Snakes make three-course meal of Australian family's pets

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00290/Snake385_290661a.jpg
A python swallows a pet dog

Paul Larter in Brisbane

Australians like to chuckle at foreigners' naive visions of a land where kangaroos can be seen nibbling at the grass on a residential street. Sometimes though, the wildlife does come — rather unnervingly — closer to home than most would like to think.

A couple are fearful for the safety of their two small children after watching in horror as the family dog was devoured by a 5m (16ft) python that crept into their suburban home.

Daniel Peric said that he was afraid to leave his children, aged 5 and 7, alone in any part of the house after the amethystine python swallowed his silky terrier-cross chihuahua. “We'd had the dog about five years, so it was part of the family,” Mr Peric said. “Watching it unfold before your eyes was pretty gut-wrenching.”

The family threw plastic chairs in a vain attempt to stop the 50kg reptile, which four days earlier had been seen in the dog's bed on the veranda. It was not the first time that a snake had struck against the family in Kuranda, 25km (15 miles) outside Cairns in the north east of Australia. A few weeks ago the cat fell victim to a similar non-venomous python; then on Sunday it was the guinea-pig's turn to be swallowed.
Related Links

* Snakes-in-the-bed horror

* Parched snakes send panic through Australian suburbs

“When it happens once, you think it's a one-off, but last night I thought ‘this is serious', Mr Peric said. “We have ducted air-conditioning. Call it paranoia, but my big fear is that a snake will get in there.”

Only the dog's hind legs and tail were visible when Stuart Douglas, the owner of the Australian Venom Zoo in Kuranda, arrived to remove the python. He said that Mr Peric was justified in his concern for the children. “A snake of that size is quite capable of killing a small child,” Mr Douglas said.

The family is not alone in being targeted by an “urban scrubbie” — a snake that has adapted to living with man. Mr Douglas said that he was aware of 20 other people in the town of 1,500 who had lost pets as the human population pushed into the traditional territory of the snake.

“These pythons used to feed on wallabies, but now they feed on cats and dogs in suburbia,” he said. “It's a classic example of snake adapting.”

Food for thought

— The scrub python is Australia's largest snake, growing to a maximum of almost 30ft, although 15-20ft is more common

— Its typical diet includes birds, fruitbats and possums. Its metabolism is slow enough that one fruitbat can sustain it for a month

— Unlike some snakes, such as anacondas, it has a thin body and is unable to kill larger animals

Source: Bristol Zoo

* Have your say

The people living in the house had the opportunity to call a snake handler earlier and should have done so particularly, after the snake was seen sleeping in the dog's bed.

The snake's intention was clear.

They could have also moved the dog from the outside veranda to the inside of the house. As far as I'm aware snakes haven't worked out how to open doors or windows yet.

As for a python this large finding its way through the ducted air-conditioning well that's not very likely.

I also don't think attempting to kill such a large snake with a shovel is an option and Australians unlike our American friends don't keep guns near at hand. Most types of firearms are banned in Australia as is killing native wildlife unless absolutely necessary.

My husband has killed tiger snakes (with a shovel) in our backyard when necessary as they are venomous and very deadly and only when they were striking at our pet dogs.

Generally though you are better off to leave such snakes alone.

Cathy Thomson, Geeveston, Tas Australia

This is why you should keep a machete in the house.

Daniel J Davis, New York,

You don't need a gun to kill a snake. A boot heel will do just fine--even on a big one.

drawlr, Tooele, Utah

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article3448618.ece

Australian environmentalist Val Plumwood dead of snake bite at 68

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/03/03/valplumwood_wideweb__470x350,0.jpg

CANBERRA, Australia — Renowned Australian feminist and environmental activist Val Plumwood, who survived a horrific crocodile attack more than 20 years ago, has been killed by an apparent snake bite, a friend said Monday.

Plumwood was 68 years old.

Her body was found Saturday in the octagonal stone house where she lived alone near Braidwood in New South Wales, said friend Jane Salmon.

Salmon said it appeared a snake bite killed her. State police Det. Sgt. David Kay declined comment on the cause of death other than to say there were no suspicious circumstances. A coroner has yet to make an official finding on the cause.

Plumwood wrote the seminal environmental texts "Feminism and the Mastery of Nature" and "Environmental Culture: the Ecological Crisis of Reason" in 1993 and 2002 but she had been a leading campaigner against the logging of Australia's native forests and for the preservation of biodiversity since the 1960s.

Plumwood, originally known as Val Routley, took her adopted surname from a variety of tree near her wilderness home.

"She was considered by a lot of people a pioneer of the environmental movement," Salmon said.

Plumwood was attacked by a crocodile in a river in Australia's northern Outback in 1985 and escaped with terrible wounds to her legs and groin after the beast dragged her underwater three times in a death roll - the manoeuvre crocodiles use to drown their prey.

She said the near-death experience constantly reminded her of the wonder of being alive and gave her a better understanding of her place in nature.

The "human supremacist culture of the West" tries to deny that humans are also animals positioned in the food chain, she wrote in the Aisling Magazine in 2005.

"It was a shocking reduction, from a complex human being to a mere piece of meat," Plumwood, a vegetarian, wrote of the attack. "Never in my life have I been so rudely objectified," she added. "Unfortunately there was no crocodile court to file a grievance with."

She vehemently opposed a plan to hunt the crocodile that nearly killed her, arguing she had been the intruder in its habitat. "Meat's meat, and a croc's got to eat," she said.

Plumwood's academic career took her to the United States, where she annoyed people at North Carolina State University and University of Montana. In Australia, she worked at the University of Sydney, as well as the Australian National University.

"She was probably the worst-smelling ecofeminist in the world," said friend and former colleague Bob Goodin, an Australian National University philosopher.

"She was fierce," Goodin said.

"I pity the poor snake that bit her."

Her neighbour, Joe Friend, said plans were being made for a funeral in Braidwood on Saturday.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hPYtLpIXfdKUHtkwXHANj_Wnb9Zw

Humans hard-wired to fear snakes

February 29, 2008

There may be a good reason why Satan takes the form of a snake in the biblical story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

A new study suggests that people are biologically predisposed to learn quickly to fear snakes - a defensive mechanism probably rooted in evolution.

"Snakes would have been threats that we encountered often and in many areas of the world ... throughout the course of human evolution," said one of the researchers, Vanessa LoBue of the University of Virginia.

Today, however, people are seldom exposed to venomous serpents - especially in early childhood, when fears are normally learned and become ingrained.

"We wanted to know whether preschool children, who have much less experience with natural threats than adults, would detect the presence of snakes as quickly as their parents," said Dr. LoBue. "If there is an evolved tendency in humans for the rapid detection of snakes, it should appear in young children as well as their elders."

[True of niggers too - dislike is instinctive]

For the study, children and adults were individually asked to find an image of a snake on a computer screen filled with pictures of relatively harmless entities such as flowers, frogs and caterpillars. Then they were given instructions to pinpoint the harmless object on a touch screen full of snakes.

The results revealed that "parents and their children identified snakes more rapidly than they detected other stimuli, despite the gap in age and experience," the researchers said in a statement released with the study published in the journal Psychological Science.

Dr. LoBue said the study might help explain why snake phobias are so common. "Snakes are often used in human history, at least in literature, as a symbol of evil," she said in an interview.

"It is kind of strange that so many people are afraid of snakes yet they don't really encounter them very often any more."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080229.wxldoses29/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home

We now have people so feckless they can't even kill a snake that has eaten their cat, g-pig and dog. They throw plastic chairs at it.

Feb. 27, 2008

Texas tries to control invasion of exotic snakes
Non-native species can do lots of damage to environment

[Like Mexicans?]

By SHANNON TOMPKINS

Texas, like the rest of the nation, continues losing ground in its war against non-native, invasive species.

This month, giant salvinia, one of the most destructive and persistent of alien aquatic plants, was documented for the first time in three more Texas lakes — Rayburn, Palestine and Brandy Branch.

Discovered in Texas in a single small pond in Houston only a decade ago, salvinia has spread to dozens of public and private waters across the eastern third of the state.

[For "giant salvinia" substitute "stubby mexcrementia" and see how honest reporting about people stuff would read]

Able to grow so quickly and densely that it smothers the life from the water it covers and seemingly impossible to eradicate, giant salvinia is just one of the most recent invaders to inflict severe damage on Texas' ecosystems and the plants and animals that depend upon them.

The list of non-native species that have found their way into Texas, thrived and wrecked havoc on our natural resources and wallets is soberingly long.

Fire ants. Feral hogs. Chinese tallow. McCartney rose. Water hyacinth. Salt cedar. Hydrilla. Grass carp. Nutria. [Mexicans.] Formosan termites. Those are some of the big ones.

How much environmental and economic damage do alien-invasive species do in this country?

About $120 billion a year, according to a 2004 study by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. That's three times as much as ExxonMobil's $40 billion in profits this past year. It's seven times more than Microsoft's annual profits. It's a lot of money.

In Texas, fire ants' annual damage to wildlife, livestock and public health is estimated at $300 million. Experts estimate damage to Texas agriculture by feral hogs at $52 million a year.

But the most sobering destruction caused by invasive species is the damage done to the wildlife, fisheries and ecosystems they invade.

Fire ants are directly responsible for the staggering decline in Texas' horned-lizard numbers, the near vanishing of some native ant species and certainly a factor in the decline of some other wildlife.

Invasive plants such as phragmites and salvinia and Chinese tallow take over landscapes and waters, shoving out native plants, corrupting whole ecosystems and dooming many species of native plants and animals.

In Texas, salt cedar sucks so much water that, often, adjacent springs and creeks stop flowing or the waterways' salinity increases so much it is uninhabitable by native species.

The negative impact of non-native species on native plants, animals and fish is as pervasive as it is hard to exaggerate. Competition, predation or other impacts of invasive species are considered the primary risk factors facing about 400 of the approximately 1,000 species listed as threatened or endangered under this country's Endangered Species Act, according to a 1998 study.

[It is no different with people. They fight for space just the same. The media are one of the tools they fight with. Humans use media to fight for mindspace the way water weeds and fire ants battle for water and ground space.]

Faced with the onslaught of invasive species and spending billions fighting them, state and federal governments have begun trying to address the root causes of the problem — humans transporting and introducing non-native species.

Texas has imposed a prohibition on possessing dozens of non-native species of plants, fish, animals — a list that grows longer each year.

It's now a misdemeanor criminal violation in Texas for people to not remove from their boat trailers any non-native vegetation such as hydrilla, hyacinth and salvinia.

And beginning April 1, any person in Texas possessing or offering for sale any venomous snake not native to Texas or any of five species of non-native constrictors will have to obtain a permit from the state.

Acting on a mandate from the 2007 session of the Legislature, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission this past month adopted rules creating a "controlled exotic snake permit."

Under terms of the regulations, any person possessing or transporting a venomous snake not native to Texas, a green anaconda, or any of four species of python (African rock, Asiatic rock, reticulated, southern African) must buy an annual permit from TPWD.

Private owners of the regulated species will be required to annually purchase a $20 "recreational controlled exotic snake " permit.

Businesses selling snake species covered under the regulations would be required to hold a $60 annual "commercial exotic snake permit."

Penalties for not complying with the permit rules would be a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of $25-$500, said Major David Sinclair of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's law enforcement division.

Texas hopes to avoid — or at least defer — seeing the problems Florida currently faces with its exploding "feral" population of large, non-native snakes.

Over the past decade, released or escaped pythons have established breeding populations in southern Florida.

Just in Everglades National Park, more than 400 Burmese (Asiatic) pythons, some 13-15 feet long, have been found and removed.

Florida makes owners of the large, non-native snakes pay a hefty price for the potentially damaging reptiles and has imposed a method of trying to track and punish owners of escaped or released big snakes.

As in Texas, anyone in Florida convicted of releasing one of the non-native snakes faces a heavy fine.

Sadly, the natural world is paying a much higher price from such irresponsible acts.

shannon.tompkins@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/outdoors/tompkins/5576910.html

A 5m (16ft) amethystine python swallows a wallaby and its joey west of Cairns in north Queensland.

http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2008/02/PythonWallabyREX_450x500.jpg

23 February 2008

Snake hunt filmed for first time

The fearsome hunting skills of a wild rattlesnake have been caught on camera for the first time.

Using a specially designed camera trap, a BBC crew managed to film the snake killing and then eating his victim - a small mouse - in the wild.

The mouse died almost immediately after being stabbed and injected with the timber rattlesnake's deadly venom.

The snake hunt was filmed in New York State, US, under the guidance of rattlesnake expert Harry Greene.

He helped the crew track the snake by using radio telemetry.

The footage forms part of the BBC One series Life in Cold Blood.

[video through link]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7259678.stm

"It was a shocking reduction, from a complex human being to a mere piece of meat," Plumwood, a vegetarian, wrote of the attack. "Never in my life have I been so rudely objectified," she added. "Unfortunately there was no crocodile court to file a grievance with."

Ummm.... WHAT?!:confused:


"She was probably the worst-smelling ecofeminist in the world," said friend and former colleague Bob Goodin, an Australian National University philosopher.

Imagine, a life's work of environmentalism and feminism, and your friend remembers you as smelling bad...:rolleyes:

We now have people so feckless they can't even kill a snake that has eaten their cat, g-pig and dog. They throw plastic chairs at it.

That's hilarious, and this

The snake's intention was clear.

In a country like Singapore the police would come in with combat rifles and shoot it.

I like snakes myself but don't want them in my house so I would have no problem cutting its head off if it meant my kids or pets.

A snake eating a kangaroo...

http://bp3.blogger.com/_YYmkiJ9GacI/RbE-EeJzf6I/AAAAAAAAAJc/mRSkSXoB1nM/s320/snake+n+roo.bmp

The sad part is the hapless couple has two young kids the snake is obviously working his way up to, having finished the appetizers.

Snakes keep the rodent population down, but when they get too close to home that is another matter. The ones around here, I don't mind them, about all they do is sort of startle me once in a while, if I cut through the big field across the highway. :D These guys below, eat those disgusting slugs, and other small creatures, near the ponds and ditches in this area.

http://www.sacsplash.org/cimages/GarterSnake.jpg

http://www.mwrop.org/W_Needham/Pictures/GarterSnakeCommon_ThamnophisSirtalis_Doubletop_060701.jpg

Pythons in Florida? What kind of sick asshole would turn pythons loose? And I read where they could easily spread to the south. It angers me that it's just accepted...have FLorida put a bounty of Pythons. That would solve the problem fast. I hate the way we whites are trained to be helpless in the face of predatory animals (like we are with two-legged kind).

Humans hard-wired to fear snakes

February 29, 2008

A new study suggests that people are biologically predisposed to learn quickly to fear snakes - a defensive mechanism probably rooted in evolution.


Obviously they're just a bunch of ignorant serpentophobes and endothermic supremacists. They need sensitivity training.

Obviously they're just a bunch of ignorant serpentophobes and endothermic supremacists. They need sensitivity training.
It could also just be a common sense aversion to getting bitten. I know I wouldn't want to get bit by a rattlesnake if at all possible. :D

I'm a big fan of snakes, but sometimes they need to be killed.

I have a pellet rifle for that. So far there has been no critter with a thick enough skull to stop it . :D

I'm a big fan of snakes, but sometimes they need to be killed.

I love snakes, too. I also have a rabid fascination and interest in tarantulas and spiders. I really dont get the big deal with snakes and spiders. I actually tried to do phobia counseling at one point, but I just cant deal with the absolute irrational nature of the individuals in question.

Dr. LoBue said the study might help explain why snake phobias are so common. "Snakes are often used in human history, at least in literature, as a symbol of evil," she said in an interview.

"It is kind of strange that so many people are afraid of snakes yet they don't really encounter them very often any more."

Then how do they explain how many kids like playing with them? That is the cause of many of the bites in places like FL.

Here's a huge snake about to have a kangaroo for lunch.

http://maxupload.com/img/5D7ACAA3.jpg

What a great shot.

Speaking of snake news , here's a great snake story

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=453652&in_page_id=1811&in_page_id=1811&expand=true

They're our equal, no really!

http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/snake%20mini.jpg

Scientist: World's smallest snake in Barbados

By DAVID McFADDEN, Associated Press Writer

Sunday, August 3, 2008

(08-03) 16:48 PDT SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) --

A U.S. scientist said Sunday he has discovered the globe's tiniest species of snake in the easternmost Caribbean island of Barbados, with full-grown adults typically stretching less than 4 inches (10 centimeters) long.

S. Blair Hedges, an evolutionary biologist at Penn State University whose research teams also have discovered the world's tiniest lizard in the Dominican Republic and the smallest frog in Cuba, said the snake was found slithering beneath a rock near a patch of Barbadian forest.

Hedges said the tiny-title-holding snake, which is so diminutive it can curl up on a U.S. quarter, is the smallest of the roughly 3,100 known snake species. It will be introduced to the scientific world in the journal "Zootaxa" on Monday.

"New and interesting species are still being discovered on Caribbean islands, despite the very small amount of natural forests remaining," said Hedges, who christened the miniature brown snake "Leptotyphlops carlae" after his herpetologist wife, Carla Ann Hass.

The Barbadian snake apparently eats termites and insect larvae, but nothing is yet known of its ecology and behavior. Genetic tests identified the snake as a new species, according to Hedges. It is not venomous.

Zoologist Roy McDiarmid, curator of amphibians and reptiles at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, said he has seen a specimen of the diminutive creature. He saw no reason to argue with the assertion that it is the world's smallest snake.

McDiarmid said the Barbados creature is a type of thread snake, also called worm snake, which are mostly found in the tropics. "We really know very little about these things," he said in a Sunday telephone interview from his Virginia home.

Finding the globe's tiniest snake demonstrates the remarkable diversity of the ecologically delicate Caribbean. It also illustrates a fundamental ecological principle: Since Darwin's days, scientists have noticed that islands often are home to both oversized and miniaturized beasts.

Hedges said the world's smallest bird species, the bee hummingbird, can be found in Cuba. The globe's second-smallest snake lives in Martinique. At the other end of the scale, one of the largest swallowtail butterflies lives in Jamaica.

Scientists say islands often host odd-sized creatures because they're usually inhabited by a less diverse set of species than continents. So island beasts and insects often grow or shrink to fill ecological roles that otherwise would be filled by entirely different species.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/08/03/international/i134315D48.DTL&feed=rss.news

"New and interesting species are still being discovered on Caribbean islands, despite the very small amount of natural forests remaining," said Hedges, who christened the miniature brown snake "Leptotyphlops carlae" after his herpetologist wife, Carla Ann Hass.

