Cold-blooded smuggling: Truck packed with 163 reptiles, other animals seized at border, CBP says

SAN ANTONIO — Twenty-four royal pythons, 11 spotted salamanders, four tarantulas, three bearded dragons—that’s just some of the dozens and dozens of reptiles that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) says were hidden in a truck before being seized by officers last week. 

163 reptiles, spiders and centipede species in all, to be exact. 

According to a press release from CBP, officers working enforcement at Anzalduas International Bridge in Hidalgo County, Texas, “encountered a silver Toyota truck attempting to depart the U.S. to Mexico” on Oct. 22 when they decided to further inspect it. That’s when they found the small zoo’s worth of animals. 

According to the U.S. agency, efforts to smuggle exotic pets is on the rise in the region. 

“We work closely with our partners of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect and preserve these creatures and ensure that importations and exportations of wildlife adhere to all applicable federal requirements,” Port Director Carlos Rodriguez is quoted as saying in a release. 

Officials say the truck was seized, the driver arrested and an investigation sparked after the reptiles were found. The animals were handed off to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A similar bust happened in March 2022, when border authorities said a California tried to smuggle more than 1,700 reptiles into the U.S. from Mexico. That man, officials said, tried to sneak in 60 reptiles hidden in his clothes. 

Many kinds of animals passing across the border must be declared and done through a designated port of entry; oftentimes, a fee also has to be paid up. Though common pets like dogs and cats don’t require health certificates as of late 2019, they still must be inspected. 

As for the full list of animals the suspect allegedly tried to hide in his truck: 

• 24 royal pythons
• 15 green anoles
• 11 spotted salamanders
• 10 sick red eye tree frogs
• 10 albino milk snakes
• 10 orange milk snakes
• 10 Mexican black king snakes
• 4 monarch ball pythons
• 4 tarantulas
• 3 pacman frogs (yellow)
• 3 coffee pacman frogs
• 3 Chilean rose tarantulas
• 3 irian jaya blue tongued skinks
• 3 bearded dragons
• 3 savannah monitors
• 3 rankin dragons
• 3 albino aberrant California king snakes
• 3 albino banded California king snakes
• 3 albino striped California king snakes
• 3 albino/amelanistic corn snakes
• 3 black corn snakes
• 2 ball pythons
• 2 Honduran milk snakes
• 2 ornate monitor lizards
• 2 Chinese caved geckos
• 2 veiled chameleons
• 2 centipedes
• 2 green tree pythons
• 2 high white California king snakes
• 1 timor python
• 1 carpet python
• 1 garter snake
• 1 banana blade clown
• 1 banana spotnose
• 1 pinstripe ball python
• 1 fire skink
• 1 Indian star tortoise
• 1 ghost Aztec jungle boa
• 1 female juvenile axanthic banana ball python
• 1 female juvenile axanthic banana lesser ball python
• 1 juvenile axanthic lesser ball python
• 1 juveline axanthic ball python
• 1 juvenile ghost piebald ball python
• 1 juvenile piebald ball python
• 1 male juvenile axanthic banana enchi ball python