(urgent music)
- It is early morning, Costa Rica.
We are racing on our way to possibly find a snake
that somebody has spotted in their backyard.
So they said, "Do you guys think you can come catch it,
and move it to a wild area?"
And we said, "Well, if the snake is still there.
That would definitely make a very cool episode."
Okay, we found the snake.
It's big.
They weren't kidding.
Ooh, hoo hoo hoo.
(urgent music)
- [Coyote] What do you got?
- Okay, well the homeowners,
they don't want to be filmed,
so they're just gonna stay inside
and probably watch us from the windows.
- [Coyote] Okay.
- But they said have at it.
So the snake was somewhere over here.
- [Coyote] (laughs) Okay.
- So that's all we got going for us,
but they're more than happy to have us here
searching, so let's go look.
- [Coyote] Okay, great.
Okay, so what I say we do is split up.
Which direction you want to go?
- I want to go that way first.
- Okay, I'll go that way.
If you see something, call it out.
We'll all converge together.
And with any luck,
we're going to catch and relocate a snake.
- All right, let's get a snake.
- Here we go.
(upbeat music)
- So my reasoning for going in this direction
is because this is a star apple tree.
Check that out.
Very fragrant fruit,
all this fruit needs to be eaten by something.
So what happens is rodents and other species
will come to eat the fallen fruit.
And maybe there might be snakes in ambush waiting for them.
- Believe it or not,
sometimes looking up underneath vehicles
is a great place to look,
because they provide shade and shelter,
especially if a car hasn't moved in quite some time.
Let me do this.
(suspenseful music)
Yeah, if it's a big snake,
I'd easily be able to see if it was hiding
up underneath the vehicle like this.
- Most snakes are nocturnal.
So now that it's daytime,
the snake is likely gonna be hunkered down somewhere.
So the next step is to find things to flip:
debris, tin, wood,
anything that a snake can hide underneath.
(leaves crunch) And hopefully
there is something underneath.
(dramatic drum beats)
Oh man, look at this.
I thought this was snakeskin.
- Snakes are potentially arboreal out here.
We have tree boas out here.
We have lots of different parrot snakes,
vine snakes, so it is always a good idea
to look up in the rafters to see if there's anything.
(suspenseful music)
- Look at this.
That right there
could be a possible entry point,
likely for rodents.
Also accessible for snakes.
Whoa.
It has, actually some water.
If I was a snake hiding
during the day this would-
Just heard something.
(suspenseful music)
Well, there's all kinds of tadpoles.
Water down in here.
Ah, what would have been amazing
is if I walked into this abandoned swimming pool
and just found a snake curled right up in the water.
I was thinking that that might be it.
(dramatic music)
- This looks pretty good.
Got a, I dunno, chicken coop
or actually it's a thing full of wood.
Lots of spaces for snakes to hide in.
(suspenseful music)
(wood creaks)
Boa!
Holy smokes.
I did not even see it there.
Holy smokes.
Coyote!
- [Coyote] Yeah?
- We got a snake.
- You got a snake?
Mario just called.
He's got a snake.
- (whispering) Oh my gosh.
(dramatic music)
- Is it big?
Holy cow.
That is a big snake.
Oh my gosh.
- [Mario] Dude. - It is a boa constrictor.
- Dude, I came around here,
I didn't even see that snake was right there.
- Oh my gosh.
Okay, we found the snake.
It's big.
They weren't kidding.
I'm gonna cut this camera.
Let's regroup ourselves.
- [Mario] That's a big snake.
- Dude.
Big snake.
Oh my gosh.
That is a huge boa constructor.
Okay, so this is it.
The moment we're going to engage with the snake,
and try to safely get it out of this box of logs.
(dramatic musical score)
No idea how it's going to behave.
(snake hisses)
- Oh.
- [Coyote] Oh, that's a hiss.
- [Mario] And there we go.
- Whoa.
Now that snake's in a position where there's no way
I can make a reach for it.
You can see it's completely in a defensive strike position,
and getting my hand any closer than this
could mean getting my fingers entrapped,
and look at all these incredibly huge razor sharp teeth.
That is intimidating.
(snake hisses)
(indistinct speech)
- [Mario] I got it, start backing up.
Good, good, good, good, good.
Perfect, perfect, perfect.
Perfect.
- [Coyote] Try to get ahold of his...
(snake hisses)
Whoa!
That was close.
Okay, cool.
Snake is, is out. - [Mario] Bring him out.
Bring him out, that's good.
(dramatic music)
(snake hisses)
Don't let it go back in.
There you go, there you go.
(snake hisses)
- Unbelievable.
That snake is all of five, maybe six feet in length.
- I think (indistinct)
- Look at the tail.
Wow.
Check this out.
And if I come on this side of the snake,
you can really get an idea for just how big it is.
Now, a boa is a non venomous species.
So I don't have to worry
about taking a bite and being envenomated,
but these snakes have a mouth full of teeth.
They're actually like little razorblades turned backwards.
And on the top of the skull,
they have multiple rows of teeth.
So when they grab onto their prey, it locks in place.
And these skull's capable of expanding.
And these snakes can swallow down prey
that are many times larger than their own bodies.
And this is what you would consider
a full grown female boa.
That aggressive hissing is basically just saying,
"I'm a big snake.
I'm intimidating.
You don't want to get any closer."
(dramatic music)
Got her, okay.
There we go.
- Hold the coils like that.
- Yep, have to keep her as straight as possible.
Okay.
Now, it's important to keep the snake stretched out.
Otherwise it's going to completely constrict
around me.
Okay, I gotcha, I gotcha.
The snake is extremely strong,
and I'm being as gentle as I possibly can.
I'm going to actually,
if I shift my hand back just a tiny bit there.
Oh wow.
She's got ticks all over her.
- [Mario] That's a lot of ticks.
- I'm gonna use my multi-tool to pull them off.
She's got a big one right on the side of her head here.
This isn't gonna hurt at all.
Look at that, completely full of blood.
That parasite is a really unhealthy thing
for a snake like this.
- Right now, we're kind of just doing
a little bit of a service
by hopefully getting rid of some, some ticks,
but otherwise she would be fine
with these as is.
As you can see the coils
around my leg, the snake has to feel comfortable.
Once you engage the head,
the snake has to be in defensive mode.
That's when the snake is going to be at its most aggressive.
- I do have to be aware of where those teeth are at
at all points in time.
The less pressure I put on her,
the less constrained she feels.
- (pats leg) Look at this.
- Yeah, you're getting constricted.
We want to keep those coils spread
out as much as we possibly can.
- [Mario] Here's another tick.
Just full of ticks right now.
- I've gotten all the ticks off the top
third of the snake.
She looks pretty good.
You wanna stretch her out a little bit,
so we can see the full length?
There we go.
That's pretty cool.
That is a beautiful snake.
- [Mario] Gorgeous.
- Well, the good news for this boa
is that because we were able to find it
and safely catch it,
we're now going to be able to relocate it
to a much wilder area.
All this human habitation,
while it may provide good opportunities
for this snake to get a meal,
it actually puts it in the way of danger.
I'm actually really thankful
that these property owners said,
"Hey, do you guys want to come safely remove the snake?"
because killing an animal like this
is actually really detrimental to the environment.
These snakes do an incredible amount of good
by helping to balance the pest populations.
Well, I'd say this was a success.
We found the snake and that we're going to be able
to safely relocate it back out into the wild.
I'm Coyote Peterson.
- I'm Mario Aldecoa.
- Be brave.
- Stay wild.
- We'll see you on the next adventure.
All right, let's get her into a bag,
back off into the wild.
(dramatic music)
(animals roar)