A woman charged more than $800 for rattlesnake removal; says she was taken advantage of

Yikes. I'm glad ABC15 reached out to me to see what most people should expect – this was a very atypical situation.

[mikedineen]

That is awful. I hate when people take advantage of people in fear and the elderly.

[sealwhiskerz]

This makes my blood boil. Glad the media attention helped her get a chunk of the amount refunded.

[wildlifewarrior]

That company just lied they're not working to resolve it

[DNAgirl]

I've heard of $80 dollars a few times but NEVER more... what the heck!!

[JennyLee]

Unreal. It was just walking up and getting it in the bucket. As we all know from your channel, the hardest part is the relocation. Hopefully she will call you guys if there is a next time!

[e-reptiledysfunction]

100-500 on average to remove a snake, holy 💩, I'd do it for free just to b able to see the snake

[cliffordchang]

That's just wrong on all accounts!

[andreacalkins]

We've had 4 rattlers on our property and not once did we call someone to come remove it. We took care of it ourselves due to horror stories like this.

[roberttaylor]

That’s so sad. I would have removed it for free and put it back in the wild so the snake was safe.

[JamesKehoeDO]

Did anyone catch Orkins we don't do this but here is a company we recommend, which oh by the way is owned by our parent company. Makes the customer think they are getting a top notch referral. Heck when the homeowner called the Critter number the same person probably answered the phone. This kind of referral process happens with HVAC and restoration companies all the time also. This is also the reason people just kill snakes for no reason. I went down the rabbit hole of rattlesnake solutions videos about a year ago and they seem like a top notch company. I have sent text pictures of snakes to them and they respond very quickly and are quick to identify and tell you that it is not necessary to remove it if it is non-venomous. I hope I never need them for a rattlesnake but they will be my call if I do.

[ffmedic]

What is the going rate? In our area, I believe it is free, as there are a bunch of people who do relocations.

[davejones]

As much as I like all wildlife, a $400. bill for a small removal could never happen, I'd have to catch it myself.

[stephenatkison]

I usually move snakes myself, living in North Louisiana we have quite a few encounters of copperheads, southern cotton mouth water moccasins, and cane break, ground, and eastern and a few western diamond back rattlesnakes. And the scarlet coral snake but main snakes I've encountered are copperheads and cotton mouth water moccasins. I move them with a snake book and tongs away from our apartment complex.

[mothership]

🤬poor lady I hope she can take him to small claims court

[Odin]

It certainly takes a lot of pride for a rattlesnake bite to cost over 150, 000 dollars.

[MartinCapron]

Jeeezus! I remove snakes for free here! Just to help the snakes! I charge $20 for skunks. Damn, gonna rethink things here! M😱

[Hatim.]

I am an Electrician, we charge more than that for stuff that is way less risky than removing a rattlesnake, you can't pay me enough to remove a damn rattlesnake...

[andythompson]

Fire extinguisher. It displaces oxygen.

[joshfazenbaker]

She had every right and ability to make multiple calls. She chose that business, she should pay their rates.

[bms]

As with any business, the owner has to pay the employees for their time, gas, benefits, etc. I can't imagine the difficulty in getting workers compensation insurance for people who handle venomous reptiles, and it can't be cheap. And not just the time to catch the snake, but the time to relocate it.