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Wednesday, February 18, 1998Last modified at 1:23 a.m. on Wednesday, February 18, 1998
Jerald Locke, a Science Spectrum employee, watches one of the two newly arrived Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes. (A-J Photo / JIM WATKINS)Science Spectrum host to slithering duo
By DANIEL KERR
They are venomous and scaly, sliver along the ground and emit a haunting rattling, like maracas.
They are two western diamondback rattlesnakes, the newest additions to the Science Spectrum's collection of 20 snakes. And according to its life sciences director, Jerald Locke, they are two of the biggest western diamondbacks he has ever seen.
"They are normally killed before they get anywhere near this large," Locke said.
"It's nowhere near the Texas state record, but that's if you believe the Texas state record - nearly 7 1/2 feet."
The largest of these snakes is almost six feet, and the other is five feet.
"It's hard to tell for sure what the sex is, but one is male and one is female," Locke said.
Before the snakes were procured by the Science Spectrum, they were the property of the late George Glass, owner of the 20,000-acre Lazy Z ranch near Midland.
Federal Game Warden Robert Lee, who knew Glass for 10 years, described him as an environmentalist.
"He always had a soft-spot in his heart for animals, and a lot of the time game wardens come across wounded or young animals that need help," Lee said. "Mr. Glass got a permit through the state, and he would take those animals for as long as they would live."
Lee said he tried to place Glass's animals locally.
"Many of them went to education projects in schools. I knew the Science Spectrum would be interested - I knew they would give them a good home," he said.
Glass, who died in 1997, owned 300 hand-fed deer, buffalo, long-horn cattle, racoons and 15 bobcats.
"The buffalo, cattle and deer lived in a pen about the size of 10 football fields. His house was in the middle of the pen," Locke said.
He added that Glass built a pen to house the snakes and kept it in a cinder-block barn.
Locke accompanied Lee in retrieving the two rattlesnakes from Glass's ranch.
"After he passed (away), his family inherited the animals but didn't know really what to do with them," Locke said. "It's hard to place 300 head of deer because they've been hand-fed and have no idea of what their natural enemies are and have no fear of people."
The public can observe these two western diamondback rattlesnakes at 2 p.m. every Saturday during an educational snake show at the Science Spectrum. For more information, contact the Science Spectrum at 745-2525.