The snake is now looked after by a local rescue organization

Jun 17, 2015 11:58 GMT  ·  By

Last week, animal lovers over at Reptile Rescue, an organization dedicated to saving abandoned, injured and orphaned reptiles and amphibians, were called in to help capture a pink rattlesnake slithering around a construction site in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

The snake was found and caught not far from the University of Utah. It was taken to the Reptile Rescue headquarters, where it will remain for at least a few more weeks.

Photos of the pink reptile, made public by its rescuers, are now understandably making the rounds. After all, it's not often that brightly colored snakes are captured.

Pink is not the rattlesnake's natural color

As explained by Jim Dix of Reptile Rescue, the 4-foot (1.2-meter) snake was not born pink. Rather, it was spray-painted by somebody looking to have some fun.

Whoever it was that spray-painted the rattlesnake, most likely one of the workers at the construction site, was nothing if not thorough. Thus, they colored not just the snake's body but also its head and even its eyes.

“The whole thing was an act of stupidity. There’s no excuse for it,” Jim Dix said in an interview, as cited by KSL. “It’s bad enough they painted it, but getting it in its eyes - that’s ridiculous,” he added.

If left to fend for itself, the snake would have had serious trouble hunting and keeping itself fed, seeing how the pink paint would have made it nearly impossible for it to ambush its prey.

Besides, run-ins with people would have been pretty much unavoidable. “It would draw more attention from people who would see him,” explained Jim Dix.

The snake will eventually look normal once more

For fear that they might harm it, the rattlesnake's saviors decided not to try and use paint thinners or anything of the sorts to clean the reptile's pink skin. Instead, they are simply soaking it in warm water twice a day.

Jim Dix expects that, in about a month, the pink paint will at long last be gone and the snake will start looking more like itself and less like an oversized earthworm.

The snake was spray-painted this odd color
The snake was spray-painted this odd color

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Pink rattlesnake captured in Utah, US
The snake was spray-painted this odd color
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