The salmonella risk is really it. And while I wouldn't put a 4 lb. snake in with a 7 lb. baby kind of on principle, it's pretty tough for a 4 lb. snake to kill anything larger than a rat. Even if they were inclined, which ball pythons are really not--when they escape, they generally go looking for good hiding spots, not humans.

Ditto what everybody else says about dropping. Also squeezing.