The opportunity cost of allowing colored apes to dominate the tropical regions of the world is the disappearance of potentially valuable species as they disappear into the guts of the braindead boolies. Nigs in Africa eat everything not nailed down, usually after fucking it a few days.

"New and interesting species are still being discovered on Caribbean islands, despite the very small amount of natural forests remaining," said Hedges, who christened the miniature brown snake "Leptotyphlops carlae" after his herpetologist wife, Carla Ann Hass.

The opportunity cost of allowing colored apes to dominate the tropical regions of the world is the disappearance of potentially valuable species as they disappear into the guts of the braindead boolies. Nigs in Africa eat everything not nailed down, usually after fucking it a few days.

That is why the enviromental movement is good for WN. The more nature deteoriates, the more justification we have to spring clean the eco-system.

Great photo Zenos, I'd love to know the story behind that shot.

The following snakes all live within 100 yards of my house.

http://www.muchadonews.com/resources/coral-snake.jpg

http://www.carolinanature.com/herps/cottonmouth3666a.jpg

http://iownsnakes.com/_admin/Editor/assets/copperhead_big.jpg

http://www.reptileknowledge.com/images/western-diamondback.jpg

Fortunately they aren't thick as thieves, but they're there. Every year I see at least one example of each.

Python vs Alligator:

YouTube - Snake eats alligator Explode

Poison warning after snake in the grass bites the hand that seized it

Published Date: 27 August 2008
By Jenny Haworth

WHEN Billy MacAskill spotted a snake slithering through the heather, he thought he had the perfect photo opportunity.

Eagerly plucking the adder out of the undergrowth, the grouse beater posed for photos with members of his Highland shooting party.

Hours later, he was in hospital being told a bite he received on his thumb after losing grip of the snake could have been fatal.

Mr MacAskill said he did not realise there were any poisonous snakes in Scotland.

His scare has sparked advice to the public from Scottish Natural Heritage not to pick up or disturb adders if they are spotted in the wild.

After the bite, Mr MacAskill's hand went numb, but he did not get medical help for five hours, claiming he had been advised by gamekeepers and shooters that it was "nothing more than a scratch" and that he should finish his shift as a beater.

Mr MacAskill, a gardener, said he started feeling unwell immediately after the adder had bit him.

"By the time we got back to the bothy five hours later, I was feeling really bad and my hand had swollen up to about three times its normal size," he said.

After he finally sought medical advice, he was taken to hospital in Elgin, where he was told he should have gone for treatment earlier.

The 37-year-old, who was on his first grouse-beating shift and is now recovering at his home in Dundee, said: "I didn't think there were any poisonous snakes in the UK, let alone Scotland."

His brother, David, said: "Billy was told if it had gotten any further and reached his heart, it could have been fatal.

"They kept him in overnight and let it run its course. They gave him morphine for the pain and some antihistamines for the swelling."

Mairi Cole, the policy and advice officer for Scottish Natural Heritage, said it was important not to touch a snake spotted in the wild, or to go near it, and to get medical help immediately if bitten.

"Generally, people only get bitten if they do something to scare the snake," she said. "Picking one up is a common reason for getting bitten.

"They won't attack. They are not an aggressive species. They will only defend themselves. They will run away and they will be more scared of the person than the person is of the snake."

She said about 70 per cent of adder bites create only a very minor reaction, or no reaction at all. Bites usually have a serious impact only on people with a medical condition, or children.

Warnings have been posted about a growth in the number of adders in the Pentland Hills in recent years.

And earlier this year, more than 30 of the snakes were spotted at Galashiels Golf Club in the Borders.

It is thought a mild winter and warm May provided perfect conditions for the snakes.

Adders are protected from being killed, injured or sold under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Mr MacAskill is blaming the gamekeepers and shooters who employed him as a beater for his ordeal and believes they should have encouraged him to get medical attention straightaway.

"That was my first time grouse beating and will definitely be my last – not for £35 a day, anyway," he said.

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Poison-warning-after--snake.4428741.jp

The meanest-looking snake I've seen is the Gaboon Viper. I saw a couple when I was a kid at the Bronx Zoo.


http://www.jdmpics.com/animals/gaboon-viper-4.jpg


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Gaboon_Viper_(rhinoceros)_01.jpg/450px-Gaboon_Viper_(rhinoceros)_01.jpg

Python strangles student zookeeper

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- A university student has been strangled to death by a captive 3-meter python at a park in Venezuela where the young man was working as an intern.

Park manager Javier Hernandez says the 29-year-old violated park rules when he took the snake out and held it on his own while working the night shift.

Hernandez said Monday that the biology student's body was found with a bite from the Asian python on his left wrist.

He said the intern, Erick Arrieta, was strangled to death by the python early Saturday and that the snake was found elsewhere in a hallway at the Caracas park's terrarium.

He said the young man didn't have permission to take the snake out and that it's the first time such an incident has occurred at the park.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/08/26/python.strangle.ap/

Nearly 7-foot long snake shot by state trooper
by The Grand Rapids Press
Monday August 18, 2008, 3:45 PM

http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/news_impact/2008/08/snake-300.jpg
A Michigan state trooper holds a 6-foot-10 snake that was shot and killed in Port Sheldon Township.

WEST OLIVE -- A state trooper shot and killed a nearly 7-foot long snake, believed to be a Burmese python, after it slithered onto a Port Sheldon Township road and was acting aggressively toward passing motorists.

Trooper Bill Coon, of the Grand Haven post, used his .40-caliber handgun to shoot the snake after nearby homeowner Brian Ahlin ran it over with his pickup several times to try to kill it. Ahlin and another motorist called police after finding the snake on 156th Avenue south of Croswell Street.

Ahlin was worried it might attack children in the area or pose a danger to pets.

Police suspect the snake was set loose by someone who no longer wanted the animal or it simply escaped a home. The snake measured 6-foot, 10-inches.

Ahlin said his pickup did not seem to cause any injury to the snake, which lunged at his truck.

"I didn't do a darn thing to it. It was like going over a rubber hose," he said.

Coon said the snake also lunged at him as he approached.

Neighbors said wildlife is common in the area, but not huge snakes.

"This was very different," Ahlin said. "The only thing you see around here is deer and turkey," he said.

http://www.mlive.com/grpress/news/index.ssf/2008/08/nearly_7foot_long_snake_shot_b.html

[Numbnuts are releasing pythons all over the country, too stupid to realize how big the snakes get.]

Fla. Scientists Hunt Predatory Pythons That Pose Threat to Everglades Food Chain

NAPLES, Fla. — The snake hunter shakes his head as he crouches over a sandy trail that pushes through Collier-Seminole State Park.

Hoping to spy subtle signs of his slithering prey, Paul Andreadis instead finds only pebble-sized pockmarks left by raindrops overnight and maybe tracks left by a deer, probably that morning.

"No, nothing here," said Andreadis, a snake researcher visiting Collier-Seminole recently from Denison University, located near Columbus, Ohio.

Andreadis stands up and, from behind the mosquito netting hanging from the brim of his wide-brimmed hat, sets his sights on the trail ahead.

He knows Burmese pythons are out there; a half-dozen of the nonnative reptiles have been spotted since 2003 at the state park along U.S. 41 East as they have spread west from a stronghold in the Everglades.

The question scientists are trying to answer is whether Collier-Seminole has a breeding population of the big, fat predators.

"If we do, we've got a fight ahead of us," park biologist Maulik "Mo" Patel said.

The fight already is on at Everglades National Park, where the first python was found dead on U.S. 41 in 1979. The first baby python was found in 1995, and rangers found the first nest of python eggs beneath an overturned wheelbarrow in 2006.

Based on the density of Burmese python populations at a national park in India, researchers estimate there could be at least 30,000 pythons crawling around the park.

The invasion is thought to have begun with the release of unwanted pet pythons into the wild. Baby pythons measure 20 inches long, but within a year reach lengths of 5 feet. Full-grown pythons come in at 20 feet or more and can weigh 200 pounds.

Their voracious appetites make them a threat to the South Florida food chain, which isn't built with a link for nonnative pythons.

They have been known to feed on everything from bobcats to birds. The discovery a couple years ago in the Everglades of a python that had burst open after swallowing an American alligator raised the concerns to a new level.

Key to fighting back against the pythons is learning more about their habits, scientists say.

They have implanted radio tracking devices in 17 pythons and rereleased them into Everglades National Park to try to discover their hangouts.

With that knowledge, scientists can lay traps to catch even more of them.

Scientists also are experimenting with chemical attractants and are using a beagle, nicknamed Python Pete, to ferret out the sneaky beasts.

The first python sighting at Collier-Seminole, near the park entrance in 2003, coincided with an upswing in the numbers of pythons taken out of Everglades National Park, according to Interior Department figures.

What started out as a dozen or so a year in the 1990s ticked above 50 in 2003 and soared to 250 in 2007, figures show.

The sightings at Collier-Seminole have been clustered along the park's western edge, where a canal, a tall berm and plenty of Brazilian pepper make for prime python habitat.

One was found as it tried to escape a prescribed burn at the park; rangers spotted two adult pythons crossing the bottom of a dried up canal but were unable to pin it down. A mower got it later, park biologist Patel said.

In April, firefighters plucked an 8-foot python out of the rafters at a hangar at Marco Island Executive Airport.

Pythons usually aren't so obvious.

"The whole lifestyle of a snake is built around being secretive," Andreadis said.

Pythons are more likely to be found during the winter, when cooler weather chases them out of their hiding places to bask in the sun.

Sightings are at their lowest in July and August, according to records from Everglades National Park, but Andreadis hoped to even the odds by driving the roads in and around the park overnight.

But if there are baby pythons to be found at Collier-Seminole, early August is a good time to find them, he said. That's because pythons hatch between late June and August from nests where mother pythons have been coiled around clutches of between 30 and 50 eggs.

Nesting sites in Collier-Seminole might be susceptible to summertime flooding, which would explain why rangers have found no signs of a breeding population, Andreadis said.

A pig frog snorts as Andreadis wades waist-deep into an overflowed canal at the state park and disappears behind a wall of tall grass.

A few minutes later, he climbs back into view over a nearby berm. No python.

"You'd be surprised how well a 15-foot snake can hide, squirreled away in the vegetation," Andreadis said earlier.

Andreadis, who calls himself a "bona fide science geek," has been waiting 20 years to come face-to-face with an adult python in the wild.

As a graduate student at the University of Florida, Andreadis had planned to study Burmese pythons in their native habitat in India, but the trip was canceled amid political turmoil.

So the 1,200-mile drive from central Ohio to South Florida is part nostalgia, part unfinished business trip for Andreadis.

Scientists might never be able to call off the hunt for pythons in South Florida.

"The price we pay may be eternal vigilance," Andreadis said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,409902,00.html

Don’t Tread on Me!

By Ron Ewart Monday, August 25, 2008

http://www.canadafreepress.com/images/uploads/gadsden-flag.jpeg

The Gadsden Flag, named after Christopher Gadsden, an American general and statesman, came to be a symbol of the thirteen original colonies and of American freedom and spirit.

Its origins are traced back to Benjamin Franklin from a hand carved replica he made of a snake cut into eight pieces that represented the 13 colonies, with the head being the New England colonies and the tail representing South Carolina. This hand carved image became one of the first political cartoons in history.

Paul Revere added the symbol as a snake, joined to fight a British Dragon, in an article in the “Massachusetts Spy”, one of the first newspapers in the new world.

In an essay published in the Pennsylvania Journal, Benjamin Franklin said:

“I recollected that her eye (speaking of the snake) excelled in brightness, that of any other animal, and that she has no eye-lids—She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance.—She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage.”

Here are a few excerpts from the Declaration of Independence as our Founding Fathers sought redress from the oppressive hand of King George the third, of England. The parallels are uncanny, startling and downright disturbing.

# He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
# He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws;
# He has imposed Taxes on us without our Consent:
# He has taken away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
# In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.
# We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.

How many of these statements from the Declaration are directly applicable to our current situation under an oppressive United States Government? All of them!!! It appears that after 232 years and hundreds of thousands or millions of men and women who were maimed or gave their lives to defend our freedom, we successfully became independent from a foreign power, England, only to become helplessly dependent on our own government.

A country founded on the God-given, unalienable individual rights and self-reliance, has morphed into weak individuals, dependency and a complete willingness to be dominated by an ever-more-powerful government, because that government has brought a perpetual Christmas as an all-benevolent Santa Claus, handing out “free” gifts, largess and public welfare, taken by force at the point of a gun, from the sweat, blood and tears of the American producer. Government has become the purveyor of waste, fraud, abuse and corruption and destroys America’s free spirit along with its independence, creativity, ingenuity, industriousness and generosity. Almost everything that government touches ends up in chaos, or very expensive and dire unintended consequences.

It is time to bring back the symbol of American freedom and indomitable spirit, the Gadsden Flag, with the message to everyone in Government and those that support their policies of socialism, communism and radical environmentalism, “Don’t Tread On Me”, because I am a proud American and I will dedicate my life, my fortune and my sacred honor in the defense of freedom for me, my children and my grandchildren. As long as there is breath in my body, I shall not submit to government’s unconstitutional power and I will enlist a multitude of others in this most noble of all causes, the preservation, protection and defense of freedom and liberty for all.

We call out to those whose spirit and resolve are the very core of their being and represent the epitome of liberty. We call out to all Americans who believe strongly in righting a wrong and who have the courage and the will to return this great land to the destiny, out of providence, for which it was born; the extension of liberty for all peoples of the Earth, into the infinite future. For life without liberty is not life at all, but in fact is a living Hell in slavery.

What the colonists faced with the British, we now face with our own government. It took a bloody revolution to unlock the chains of English slavery. The question is, can we unlock the chains of American slavery with just words and civil deeds, or will once again freedom have to be regained by force and bloody violence? We urge that long before violence becomes the only alternative, rise up with us so that we may regain our freedom by the application of our own law, which provides us with a legal and lawful mechanism to hold government within its constitutional limits. Let us return our laws to common sense, constitutional principles and restore the goodness that lies in the hearts of all men, to our institutions of freedom, such that freedom is perpetual instead of accidental, or born out of misery, heartache, violence and revolution. Freedom is always in our grasp but we must at all times be ready and willing to make the sacrifices that are necessary to maintain it. Now is that time.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/4644

Big snake spotted swallowing fish whole in Smokies

http://wate.images.worldnow.com/images/8879256_BG1.jpg

Posted: Aug 21, 2008 12:48 PM
Teresa Wood's brother had a camera nearby and took pictures of the snake as it ate.

TOWNSEND (WATE) -- A huge snake that was swallowing a fish whole startled swimmers and tubers at the Townsend Wye last weekend.

Teresa Wood tells 6 News the snake was laying on the rocks near where her family was swimming in the Little River.

Wood says "it's unbelievable" how big the the snake was and her family won't be going back.

Her brother had a camera nearby and took pictures of the snake as it ate.

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=8879256&nav=menu7_2_3

I don't like snakes much, but I loathe spiders. I was bitten by a Brown Recluse a couple years ago: didn't feel it when it happened, and didn't hurt much period, but the raw wound took about 8 months to heal - even with daily application of prescription-strength antibiotic ointment.

So I waste little time in crushing the creepy fuckers whenever I see them in my house. :lulz:

Snake!!!!!!!!!!!

[Yet another African attacks human story]

Thu, October 30, 2008
Fear not, poisonous snake is dead, cops say

By ROSS ROMANIUK, SUN MEDIA

Stop looking under your beds and inside closets -- the deadly snake that recently bit and nearly killed a Winnipeg man is dead.

That's what city police said yesterday of the long-fanged West African gaboon viper, which authorities had long searched for following its strike on the face of its 31-year-old victim earlier this month.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Winnipeg/2008/10/30/gaboonKEY1030.jpg

"The remains of the snake have not been located. However, investigators are confident that this information is accurate," Const. Jacqueline Chaput said of the discovery the reptile was killed and its carcass "disposed of" by unspecified acquaintances of the victim shortly after the Oct. 19 bite.

Contrary to initial police suspicions that the bite incident occurred in rural Manitoba, the venomous snake was allegedly kept by the victim at his Winnipeg home -- in violation of a city bylaw restricting or prohibiting exotic creatures.

The man, who was released from hospital days ago and whom police have refused to identify, faces a charge under the bylaw and a possible fine of up to $1,000 if convicted.

It may be a small price to pay for the man, considering he was bitten on the face by one of the world's deadliest snake species. One strike can kill a human within minutes or result in severe tissue damage requiring amputation or plastic surgery.

"This could have had fatal circumstances," said Chaput. "I think a fine is something that one would welcome -- and have your life, rather than have tragic consequences."

The victim, described as a snake enthusiast, was driven by a friend to St. Boniface General Hospital following the incident. Despite his injury, the man was able to tell staff what had happened.

ANITVENIN CREDITED

Antivenin flown in from Toronto is credited with saving the life of the man, who slipped into critical condition at the hospital.

Police refused to give details of the nature of the death of the snake, whose species can grow to two metres long.

The latest bite is one of only a handful of such incidents in the past two decades in Winnipeg.

Police have not speculated as to how the bite occurred, though Chaput said the specifics "will eventually come out" when the case goes to court.

Chaput pointed out police went to great lengths to ensure the snake wasn't slithering among the public.

"There was a team of detectives assigned to this," she said.

"It was a public safety issue, and we did everything we could to ensure the snake was located. I know it's not located, but we are confident that it's deceased."

http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Winnipeg/2008/10/30/7247131-sun.html

[moron dumps tropical snake in Mass. woods]

Exotic snake found in woods off Fredonian Street
By M.E. Jones

10/31/2008 08:39:46 AM EDT

SHIRLEY -- An 8-foot snake found in the woods off Fredonian Street on Saturday, Oct. 11, was transported first to the police station and then to a New Hampshire pet store, said police Chief Paul Thibodeau.

The snake is a Brazilian boa that police believe was abandoned by its owner. A woman walking on the wooded pathways of Fredonian Park spotted the snake and called the police.

The police officer who responded tried to contact the animal control officer, who was unavailable, Thibodeau said. Fortunately, the snake was slow-moving on a cold day and the officer was able to capture it with the help of a neighbor. It was taken to the station in a box.

