🤫🤭

14/09/2023

Banded water snake hatchling on my back patio 🖤