A Sioux Falls man was bit by his pet snake, a venomous African forest cobra, on Sept. 7. That snake and two other pet snakes have been taken to Reptile Gardens in Rapid City.

Sioux Falls Animal Control supervisor Patty Beckman said SFAC responded to an apartment near 85th Street and Minnesota Avenue and were made aware there were two cobras loose in the man’s bedroom, along with an eastern diamondback rattlesnake that was confined.

SFAC officials got into the apartment, removed the loose cobras and rattlesnake safely, and transported them to Reptile Gardens in Rapid City on Sept. 8, Beckman said, noting it was the closest facility that was able to safely house the snakes. She said the two cobras were kept in plastic totes and the rattlesnake was in a glass enclosure, “so not very secure

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