More Trouble

[RhacHead]

So I checked the comments on WOWT.com again and it seems asthough there have been some snake friendly comments.I was just curious if any BP.netters commented and if so what post was yours,
They also did a new story about how the family came out and said it was an accident and the comments on that story are twice as bad! It really makes me mad that these people are presenting opinions as facts...
http://www.wowt.com/mobi/home?storyi...wPrev=y&page=1

[mainbutter]

The truth is this: if threatened, a snake WILL NOT CONSTRICT......Constriction is NEVER a defense;

I recall a thread on here where one of our members was administering oral medication to a large female BP. This required restraining the snake's head and forcing the mouth open with a credit card.

The post claimed that the snake's body was free and 'constricted' his arm in defense. A pic of the snake looking pissed, still constricting his arm after the medication was given, and looking directly at the camera was posted as well. The poster's hand was a definite shade of purple. I am pretty certain that this particular snake squeezed pretty hard to it's perch (in this case, a human arm) as a reaction to feeling distressed.

I can't remember any keywords, and the post was certainly many months ago if not over a year ago, but it lead me to believe that snakes WILL squeeze if distressed.. thought it may be more to feel secure on a perch than in an effort to defend itself.

[angllady2]

This was upsetting to me as well, so I wrote to one of the reporters and he wrote back that the ball picture was posted by mistake. He apologized and thanked me for bringing it to his attention, and made sure the correct picture was posted.

I know it isn't much, but at least the poor ball isn't getting blamed anymore.

Gale

[MikeV]

To be honest, I think anybody spouting about "Oh.. look a boa/snake killed ONE person, so they are ALL dangerous" should be labeled as a racist or something

Let me explain

I take this on a personal level, thats like saying "A mexican person comitted a crime, SO THEY ARE ALL DANGEROUS"

or

"African Americans were known to live in ghettos (due to oppression) so they all must be gangsta thugs"

or

All spiders are deadly

Or other variations of racist stereotypes or animal stereotypes

they are stereotypes, and Its the same exact thing as that, only for an animal. im serious there are animal stereotypes.

And its just not true... if we heard about all the "first ever" deaths in the news, nothing else would get through. for real...

"And today somebody died because thier eyelash stabbed them in the eye and went into thier brain. ALL EYE LASHES ARE DANGEROUS quick cut them all off"

I hate the media. I probably made no sense here by the way, im to worked up, I hate seeing things like this. Even worse is that I am soon to own a snake and it just makes me sad to see this fear mongering spread about snakes




edit: on a good note, its good to know that the media is full of failures. the story is on a red tailed boa and they put up a pic of a BP

good job, seriously, nice job

[MustBeSatan]

I was thinking something similar... Like frankly, when you realize the snake is going to kill your friend, you'd think you'd do something more drastic. In 99% of cases I'm totally anti hurting animals but, when push comes to shove and someone's life is at stake, they are more important than their pet. Very sad story.

As a side note, does anyone else find it rediculous that the Nebraska TV website (first link posted) included a pronunciation guide for the name of the town in their online report about this??

[stratus_020202]

I know this family

It was just him and his girlfriend, who he had only known for a couple weeks. She called his roommate who came and removed the snake. They said she just sat on the top of the stairs and waited for the roommate to arrive. Poor girl. She's going to be afraid of snakes for life.

This is why they say anything over 8 feet to have another person there with you (who knows what to do if something goes wrong). I know we love our pets, but sometimes we forget they have no arms or legs. This is what they do to hold on, and it doesn't take much to strangle someone.

RIP. On the lighter side, I think they are going to send the snake to the zoo. Good luck.

[mainbutter]

She's going to not only be terrified of snakes, but be haunted by the fact that all she could do was be paralyzed with fear. I certainly don't blame her, uncontrollable fear is just that, uncontrollable.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Ok, I'm gonna say it. This looks to me to be total bullspit. I honestly and truly think that the room mate and the girl strangled the guy, then put the snake around him and called the cops.

It sounds like I am joking, but I am dead serious. There is a reason that there are thousands and thousands of Red Tail Boa pets out there, and as far as I know nobody has ever been killed by one.

A 9 ft 25lb Redtail Boa strangling a GROWN man???? A GROAN man with lots of experience handling the snake??? A GROWN man with two other people in the room?

1.) As a Red Tail owner I ask; How is it humanly possible that this guy was not able to unwrap a 25 lb snake from his own neck? I know how strong they are... but they are NOT hard to unwrap from something.. even your own neck.

2.) Are you serious? They are claiming that the guy getting choked AND his GROWN room mate were unable to unwrap the snake? Complete and total BS. Anyone that has handled a 9 foot snake before can tell you with absolute certainty that this is not possible. NO WAY two adults would not be able to unwrap a 9 foot 25lb snake.... not to mention that there was a third person, a GROWN female friend that would have also helped.

3.) So let me get this part straight... the friend is getting choked out. then he drops to the floor and stops moving. And apparently the friends just stood there and waited at this point for the cops to come (cause the snake was still around his neck when the got there) Who in the world would just sit there and look at it waiting for the police to arrive? You can't tell me that there is a single person who would not eventually run into the kitchen, grab a knife, fork, scissors, or anything to attack the snake. They say now they don't know what to do with the snake.. perhaps send it to the zoo. This leads me to believe that somehow the snake was not injured at all during all this?????!!!!!!!!! Give me a break. Who can we talk to to make sure the local authorities investigate this MURDER correctly? They need to talk to professionals so they can see just how ridiculous this story is. They need to hold the snake themselves.

I will be more then happy to hold that very snake myself... let it wrap my neck completely, scare the crap out of it and make it totally constrict. Then I can show them how easy it is to unwrap BY MYSELF. Then I will do it again, and this time let another adult unwrap it without help from me. Then they can see how it is even 10 times easier for someone else to remove! Then I will do it a third time... and both I and another adult will pull it off at the same time. Then they can see that that snake would be off my neck in seconds without any struggle.

Seriously, who can we call on this?

[Repsrul]

This is why I have a problem with people putting snakes around there necks. One never knows what will happen.

When I am doing a backyard "seminar" about snakes this is one of the things I tell them not to do. I repeat this over and over. All of the kids want to touch and hold the snakes and the first place they want to put them is around the neck. After my "seminar" that is the last place they want to put a snake.

My condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

commented on other thread. can the mods join the two?

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...=121610&page=3