Sgt. Violette knew of a specialty pet store in Manchester, N.H., and "they came to pick it up," Thibodeau said.

The snake is a constrictor, capable of devouring small animals and pets. It could also be dangerous to a small child, Thibodeau said.

The person believed to be the owner is a man named Dave who had posted a flier in the Village Pizza Shop, offering to sell or
Advertisement
give away his pet snake, tanks and accessories. The snake pictured on the flier was a dead ringer for the one found in the woods.

Police have charged the man, who formerly lived in Shirley, with cruelty to animals. However, he has apparently left the area and has not been located, Thibodeau said.

http://www.nashobapublishing.com/ci_10864767

[2 girl 1 cup? dat noting. try 2 snake 1 spida.

goofy chink story - 3 inch story yet with illustration? odd]

All die when snake pair gang up on large spider
(China Daily)

2008-10-31 09:08

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/images/attachement/jpg/site1/20081031/0013729e4abe0a749dbf01.jpg

The bodies of two snakes and a spider were found entwined together on the lawn of a housing estate in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, on Oct 20.

The two snakes, including a green and yellow-and-black species, were coiled together with a 10-cm-long spider lying on top.

Local residents believe all were poisonous and died after a fierce fight the previous night.

[Gotta love that "fierce." Whatsamatter, Wan-Hung, you look tired? Ah, the goddam snakes and spider were going at it again last night. Couldn't sleep a wink.]

A brief ruckus ensued as locals battled to secure the remains for two-snake-one-spider soup, a regional specialty.

(Dongfang Jinbao News)

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-10/31/content_7161476.htm

[Syndactily lace, a dingy face, really make, a dooga's world go round!]

[You know, it's one thing to have these boscoes entertaining us from the subcontinent; it's another thing when i have to walk around them playing pickup cricket on the quad of the local college (true story)]

India Express Buzz
Saturday, November 01, 2008 5:22 PM IST

Family ties deformity to snake curse

http://www.expressbuzz.com/Images/article/2008/10/31/31oct_hand.jpg
The fingers of a girl that resemble a snake/P JUSTINE.
V Krithiga
First Published : 31 Oct 2008 02:48:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 31 Oct 2008 08:45:05 AM IST

TIRUNELVELI: A family reels under the curse of a snake that was killed by an ancestor 300 years ago. Almost every member of the family has some sort of defect that the family says is due to the curse of the snake.

It might be hard to believe such stories in the 21st century, where computer astrology and Bluetooth connectivity is the sign of times.

A family in Tirunelveli district believes that a snake that was mistakenly killed by an elder in their family three centuries ago is settling its score generation after generation by giving some sort of genetic disfiguration to the family members.

The affected family says that their ancestors used to live at Prancheri near Gangaikondan in Tirunelveli district. Once a grandmother in the family, while collecting grains to cook, accidentally picked a snake and put it for cooking into a pot.

After the rice was cooked, the entire family assembled to have their lunch.

While serving rice the members noticed the cooked reptile. The family disposed of the entire rice little knowing that they had earned a curse on their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The reason for the family to believe that the snake is taking its revenge is that many members in the family have digits on the hand that resemble a snake.

The fingers are either twisted or webbed resembling a snake.

When contacted, Dr Rajendra Rathnam of Tirunelveli Medical College said that the webbing or connecting of digits was a congenital deformity.

It is termed as Syndactyly, in which there is partial or total webbing of two or more digits or toes. People usually attribute such things to some unbelievable story”.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Family+ties+deformity+to+snake+curse&artid=sDReN4XHr3s=&SectionID=vBlkz7JCFvA=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=EL7znOtxBM3qzgMyXZKtxw==&SEO=

[Darwin Award quarter finalist]

Woman Asphyxiated by Pet Snake

Virginia: 25-year-old Amanda Ruth Black has been asphyxiated by her pet snake apparently while trying to medicate it. Her body was found by her husband and the agitated snake was found in a bedroom and taken by animal control.

Experts warn that even though pythons are not venomous they require careful handling. They can quickly become dangerous if they are startled or fed incorrectly. Reticulated pythons can grow to 30 feet, rivaling anacondas for length.

http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=74311

Wildlands Inc. of Rocklin has expanded a conservation bank in Sutter County that sells credits for giant garter snake habitat.

The 91.4-acre expansion increases the size of the Gilsizer Slough South Giant Garter Snake Conservation Bank to 379.4 acres. The bank is next to Wildlands’ 162-acre Slough Giant Garter Snake Preserve, completed in 2004.

Public works agencies and developers purchase “mitigation” credits from conservation banks to offset the harm to wildlife habitat caused by their development projects, a requirement for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state Department of Fish and Game permits. The Gilsizer bank is approved for mitigation of projects in Sutter, Sacramento, Placer, Yuba, Butte, Colusa, Tehama and Glenn counties.

Including the Gilsizer expansion, scheduled for construction in 2009, Wildlands will have restored over 2,000 acres of giant garter snake habitat in the Sacramento Valley, more than all other conservation banking entities combined. The giant garter snake is categorized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a threatened species. The snakes grow to at least 63 inches and feed on small fish, tadpoles, frogs and twinks in rice paddies and wetlands.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2008/10/20/daily64.html

[Another good reason to keep your kids out of public schools.]

BIG SANDY — Two high school students bitten by a venomous snake in class are recovering at an East Texas hospital.

School officials in Big Sandy said the students were bitten by a cottonmouth water moccasin their teacher had misidentified as non-venomous.

School Superintendent Scott Beene said students have been encouraged to bring in wild animals to be identified.

While the teacher was leading the class in another science lab experiment, the two students were handling what they thought was a rat snake. The snake began fighting with another and they were bitten.

The students were taken to the school nurse and then driven to a Tyler hospital. Their conditions were not revealed.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6073566.html

great comments...


Mamajules (0)
Mamajules wrote:
My father, who is now in his 70's, grew up in a "town" east of Corsicana. When he and his cousins were kids, they would go to the tanks (that's a pond for those who don't know), throw rocks at the Water Moccassins to make them jump in the water, and then Jump in With Them and swim! They thought the snakes couldn't bite in the water! Their Guardian Angel was definitely with them!
10/23/2008 2:04:35 PM
Recommend: (0) (0) [Report abuse]

FlushTheRepublicans (0)
FlushTheRepublicans wrote:
Those darn dumb hick in East Texas....they have been seeing this snake all their lives and still can't ID it. The teacher needs to be fired. Although Cottonmouths are somewhat similar to Rat snakes...they have big difference....Like Fangs. By the way the Cottonmouth is the only venomous water snake in North America...leave them alone and don't bring them to school kids.
10/23/2008 7:47:04 AM

[corn poop snake!]

Pierce County sewer snake is real

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

UNIVERSITY PLACE -- Sewer workers at Pierce County's wastewater treatment plant at University Place have seen a lot of things over the years.

But they were surprised by a sewer snake that turned out to be the real thing.

The county says a worker performing routine maintenance this week at the Chambers Creek plant opened the cover of a screening device and found a 4-and-a-half-foot-long snake.

When the mechanic, Jason Robinson, poked it with his radio antenna, it reared up. When supervisor Scott Roth arrived to take a look it struck at him.

The reptile, identified as a white corn snake, was removed with a rake and turned over to the Humane Society.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/383576_snake17.html

i just cant get enough of these... the legless doing battle with the brainless...and coming out on top!

some video of the albino cornpoop snake thru this link
http://www.nwcn.com/statenews/washington/stories/NW_101608WAB_sewer_snake_SW.11b169f3d.html

[you know all those indians you see around - the doogas, not the redskins - they're still living in the middle ages compared to humans]

Bitten and beaten, he still managed to save this python

Suchetana Haldar
Oct 31, 2008 at 0324 hrs IST

Kolkata, October 30 The residents of a small locality in Howrah’s Domjur, 20 kms from Kolkata, can still recall the events of October 12: a victory procession carrying a gigantic python is not a sight to be forgotten soon.

And they speak proudly of the courageous act of a local youth — Dheeraj Batabyal — who shielded the reptile with his body from a gang of locals intent on killing it. Over a fortnight after the incident, the python has finally found a safe home in Alipore Zoo.

According to Domjur residents, the python, whose slithering presence in the neighbourhood had given them sleepless nights, was proving elusive for months. Finally one evening, the locals managed to corner it.Luckily, Dheeraj was around and he realised that the poor creature was in considerable danger. “I had seen pythons only infilms. I knew that they are non-poisonous and figure in the list of endangered animals. I decided to hand it over to the Forest Department before the people killed it,” Dheeraj recalled. “Already they were poking it with bamboo sticks. I tried to stop them, but failed,” the youth recalled.

Finally he dived and guarded the python with his own body from the blows that followed. “But he got bitten for his pains and we panicked when we saw blood dripping from his chest and arms,” said his brother Manoj.

When the mob realised that Dheeraj would not budge, they agreed to hand the python over to the Forest Department.

The 22-kg snake was kept in a cage at Dheeraj’s house. The police were informed but it was 14 hours before forest officials took it away.

The python, the locals say, had been left behind by a group of snake-charmers who had been camping in the area around nine months ago. “The police had picked up the snake charmers, suspecting them to be burglars. The snakes were released,” a resident said.

Quiet and submissive, 29-year-old Dheeraj is not a self-proclaimed “wildlife lover”. But snakes always intrigued him. And to catch a glimpse of this python, he once waited on the roadside for four hours. “I heard people saying that the python crosses the road after sundown. I tried to track it, but that proved impossible. So I knew that I had to save it this time,” Dheeraj said.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/bitten-and-beaten-he-still-managed-to-save-this-python/379696/

[jews figure out how to exploit the legless]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/24/xin_33210052414226563111148.jpg

A client in an Israeli health spa enjoys her latest "snake massage" by six non-venomous snakes. Here, large reptiles are good for deep tissue massage while their smaller counterparts ideal for delicate areas such as face. For 70 U.S. dollars, the spa will treat clients to snakes in what it says a relaxing massage curing aching muscles and joints.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01013/snake-massage-460_1013156c.jpg
Ada Barak believes that physical contact with the reptiles can be a relaxing experience Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Israeli health and beauty spa offers a snake massage for £40
An Israeli health and beauty spa is offering a snake massage for its customers.

By Urmee Khan
22 Oct 2008

Snake massage - Israeli health and beauty spa offers a snake massage for £40

The treatment consists of six non-venomous snakes massaging the client's aching muscles and joints.

Ada Barak's snake spa, in Talmei Elazar, northern Israel, uses California and Florida king snakes, corn snakes and milk snakes for the massages, which cost £40 ($70).

Miss Barak believes that physical contact with the reptiles can be a relaxing experience. She says that she was inspired by her belief that once people get over any initial misgivings, they find physical contact with the snakes to be stress relieving.

"Some people said that holding the snakes made them feel better, relaxed," she said "One old lady said it was soothing, like a cold compress."

The size of the snakes depends on the type of massage - the larger ones are said to alleviate deeper muscle tensions and the smaller ones create a 'fluttering' effect. All are the snakes used are non-venemous.

Miss Barak began offering the service at the Talmey El'Azar tourist attraction in 2006 and now most of her income comes from exhibiting plants at her carnivorous plant farm, which eat everything from insects to small mammals.

She appeared on Tyra Banks Show, an American chat show, in April for an episode entitled "Beauty Tips Around the World".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3237343/Israeli-health-and-beauty-spa-offers-a-snake-massage-for-40.html

[goofy broad wonders how to upstage tiny-dog crowd...hmm...tiny python?]

http://www.contactmusic.com/pics/mb/abc_celebs_011008/kellie_pickler_5193890.jpg

Singer KELLIE PICKLER is threatening to spice up the upcoming Country Music Awards by getting her python out.

The pretty blonde is keen to emulate Britney Spears' Slave 4 U performance at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2001 when she belts out an uptempo number with her pet snake draped around her.
Pickler says, "We would spice up country music."
But the singer admits her reptile pet is too small to put around her neck: "She's little... She wraps around my wrist like a bangle."
Pickler insists on taking her new baby python on the road with her - because people leave her alone when she's on her tourbus: "I have my snake cage and my cat and my dog and everybody's scared to come on the bus now, because they know I have this python."

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/picklers%20python%20to%20spice%20up%20cmas_1085227

Handling snakes

- If you encounter a snake, back away slowly and give it 6 feet of clearance. Many people are bitten because they try to kill a snake or get a closer look.

- Stay out of tall grass unless you wear thick leather boots and remain on hiking paths as much as possible.

- Keep hands and feet out of areas you can't see. Don't pick up rocks or firewood unless you are out of a snake's striking distance.

- Be cautious when climbing rocks.

- If bitten, wash the bite with soap and water, immobilize the area and keep it lower than the heart and get to a hospital.

- Beaches residents who need help with a snake may call Stengal at 246-2105.

Handling niggers

- If you encounter a nigger, back away slowly lest you faint from the stink. Give it at least 16 feet of clearance. Many people are bitten because they try to kill a nigger or get between it and its fried chicken.

- Stay out of tall grass unless you wear thick leather boots. Niggers like to hide in tall grass to abush their prey, the wily water-melon.

- Be cautious when climbing porches.

- If bitten by a nigger, wash the bite with soap and water, and race to the hospital for rabies tests and antivenin.

- Beaches residents who need help with a nigger may call Stengal at 246-2105.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/102508/nes_347707939.shtml

Rare pine snake dies day after capture in Indian River County

By Barbara Yoresh
October 23, 2008

http://media.tcpalm.com/tcp/content/img/photos/2008/10/23/PineSnake1_t220.JPG
Indian River County Animal Control Officer Ryk Hollenbeck holds this rarely seen 5 1/2-foot Florida pine snake. He captured it Tuesday night near a manufactured home park on U.S. 1 and 99th Street, but it later died from trauma or an illness.

http://media.tcpalm.com/tcp/content/img/photos/2008/10/23/PineSnake2_t220.JPG

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A large, rarely seen native snake was captured this week by a county animal control officer following a call from fearful residents living in a manufactured home park near 99th Street and U.S. 1.

But the 5 1/2-foot Florida pine snake suffered trauma or an illness and died Wednesday, said county Animal Control officer Ryk Hollenbeck.

The Florida pine snake is a non-venomous, burrowing species that favors sandy soil pine barren habitats. It’s listed as a “species of special concern” by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and has become more rare as its upland habitats are increasingly altered and fragmented because of development.

Hollenbeck caught the snake Tuesday night and said he had not seen one in three years.

“It’s rare you get to see them due to loss of habitat and they also have a perfect haven underground,” Hollenbeck said. “But when they are seen, too many people mistake them for dangerous and poisonous. But they’re beneficial and keep down the population of rats.

“They should be left alone.”

After capture, Hollenbeck gave the snake to Bruce Dangerfield, animal control officer for the Vero Beach Police Department. Dangerfield, a locally recognized herpetologist, had hoped to use the snake for educational presentations.

Although the snake is becoming rarer in this area, Dangerfield said the biggest local population of Florida pine snakes is in the Vero Lakes Estates area.

“People think they’re rattlers and kill them. They’re patterned and they can get to be as big around as your forearm,” he said. “It’s a shame because they’ll become threatened.

“They do hiss a lot and will bite if picked up, but they kill rats and mice and are good snakes.”

Dangerfield said the snake found Tuesday was lethargic and may have been run over or hit with something.

“They serve a really good purpose and I just wish people would leave them alone. They’re a living mousetrap and can go where the rodents go,” he said. “It’s too bad people are killing our native species.”

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/oct/23/rare-pine-snake-dies-day-after-capture-indian-rive/

[Noble snakes help decrease the surplus population.]

Developing A Global Antidote For Snake Bites: 100,000 People Die From Snake Bites Each Year

ScienceDaily (Nov. 27, 2008) — The world’s leading authorities on snake bite recently assembled in Melbourne to launch a Global Snake Bite Initiative aimed at raising the profile and developing practical solutions to prevent and treat what is one of the world’s most neglected tropical conditions.

Globally snake bite affects the lives of some 4.5 million people every year, and conservative estimates suggest that at least 100,000 people die from snake bite, and another 250,000 are permanently disabled. [I find this very hard to believe.]

Many of the victims come from the world’s poorest nations, and a disproportionate number are young adults or children – an imbalance which has major socio-economic implications.

The meeting - part of the Inaugural Conference on Global Issues in Clinical Toxinology - aims to catalyse a fundamental change in the way that snake bite is dealt with internationally.

Dr Ken Winkel, Director of the University of Melbourne’s Australian Venom Research Unit (AVRU) and colleagues, will formally launch their model for a Global Snake Bite Initiative at a special session being held at Melbourne Zoo on Thursday, 27th November.

“Australia has had a long great history in the treatment of stings and bites with innovations such as the pressure bandage, but we too can learn from the way other countries manage snake bite now and into the future” said Dr Winkel.

“While there has been an effective treatment for snake bite (antivenom) available for over a century, many countries lack access to safe, effective antivenom supplies, and the cold hard reality is that high costs place antivenom treatment outside the reach of many of those poor people who most need it”.

“Indeed although the snake is the symbol of medicine, globally, medicine seems to have forgotten about snake bite”.

The meeting, hosted by the AVRU and principally sponsored by CSL Limited, aims to set an agenda for the development of an international strategy to implement practical and sustainable solutions to specific problems associated with snake bite, including prevention, first aid, medical education and training, access to safe and affordable antivenom, and patient rehabilitation.

“In developed countries like Australia and the United States the true impact of snake bite is hard to comprehend because it is a relatively rare event, but the reality for the developing world is that snake bite is a major occupational hazard for rural people, and one, which sadly, the broader public health community has neglected for far too long” added Dr Winkel.

For the survivors of snake bite, the future is also often very bleak. Many species of snake found in the tropics produce venoms that cause extensive local tissue damage, and many thousands of victims lose limbs, or suffer permanent disability after snake bite.

Organised by Dr Ken Winkel and Mr David Williams from AVRU, the meeting will hear perspectives on the problem from delegates from as far afield as Nigeria, Kenya, India, Brazil, and Costa Rica. Closer to home, speakers from Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar will join Australian, American and European experts to devise a way of reducing the current burden of snake bite injury, disability and death.

AVRU clinical toxinologist David Williams, whose work on snake bite in Papua New Guinea has featured on ABC’s “Foreign Correspondent” and Nine’s “60 Minutes” has seen the devastation that snake bite causes to poor families in a number of countries, and says “It is not good enough just to document the problem; scientists and clinicians with expertise in dealing with snake bite must commit to develop and implement, practical projects which either prevent snake bite, or lessen the suffering that comes from it.”

