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Date Published: 10/08/2022

ARCHIVED - Venomous Montpellier snake discovered trapped in Totana aviary

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

These reptiles are very common in the Region of Murcia and are not particularly dangerous to humans

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Venomous Montpellier snake discovered trapped in Totana aviary

The Totana Civil Protection coordinator, José María Sánchez, is becoming quite the expert at capturing snakes as the warm weather and an abundance of food coax reptiles out in the open, often drawing them unwanted to gardens and homes.

The latest incident occurred in the Los Huertos area on Tuesday August 9 when a local woman went to feed her birds and discovered that a Montpellier snake had sneaked into her aviary.

She summoned the Civil Protection and Mr María Sánchez rushed to the property, where he found the reptile in an agitated state: "It had already swallowed a little bird and could not get out where it had entered the cage," he said.

After capturing the snake, the specialist secured it in a plastic container for later release in the nearby Sierra Espuña.

When it comes to the survival of reptiles in the wild, “excess kilos is bad,” the wildlife expert explained, since consuming so much poultry swelled this particular Montpellier and caused it to become stuck in the aviary.

"After depositing it in the container, it vomited the bodies of two little birds," he added.

Montpellier snakes are very common in Spain and despite being mildly venomous, the position of their fangs far back in their jaw render them fairly harmless to humans. Treatment for bites is also very straightforward. This reptile is active during the day and usually feeds on lizards.

The Totana Civil Protection has been kept busy of late and several snakes have been captured in local homes and released back into the wild. One of the most widely-encountered snakes in this municipality is the ladder snake, a non-venomous reptile that feeds on small mammals like mice as well as spiders, grasshoppers and birds.

Earlier in the summer, Mr María Sánchez caught one such specimen with a lasso that he made himself and in June, another two-metre-long snake was rescued and released in Sierra Espuña.

Image: Totana Civil Protection

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