$25,000 for a giant rattlesnake
WANTED – ALIVE! That’s what the folks down at Reptile Gardens, near Rapid City, are saying about monster snakes, crocodilians and tortoises. They shared an entertaining post on their own blog today about the photos that they often receive showing what are reported to be “giant, record-breaking reptiles.”
Chances are you’ve seen pictures floating around the internet or in your email of an “8-foot rattlesnake” or the “50-foot python.” Although they make for good water-cooler talk, they almost always turn out to be a hoax.
The keepers and handlers down at Reptile Gardens are all trained pros, so they can peg a real reptile from an exaggerated one pretty quickly. They’ve received plenty of phone calls and reports over the years of enormous reptiles, but none that can really be claimed as world-records.
Sort of like the folks who spend their whole life claiming to have seen Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster – but can never really provide any proof.
Regardless, the Reptile Gardens crew is holding out hope that there really might be some giants out there. So much so that they offer up rewards for world-record reptiles that are brought in to them alive and in good condition.
So, that “8-foot rattlesnake” that your co-worker’s cousin’s neighbor’s buddy caught - is worth a cool $25,000 if he can prove that it’s legit.
Reptile Gardens has a whole list of actual rewards that they are willing to pay for record-breaking animals. A 30-foot python or an 800-pound giant tortoise is worth $50,000. The real jackpot, though, is for an honest-to-goodness 25-foot long crocodile. That behemoth will net you $100,000!
Chances are, their money is safe. Nobody has even come close to earning one of the bounties yet. For a full run-down of their giant reptile rewards, check out the Reptile Gardens web site. The list is pretty entertaining.
Thankfully, the rattlesnakes here in the Black Hills don’t grow anywhere near 8 feet long. And this obviously isn’t cobra country – so if one of the Reptile Gardens rewards is ever actually claimed, rest assured that it wasn’t caught in the wild around these parts.