“In many parts of the world, snake bite causes far more cases of limb amputation that land mines, yet victims suffer in silence, or are condemned to lives of poverty and hardship simply because of a lack of access to early, appropriate treatment, and cost-effective, relevant rehabilitation” he said.

Key objectives will be to seek inclusion of snake bite on the World Health Organisation’s official list of Neglected Tropical Diseases, and to encourage commitment of specific funding for snake bite programmes by the WHO and other public health orientated organisations as has occurred for higher profile “neglected diseases”.

The focus by organisations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on how improving health can reduce poverty, means that important problems such as snake bite must be included, rather than excluded, from global health initiatives.

“Snakebite is a very serious yet neglected problem in many tropical developing countries, and CSL is proud to help bring together experts from all around the world to develop sustainable solutions. As principal sponsor of this landmark meeting, and with unique expertise in Antivenoms, we look forward to listening, learning and contributing to an exciting set of outcomes that will save lives and help communities in some of the world’s poorest nations” said Dr Brian McNamee, CEO and , Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of CSL Limited.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081127115320.htm

14 snakes found in woman's bedroom in the Northern Territory

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6375411,00.jpg

IT WOULD be enough to put phobia sufferers in their grave - 14 carpet pythons slithering around in your bedroom.

Northern Territorian Esther Honegger was "horrified" when she found the baby snakes in her Fannie Bay home.

"I thought 'Oh my God, how many of them are there?," she said.

"I hate snakes and as I walked backwards and forwards I would see another one."

"They were everywhere - there was one curled around my bedhead, another around the bottom of the chair, and when I went outside there was one in the hallway, another on the (stair) railing and another on the step.

"It was like I was having a nightmare.

"Everywhere I looked they just kept popping up."

The self-employed driving instructor first noticed the snakes when going to bed on Wednesday evening.

She called friends, who she says didn't believe her, and then called the police.

She was then told to call the 24-hour snake hotline.

Snake catcher Geoff Brouff attended her home on Geoffrey Crescent and managed to wrangle seven of the young snakes.

But the next morning he received another frantic call from Ms Honegger who had found five more of the reptiles in her house.

Another trip back to her unit on Thursday afternoon found another two.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24728761-5006790,00.html

Times and Zeitgeist - spirit of the times.]

Herald-Zeitung: Serving New Braunfels and Comal County since 1852

Snake Farm still working to rebuild

By Scott Sticker

November 27, 2008

Workers and volunteers at the Animal World and Snake Farm southwest of New Braunfels are continuing to work to prepare the animals for winter.

The annual preparation took a tragic turn Nov. 15 after a fire broke out at the complex and took the lives of two baboons — Mufasa and Mindy — and three tortoises . The fire also destroyed properly and left workers well behind schedule in readying the animals for lower temperatures.

http://herald-zeitung.com/story.lasso?ewcd=67dc52b898801146&-session=HeraldZeitung:42F943011b7e038F1FQWn29B19BC

[More on this new study]

Those deadly bites

A team comprising local and foreign doctors have come up with the first ever global study on snake bites, filling a huge vacuum in that field

By Kumudini Hettiarachchi, Shafraza Farook, Ishara Jayawardana and Thulasi Muttulingam, Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara

They are worshipped in some countries and revered in others. But most of all they are feared……..fear being the reaction when seeing sketches of the swirling mass of snakes on the head of the mythical Medusa, the mesmerizing gaze of the beautiful cobra adorning Tutankhamun’s head; the terrifying movie ‘Anaconda’ or even a smoothly-gliding rat snake in our very own backyard.

Strangely, however, though stories are galore and people are bitten by snakes not only in remote areas but also in cities (see box), there has been a yawning gap in what happens at ground level and what is documented. Although considered an “important public health problem”, data were scarce, The Sunday Times understands.

That was till November this year when crucial information has come to light about the worldwide situation with regard to snake-bites.

* There are 1.8 million envenomings and 94,000 deaths per year in a scale of maximum to minimum with the other end being 420,000 envenomings and 20,000 deaths per year worldwide.
* Southeast Asia, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa bear the brunt of snake strikes.

[Snakes hate niggers and gooks.]

The data have come about due to the tedious but meticulous work done by seven Sri Lankan and two foreign doctors over a period of about one year, which saw the team researching documents in Geneva or attempting to unearth hospital records in Indonesia, half a world away.

And their labours have borne fruit in the form of the first-ever scientific study, ‘The Global Burden of Snakebite: A Literature Analysis and Modelling Based on Regional Estimates of Envenoming and Death’ which has found many interesting facts. (See box)
Lanka: High on envenomings, low on deaths
Sri Lanka bags the second place on the list of envenomings, with at least 30,000 cases per year, though the number of deaths, fortunately, is less than 100 per year. India has the highest number of envenomings and deaths among all the countries, the study has found. Why high envenomings in Sri Lanka but not comparable deaths? “We have a good health network in rural areas, anti-venom is available and people have a good awareness on what to do in case of snake-bite,” says Prof. Janaka de Silva.

“This is just a base or foundation study,” says Prof. Janaka de Silva, Professor of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya.

The team which carried out the study, commissioned by the World Health Organization, comprised along with Prof. de Silva, Dr. Anuradhani Kasturiratne, Professor A. Rajitha Wickremasinghe, Professor Nilanthi de Silva, Dr. N. Kithsiri Gunawardena, Professor Arunasalam Pathmeswaran and Dr. Ranjan Premaratna of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Dr. Lorenzo Savioli of WHO’s Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases and Dr. David G. Lalloo of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom.

The study concluded in March had been submitted in May and published by the prestigious American medical journal, PLoS Medicine (Public Library of Science) on November 4.

Why hadn’t snake-bite data been collected until this study?

“International experts felt that though it was an important public health issue it was a neglected area because it was prevalent more in poor tropical countries and in most cases those affected were from the rural areas,” explained Prof. de Silva.

There are three types of snakebites – a bite by a non-poisonous snake, a bite by a poisonous snake but without envenoming (dry bite) or a bite by a poisonous snake with envenoming, The Sunday Times understands.

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/081130/images/Snake-bite.jpg
Withered arm of a snake-bite victim

The purpose of the study was to estimate the global burden of envenoming so that manufacturers could get an idea of how much anti-venom to produce and the regional health authorities how much anti-venom to distribute and where to target the distribution.

The gathering of information had been time-consuming. Focusing on the two major issues of envenoming and snake-bite deaths, the team had gone through all the literature on snake-bites amounting to over 3,000 publications already available and also all the UN databases and finally contacted snake-bite experts, ministries of health and poison centres worldwide.

When the reams of information were before them, the team had divided the 227 countries of the world into 21 regions, The Sunday Times understands. Countries having epidemiological similarities had been put into a particular region, and would consist of both countries with data and without data.

“For those countries that did not have data, the figures were extrapolated from similar countries that did have data,” said Prof. de Silva, adding that it did not mean that they had information only from a few countries.

Data had been collected from as many as 135 countries on envenoming and 162 countries on deaths caused by snake-bites, The Sunday Times learns. Ironically, however, some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa like Tanzania which did not have data, were the countries that were the hardest hit by snake-bites.

“Even middle-income Asian countries like Indonesia had sparse data while countries like France on the other hand had a lot of data,” says Prof. de Silva. With a lack of information from some countries, as the team could not come to a result which was 100% accurate, a minimum-maximum range had been worked out.
However, Prof. de Silva says the work is not over, and asks whether people have realized the serious disabilities that snake survivors have to live with.

Have you seen the withered arm, a farmer who may have been bitten by a cobra is left with, if he survives, he asks. The consequences of snake-bite are many, including paralysis, a gangrenous limb, breakdown of skeletal muscle, kidney damage, bleeding and blood-clotting abnormalities and also cardiovascular effects, The Sunday Times understands.

Therefore, the next challenge for the world is to check out the long-term effects and economic burdens faced not only by snake-bite victims but also their families.

Tragic faces of snake-bite victims

Two funerals in one area just a few weeks apart quite close to Colombo, both deeply difficult to accept – because both were for children, a 4 1/2-year-old girl and an 11-year-old girl. Both dead after snake-bites.

At the home of the little one the air of despondency is tangible. The swing has been put up and the laughter of the little girl will never be heard again.

That fateful day is seared into the mother’s memory. Back after Montessori, the little one had asked for milk tea while she ate part of the noodles she had taken with her to play school. Then it was time for the mother-daughter ritual of sweeping the garden, with the big and small ekel brooms.

The mother’s face crumples up and the tears flow, as she re-lives that terrible afternoon. As the mother moved away to keep the ekel brooms, the daughter skipped along to see the aunt next-door. Minutes later she was in agony screaming that she had been bitten by a naya (cobra).
Children coming to pay their last respects to Ashanthi.

Blood was pouring from two bites just below the child’s ankle. The mother couldn’t think straight. After talking to someone trusted in the area, the mother was about to take her to hospital when the child was finding it difficult to breathe, with foam seeping from the mouth.

On the way to hospital, the mother felt the little one losing consciousness. “I did try to breathe into her mouth,” she says. The hospital staff got her heart beating but it was a long vigil for the parents after that – 18 days, hoping against hope that the child would recover, but in vain.

“There was no indication in her horoscope of a maraka,” sighs the mother now that the pitter-patter of her feet is heard no more.

Meanwhile, some miles away, there is weeping as children come to pay their last respects to a peer - Ashani Dilrukshi Gunesekera, 11, another victim of snake-bite.

A Grade 5 scholarship winner, she had moved from the school close to her home to Yashodara Vidyalaya in the city just this year.

Her sights set on becoming an engineer, she was coming home after tuition with her mother, when “something” bit her. Although there was no pain, her mother rushed her to hospital.

She was talking and even wanted her books brought to the hospital so that she could study for the tests, says her father Kelum Gunasekera. Admitted to hospital on a Saturday night she was dead by Sunday.

Tragically, these are the faces of snake-bite victims in Sri Lanka.

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/081130/Plus/sundaytimesplus_00.html

YouTube - Snake Hunt Mississippi Style

Snake hunting video becomes internet sensation

Updated: Nov 21, 2008 10:07 AM

JACKSON, MS (WMC-TV) - In the heart of the Mississippi Delta, a small group of men squirm through murky waters. They're not swimming. Instead, they're hunting snakes.

It can all be seen in a video the men posted on YouTube. Since the video first appeared online on October 29th, it has already been viewed more than 70,000 times.

The video was posted by Jimmie Nichols and Shane Gibson.

"We had no idea this was going to happen," Gibson said.

The pair both, along with some longtime friends, hunt for the snakes each June near Lake Washington. On a trip 12 years ago, Nichols pulled a snake from the water to prove to his friends they weren't frightening. Since then, it's snowballed.

"That's all we do now," Gibson said. "Instead of going up there to go fishing, now we go up there and catch snakes."

They don't use guns or knives - just bare hands and courage. The practice sometimes looks unbelievable, and is definitely dangerous.

"You need to know, first of all, what you're grabbing, and how to identify them," Nichols said.

"We don't recommend it, period," Gibson added.

"Because there are snakes in the water that'll hurt you if you fool with them," Nichols said.

The group is full of lifelong outdoorsmen, who Nichols says knows which snakes are dangerous. Gibson rolls video on all of it each year, then making DVD's of the adventure for members of the group. This year, however, his DVD equipment was broken, so he posted the video on YouTube to share it with his friends.

Now, the group is planning a new business venture.

"Just a fun day on the lake," Nichols said.

It was fun day on the lake that turned into an internet sensation for a group of snake hunters slithering through the Mississippi Delta.

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=9388348&nav=menu57_2

Quote:

It's stupid shit like this that gives Mississippi a bad name. And if you're gonna play Amos Moses play the real Jerry Reed version. Not this Sellout Jr. bastardized version.

Quote II:

No! Not all of us Mississippians are like this! I'm black, skinny and Republican. I don't drink beer and sure as heck don't swim or catch snakes in water.

Kool-aid and Shaun Hannity does it for me.

Quote III:

You fuckers are crazy. But, my brother and I used to do the same in Gulfport. Although I would just mostly shoot the snakes with my Benjamin. :) My brother would actually catch the damn things. Trying to explain this to yankees is useless. They will never understand.

Quote IV:

Most are Watter Snakes: Banded, Dimond, and other. We have caught som Chicken Snakes out there around the duck houses and swiming in the open. Jimmie catches the Cotton Mouths but we dont video that. Need to be paying attention.

Scientists learn secrets of spitting cobras
Process is like a baseball pitcher psyching out batters before a throw

http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/cobra-500x540.widec.jpg
Bruce Young
A spitting cobra in action. Scientists have explained the precise aim of a venom-spitting cobra as a two-part process: the muscular wind-up and the psychological psych-out of the victim.

By Jennifer Viegas

updated 1:22 p.m. ET, Wed., Jan. 21, 2009
Spitting cobras spew blinding venom toward the eyes and face of victims with surprising accuracy, and now researchers know how they do it.

Venom spitting — a defense mechanism only — is a two-part process that's part muscle and part like a baseball pitcher psyching out batters before winding up before a throw, indicates a new study published in the latest issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology.

"Since the venom can cover a distance of over 6.5 feet, and the snakes appear to be very accurate, it is presumed to be a good deterrent," said Bruce Young, an associate professor of biology at Washburn University and lead author of the study.

For the study, Young and colleagues Melissa Boetig and Guido Westhoff analyzed adult, captive specimens of the red spitting cobra, the black-neck spitting cobra and the black-and-white spitting cobra.

Equipped with a special visor to protect his eyes, Young had the indelicate task of taunting the snakes by moving his head in front of them. The visor was outfitted with a custom-made accelerometer system allowing a computer to track the movements of Young's head in three dimensions.

During one experiment, the researchers also anesthetized some of the snakes and implanted electromagnetic leads to monitor a muscle that controls the venom gland, as well as the movements of the snake's head and neck.

The scientists found that before a spitting cobra releases its venom, a muscle contracts, displacing tissue barriers in the snake's fangs that normally prevent the flow of venom. More muscle contractions increase pressure within the venom gland, propelling a stream of venom out the fangs.

The spitting wind-up explained, the snakes' accuracy was still a mystery.

"When we looked carefully at the data, we found that the cobras always spat shortly after I changed the direction my head was moving," Young said.

He added that when he was moving his head, the snake was also rotating its head, winding itself up before the impending hurl.

"This really boils down to geometry," Young explained. "Since I am moving linearly at a distance from the snake, the snake need only make slight angular movements to follow me. Once the cobra starts spitting, it accelerates the movements of its head, and this enables the snake to actually 'lead' its target and spray the venom to where it thinks the target's eyes are going to be."

The researchers further discovered that spitting cobras don't release their venom as a stream, mist or cloud. The liquid poison instead sprays out in distinctive geometric patterns, typically consisting of paired ovals. The scientists suspect this increases the overall area covered by the spray, heightening the snake's chances of hitting the eyes.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28774770/?GT1=43001

Man bites cobra to teach it a lesson

March 30, 2008 posted by indiatime

A man from the state of West Bengal turned the tables on a poisonous cobra, and the cobra never even saw it coming.

Subhas Banerjee, a canteen worker at a police station, was returning home from work. Near his Ekra village, he found a few villagers discussing about spotting cobra nearby. Banerjee who was intoxicated (no, they do not serve alcohol in the police station canteen) took it upon himself to check the cobra out.

When he saw the cobra, he first hit it with a stick. He then went on to bite the live cobra to death. And then he went on to utter some words of wisdom that would put fear of Shiva into the hearts of any cobras nearby :-

“..The snake should also know how it feels to be bitten..”

And then, Subhas Banerjee fell down to the ground, unconscious. The cobra on one side, Subhas Banerjee on the other, the stick separating the two vicious species with biting egos. But Subhas was soon taken to a nearby hospital and survived the cobra bite (him biting the cobra).

http://www.indiatime.com/2008/03/30/man-bites-cobra-to-teach-a-lesson/

Baby and Cobra

YouTube - Baby and Cobra

Man bites python

http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20090415&t=2&i=9710897&w=450&r=2009-04-15T144625Z_01_BTRE53E151H00_RTROPTP_0_GERMANY

Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:59pm EDT NAIROBI (Reuters) - A Kenyan man bit a python who wrapped him in its coils and hauled him up a tree in a struggle that lasted hours, local media said Wednesday.

Farm manager Ben Nyaumbe was working at the weekend when the serpent, apparently hunting for livestock, struck in the Malindi area of Kenya's Indian Ocean coast.

"I stepped on a spongy thing on the ground and suddenly my leg was entangled with the body of a huge python," he told the Daily Nation newspaper.

When the snake coiled itself round his upper body, Nyaumbe resorted to desperate measures: "I had to bite it."

The python dragged him up a tree, but when it eased its grip, Nyaumbe said he was able to take a mobile phone out of his pocket and phone for help.

When his supervisor came with a policeman, Nyaumbe smothered the snake's head with his shirt, while the rescuers tied it with a rope and pulled.

"We both came down, landing with a thud," said Nyaumbe, who survived with damaged lips and bruising.

The snake escaped from the three sacks it was bundled into.

(Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Jack Kimball)

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE53E3D020090415

http://ipwatchdog.com/images/snake_walk.GIF

Collar apparatus enabling secure handling of a snake by tether
US Patent No. 6,490,999
Issued December 10, 2002

This invention is one of the all-time greats in the Obscure Patent category, and is back by popular demand (or at least the request of a longtime IPWatchdog.com reader). As in practically all patents, there are multiple claims. The first claim and those depending from the first claim relate to the collar apparatus that allows for controlling the snake. While that is funny enough, no doubt, the real knee slapping humor associated with this invention comes when you read that claim 11 covers a system for walking a snake! (See picture above). In order to keep this appropriate for family fun I will allow you, the reader, to insert your own joke here. Now, with that laugh over, what in the world was the inventor thinking?

As it turns out the Background of the Invention supplies the answer to the burning question about what the inventor was thinking. You see, most snake owners do not spend much time handling their snakes for fear of the snake getting lose and running, or slithering as the case may be, away. Apparently sunlight is good for snakes, so there is a real dilemma presented to the snake owner. Enter this collar, which allows for the snake owner to walk the pet. The patent explains that it is difficult if not impossible to create such an invention because snakes change size due to food intake and skin conditions.

http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2009/05/02/obscure-patent-system-for-walking-a-snake/id=3038/

Deadly snake caught before slipping onto plane

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00536/IMGP2756_536101a.jpg

One of the world’s most poisonous snakes was discovered in a haul of 35 animals being smuggled onto a Sydney-bound flight.

