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Tuesday, September 26, 2023 | 
U.S. & World

This Mississippi woman found a rare blonde snake that we don’t know much about

A venomous snake that has no statistics from around the world made its way to the United States

By Herb Scribner Herb Scribnerhscribner@deseretnews.com
SHARE This Mississippi woman found a rare blonde snake that we don’t know much about
A timber rattlesnake rests in a coil on a rock in Western Massachusetts.

In this September 2008 handout file photo from the Massachusetts Division of Wildlife and Fisheries, a timber rattlesnake rests in a coil on a rock in Western Massachusetts.

Bill Byrne, Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife via Associated Press

A Mississippi woman found a rare venomous snake when she was out collecting berries at the end of September, Clarion-Ledger reports.

The snake — a blond timber rattlesnake — has been put into captivity. But it will be unveiled to the public in upcoming days.

Danielle Ladner of Yazoo County told Clarion-Ledger that she and her friend, Matt Brewer, were picking berries when she noticed the snake right before her.

“We were fixing to leave and loading up, and I bent over to pick up the muscadines and I looked up and there he is — 2 feet from my face at eye level. He was right there,” she said.

Ladner said she screamed immediately after she saw the snake, protecting her children from the snake, too.

So Ladner called the  Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks to report the snake. However, the department could not find the snake on the following day. Soon after, they found the snake still in the area.

Herpetologist Terry Vandeventer told Clarion-Ledger that the snake is rare because it has genetic conditions that make it look, albino, even though it isn’t.

  • “It’s absolutely a rare thing,” Vandeventer said. “Several thousand babies would be born before one pops up.”

Earlier this summer, Raleigh Police Department in North Carolina issued an official alert about the cobra zebra snake, which had been spotted in one community, as I wrote for the Deseret News.

  • The snake — called a cobra zebra — comes from Africa. Though it is a shy snake, it can be deadly if it is cornered, according to the African Snake Bite Institute. 

Related

Utah has seen an influx of snakes in recent months as the scorching drought brought them to the Beehive State, as the Deseret News reported.

  • “We’re getting calls earlier this year than ever,” said Terry Messmer, Utah State University Extension wildlife specialist. “All of them occurred in early June, while other incidences of snake sightings and bites were in later June in previous years. One deadly incident last year was with a person who was out recreating on trails, and these are all sightings in parks.”