What were they thinking?!

http://www.globalherp.com/e36bc060.jpg

That could be none other than an albino ball python.

And that's a king cobra btw.

oh boy....i love king cobras....that is what rich foreign businessmen feed to their pets :D In the background, I am surprised you did not see people sitting at a table feasting on an lucy :O

ha ha...i could do better with photoshop ;)

Well, the rest of that site is very serious.. who knows.

what site?

www.globalherp.com

They advertise on kingsnake a lot. They have lots of unusual species, that's why I was looking there.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daniel1983

ha ha...i could do better with photoshop ;)

---

Quoted for posterity - that chop doesnt stand up to scrutiny very well at all lol.

lol.. what do you guys see? I am blind, it looks alright to me.

exactly where is that pic in their site?

In image gallery under elapidae.

dont mind me, i am a dummy when it comes to venomous snakes, other than those native to my home state.

ok found it..... i am not seeing what daniel is talking about as far as photo shop... might be worth contacting them and asking them about that pic? not so long ago, i saw a program on tv and this guy was trying to capture a cobra, they used dead bp's to lure it to thier trap.

Using a $2000 snake as food doesn't seem very intelligent. I know cobras love to eat other snakes, but I'm sure he'd be very happy with your average garden variety BP!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shelby

Using a $2000 snake as food doesn't seem very intelligent. I know cobras love to eat other snakes, but I'm sure he'd be very happy with your average garden variety BP!

---

Me too, but still wondering if it is not PS'd then was the bp dead already? You gonna contact them and ask?

I guess I will e-mail them.

Yeah you got my curiosity now...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jeanne

ok found it..... i am not seeing what daniel is talking about as far as photo shop... might be worth contacting them and asking them about that pic? not so long ago, i saw a program on tv and this guy was trying to capture a cobra, they used dead bp's to lure it to thier trap.

---

I saw that episode to, and I was fuming a little that they would use a BP instead of giving it a nice funeral :(

1. That picture is a couple of years old.

2. I actually own t-shirt with that picture on the front of it. The shirts are sold in Daytona every year.

3. The albino in the picture died and was fed off to the cobra.

-adam

Why didn't you post earlier, Adam? lol now I just sent the e-mail for no reason..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

1. That picture is a couple of years old.

2. I actually own t-shirt with that picture on the front of it. The shirts are sold in Daytona every year.

3. The albino in the picture died and was fed off to the cobra.

-adam

---

That clears it up then. I seriously doubt that any one would be dumb enough to feed a live albino bp to a King.

That's pretty dang sensationalistic then.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by iceman25

I seriously doubt that any one would be dumb enough to feed a live albino bp to a King.

---

I watched a guy light a $1,000.00 bill on fire once just because he could.

Never underestimated the ability of a person to surprise you. Different things hold different values to different people.

-adam

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shelby

In image gallery under elapidae.

---

Searching for your next snake April???? ha ha....j/k ;) What type of cobras were they using the dead bps to attract? The thing that throws me off is that I could understand if they were being used to attract native african cobras....but king cobras are native to Asia. So basically, either the cobra and/or the bp is in the wrong place.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daniel1983

Searching for your next snake April???? ha ha....j/k ;)

---

Sorta. :P looking at all species to add to my master wishlist for my future reptile zoo.

I've falled in love with timor pythons though. Never knew they were so pretty until I looked at that site.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daniel1983

What type of cobras were they using the dead bps to attract? The thing that throws me off is that I could understand if they were being used to attract native african cobras....but king cobras are native to Asia. So basically, either the cobra and/or the bp is in the wrong place.

---

You know, I wish I could remember what type of species, but if I remember right, they were in Florida, and some guy who kept it found that it was loose, so he called in someone to find it.... although, I know this was not the first time I have seen that on tv, this was like the 2nd or 3rd show I have seen ppl use dead snakes to do that.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daniel1983

Searching for your next snake April???? ha ha....j/k ;) What type of cobras were they using the dead bps to attract? The thing that throws me off is that I could understand if they were being used to attract native african cobras....but king cobras are native to Asia. So basically, either the cobra or bp is in the wrong place.

