Another ball python was found on Burnaby Mountain recently, bringing the reported snakes retrieved from the area – dead or alive – to at least six.
Mike Hopcraft, who runs the Reptile Guy Rescue and Education Centre in Mission, was having dinner at Anton’s Pasta Bar in Burnaby on Friday, Sept. 4, when he received a call of another python found on the mountain. A woman was out taking pictures of the sunset and found yet another snake and brought it to Hopcraft outside of Anton’s.
This ball python was less than a foot long, and Hopcraft described it as a “tiny baby,” likely a couple of months old, and very thin.
“They won’t survive out in the cold long term, but they are basically very resilient,” Hopcraft said.
“They are not going to hurt anybody. People should be worried not about themselves but (about) the poor animals that are dying up there,” he added.
Hopcraft is keeping the snake in quarantine and feeding it so it regains its health, and he’s hoping to find it a home.
This most recent find brings the total number of snakes retrieved from the mountain to six (see sidebar for details).
“There is no harm or public safety threat,” Hopcraft said. “The only threat is to the snakes themselves.”
Hopcraft encouraged people to call a snake rescue group instead of leaving the reptiles outdoors.
The three main places to take snakes are Reptile Rescue, Urban Safari Rescue Society and the Reptile Guy Rescue and Education Centre.
Burnaby Mountain snake sightings:
(Source: Reptile Rescue)
July 9: Val Lofvendahl of Reptile Rescue receives email of snake seen on Burnaby Mountain by the bushes not far from the playground. Snake is not retrieved.
July 11: Someone finds a python on Burnaby Mountain and notifies Reptile Rescue. The person decides to keep the snake as a pet. The snake is either an adult or a young adult; definitely not a hatchling, according to Lofvendahl.
July 15 :Lofvendahl goes to Burnaby Mountain to look for the snake reported on July 9. She never finds it but finds one baby, barely alive, and a second baby that has been dead for a while. Both are hatchlings, about 12 to 14 inches long. Lofvendahl estimates they are only a few weeks old.
July 19: SFU student Marissa Bowsfield comes across a ball python on Burnaby Mountain. It's about a foot long, and she takes it to Urban Safari Rescue Society in South Surrey.
July 28: Reptile Rescue receives another report from an SFU staffer who finds another ball python on Burnaby Mountain but doesn't pick it up. It looked alive but didn’t move and was sunning itself in a clearing between the trees. (This one was quite thin, says Lofvendahl, and if it wasn't found, it's probably dead by now.)
Aug. 10: Burnaby city parks staff spot a python on Burnaby Mountain, but the snake eludes them. (The NOW reports the story, sparking a frenzy of news coverage.)
Aug. 11: Bowsfield hears the news about the recent snake sighting and goes to Burnaby Mountain, looking for the python. She finds one, but Lofvendahl suspects it's a different snake from the Aug. 10 sighting, as the markings appear different.
Sept. 4: New sighting: A woman finds a small ball python on Burnaby Mountain and brings it to Mike Hopcraft, aka the Reptile Guy.
