Trapper issues Halloween warning after catching baby rattlesnake

HEATHROW, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Seminole County animal trapper Bob Cross has a message for parents of trick-or-treaters in the Heathrow area this coming Halloween night.

"Try to tell your kids not to run through the grass at night trick-or-treating," said Cross, owner of Critter Capture Services.

He's concerned, because he captured a very young eastern diamondback rattlesnake in the Magnolia subdivision this week, and even baby eastern diamondbacks are very dangerous.

Cross said, "The little eastern diamondbacks have enough venom to deliver a lethal bite from day one."

The potentially deadly snakes are born in litters that sometimes have up to two-dozen babies.

"Baby snakes are out and about this time of year, having been born alive, or hatched out from eggs, from June through August," said Greg Workman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.  "No snake actually chases people, but almost all will bite if they feel threatened/cornered and will lash out to defend themselves."

That's why Cross put out a warning on social media for people in 13 subdivisions in the Markham Woods Road area.  He said parents should try to keep their kids out of the grass and on the sidewalk on Halloween night.

"Most trick-or-treaters, including myself when I was little, everybody likes to run fast from yard-to-yard or house-to-house through the yard, and that's where the snakes are gonna be,"  Cross added. 

Workman echoes that advice, adding "Leave all snakes alone! Don’t try to catch, kill or play with them and do this all year, not just during Halloween.  That’s how very painful accidents happen."

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On the web:

www.crittercaptureservices

http://myfwc.com/conservation/you-conserve/wildlife/snakes/