Australian wildlife authorities found a Pilbara death adder when they seized the animals at Perth airport in Western Australia on Saturday.

The haul, worth up to $AU40,000 on the black market, also included 11 Banded knob-tailed geckos, 2 Rock dragon lizards, a blue-tongue lizard and a Pgymy python.

A New South Wales man has been charged with attempting to export protected fauna without a licence and the unlawful possession of protected fauna.

All of the reptiles found are native to the state of Western Australia, with most found only in the Outback regions of the Pilbara and Kimberleys.

WA Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) senior investigator, Rick Dawson said the Pilbara death adder was a widely sought-after species and worth about $AU2000 to animal traffickers.

“Two-thirds of the reptiles in Australia are found in Western Australia, where the dry, hot landscape lends itself well to these creatures,” Dawson told The Times.

“Reptile thieves are often seen patrolling the outskirts of the Pilbara, where members of the public will spot them acting suspiciously and notify us.”

Mr Dawson said Australian reptiles were big business on black markets in Europe, the United States and Japan.

In 2003, a British wildlife film producer and conservationist Michael Linley pleaded guilty to trying to smuggle 187 frogs and reptiles out of Australia.

Mr Linley, who produced the television series Survival and has written several books on amphibians, was arrested at Perth airport after customs officials found 217 animals of 27 different species, worth US$178,000, in his suitcases.

Mr Linley told Perth Magistrates Court he wanted to use the animals in one of his films. He was fined $AU30,000.

Earlier this month Qantas was forced to ground one of its fleet while wildlife experts tried to hunt down four snakes on a plane.

Twelve baby Stimpson’s pythons had been put on board a flight from Alice Springs to Melbourne, but when the box of reptiles was unloaded at the other end only eight snakes were found inside.

A reptile expert searched for the 6-inch snakes, which can grow up to a metre-long, but could not find them. It was still unknown if the snakes were on the plane or if they had somehow escaped disembarked once the plane landed.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6203230.ece

DSE seizes illegal corn snakes from home of Sunbury man

April 29, 2009 01:48pm

TWO illegal corn snakes have been seized from the home of a Sunbury man.
The 23-year-old Sunbury man has a licence to keep reptiles, but it is illegal to keep, breed or trade corn snakes.

Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) officers executed a search warrant on the man's home last night after a tip-off and found a male and a female snake.

DSE senior investigator Keith Larner said the man was expected to be charged on summons.

He faces fines of up to $24,000.

"While we haven't ascertained that any breeding has gone on here, it's always our worst fear when we find exotic snakes," Mr Larner said.

"Corn snakes are prolific breeders and they pose a real threat to our native snake populations, both through disease and competition for prey if they are released into the wild."

The man found keeping the snakes had "every reason" to fear losing his reptile licence.

"Keeping native reptiles is a privilege, not a right."

DSE has seized about 80 corn snakes over the past eight years, and it is believed there are many more being held illegally.

Corn snakes are native to the corn fields of North America.

Guns, not charm, expel snakes from police station

FREETOWN (Reuters) - Power hoses and AK-47 assault rifles have succeeded where Sierra Leone's snake-charmers failed by removing 400 cobras and vipers that overran a police station.

Authorities in the southern district of Bo called in police, army and fire fighters after the snakes scared away police officers and residents reporting crimes.

"We have forced water into the building and some of the snakes trying to escape were shot by our men carrying AK-47s," said Brima Kontu, head of the police station in Gerihun.

About 250 of the estimated 400 snakes who had made the station their home have been killed.

"Hopefully the combined force will be able to free the house from the snakes by next Tuesday," Kontu told Reuters.

Sierra Leone is slowly recovering from the effects of the 1991-2002 civil war and villagers frequently have run-ins with wild animals in areas of the country that were deserted during the years of fighting.

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE55C2BX20090613

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20090204/sci-monster-snake/images/9b6abdcd-0d56-40a8-b8f9-2e03efa88432.jpg

A handout photo released by Nature magazine shows a Precloacal vertebra of an adult Green Anaconda (Eunectes murinus),lighter colored vertebra dwarfed by a vertebra of the giant boid snake they named Titanoboa cerrejonensis, meaning ``titanic boa from Cerrejon,'' the region where it was found. Fossils from northeastern Colombia reveal the biggest snake ever discovered: a behemoth that stretched 42 feet or longer, reaching an estimated 1.27 tons.




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/04/titanoboa-cerrejonensis-2_n_163943.html

A gang brandishing snakes as 'weapons' attacked a 14-year-old boy with a python, forcing the reptile to bite the teenager's hand.

Paramedics who attended the scene in Bradley Stoke, South Gloucestershire, were left baffled by the injury and called Bristol Zoo for advice.

The boy was pinned against a wall by the gang on Saturday afternoon, before one forced the python to attack.

The teenager was taken to Frenchay Hospital for checks.

'Puncture wounds'

Police and the RSPCA are now investigating the incident, which took place shortly before 1500 BST .

A spokesman for Great Western Ambulance service (GWAS) said: "Ambulance staff consulted Google and Bristol Zoo experts after a teenager was attacked by a group of youths brandishing snakes.

"The group was apparently carrying several snakes and forced one of them to bite the boy on the hand, leaving two puncture wounds."

Pythons are ambush predators which rely on crushing their prey, and are not venomous.

GWAS incident support officer Michael Howells, who was at the scene, said: "Although the patient was suffering breathing difficulties after the attack, this was probably due to panic rather than a reaction to the bite - I would probably be panicky if that happened to me."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/8192209.stm

Sunday, 09 August 2009

An owner has told how his pet cat was "crushed, asphyxiated and consumed whole" by a neighbour's 13ft python.

Wilbur, a four-year-old tabby, was devoured after straying into a nearby garden in Brislington, Bristol, where the Burmese python was lurking.

The cat's owners, Martin and Helen Wadey, heard "blood-chilling cries" and rushed to the neighbouring property to help. But after getting no reply from the house they were powerless to save Wilbur.

http://news.uk.msn.com/odd-news/article.aspx?cp-documentid=149092233

August 25, 2009

From Citizen to Serf in 200 Years

By Paul Craig Roberts

America is a strange place. Liberals get emotionally distraught that the Founding Fathers stuck Second Amendment rights in the Constitution. For American citizens to possess firearms is considered to be dangerous. Yet it is quite alright for Americans to possess deadly green mambas.

Mambas are large, fast, and very poisonous African snakes whose bite is usually fatal. Their venom is neurotoxic and cardiotoxic. It attacks the central nervous system and shuts down the lungs and heart.

On August 20 a Comcast workman was installing an underground cable outside an apartment building in Hollywood, Florida, when he was bitten by a green mamba.

Captain Ernie Jillson, head of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s Venom Response Unit, said the green mamba probably only delivered a warning bite instead of a lethal one. The Comcast worker was saved by antivenin.

It is unclear how the dangerous snake, which is still on the loose, was identified. How many Americans could identify a green mamba? Perhaps the cable company worker was an immigrant from Africa able to recognize the snake.

No one knows where the snake came from. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, [Dangerous green mamba snake still on the loose in Hollywood, August 21, 2009] 187 green mambas have been imported into the US as pets since 2004. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission says that all people licensed to own or sell green mambas in the area have their snakes accounted for.

Americans who tire of their pet pythons when they grow too large have been dumping the snakes in the Everglades, where a large breeding population now exists that is destroying the remaining ecology of the Everglades not already destroyed by real estate developers and sugar plantations.

Will green mambas be the next immigrant invader?

Try to imagine what it is like living in a house with a mamba. Are bedroom doors tightly shut at night and carefully opened in the mornings? Do you first check to make sure the snake is still in its container before moving around the house in the morning? Imagine coming home and finding the container empty.

Strikes me as far more stress than living with a handgun in the house.

I would put the stress level from a mamba right up there with the stress our politicians create for us. We never know when "our" government will next strike at our livelihood and liberty.

The White House Office of Management and Budget just announced that the federal government will be running trillion dollar annual budget deficits for the next decade. If the past is a guide, this is an underestimate.

Obama says he is going to attack the deficit by getting entitlement spending under control. He means Social Security and Medicare. Getting them “under control” means reducing the funding. Americans have paid taxes all their lives for retirement pensions and health care, but Obama is going to cut the promised benefits in order to fund his wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan and to pay for new US military bases in Colombia, South America.

We are now into the third presidential term in which the US government remains mired in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Inheriting two wars didn’t stop Obama from starting a third one in Pakistan and from threatening more wars.
These wars bring no benefits to American citizens, only high costs, but the wars bring political contributions to the politicians from the interest groups that profit from the wars.

Where is the World War I, World War II, and Korean War excess-profits tax? The answer is that instead of paying the US Treasury, the war profiteers pay the politicians.

Obama’s Budget Director, Peter Orszag, says the US is in a "dire fiscal situation" and requires "serious steps to put our nation back on a sustainable fiscal path." However, halting pointless wars is not part of the Obama administration’s solution. The wars will continue. Orszag says the US will be put on "a fiscally sustainable path" by "slowing the rate of health care cost growth in the long run."

Orszag says that health care reform will not only be deficit neutral--that is, provide no new services--but also "will incorporate changes that will help reduce the deficit." The budget is to be balanced on the backs of Americans denied health care. And you thought your private health insurer was evil.

Many thanks to Orszag for a clear statement of US government priorities.

In the face of such clarity, why are democratic groups associated with Obama pushing a "health care reform" that will reduce health care?

The attitude of government toward taxpayers is no different at the state and local levels. Some conservatives still suffer from the delusion that government is more accountable the closer it is to the people.

Recently, NPR reported that it was the Correctional Officers Union that was behind California’s "three-strikes" law. Once that unjust law passed, California’s prison population increased five-fold. The Correctional Officers Union grew dramatically in membership. Of the $10 billion annual cost of California’s prison system, 70% goes for salaries and administration. One in ten correctional officers makes $100,000 a year.

What was sold to a gullible public as an "anti-crime" measure was just another way for an organized interest group to pick the taxpayers’ pockets.

Even the "clunkers law" divided the spoils between two interest groups. Car dealers got taxpayers’ help in reducing their unaffordable inventories, and parts manufacturers saved their business by having "clunkers" limited to vehicles made in 1984 or afterwards. Older cars did not qualify for the trade-in subsidy, which was hyped as a way of getting fuel-inefficient and polluting vehicles out of service.

All you need to know about "governments close to the people" can be learned by examining the property tax response to falling real estate values, foreclosures, and homelessness. Jurisdictions everywhere are raising the property tax.

In America, government always comes first. The citizen last. The transformation from citizen to serf has been completed.

Paul Craig Roberts [email him] was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He was awarded the Legion of Honor by French President Francois Mitterrand. He is the author of Supply-Side Revolution : An Insider's Account of Policymaking in Washington; Alienation and the Soviet Economy and Meltdown: Inside the Soviet Economy, and is the co-author with Lawrence M. Stratton of The Tyranny of Good Intentions : How Prosecutors and Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice. Click here for Peter Brimelow’s Forbes Magazine interview with Roberts about the recent epidemic of prosecutorial misconduct.

http://www.vdare.com/roberts/090825_serf.htm

"One in ten correctional officers makes $100,000 a year."

The other nine make $200,000.

"One in ten correctional officers makes $100,000 a year."

The other nine make $200,000.

RANDOM FACTS ARE FUN!!!:lulz:

http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6902879,00.jpg
Jeff Hosie arms himself in anticipation of the snake's return.


* Man says snake is stalking him
* Says snake crawled into his bed and bit him
* Attacks man's son following night

A MAN has told of how a snake is stalking his Territory home after it slid into his bed and bit him on the face while he slept.

Jeff Hosie got the fright of his life when he woke to a snake latched on to his nose, the Northern Territory News reports.

And he says the snake returned the next night - only this time it crawled into bed with his 16-year-old son Nathan and bit him on the back of his leg.

"He's a rogue snake - he's got us twice now," he said.

"He's like a stalker snake.

"I can't believe it is just crawling into our beds. They normally stay away."

The snake drama began early Tuesday morning when Mr Hosie, 41, woke in excruciating pain in his bed at the no-wall humpy-style tin shed he calls his home in Howard Springs about 4.50am.

"It was pretty freaky - I just woke up and felt pain so went to swipe my nose and there was a snake hanging off it," he said.

"It sunk its fangs in real good."

NT snake wrangler Chris Peberdy said the slithery culprit is likely to be a non-venomous slatey- grey species.

"The slatey-greys are a naturally aggressive snake and are common in Darwin's rural area," he said. "Thankfully they are not venomous but they do have a lot of fight in them and will strike as a defence mechanism."

He urged people to just call the snake catcher hotline - 1800 453 210 - if they find a snake on their property rather than risk being bitten while interfering with it.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26024894-13762,00.html

Snake Stories...

YouTube - Snakes Invade Cleveland

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/8197184.stm
british bsing about kingsnake

http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20090822/NEWS/908229985?Title=Expert-to-study-snakes-northward-migration
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090819/ARTICLES/908191004/1002?Title=Close-encounters-with-snakes
invasive species
http://www.justnews.com/news/20630645/detail.html
more on pythons in florida
http://www.examiner.com/x-2245-Dallas-Pet-News-Examiner~y2009m8d6-Florida-python-question-Could-a-snake-attack-a-human-in-the-wild
green mambas crawling around florida
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/hollywood/sfl-snake-bite-recovery-bn082209,0,7788608.story
http://www.examiner.com/x-5328-Chicago-Page-One-Examiner~y2009m8d7-Last-pair-of-rare-rattlesnakes-reproduce
massasauga eastern illinois

Jews hate nature because they have not yet been able to come up with a profitable way of calling plants and animals anti-semitic.

new rattlesnake found
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=434624

Little hint, pilgrims. 99% of the species that ever existed are extinct. no species is "vital" to the ecosystem. it will go on ecosysting no matter the mix of fauna prancing about its cuticle.

retarded mexican tv writer
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/new_tampa_driveway_snake_bite_080409

typical kwan attitude: anything i dont like ought to be illegal
http://www.boiseweekly.com/Cobweb/archives/2009/08/18/snake-out-for-a-jog-in-downtown-boise

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111823116

[Cuts from the snake-story links posted above...commentary to follow.]

But his current project involves creatures much larger than he caught as a child in the 1950s — Burmese pythons, which can grow to more than 20 feet long and which have infested the Florida Everglades, 100,000 strong by some estimations.

“And they are heading north,” Gibbons said recently from his Savannah River lab in Aiken, S.C. “How much further north, no one knows, but it’s something we are trying to find out by seeing how they survive the winter this far north.”

Some scientists speculate that most of the pythons infesting the Everglades are the progeny of pets that escaped en masse when Hurricane Andrew damaged or destroyed more than 125,000 homes in 1992. But just how adaptable the snakes are as they spread farther north is the subject of the study being conducted jointly at Gibbons’ lab by the University of Florida, Davidson College and the National Park Service.

Some models, based on the python’s range in its native Asian habitat, project that the snakes could move up various waterways into most of the Southern states to the Smoky Mountains and even as far west as California.

But Frank Struss, director of facilities engineering at the University of Alabama and an amateur herpetologist who has owned exotic snakes, said he can already tell Gibbons and others working on the project what will happen over the winter.

“Without some protective place to go for warmth, like under a house, they will die,” he said. “I’ve had that happen to me. In the winter I put heating pads in my snake enclosures, and one winter one of them failed, and a pretty good-sized ball python I had died of pneumonia.”

__________________


Snakes are everywhere and worthy of respect, aficionados say

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=GS&Date=20090819&Category=ARTICLES&ArtNo=908191004&Ref=AR&Profile=1002&MaxW=600&border=0

Snakes are everywhere in Florida. They are in college students' dorm rooms. They are invading parks and possibly threatening the Everglades ecosystem.

In recent weeks, snakes have slithered onto the agendas of Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Charlie Crist.

"There are probably snakes in your yard," said Jim Weimer, a park biologist at Paynes Prairie. "You'll never see them, but they are there."

Nelson introduced a bill last month that would ban the import of Burmese pythons after a Sumter County toddler was strangled by one in early July.

In January 2008, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission established new rules for people who own or exhibit wildlife. The new law requires anyone who wants to buy one of six reptiles, including Burmese pythons, to pay a $100 yearly fee and have a microchip implanted in the animal for tracking.

Estimates of the number of Burmese pythons living in the Everglades range from 30,000 to 150,000. Confirmation that the non-native snakes - former pets that either escaped from or were released by their owners - were reproducing in the wild was first made in 2006.

A study released by the U.S. Geological Survey in 2008 warned that climate factors alone could accommodate Burmese pythons. Another study released that same year by researchers from the University of Florida and Davidson College warned that pythons already had migrated as far as Key Largo.

And yet, many of those who know the most about snakes say the recent negative attention is largely making a mountain out of a relative molehill.

"There are no wild populations this far north, and there never will be," said Shawn Heflick, president of the Central Florida Herpetological Society in Winter Park. "It's too cold up here."

Heflick, a biologist from Palm Bay, was one of seven people the FWC granted an official permit in July to hunt Burmese pythons in the Everglades. He has captured two pythons since receiving his permit, which expires Oct. 31.

_________________________


It's been over a month since the state-sponsored python hunt kicked off, but only a handful of the reptiles have been caught. Local 10 went along to find out firsthand what hunters face in their search for the invasive reptile.

Hunter Josh Zarmati showed Local 10’s Jonathan Vigliotti how he hunts in the Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area. The two ventured into the Everglades on Wednesday night.

"I do this because I love the Everglades and I hate to see them destroyed, whether it be by liter or invasive species," Zarmati told Vigliotti as they off-roaded in a pickup truck.

Video

Zarmati grew up near the Everglades. He said in the past two decades he witnessed the python population grow from zero to an estimated 150,000.

"They don't belong here. The Burmese is eating anything it can get its mouth on: alligators, rabbits, foxes, you name it. They are throwing off the balance here."

About 10 miles into the drive, Zarmati pulled off the side of a road to search a tree.

"I've seen pythons around here before," Zarmati explained.

A 10-minute search produced nothing. The journey continued.

