Toddler killed by her mum's boyfriend's pet python

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Maybe letting loverboy leave his illegal 2.5m snake in your house with your 2-year-old is A REALLY STUPID IDEA, hmm?

The article also discusses how parts of the US are being overrun with motherfucking snakes because of people like this releasing pets they can't care for into the wild.

Keith Fraser wrote:

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Maybe letting loverboy leave his illegal 2.5m snake in your house with your 2-year-old is A REALLY STUPID IDEA, hmm?

The article also discusses how parts of the US are being overrun with motherfucking snakes because of people like this releasing pets they can't care for into the wild.

First kudzu and now Burmese pythons? With Killer Bees heading this way, too, the American South is going to turn into an exotic death trap any day now. :redangry:

Seriously, when will people learn that introducing stuff into an ecosystem they don't belong to is bad?

What the fuck?

As I understand it, there are rules pertaining to how many people are needed to handle a snake based on its length (according to this, anyway), and anything over seven feet requires at least two people to handle. In other words, even if this thing was being kept in the proper enclosure and couldn't escape etc, it still had no business being in a house with only one woman and a child. God, don't you need a license to buy these things or something?

Edit:

Quote :

Officials said Mr Darnell did not have a permit for the snake. He could face child endangerment or other charges.

:bang:

Uhh, what exactly are the protocols for making sure that people without permits don't get these things? Do any even exist? Surely whoever sold the snake should be fined or something.

KelinciHutan wrote:

Keith Fraser wrote:

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Maybe letting loverboy leave his illegal 2.5m snake in your house with your 2-year-old is A REALLY STUPID IDEA, hmm?

The article also discusses how parts of the US are being overrun with motherfucking snakes because of people like this releasing pets they can't care for into the wild.

First kudzu and now Burmese pythons? With Killer Bees heading this way, too, the American South is going to turn into an exotic death trap any day now. :redangry:

WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! :panic:

We had a case here in town several years back where the couple (who were both doctors, so you'd think they would've known bette) had a pet python that got loose in their house. They apparently tried to find it but couldn't, and eventually decided it must've gotten outside and slithered off.

Flash forward three months (November in Iowa) when the couple got up one morning and found their snake-in their one-year-old son's crib, wrapped around him. The kid was dead from suffocation. A local vet testified at the trial that the snake had likely been living inside the walls of the house, eating bugs and occasionally venturing out at night to catch small rodents. Then winter started to set in, and pythons, being tropical animals, don't deal well with the cold. The verdict was he crawled into the kid's crib seeking warmth.

The couple were acquited of any blame, but they eventually ended up leaving town, since their practice dwindled down to nothing. I think most people felt they acted irresponsibly having a dangerous tropical snake in the house with a baby.

So their deadly reptile escaped to who knows where, and they just shrugged and did nothing when they couldn't find it? They didn't consider calling animal control or whatever? Gaaaaaaaaaagh.

>:

God damn it. GOD DAMN IT. Not more stupidity with people being pants on head retarded about animals. Poor snakes (in both cases), and it's unfortunate their irresponsibility led to the deaths of children.

I wish people paid more attention in elementary school biology classes. I mean, I remember hearing a million times about animals being animals, about why releasing things into the wild randomly is a bad thing, etc. etc.

Then again, I was unaware that you did, indeed, need a permit for a snake as a household pet in the US. I knew someone in Maryland who had about six or seven snakes (mostly California Kingsnakes, one or two Ball Pythons, and one huge Boa Constrictor) that they all got from some sort of Snake... Convention... Thing. I went once and was rather sad, seeing all these baby snakes in tiny plastic boxes all over the place. I'm pretty sure they didn't have a permit, and no one asked to see one when buying them.

Verandering wrote:

Then again, I was unaware that you did, indeed, need a permit for a snake as a household pet in the US. I knew someone in Maryland who had about six or seven snakes (mostly California Kingsnakes, one or two Ball Pythons, and one huge Boa Constrictor) that they all got from some sort of Snake... Convention... Thing. I went once and was rather sad, seeing all these baby snakes in tiny plastic boxes all over the place. I'm pretty sure they didn't have a permit, and no one asked to see one when buying them.

Whether you need a permit depends on the snake. At those reptile fairs there are hundreds and hundreds of snakes you could carry home in your pocket and keep in a cloth bag if you wanted- corn snakes and the like. Then there are snakes you need to have papers for, but that's not the same as a permit- you just have to have a signed contract and papers from the breeder. Ball pythons, I think, fall in this category: you have to give the breeder your name and address, but it's not designed to stop you from just walking in there and buying some.
So yeah, most likely the miles and miles of little animals in little plastic boxes didn't come with a permit.


