Specialists caring for 173 rescued pythons

Reptile specialists are continuing their uphill efforts to nurse more than 170 malnourished and ill snakes back to health after they were pulled from a house in Santa Ana, where a grade school teacher lived with a collection of mice, rats and pythons — many of them dead.

Since being rescued, 11 of the snakes have died, bringing the total to 235.

Jason Haywood, president of the Southern California Herpetology Assn. and Rescue, said most of the snakes died of liver failure on the first night.

But, he said, about 173 pythons are alive and more than 70 of those may soon start a normal feeding cycle.

Santa Ana police officers discovered the exotic snakes while serving a search war- rant at the Fernwood Drive home of William Buchman, a sixth-grade teacher in Newport Beach who was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty, a felony.

Investigators had visited the home previously but said they didn’t observe any of the conditions they saw Wednesday.

Four of the bedrooms were filled with racks, each holding 30 to 40 snakes in plastic containers. There was no evidence of food or water in any of the cages and rats and mice roamed freely, authorities said.

Animal rescue workers said they are now looking for donations, such as paper towels, rubber gloves, sterilizing equipment and money for medical bills. City officials said they plan to seek restitution from the homeowner to help defray costs.