It's believed pet owners introduced the python to the Everglades by dumping the snake there when they grew too big.

On July 15, Gov. Charlie Crist and Florida Fish and Wildlife announced the first-ever state-sponsored python hunt, an effort to eradicate the invasive species from the Everglades.

Zarmati is one of only 13 licensed hunters permitted to do this on a volunteer basis. The results have been mediocre at best. Only 14 snakes have been caught since the hunt began. Of those, Zarmati said he caught six.

_______________________

According to reptile experts, Burmese pythons rarely attack humans, and the occasional attacks that do occur in the United States are typically carried out by pets, not wild pythons. The Humane Society of the United States reports that least a dozen people, including five children, have been killed in the United States by pet pythons since 1980.

On July 1, a pet Burmese python in Florida broke out of a glass cage and strangled to death a toddler sleeping in her crib. In 2008, a Virginia Beach, Va., woman was killed by a 13-foot-long reticulated python while she was trying to give it medicine. A year earlier, a 19-year-old man from the Bronx died when his 13-foot python attacked him. His body was found in the hallway of his apartment building, and a live chicken, still in a box, was found nearby. Apparently the man was preparing to feed the snake, and authorities suspect the python mistook him for food. In 2001, a pet Burmese python killed an 8-year-old girl in Allegheny County, Penn.

In 1993, an 11-foot pet python killed a 15-year-old boy in his bed in Commerce City, Colorado. The snake, which weighed less than the boy, bit him on the right foot and then apparently suffocated him. That same year, a man died in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana after a fight with his pet, a 16-foot python named Ebanezer. The man was not strangled and may have died of a heart attack. He had snake bites on his arm and the snake suffered several knife wounds. In November 1980, an escaped 8-foot pet python bit and then smothered an infant girl in her crib in Dallas, Texas.

And there have been some near misses. In 2008, a man in Las Vegas killed his family’s 15-foot long Burmese python when the snake attacked his 13-year-old daughter. The man cut the snake’s head off after it bit his daughter’s leg and then coiled around her and her uncle, who was also working to free her. The pet usually lived in a locked tank, but somehow escaped and found the daughter’s room.

Though it hasn’t happened in the U.S., an attack on a human in the wild is not impossible, according to officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. If a python were cornered, fearful and defensive, it might try to attack. However, most snakes will try to slither away from trouble rather than stay and fight.

In general, pythons in the wild like to keep to themselves. They are easily camouflaged in their swampy Florida environment, which lets them to hide and then ambush their prey. They bite their dinner to hold it in place and then wrap around it to constrict and kill it.

Everglades pythons eat most anything: ducks, birds, rodents, rats, raccoons and possums, but scientists studying the snakes have found the remains of bobcats, white-tailed deer and alligators in python stomachs. Alligators can actually do some python damage too, but once the snakes get large, the alligators are no match. Because pythons are nonnative reptiles and a top predator in Florida, they are causing damage to imperiled species and even problems for native wildlife that isn’t threatened.

Currently, Burmese python owners in Florida are required to purchase an annual license for $100 in order to legally keep a snake, and when it grows to two inches in diameter, they are required to implant it with a microchip. Any python captured in the Florida wild is checked for a microchip, and if one is found, the owner is fined for illegally turning the snake loose in nature.

_______________________________

Russian and Vietnamese scientists have announced their discovery of a new species of rattle-snake, which belongs to Protobothrops family, in the Trung Khanh Nature Reserve in the north-western province of Cao Bang, the Vietnam news agency reported Thursday.

Nguyen Thien Tao, who is in charge of amphibians and reptiles at the Vietnam Nature Museum, said this is the fourth species of rattle-snake of the Protobothrops family identified in Vietnam.

The three others are Protobothrops cornutus, P.jerdonii and P. mucrosquamatus.

The new species of rattle-snake is named Protobothrops trungkhanhensis Orlov, Ryabov, an endemic species found in only the Trung Khanh Nature Reserve in Cao Bang, Vietnam.

The snake is only 733mm in length, quite small compared to other Protobothrops species, with a small triangle-shaped head and small scales.

_______________________________


Jeff Fobb has an unusual job description. He's an experienced python catcher.

In his job with the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, rarely a week goes by without him being called on to capture a python or other nonnative snake spotted slithering through a suburban backyard.

On a recent call, Fobb found a 10-foot Burmese python that had crawled into a cage with two domestic ducks. Fobb says the python ate the ducks and got stuck in the cage.

That was an easy job.

Python Breeding Ground

Fobb sees all kinds of exotic snakes in his job, but the one he sees the most is the Burmese python. There are a lot of them in South Florida.

The snakes, which can grow to 12 feet or more, have established a breeding population in the Everglades and appear to be spreading out from there.

The death of a toddler in Florida last month, strangled by an escaped pet python, spurred a number of new initiatives. The federal government is considering a ban on python imports; Florida is considering a ban on sales. And the state has begun issuing python hunting permits to experienced snake handlers.

Fobb volunteered for the new state program for fun and because he's fascinated by snakes. He goes out about once a week, patrolling sections of the Everglades on foot — covering eight to 10 miles in a typical evening.

So far, he has been one of the most successful python hunters. On one trip, he caught three Burmese python hatchlings, each about 2 feet long. On another expedition, he caught a juvenile python: 5 feet long and not yet full-grown.

On The Trail With Fobb

On this evening, he was out on the trail once again, accompanied by two friends and a reporter, traipsing through an area southeast of Everglades National Park.

Fortunately, the trails are well-established. Many are roads created when engineers dug the series of drainage canals that crisscross the area.

As he walks, the 43-year-old Fobb is always looking down."Usually you can find them crossing the trail or the levee," he says.

It's late afternoon, but already the mosquitoes are thick. The members of this hunting group are all wearing a thick layer of mosquito repellent, but that hardly seems to matter. Large grasshoppers called "lubbers," some over 6 inches long, jump out of their way.

Fobb says he often finds pythons warming themselves on the open trail in the late afternoon and early evening. There may be Burmese pythons in the surrounding brush, he says, but spotting them can be nearly impossible. The snakes have excellent camouflage — what's called "cryptic coloration."

"Even a big snake can hide in something like this," he says, pointing to the brush alongside the trail. "If you pass by too quickly, you'd never know he was there."

From Pets To Predators

The beginnings of Florida's python problem are murky. Fobb and many other experts date it back to 1992, when Hurricane Andrew roared through South Florida. Fobb believes that amid the devastation, many snakes kept as pets got free.

A few years later, people began seeing Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park, and by 2006, it was clear that the snakes had established a breeding population. Scientists found their first female python with a nest of eggs.

Federal and state wildlife managers grew concerned that the aggressive Asian snake might threaten native species of reptiles and mammals. A few years ago, a Burmese python that made its way to the Florida Keys was captured after it ate two Key Largo wood rats — fewer than 200 of which are known to be alive in the wild.

That showed Burmese pythons could travel; wildlife managers have begun to wonder how far they might spread. A map prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey a few years ago showed the theoretical range of Burmese pythons as global warming takes hold, and it's alarming. On the map, the python's potential habitat covers nearly one-third of the country, extending up the East Coast as far as Washington, D.C., and on the West Coast up to San Francisco.

As other researchers pointed out, that map didn't take into account terrain, development and a host of other factors that would inhibit the pythons' spread.

But what really drew the attention of wildlife managers and the public was the tragic death in July of a 2-year-old girl, killed by an 8 1/2-foot python that escaped from its cage in the middle of the night.

A Soft Spot For Pythons

Back in the Everglades, Fobb and his team slog through mud and periphyton — the thick mat of algae that covers much of the Everglades. If you're looking for pythons, Fobb says, you have to go where the water is, because the pythons' prey have to go and get water. But, he notes, it's the rainy season in the Everglades.

"This is a hard time of year to look, because there's pretty much water everywhere," he says.

A little later, the sun has gone down and the hunting party is walking with flashlights. Fobb looks for any movement; he listens for rustling in the brush alongside the trail.

After four hours of trekking, sweating and swatting mosquitoes through the Everglades, it starts to become clear why Fobb spends so much time out here looking for pythons. He has a soft spot for Burmese pythons, and he admits it.

"You know, they're not here because of anything they did," he says. "They were transported here by people, for pets. And for one reason or the other, they made their way to the Everglades."

Their crime? Like many people, animals and plant species, Burmese pythons came to Florida — and they like it here.

At Last, Snakes

Fobb and his friends find two small ringneck snakes, a couple of garters, a banded watersnake and a DeKay's snake. They also find toads, frogs and alligators, but no Burmese pythons.

Fobb is a little disappointed.

"We did see a lot of natives, which is a good thing. The native populations are OK, and that's a positive thing," he says.

Catching a python would have been nice. But for this reporter, at least, the day wasn't a total bust.

____________________________

Typical government greed and stupidity: In January 2008, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission established new rules for people who own or exhibit wildlife. The new law requires anyone who wants to buy one of six reptiles, including Burmese pythons, to pay a $100 yearly fee and have a microchip implanted in the animal for tracking.

$100 a year? Microchip?

Estimates of the number of Burmese pythons living in the Everglades range from 30,000 to 150,000.

Who's the clown making these estimates?

Nelson introduced a bill last month that would ban the import of Burmese pythons after a Sumter County toddler was strangled by one in early July.

Typical politician. One irresponsible person = everyone losing their rights.

"There are no wild populations this far north, and there never will be," said Shawn Heflick, president of the Central Florida Herpetological Society in Winter Park. "It's too cold up here."

Common sense rears its ugly head and takes a vicious bite out of delicious made-for-tv disaster scenario.

Zarmati is one of only 13 licensed hunters permitted to do this on a volunteer basis. The results have been mediocre at best. Only 14 snakes have been caught since the hunt began. Of those, Zarmati said he caught six.

Government thinking and its finest. There are 150,000 pythons loose in Florida - an estimate with zero basis in reality. So, since there are one hundred fifty thousand gigantic pet and pet-owner-englutinating free-range nolegged monsters on the howl-n-prowl, we need to authorize a goodly number of giant killers, let us say...thirteen. And give them a month to complete their roundup. Result: .0000001 of the imaginary 150,000 snakes duly dispatched.

U.S. Geological Survey Moves to Ban Exotic Snake Sales
Reticulated Python in the Florida Everglades

The U.S. Geological Survey released a study that showed that Burmese pythons and other exotic snakes pose a serious risk to natural wildlife. This report is thought to be a major move toward restricting or preventing the sale of these animals. The U.S. Geological Survey mentions Burmese pythons, African rock pythons, boa constrictors, yellow anacondas, reticulated pythons, Deschauensee's anacondas, green anacondas, and Beni anacondas.

The species mentioned are listed to be a threat to the wildlife in national parks. "Native U.S. birds, mammals and reptiles in areas of potential invasion have never had to deal with huge predatory snakes before—individuals of the largest three species reach lengths of more than 20 feet and upward of 200 pounds," said the USGS in their report.

This study follows reports of aggressive populations of exotic snakes reproducing in the Florida Everglades, including graphic pictures of a Burmese python that killed itself in an attempt to swallow a full-grown American Alligator. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to declare some of these species "injurious species," which would prohibit importation and cross-state sales.

Pet industry advocates say that banning the sale of these snakes, of which the Boa Constrictor is the only one sold in typical pet stores, will encourage current snake owners to sell them illegally, release them in the wild, or even kill them.

The report cites how the invasive brown tree snake led to the extinction of ten forest bird species, as well as a large variety of bats and tree-dwelling lizards.

http://www.ecofactory.com/news/us-geological-survey-moves-ban-exotic-snake-sales-101409

Giant Snakes Warming to U.S. Climes

Posted: October 14, 2009

By Janet Raloff, for Science News' Science & the Public Blog

Some were pets whose bodies and appetites apparently got too big for their owners to support. Most are probably descendants of released pets. Today, thousands of really big non-native snakes—we’re talking boa constrictors, anacondas and pythons—slither wild in southern Florida. And there’s nothing holding them in the Sunshine State. Which is why a report that was released today contends they pose moderate to high ecological threats to states on three U.S. coasts.

Indeed, the homelands of these snakes share climatic features with large portions of the United States—territory currently inhabited by some 120 million Americans. Based on comparisons of the temperatures, rainfall and land cover found in the snakes’ native range, it’s possible that these slithering behemoths could stake claims to territory as far north as coastal Delaware and Oregon. Or so Gordon Rodda and Robert Reed of the U.S. Geological Survey observe in a 300-page assessment. As North America’s climate warms, the two predict, these invaders might even expand that range—by the end of this century becoming permanent residents of the Midwest. [Complete scaremongering bullshit]

Except for the relatively diminutive boa constrictor, which may reach four meters in length,the constrictors dealt with in the new report—and commonly imported into the U.S. pet trade—can easily exceed six meters. Rodda and Reed report that three of the species that they focused onare already reproducing in the Everglades and other portions of south Florida: the boa, Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus) and Northern African python (Python sebae).

Of these, the Burmese python appears most entrenched in Florida's wilds. In 2000, the National Park Service removed two of them from the Everglades, and three morea year later. Since then, the number of culled pythons has been increasing annually. Last year, 343 were pulled from the Everglades. As of last week, this year’s tally had reached 270.

But no one thinks these removals are making much of a dent in the growing emigrant populations.

The species is now believed to inhabit thousands of square miles of south Florida, USGS says, and its best guess is that they number in the tens of thousands. Finding them is challenging. “Detection probabilities for the Burmese Python in the Everglades are on the order of 1 in 1,000 per day, meaning that only a tiny fraction of the population can be found on demand,” Rodda and Reed say. This species is also quite fecund. In their native range, females can fill a nest with as many as 100 eggs. In Florida, two recent clutches were discovered with 79 and 85 eggs.

This species is one of the fastest growing of all snakes and can begin breeding at just a few years old. They can ultimately live to age 30 and consume meals of animals that might seem too big, mobile or aggressive to make a desirable entrée, such as leopards, alligators, porcupines, antelope and jackals.

The Burmese python is also fairly flexible in its real estate needs. It can inhabit temperate or tropical climes, both arid and very wet environments. And by hibernating, it can successfully overwinter in regions that average just a few degrees above freezing.

You can download the full USGS report to find out about the other snakes and why Rodda and Reed think they also pose a clear and present danger to U.S. ecosystems, especially across the southern United States.

The big issue is that these snakes have few predators in their native range and none in the States. Their U.S. prey—typically birds, reptiles, mammals, frogs, snakes and members of the gator family—have never learned to coexist with these big stalkers. Animals that lay in wait for hours until their prey comes by.Snakes that thengrab and gradually apply a squeezing death grip. These giant constrictors can hunt day or night, from trees or land or water.

It would be nice to think we could control the release of these ecologically troublesome predators by restricting their importation. But the new report says that domestic farming of these snakes, while “undocumented,” is believed to be substantial. “For Burmese Pythons in particular, the domestic production is judged to be as large or larger than importation.”

http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2009/10/14/giant-snakes-warming-to-us-climes.html

[British headline is typically ridiculous]

Florida Everglades fear rise of the people-eating super-snakes

An invasion of giant snakes has turned Florida into a potential spawning ground for hybrid super-serpents capable of devouring humans.

The discovery of African rock pythons close to the Everglades wetlands is a worrying development for wildlife officers already troubled by the rising population of Burmese pythons, bred from pets dumped illegally in the wild.

Kenneth Krysko, a herpetologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History, speculates that should the two species mate, they could create genetically superior offspring more aggressive, powerful and resilient than their parents — possibly with the ability to strike down human prey.

Rock pythons are “so mean, they come out of the egg striking . . . this is one vicious animal”, he told National Geographic News. “The arrival of the Burmese python was the biggest, most devastating problem that Florida could ever have imagined. Now we have a worse one.”

Native to South-East Asia, Burmese pythons — which can grow up to 20ft long and weigh more than 200lb — have gained a place in the Everglades in the past decade. Tens of thousands are now believed to prowl south Florida, preying on native wildlife, including alligators,

A new report by the US Geological Survey finds that eight other alien constrictors — including reticulated pythons, the world’s longest snakes, and green anacondas, the heaviest — are on the loose, posing a high-risk environmental threat. Five African rock pythons have been found so far. “These giant snakes threaten to destabilise some of our most precious ecosystems and parks,” said Robert Reed, an expert on invasive species.

The report notes that in their natural habitats, Burmese, reticulated and African pythons have been known to kill humans. “The situation with human risk is similar to that experienced with alligators: attacks in the wild are improbable but possible,” it adds.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has run schemes to try to combat the problem, including using thermal imaging to spot them in the undergrowth and licensing hunters. Postmen, meter-readers and FedEx delivery drivers have been trained to look out for snakes. Even so, the commission says that only 35 Burmese pythons have been captured since the hunting season opened in mid-July.

OFF THE SCALE

The world’s largest snake was Titanoboa cerrejonesis, a 42ft (13m) beast that weighed about 250lb (1,135kg) longer than a bus and heavier than a car. It slithered through South American rainforests about 60 million years ago. Fossils found in Colombia indicate that it killed its prey, including the ancestors of crocodiles, by constriction...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6878440.ece

From: http://www.trailquest.net/SNsnakes_us.html


"Can we eat snakes?

All snakes are edible; even the poisonous ones (the venom sacs are located directly behind the head, removing the head removes the venom sacs). The meat is fairly good but very bony, and yes they do taste a bit like chicken. Our forefathers probably ate more snakes than we care to think about."

I've eaten diamondback rattlesnakes. It's actually quite good meat, and it is very easy and quick to skin and clean a large diamondback. Bigger snakes, pythons, anacondas, and so on, might take a bit more planning, though. Still, in the words of some country and western song, "A country boy can survive."

Snake problem solved.

Mike

World's Biggest Snake Lived in 1st "Modern" Rain Forest
Ker Than for National Geographic News
October 13, 2009

If it were still alive today, the largest snake ever known to have lived would feel right at home in South America's tropical rain forests.

That's because the modern ecosystem contains many of the same plants that grew in the massive serpent's home turf some 60 million years ago, according to a new study detailing the earliest known "modern" rain forest.

The study is based on more than 2,000 fossil leaves recently discovered in Colombia's Cerrejón coal mine—the same place where scientists had found fossils of Titanoboa cerrejonesis earlier this year.

Many of the newfound plant fossils are of palm, legume, and flowering species that still dominate South America's rain forests, said study team member Scott Wing, a paleontologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

"That was kind of surprising," Wing said. "What we're seeing here is the first modern rain forest that we have any record of."