I understand the attraction of reptiles, obviously. But I think you can get the same kind of enjoyment from a snake that's only five feet, and in my eyes all those people who don't feel cool unless their pet is potentially deadly are idiots with ego issues. I don't see why anyone would absolutely have to have a ten-foot-snake. They just don't belong in homes.

I can't find a link, but it's not only the owner's children at risk. Some idiot's snake got loose (I think in Florida, big surprise ) and he didn't report it. A woman who lived in the same apartment building went to the bathroom and discovered a huge snake balled up in her toilet. She reported it and Animal Control told her to seal off the bathrooms really well when not in use because it was a danger to her toddler. Luckily a few months later, the pipes started to back up and they found the snake quite deceased, but till then, she had to be afraid a snake was going to eat her child. >_<

rae wrote:

A woman who lived in the same apartment building went to the bathroom and discovered a huge snake balled up in her toilet.

I am going to have nightmares about that now. :panic: Hopefully Imaginary Samuel L. Jackson will appear before the snake eats me.

Keith Fraser wrote:

rae wrote:

A woman who lived in the same apartment building went to the bathroom and discovered a huge snake balled up in her toilet.

I am going to have nightmares about that now. :panic: Hopefully Imaginary Samuel L. Jackson will appear before the snake eats me.

This is why the habit I picked up as a child (after watching Gremlins, I think) of always looking in the toilet before sitting down is actually a good one to have! And a good thing that woman did, too. Can you imagine getting bit on the ass by a hunormous snake while trying to piss? *shudders*

Keith Fraser wrote:

So their deadly reptile escaped to who knows where, and they just shrugged and did nothing when they couldn't find it? They didn't consider calling animal control or whatever? Gaaaaaaaaaagh.

Well, they didn't have a permit for it, so of course they're not going to call animal control. Though from my POV, the cost of a fine would be minor compared to the loss of a child.

rae wrote:

This is why the habit I picked up as a child (after watching Gremlins, I think) of always looking in the toilet before sitting down is actually a good one to have! And a good thing that woman did, too. Can you imagine getting bit on the ass by a hunormous snake while trying to piss? *shudders*

It would be much worse for those of the male species, especially when you consider that the snake is probably gonna bite the, uh, lowest-hanging fruit if you get my drift.

Sloth wrote:

rae wrote:

This is why the habit I picked up as a child (after watching Gremlins, I think) of always looking in the toilet before sitting down is actually a good one to have! And a good thing that woman did, too. Can you imagine getting bit on the ass by a hunormous snake while trying to piss? *shudders*

It would be much worse for those of the male species, especially when you consider that the snake is probably gonna bite the, uh, lowest-hanging fruit if you get my drift.

This is why you should always, always look in the toilet before sitting down. I've never had a snake in the toilet, but there have been assorted creepy-crawlies that might have crawled on me if I hadn't seen them and gone D: Not to mention the more common problem of the toilet seat having been left up.

Quote :

Wildlife officials say they are growing increasingly concerned by the proliferation of pythons in the Florida wilderness.
It is believed that some have been released by pet owners who can no longer care for them.
The snakes are breeding in the Everglades, where they have no natural predators.

Yet another reason to fear Florida! :shocked:

After having lived on a rural property we had to share with the mother of all carpet pythons, there is absolutely no way I would let a snake that big be in the same house as a small child. Secure aquarium? It's a damn SNAKE, they're like reptile ninjas.

(Funny story though, we ended up cornering that python on top of the toilet in the shed and called the local reptile park. The guy came over, saw it and said 'I'm going to need a bigger bag'.)

EileenK98 wrote:

Quote :

Wildlife officials say they are growing increasingly concerned by the proliferation of pythons in the Florida wilderness.
It is believed that some have been released by pet owners who can no longer care for them.
The snakes are breeding in the Everglades, where they have no natural predators.

Yet another reason to fear Florida! :shocked:

I remember seeing a picture of a python that attempted to swallow a live alligator. The alligator kicked the python open and both animals died.

grmblfjx wrote:

But I think you can get the same kind of enjoyment from a snake that's only five feet, and in my eyes all those people who don't feel cool unless their pet is potentially deadly are idiots with ego issues. I don't see why anyone would absolutely have to have a ten-foot-snake. They just don't belong in homes.

Well, yes, but what happens when that five foot python keeps growing? That's the problem. These people get large snakes as a status symbol, or some testosterone-fueled display of masculinity, or maybe just out of sheer ignorance and thinking it'd be "cool". And then when they hit six, seven feet and larger, they can't afford to keep up with the costs of maintaining an adequate habitat, and let them go outside rather than risk getting in trouble for having the animal.

Just the other day, the dipshit across the street from me went to get his mail with at least a five foot python draped around his neck. I couldn't help wishing that it would strangle him, just a little bit.