I say it looks photoshoped because of the outline of the ball python....if it is a ball python ;)

---

Ball pythons are frequently used as feeders for snake eating snakes like cobras. They are relatively cheap when bought in great numbers and readily available.

FWIW, I believe it's the black spitting cobra (Naja naja sputatrix) .... but please correct me if I'm wrong .... that is the single greatest predator of ball pythons in the wild. The "balling" is an evolutionary development to prevent the cobra from being able to swallow them.

-adam

I am always fixed on national geographic and animal planet cause...i love tv shows with snakes....especially constrictors or cobras...I am still trying to find somewhere that sells the show called "The Big Squeeze"....the footage they had of the Afrock eating the gazelle kicked it :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

I watched a guy light a $1,000.00 bill on fire once just because he could.

Never underestimated the ability of a person to surprise you. Different things hold different values to different people.

-adam

---

Yah, I know what you mean.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

FWIW, I believe it's the black spitting cobra (Naja naja sputatrix) .... but please correct me if I'm wrong .... that is the single greatest predator of ball pythons in the wild. The "balling" is an evolutionary development to prevent the cobra from being able to swallow them.

---

I am always searching for info on the natural life of ball pythons. Where did you read about that? I know you have all these excellent research article on bps ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

FWIW, I believe it's the black spitting cobra (Naja naja sputatrix) .... but please correct me if I'm wrong .... that is the single greatest predator of ball pythons in the wild. The "balling" is an evolutionary development to prevent the cobra from being able to swallow them.

-adam

---

naja sputatrix aka southern Indonesian spitting cobra.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daniel1983

I am always searching for info on the natural life of ball pythons. Where did you read about that? I know you have all these excellent research article on bps ;)

---

Me too! But have yet to find very much on them in thier natural life.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jeanne

naja sputatrix aka southern Indonesian spitting cobra.

---

I knew I had that wrong ... anyone know SN for the black spitting cobra?

-adam

Here is what I found for African Cobras:

http://www.cobras.org/cob_14.htm

Scroll down.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daniel1983

I am always searching for info on the natural life of ball pythons. Where did you read about that? I know you have all these excellent research article on bps ;)

---

Not sure if I read it or heard it ... I have a couple of friends that have been over there collecting and always come back with a wealth of info from the trappers.

But I do have a stack of articles from american and european publications that have a ton of great info as well. If I come across something I'll post the reference.

-adam

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

I knew I had that wrong ... anyone know SN for the black spitting cobra?

-adam

---

Naja nigricollis nigricincta
and'
Naja nigricollis woodi

Sorry... not the first one, but this one:

Naja mossambica-Mossambique spitting cobras (formerly subspecies of Naja nigricollis)

First one is a banded spitting cobra

Oh yeah-
Naja katiensis-Formerly subspecies of Naja nigricollis, then of Naja mossambica)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

The "balling" is an evolutionary development to prevent the cobra from being able to swallow them.

---

Interesting. Is a ball semi-immune to the venom as well, like a King snake?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by xdeus

Interesting. Is a ball semi-immune to the venom as well, like a King snake?

---

Yes, my understanding is that the current thinking is that they have some level of immunity to the venom but I don't think I have anything documented on that.

-adam

Got the reply from globalherp:

'a friend unfortunately had a dead Ball albino Python is his freezer for months and we though it would be humorous to make this photo

actually all our king cobras at dead rodents'

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shelby

Got the reply from globalherp:

'a friend unfortunately had a dead Ball albino Python is his freezer for months and we though it would be humorous to make this photo

actually all our king cobras at dead rodents'

---

Thanks for sharing this with us Shelby.

Hmm, humerous.... ok. But it does lay to rest, it is a photo shopped pic then since they say "we though it would be humorous to make this photo".

No no.. it is not photo shopped.. he fed it to the king cobra. I asked him if that was what happened, and he said yes.

By 'make' he means give the bp to the cobra and take the pic.

They specifically fed the albino ball python to their normally rat eating cobra to capture a photograph to print on shirts and sell them.

-adam

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shelby

No no.. it is not photo shopped.. he fed it to the king cobra. I asked him if that was what happened, and he said yes.

By 'make' he means give the bp to the cobra and take the pic.

---

Oh ok, I get it now.. LOL I thought it meant he PS'd that.