4 snakes, 3 dogs, and 1 bird

I guess the warmer weather is bringing some more fun! I caught 4 snakes today: 2 gopher snakes, a southern pacific rattler, and a red diamondback rattler! The first gopher snake was at the stadium, fortunately they still wanted the snake around so I just moved it about 50 feet to the canyon. My 2nd gopher snake was in someones backyard. She thought it was a rattlesnake, but by the time I had arrived, she had lost sight of it. I inspected her backyard and the only place I could imagine it could be hiding was in an old small wooden dresser. She didn't think it could have made it in there, but i tried opening the bottom drawer. Surprise! There it was, a big gopher snake in the middle of eating. The lady laughed at me because I baby talked to the snake and apologized for interrupting it's lunch. Anyway, the wooden dresser was swollen from the recent rain and items from the second drawer were falling down into the bottom drawer. The snake moved out of the drawer and went under the dresser. He dropped his "lunch" off there, but was too quick and moved back up to the top drawer. I quickly moved his meal into the bucket so she didn't have to see it, not a pretty sight. I was only able to open the drawers an inch or so. The lady gave me permission to do whatever I had to in order to get the snake out, so I started prying off the back panel of the dresser. Finally the snake got out of the dresser and I was able to catch him. Hopefully he is doing well in his new home now! Next I had a rattlesnake in a garage. This one was just a baby and he has a new home now too :) My last snake was one where someone saw the snake under their car and then it disappeared and she was convinced it was in her engine somewhere. When I arrived there was another couple including a woman with a nice camera. I figured she liked taking pictures, so I handed her my camera too :) They told me they last saw the snake by the front tire. So i squatted down and started searching in the wheel well. Finally I thought to look in the tire and low and behold...there it was sitting inside the wheel. I was able to catch him and it was a red diamondback, not as common out here, so that was really neat! I have to say, they are much fiestier than the southern pacifics. I've never had an adult fight me so much and try to bite my tongs. I guess I moved too quickly (not exactly something I try to prolong) but she didn't get any pics of me holding the snake. I did take one just before releasing it though... And lastly I picked up 3 dogs and a sea gull tonight, but those stories just aren't as interesting!

Peeu!!!

So today I got a call that a skunk got stuck in a dog trap we have set up. Now I have responded to calls where there are sick/injured skunks that aren't moving and they are "fairly" easy to handle without getting sprayed. My challenge was that this was a very healthy and very mobile skunk in the trap, which means it could turn around and spray wherever it wanted while being protected in the cage. At first I covered the trap with a blanket and towel to help block the spray, but that just made it comfortable/dark for the skunk and he wouldn't budge. I even tried sprinkling water on it to try and get him to run away from it. Instead he just stared at me and looked confused. Poor thing, they really do have cute little faces. He still scared me though! The camera seemed to spark the skunk's attention and he started moving toward me. He didn't move far before I jumped back and startled him back into the trap! Eventually I braved getting close enough to the trap to unlock the chain that was keeping it in place. I moved the trap out of the shade and removed the blankets. The little guy was ready to leave then and I had to tinker with the front of the trap to get it open while he was standing right there! Thankfully I survived the task without getting sprayed!!!