Forest Recovery

Based on the fossil leaves, scientists think Titanoboa's rain forest was a few degrees warmer and contained fewer plant species than the modern version.

This lower diversity could be evidence that the ancient forests were still recovering from the catastrophic event that killed off the dinosaurs some five million years earlier, the scientists say.

The team thinks a dino-killer asteroid may have struck several hundred miles away from Colombia, in what is now Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Such an impact could have triggered forest fires and worldwide climate change.

In fact, pollen fossils from before the impact show that South America's dino-era forests were dramatically different from the tropical rain forests Titanoboa called home.

The plant species that existed alongside the world's largest snake were so successful that many of them survived to the modern day.

Findings detailed in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091013-worlds-biggest-snake-rainforest.html

http://d.yimg.com/i/ng/ne/skynews/20091027/12/2604696507-writhing-snakes-duct-taped-smuggler.jpg


A smuggler has been arrested in Norway with 14 royal pythons and 10 albino leopard geckos duct taped to his body.

The 22-year-old was trying to sneak the creatures into the northern European country, along with a tarantula in his bag, customs officer Helge Breilid said.

The Norwegian citizen was stopped for a routine customs check in the southern town of Kristiansand after getting off a ferry from Hirtshals, Denmark.

Officers found the spider before deciding to give the young man a full body search.

Mr Breilid said the non-venomous creatures were hidden in stockings - one for each snake - taped to the man's abdomen.

The geckos were in boxes strapped onto his legs.

"Customs officers quickly realised the man was smuggling animals because his whole body was in constant motion," Mr Breilid was quoted by newspaper VG as saying.

Kristiansand police lawyer Johann Martin Kile told VG the man would be released after he agreed to pay a 12,500 Norwegian crown (£1,380) fine.

The reptiles have been handed over to a security firm until Norwegian authorities decide what to do with them.

The Copenhagen Post's website said the smuggler told officers he bought all the animals in Denmark.

But he did not explain if they were for him or to sell to other people, the Post continued.

"He told us he was crazy about reptiles," Mr Breilid added.

Royal pythons are the smallest species in the python family.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20091027/img/pwl-writhing-snakes-duct-ta-b000e72c2b70.html

Florida python hunt ends with 37 of the invasive reptiles being killed
November 4, 2009

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a6a84c06970c-600wi
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigators remove an unlicensed Burmese python from a west central Florida home in September.

It has to be an unsettling situation for parents of small children and owners of small pets in South Florida, where thousands of Burmese pythons are slithering amok.

A state-sanctioned pilot hunting program aimed at determining location and formulating an eradication plan ended Saturday with 37 of the invasive reptiles being killed.

"This was more about finding where they are and seeing if we can contain their expansion,'' Scott Hardin, exotic species coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, told the Miami Herald.

The constrictors can measure 18 feet long and weigh 160 pounds, and wildlife officials say they could number in the tens of thousands in the South Florida region -- mostly in the Everglades.

Snake owners who released pythons when they became too large to manage are believed largely responsible for this troubling phenomenon. The snakes, which are reproducing in the wild, have become a threat to native wildlife.

The wildlife commission is collecting data from the snakes killed so far and will expand the hunting program next year. Meanwhile, licensed hunters after other species can continue to kill pythons in designated areas, including parts of the Everglades around Big Cypress National Preserve.

"If you're in there hunting, and you see a python, you can kill it,"' Hardin said.

Hunters have used nets and snares and guns to subdue the reptiles, but all legal hunting methods are allowed, including bang sticks, harpoons and spear guns.

In a letter encouraging the harvesting of pythons, posted on the commission website, Chairman Rodney Barreto wrote, "You can even have some fancy cowboy boots made from python, but I don't recommend eating the meat because testing revealed high levels of mercury in the meat -- levels well above that considered safe to eat."

The Miami Herald notes that a bill is in the works aimed at banning the trade and import of pythons and other invasive snakes into the United States.

-- Pete Thomas

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2009/11/python-hunt.html

Fla. man who faked snake capture faces charges
The Associated Press

BRADENTON, Fla. -- A Bradenton man who staged the capture of a 14-foot Burmese python has been criminally charged in the hoax.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Thursday 47-year-old Justin Matthews faces charges of misusing the 911 emergency system and threatening public safety by improperly maintaining the snake.

Matthews in July notified Tampa-area media to assemble and record him capturing the snake. He said at the time it was a threat to children and had probably lived in the area for years.

After the investigation began, Matthews admitted staging the event. He said he wanted to call attention to Florida's growing python problem.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1318119.html

[39 or 37?]

Statewide python hunt yields only 39 snakes

By PAUL QUINLAN

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

The python posses, ordered into the Everglades on a mission to kill the giant, invasive constrictors, have finished hunting - for now.

Their take: 39 snakes. The good news: most were on the small side. The bad: that means the pythons are breeding.

Florida's first-ever python hunt began three-and-a-half months ago after Gov. Charlie Cirst ordered state wildlife officials to issue licenses to herpetologists, Gladesmen and others deemed qualified to eradicate the beasts.

The python push started weeks after a pet Burmese strangled a 2-year-old girl in Sumter County, and amid coiling fears that the snakes might take over the Everglades and slither across South Florida, devouring native wildlife and, perhaps, threatening humans.

The 15 special permits expired Oct. 31, though other licensed hunters in the state may continue to kill pythons encountered on designated hunting lands.

Officials called the test-run of the python eradication program a success, even though the body count was small compared to the oft-repeated - and, some say, exaggerated - estimates that as many as 100,000 or more pythons may now live in the Everglades. No accurate estimates exist, and scientists who study the problem say only that pythons likely number in the tens of thousands.

The relatively small take was to be expected, as pythons tend to remain hidden during daylight hours in hot weather, said Scott Hardin, exotic species coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"We went into this knowing it was a sub-optimal time of year for people to be looking for pythons," said Hardin. "They don't need to be out in the daytime. It's plenty warm. They'll spend their time hunting at night."

Of the 39 Burmese Pythons caught, slightly more than half were less than 4 feet long - further evidence that pythons are breeding in the Everglades, said Hardin. The hunters' largest catch was 10 feet, 4 inches. But the largest python found in Florida was spotted in July and measured 17 feet, 2 inches long and 26 inches around at the thickest point.

He also noted that most of the snakes were found to have empty bellies.

"It tells you they're not gorging themselves all the time, as some people might suspect," said Hardin. "They typically eat big meals but not too often."

The permit-holders were required to record details of their hunts and any snakes caught, data which dispelled misconceptions the snakes would be easy to find, said Larry Connor, the FWC biologist who compiled the snake data.

"When you go out with a group for four of five hours and find, generally, one snake - I think that's fairly realistic," Connor said.

The hunt was a ground battle in the larger war to combat the snakes' spread. In Washington on Thursday, a hearing is scheduled on the proposal from U.S. Rep. Kenrick Meek, the Miami Democrat and gubernatorial candidate, to list three types of pythons - Burmese, Northern African Rock, and Southern African Rock - as "injurious species," thus outlawing their import and trade.

Out of concern for the python hunters' safety, the 15 permits were set to expire on the same day that the general gun hunting season started.

Hardin said the state would likely expand the program and resume the hunt - perhaps before the new year.

"Certainly, we want to have some people back in place during the reproductive season, which runs roughly from January through April," Hardin said.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/11/04/pythons1104.html

http://images.politico.com/global/click/091106_roomey_snake_392_regular.jpg

http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0911/rooney_holds_up_python_at_capitol.html

I think I would've helped this bird get some vengence.

LiveLeak.com - Woodpecker VS Snake 'a fight over a woodpecker nest'

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/01/article-1232276-07688C73000005DC-917_634x590.jpg


By Claire Bates
Last updated at 4:08 PM on 01st December 2009

A pet snake got itself in a bit of a bind after it mistook its own tail for a tasty dinner.

Reggie the King snake soon realised his mistake after chomping down on his back end but then couldn't release himself after his teeth had taken hold.

Luckily the hungry reptile's owner arrived on the scene before the snake began to digest its own body, and rushed him to the vet.

'Its backward facing teeth were acting like a ratchet,' vet Bob Reynolds from Faygate, West Sussex told the Mail Online.

'The snake had also dislocated its jaw in its attempt to get its mouth around the tail and this isn't easy to reverse.'

Mr Reynolds was able to gently untangle Reggie by prising its jaws open a little wider and sliding the teeth off the flesh using a probe. The whole operation took only half an hour.

'I have never seen a case like it, although I have head about it happening,' the reptiles expert said.

'There is a temptation for a snake-eater like this one to lunge at its own tail, especially if kept in a small enclosure. They can't spread themselves out and think their tails are another snake.'

Luckily the tip of the 18-year-old snake's tail hadn't entered its stomach so it hadn't come to any harm. All Reggie was left nursing was perhaps wounded pride.

King snakes range from southern Canada down to South America. They can grow up to seven feet and live up to 20 years in the wild, but can live much longer as pets.

The constrictors hunt a variety of prey from rodents to birds and other snakes... and at times even themselves.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1232276/Snake-bind-eating-tail.html

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/11/23/1258998743063/New-species-of-chameleon--001.jpg


guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 November 2009 18.03 GMT

It was so nearly known as dinner. Instead, a small and not terribly impressive chameleon has become the newest discovery of the natural world, after a startled Tanzanian snake spat a still-undigested specimen at the feet of a British scientist, who identified it as a previously unknown species.

Dr Andrew Marshall, a conservationist from York University, was surveying monkeys in the Magombera forest in Tanzania, when he stumbled across a twig snake which, frightened, coughed up the chameleon and fled. Though a colleague persuaded him not to touch it because of the risk from venom, Marshall suspected it might be a new species, and took a photograph to send to colleagues, who confirmed his suspicions.

Kinyongia magomberae, literally "the chameleon from Magombera", is the result, though Marshall told the Guardian today the fact it wasn't easy to identify is precisely what made it unique.

"The thing is, colour isn't the best thing for telling chameleons apart, since they can change colour for camouflage. They are usually identified based on the patterning and shape of the head, and the arrangement of scales. In this case it's the bulge of scales on its nose."

Happily for Marshall, shortly afterwards he spotted a second chameleon, this time alive, and was able to photograph it. The two creatures were found about six miles apart, which he believes may be the full extent of the area colonised by the extremely rare species. Though he found the specimen in 2005, his paper on the discovery, published this week, puts the find formally on record. "It takes quite a long time to convince the authorities that you have a new species," he said.

Had Marshall hoped it might be named after him? "Oh crumbs, no. The thing is, if you work in an area of conservation importance and you can give a species the name of that area it can really highlight that area. By giving it the name Magombera it raises the importance of the forest." The tiny area of jungle is currently unprotected, he said, and he hopes the find will persuade the Tanzanian authorities to extend protection.

"When we presented our findings to the local village people they were just amazed that the world now knows an animal by the Swahili name Magombera," he said.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/new-chameleon-species-magombera-tanzania?CMP=AFCYAH

That kingsnake eating its tail is a California kingsnake - I had a pair of those when I lived out west. They're great pets, always eat.

King snakes can be very colorful, and I not too seriously considered getting one for that reason - but snakes with their very primitive brains and what seems to me their total lack of a capability for showing affection, creep me out.

Another beast that gives me the heebie-jeebies: the ostrich. Utterly mindless aggression controlling talons that can disembowel a man.

King snakes can be very colorful, and I not too seriously considered getting one for that reason - but snakes with their very primitive brains and what seems to me their total lack of a capability for showing affection, creep me out.

They show their affection by not making noise! Scholars and laymen alike agree that is perhaps the greatest gift one sentient being can give another - the gift of silence. Not to mention they eat no more than once a week, and their shits, like Vdare emails, are austerely infrequent.

I have not yet written a paean to snakes, but one day I will.


Another beast that gives me the heebie-jeebies: the ostrich. Utterly mindless aggression controlling talons that can disembowel a man.

Well, if you're not in Australia, they shouldn't pose too much of a problem. Altho, as time goes by, more people get into exotic game. Retired doctor bought my great-grandmother's farm, he bought a bunch of camels for it. Nothing funnier than looking down into a Missour valley and seeing a bunch of camels!

They show their affection by not making noise!

Admittedly, this is a not inconsiderable point in their favor. I love dogs & cats, but the constant barks, meows and genital slurpings do begin to lose their charm after a few years.

Well, if you're not in Australia, they shouldn't pose too much of a problem.

Oh yes, this is the sanguine attitude most people have - until that fateful doorbell beaking.

[Kikes = untrustworthy]

Attorney: PETA Worker Neglected Snakes in His Care

Attorney says PETA worker neglected job with exotic animal dealer in effort to shut it down

ARLINGTON, Texas December 29, 2009 (AP)

Attorneys for an exotic animal dealer have accused an employee of intentionally neglecting animals to further his work as an undercover investigator for an animal rights group.

Howard Goldman could have done more to provide food, water and care for the animals that he said were being mistreated, said Lance Evans, an attorney for Jasen and Vanessa Shaw, the owners of U.S. Global Exotics.

Instead, Goldman secretly took photos and made daily reports to send to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Evans said.

"He was more concerned about helping PETA achieve its goal of putting U.S. Global out of business than actually aiding any animals that he felt were in distress," Evans said. Goldman worked at the Arlington facility for seven months.

During that time, he did all he could to help the animals, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. She accused U.S. Global Exotics of trying "to pin the blame for a litany of horrors on the one person who actually cared about the animals."

U.S. Global Exotics is trying to regain custody of more than 26,000 animals seized by the city Dec. 15 after Goldman turned over evidence describing what he said was animal cruelty at the Internet-based company.

Arlington officials have said the raid turned up starving snakes, hundreds of reptiles packed in shipping crates and rodents that had killed and eaten each other.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports an Arlington Municipal Court judge is expected this week to decide custody of the animals.

Goldman testified last week that PETA asked him to apply for a job at U.S. Global Exotics to investigate conditions. PETA paid him $135 for each day he turned in a report while working as snake caretaker.

Evans asked Goldman on why he did not follow a posted list of duties in the snake room and let snakes go for weeks without food or water or clean cages.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=9444234

http://www.treehugger.com/frog-eating-snake-front.gif

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/01/frog-eats-snake.php

[Chinese exhibits Christian-level reasoning.]

Snake Repays the Kindness of Man Who Saved It?

China: Fushun resident Yu Feng says that a dying black snake he nursed back to health has repaid him by saving his family. Yu found the snake outside his home and nursed it back to health over about three weeks using herbal remedies.

He tried to release the snake a long way from home on three occasions but the snake kept coming back. Neighbours told him the snake was back to repay him so Yu called it Long Long and treated it as a pet.

Some time later Long Long roused Yu during the night. When he came to he found his mother's electric blanket was smoking. Experts say a snake is not smart enough for this feat but Yu is convinced that Long Long was repaying his kindness.

http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=82300

[We've let millions of brown wackos who think like their brothers below into this country over the last 40 years.]

‘Mafia driving Red Sand Boa mania’

04 Jan 2010

BANGALORE: Red Sand Boa isn’t a deadly snake. But of late, this snake - which goes by the code name ‘double engine’ - fetches around Rs 10 lakh in illegal wildlife trade. Considered to bring fortune if offered pooja, there has been a surge in sand boa trade, prompting the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) to issue a letter to all the chief wildlife wardens (CWW) of South India to control the illegal trade of this snake.

“Sand Boa isn’t generally found in and around Bangalore. But our team of authorised snake-rescuers gets at least one genuine enquiry regarding the snake every day,” says Sharat Babu R, honorary wildlife warden of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

Sharat says that some members of the religious fraternity, snake-charmers and an underworld gang are spreading the belief that if one worships the snake, he or she stands to gain a lot of money. He says that the snake is even rented out for pooja on an hourly basis.

Due to the propaganda, a large number of people including NRIs, government officials and politicians, come to South India in search of the Red Sand Boa.

It is seen that many households in villages around Bagepalli, Hiriyur, Kanakapura and Chitradurga have huge claypots filled with soil and a Red Sand Boa. Often the snake is overfed with edible and non-edible stuff to increase its weight, as the price of the snake is proportionate to its weight.

Sharat said that most of the time devotees ended up being robbed by conmen as there was always a huge amount of money involved. The situation was alarming and it needed to be handled urgently, he said.

When contacted, chief wildlife warden BK Singh said that they had received a letter from the WCCB pertaining to Red Sand Boa and that the department was preparing a reply.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=%E2%80%98Mafia+driving+Red+Sand+Boa+mania%E2%80%99&artid=ZRNiafeFZWc=&SectionID=Qz/kHVp9tEs=&MainSectionID=Qz/kHVp9tEs=&SEO=&SectionName=UOaHCPTTmuP3XGzZRCAUTQ==

http://www.cairns.com.au/images/uploadedfiles/editorial/pictures/2009/12/31/python.gif

Python photographer says nature to blame

Thursday, December 31, 2009

A COOKTOWN family who watched a python eat a young wallaby in their backyard says public backlash for not helping the joey is "water off a duck's back".

The Barton-Ilic family watched from their veranda as a 4m scrub python ate a young wallaby while its mum kicked and scratched the snake in vain to save the joey.

Judith Barton-Ilic said she felt like she was watching Animal Planet with her kids Braidyn, 13, and Tiarn, 10, when the action unfolded about 4.30pm on Monday.

The story gained nationwide interest since being published on cairns.com.au, with more than 140,000 hits on Mrs Barton-Ilic's pictures of the attack.

The family came under fire as online readers posted a barrage of comments, with many attacking the family for not going to the joey's rescue.

"So, in 45 minutes, no supposed top of the chain animal went to the aid of the mother wallaby. Sickening!" wrote Elizabeth of Seddon in Victoria.

Read the comments

But Mrs Barton-Ilic defended the actions of her family, saying the snake had half the wallaby in its mouth by the time they noticed the incident.

She also said the family armed themselves with long broom handles and sticks but gave up after realising the joey was dead.

"By the time we were alerted to the situation, the wallaby was already well wrapped up by the snake," she said.

"We were actually quite upset over the whole incident, that joey we've been looking after and feeding.

"People saying we should have chopped the snake's head off and hit it with a shovel are ridiculous, there are fines up here for that stuff.

"These comments are water off a duck's back."

Pictures: Cairns snakes

RSPCA Far Northern regional inspector Cameron Buswell said the family did the right thing by letting nature take its course.

"If they killed a native snake, they would get into trouble by the EPA and the RSPCA and face hefty fines," he said.

"This is nature, this is what happens, I think the family did the right thing by letting nature take its course."

Cairns Snake Removals owner David Walton said the python could have attacked Mrs Barton-Ilic if she attempted to help the wallaby.

"People want to see joeys saved because they're cute, but it's nature," he said.

http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2009/12/31/85575_local-news.html

[Latest on African rock pythons, an aggressive species, on the loose in Florida]

No sun, no slither; chilly snakes make easier targets for hunters of invasive pythons

By Paul Quinlan

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Jan. 13, 2010

THREE AFRICAN ROCK PYTHONS — the fiercest of the python breeds feared to have infested Florida wilds — were captured in the wilds of western Miami-Dade County on Tuesday, the first day of a three-day sweep targeting the aggressive reptilian invader.

The catch — one 12-footer and two 14.5-footers — brings the total number of African rock pythons bagged in Florida to at least 10, raising worries that Africa's largest snake might be breeding in the Everglades among the estimated tens of thousands of the comparatively even-tempered Burmese cousins, according to Scott Hardin, exotic-species specialist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"We're finding more and more," said LeRoy Rodgers, a scientist with the South Florida Water Management District out on the hunt. "We feel pretty certain that we're looking at at least the early part of an established population."

The hunt was planned far in advance to coincide with cold weather, when the giant snakes tend to come out of hiding to sun themselves on levees, roadsides and clearings. The severe cold snap has only helped, plunging the snakes into a lethargy that's given hunters an edge.

"We've been more successful than I would have imagined," said Denis Giardina, one of the hunters and part of a team charged with ridding the Everglades of invasive species.

The three-day strike against the African rock pythons is focusing on area where they have turned up previously, on lands southeast of the intersection of Tamiami Trail and Krome Avenue in western Miami-Dade, not far from the Miccosukee Indian casino.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/no-sun-no-slither-chilly-snakes-make-easier-177067.html

1 COMMENT Comments feed

Invasive species began turning up in the Everglades over thirty years ago. Today they are reproducing, with no natural predators. Pet importers want to continue bringing in creatures that find their way into the neighborhood. Contact Congress and Representatives to stop importing exotics. Some owners do register and care for their pets, most do not comply: releasing, rather than responsibly euthanize. I am checking the easement, trees, and under plants in Flamingo Park before poking around!
S. C. Green
3:25 PM, 1/13/2010

Ban sought on importing giant invasive snakes

http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanager/_photos/science-fair/2010/03/11/Burmesepythonx-wide-community.jpg

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to keep giant invasive snakes from being imported into the United States and also make it illegal to transport them across state lines.

As part of that process, it's asking for public comment on its plan.

The Service originally published a proposed rule in the Federal Register to designate the Burmese python and eight other large constrictor snakes "injurious wildlife" under the Lacey Act in 2008. The public comment period begins Friday, March 12 and will continue for 60 says, says Fish and Wildlife spokesman Ken Warren. You can go here to comment. A risk assessment is available here.

Burmese pythons (also known as Indian pythons) are already established across thousands of square miles in south Florida. There's also a population of boa constrictors established south of Miami, Warren says. There's even good evidence of a population of northern African pythons reproducing on the western edges of Miami.

Other snakes that would be covered under the proposed rule are the reticulated python, southern African python, yellow anaconda, DeSchauensee's anaconda, green anaconda, and Beni anaconda.

None are native to the United States.

An assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey found all the species posed a high or medium risk to the health of our ecosystems.

Burmese pythons and other large constrictor snakes are very adaptable to new environments and prey on a wide variety and size of animals. That's especially worrisome to already endangered species. For example, two Burmese pythons found near Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Florida had remains of three endangered Key Largo woodrats in their stomachs.

Since 2000, more than 1,300 Burmese pythons have been removed from Everglades National Park and vicinity.

By Elizabeth Weise

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/03/fish-and-wildlife-seeks-to-ban-importing-giant-invasive-snakes-/1

Here's a guy doing the sort of careful caretaking that Germanic folk are always found doing, by contrast with jews, who have always hated animals because they haven't yet found a way to sue them for anti-semitism.

Nothing rattles snake expert
Volunteer is helping museum re-tag reptile collection

By Joe Tash, SPECIAL TO THE UNION-TRIBUNE
Saturday, March 13, 2010

http://media.signonsandiego.com/img/photos/2010/03/12/UTI1504673_t352.jpg

SAN DIEGO — Dick Schwenkmeyer was a teenager in the 1940s when he and a buddy caught a 5-foot-long, red diamond rattlesnake in a Del Cerro canyon and carried the reptile in their hands as they walked home past what was then called San Diego State College.

“We walked right through the middle of campus just to create a sensation,” Schwenkmeyer said. The large rattler was later put on exhibit at the San Diego Zoo.

Schwenkmeyer’s boyhood explorations through San Diego’s canyons sparked a lifelong fascination with snakes and other reptiles and San Diego County’s habitat. It also led to a career as a biology teacher and a 66-year association with the San Diego Natural History Museum that continues today.

“I don’t know of anybody else like Dick Schwenkmeyer,” said Bradford Hollingsworth, curator of herpetology at the Natural History Museum. “He’s a walking history book.”

When he’s not out hiking in the canyons around his Tierrasanta home, Schwenkmeyer, 81, can often be found in a windowless basement laboratory at the museum where he is volunteering on a three-year project to put new tags on the institution’s collection of 75,000 preserved reptile and amphibian specimens. Schwenkmeyer himself caught about 450 of the creatures.

“We have the largest rattlesnake collection in the world,” which includes 9,800 specimens, said Schwenkmeyer, as he showed visitors the banks of movable shelves holding row upon row of clear jars with white lids. The jars contain snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, salamanders, crocodiles and other species. The collection dates to 1891.

As a boy, Schwenkmeyer landed a job at the zoo sweeping up the sidewalks in Bear Canyon before moving to the zoo’s reptile house. That job led to an association with Laurence Klauber, chief executive of San Diego Gas & Electric Co., who also collected and studied rattlesnakes and was considered the world’s foremost authority on the subject.

Through Klauber, Schwenkmeyer began participating in programs at the Natural History Museum, and after serving in Korea and Japan during the Korean War, Schwenkmeyer returned to San Diego and studied zoology in college.

“My mother convinced me I’d never make a living as a snake man, so I changed my major and went into education,” Schwenkmeyer said.

He taught biology in San Diego junior and senior high schools, and later worked for 22 years as a biology professor at San Diego Mesa College. During his teaching career, he also led field expeditions and camping trips throughout San Diego County and Baja California as a part-time employee of the museum.

Since his retirement from teaching, Schwenkmeyer has continued his work at the museum on a volunteer basis.

The re-tagging project involves taking the specimens from their jars, in which they are preserved in an ethanol solution, and tying new numbered tags on their legs that link back to information in the museum’s computerized database.

On a recent morning, Schwenkmeyer worked with geckos about 2 inches long, native to desert areas in San Diego County. The painstaking process involved securing the tags with string to the lizards’ rear legs.

“We call it Zen-like, you get in a rhythm,” said Laura Williams, a collections technician at the museum.

The work is carried out by eight to 10 volunteers, and will help keep the collection organized for researchers who study the specimens.

Keeping Schwenkmeyer and Williams company was a live rattlesnake named Chaos, which hissed and shook its rattle furiously when visitors approached its enclosure.

From April through June, he said, the four species of rattlesnake found in San Diego County — red diamond, southern Pacific, speckled and sidewinder — become much more active, posing a potential danger to hikers.

The best way for hikers to avoid a snake bite, he said, is to keep an eye on the trail and stay at last three feet away from rattlers. “When you’re on the trail, keep your eyes on the trail. If you want to look at the scenery, stop walking and then look.”

Schwenkmeyer said he’s never been bitten by a rattlesnake, but has been nipped by king and gopher snakes. As a teenager working at the zoo, he was bitten on the hand by a 9-foot boa constrictor and had to pry the snake’s jaws open with a screwdriver.

At home, Schwenkmeyer keeps two rosy boa constrictors — one of which he has owned for 47 years — and a desert tortoise as pets. “I like them better than cats and dogs. They’re absolutely no trouble,” he said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/13/nothing-rattles-snake-expert/

Snakes are dying in Florida - and no one seems to care

By Bryan Brasher on March 13, 2010 3:09 PM Share: submit to reddit Share on

A special hunting season for wild pythons began Monday in South Florida and will continue through April 17.

So for the next few weeks, anyone with a Florida hunting license and a $26 snake-hunting permit can kill Burmese pythons, rock pythons, green anacondas and several other species of slithery non-native repitles that have gotten out of in control in the Sunshine State.

The whole situation is utterly bizarre.

What I find strangest about it, though, is that the animal rights advocates - the people who are normally so vocal about issues like this - have said barely a word throughout the entire ordeal.

Every time you hear mention of a special urban hunt to lower whitetail deer populations, the animal rights people come out of the woodworks. A few years back, the save-the-animals brigade even said it was inhumane to use poison on fire ant mounds in my backyard.

So why aren't they shouting from the roof tops about this Florida snake massacre?

Where's the love for the creepy-crawly critters that can swallow a house cat or squeeze a black lab to death?

http://blogs.commercialappeal.com/outdoors_blog/2010/03/its-open-season-on-pythons-in-the-florida-everglades.html

[From Ooztrahlya]

'Tis the season for creepy crawlies
ELLEN LUTTON
March 14, 2010 - 2:11PM

http://images.brisbanetimes.com.au/2010/03/14/1220528/snakeman420-420x0.jpg

Are the mozzies so bad you’re vacuuming the walls before you go to bed? Or have you spotted a python or two in your ceiling of late?

The weather in southeast Queensland recently may have topped up our dams – but it’s also filled our gardens and houses with the dreaded creepy crawlies.

Mosquito controllers have been out in full force trying to tackle the latest tidal wave of buzzing, while six Queenslanders were taken to hospital last week suffering snake bites.

Among those treated was a 15-month-old Bundaberg boy who was bitten on the stomach and a 26-year-old man taken to Ipswich Hospital with a suspected brown snake bite.

Snake catcher Simon Grainger, who is called out to houses within the Brisbane City Council and Redlands areas, says the past couple of weeks have been very busy.

He said he had been called out to Brisbane’s bayside suburbs in particular, where people were mainly finding pythons and tree snakes in their yards or houses – but he had seen other more dangerous species as well.

"I’ve been out to Redland Bay, Capalaba, Cleveland … I’ve had a few black snakes and just the other day a red bellied black snake," he said.

"You could say it’s a mixture of the heat and rain that brings the snakes out.

"It’s coming into the months where they will be slowing down, so in the current weather they’re out looking for food."

Mr Grainger said it was a food chain reaction that started with the smallest of the creepy crawlies.

"What’s happened is that the rain has brought out food for the snakes," he said.

"The ants and the spiders come out in this weather, then the lizards and frogs come out to eat them, then the snakes come out to eat the frogs … it’s just the normal food chain and it’s been amplified by the weather we’ve had.

"Despite the increase in visibility of snakes, I need to remind people that killing them is illegal – they are a protected species – and if you spot one, keep an eye on it and call a wildlife rescue centre."

Brisbane City Council entomologist Mike Muller said he had received a phone call from a Wynnum resident who had never seen the mosquitoes so bad in the 20 years she had lived there.

"She said her family were vacuuming the ceilings and the walls before they went to bed because they were covered in mozzies," Mr Muller said.

"It’s times like this that I realise how effective our spraying is, because just think of how bad things would be living in southeast Queensland if we didn’t treat this problem regularly."

Mr Muller said getting helicopters up into the air to spray was made difficult with the recent near-cyclonic conditions.

"The helicopters were grounded for a few days and instead of getting the job done in one day, it was spread over four days which means a lot of the (mosquito) larvae…it would have been too late."

Once the larvae had hatched, the mosquitos were willing to travel halfway across Brisbane to find their perfect feed, Mr Muller said.

"We’ve seen saltmarsh mosquitos spread from Boondall Wetlands all the way to Chermside, Ascot and Hamilton.

"We’ve fielded calls from Carindale and Norman Park with mosquito problems that have started out at Wynnum," he said.

Mr Muller said the tiniest pockets of water around people’s homes was always the hardest to control.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/lifestyle/tis-the-season-for-creepy-crawlies-20100314-q5rj.html

[From Ooztrahlya]


http://images.brisbanetimes.com.au/2010/03/14/1220528/snakeman420-420x0.jpg



That snake you see is a Six foot 'Red Belly Black' Snake which are very venomous but by no means the most venomous of Australia's reptiles. I've seen a monster Red Belly on a Forestry Trail which may have been more than 10 Feet long. On the "Indian Cobra" scale, a Red Belly is about 2X Cobras. We've got some snakes here that are worth 50X Cobra's.

As if their poison wasn't enough, there are more problems with Aussie snakes:

They are SILENT and NOCTURNAL. This means unlike your Rattlesnakes, our bastards don't give you any warning, so if you're gonna get bitten, it will likely be at night. A careless woman went out barefoot at night to get her washing off the line in Suburbia and steps on a Death Adder. These are a horrible beast, so named because until the 1940's when an antidote was discovered, more than HALF of all victims who were bitten died within hours. The woman was bitten a dozen times. Poor thing must have been jumping up and down on the beast, she was dead in a few hours hours.

A few years ago two blokes were camping out bush. At night one of them, named Bluey, went into the scrub to do his 'business' while his mate was tending the camp fire. Suddenly his mate hears a loud scream' 'what's up mate, are you orright? he yells. 'No mate,' came the reply, 'I was squatting down having a 'pony and trap' when, bugger me, a large brown snake bit me by fastening itself on me 'old fella'.

His mate asks, 'Strewth Blue, what do you want me to do? He says, "Mate could you get on the bloody wireless and call the flying doctor and ask them bastards what treatment they reckon is best"

He radios the Flying Doctor who tell him the best treatment is to 'Suck the poison out'. Startled at the unthinkable prospect of sucking blue's old fella, he gently asks the Nurse what would he happen if he didn't do it.

'You mate will be dead inside five minutes' says the Nurse.

He put down the transceiver and thinks for a moment. Meanwhile Bluey, anxious to hear what the flying Doctor service had to say asks, 'What did they say mate, what's gonna happen to me?

'His old mate says quietly, 'She said you've got five minutes to live'.

Woman killed by African black mamba she kept in her New York home along with 75 others

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated on 17th June 2011

A black mamba, one of the world's most poisonous snakes, is suspected in the death of a woman who kept 75 of the creatures in pens her New York home.

Aleta Stacey, 56, was found dead surrounded by snakes in her house in Putnam Lake, New York, by her boyfriend.

Police were called to the home on Tuesday, about 65 miles from New York City, and discovered approximately 75 snakes in glass aquariums and acrylic snake pens.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/06/17/article-0-001937DD00000258-228_468x372.jpg
Deadly: The black mamba (example pictured) is one of the deadliest snakes in the world

THE WORLD'S DEADLIEST SNAKE

Black mambas are fast, nervous, lethally venomous, and when threatened, highly aggressive.

Black mambas live in the savannas and rocky hills of southern and eastern Africa.

Reaching up to 14 feet they are Africa’s longest venomous snake.

Slithering at speeds of up to 12.5 miles per hour, they are also one of the fastest snakes in the world.

They get their name from the blue-black color of the inside of their mouth, which they display when threatened.

Stacey's boyfriend, Vito Caputo, 46, told investigators that he discovered locks open on an enclosure that housed a five-foot long African black mamba, indicating Stacey was handling the snake and it may have bitten her.

"Possible snake bit wounds on one of her forearms" were found on Stacey's body, according to a statement by the sheriff's office.

Authorities did not rule out foul play in Stacey's demise.

They were awaiting the autopsy results to determine the cause of death

The black mamba is considered the world's most deadly snake, according to the National Geographic Society.

Its bite kills nearly 100 percent of victims unless they are immediately treated with an antivenin.

Untreated, victims typically die within 20 minutes.

The black mamba and the rest of the snakes - some of them venomous - were turned over to the Bronx Zoo, at the direction of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-2004770/56-year-old-woman-killed-African-black-mamba-kept-house-snakes.html#ixzz1PdCozT56

Hi,

Gee, this is my first post. I just want to say how nice it is where a man can still talk his mind.

I have heard of cobra's being keep in the Keys as guards to ward off intruders from people who were into contraband. I am certain that this is true.

We don't need mixing up of species of snakes here in the USA. Look at the birds. You don't see red birds with black birds or bluejays with white birds. Espeicially this is offensive to God when humans degrade themselves and mix with like blacks and whites.:nigdrum:

Keep your eyes open God is ready to pull the plug,
Big Tony

Giant Burmese python discovered in Florida (+video)

A newly found Burmese python has broken previous records in size and egg capacity. The discovery is an indication of just how comfortable the invasive species is in its Florida home.

By Megan Gannon, LiveScience / August 13, 2012

http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2012/0813-burmese-python-florida/13453354-1-eng-US/0813-BURMESE-PYTHON-FLORIDA_full_380.jpg

A double record-setting Burmese python has been found in the Florida Everglades.

NATURE "Invasion of the Giant Pythons" | Interview with Shawn Heflick and Kimberly Wright | PBS - YouTube
Herpetologist Shawn Heflick and Kimberly Wright discuss how a thriving python population in Everglades National Park has made the refuge more a killing ground than a haven for the endangered mammals, trees, plants, birds, turtles and alligators there. Heflick and Navarro are joined by Pugsley, a 13 ft. Burmese python.

At 17 feet, 7 inches (5.3 meters) in length, it is the largest snake of its kind found in the state and it was carrying a record 87 eggs. Scientists say the finding highlights how dangerously comfortable the invasive species has become in its new home.

"This thing is monstrous, it's about a foot wide," said Kenneth Krysko, of the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. "It means these snakes are surviving a long time in the wild, there's nothing stopping them and the native wildlife are in trouble."

The giant female python was discovered in the Everglades National Park and had been stored since May in a freezer at the museum; on Friday, researchers at the museum studied its internal anatomy, making the wild discovery.

Florida is the world capital for invasive reptiles and amphibians, and the Burmese python, native to Southeast Asia, is one of the state's most prominent new residents. The snake was introduced to Florida by the exotic pet trade three decades ago and is now one of the region's deadliest and most competitive predators. [See Photos of Record Burmese Python]

"They were here 25 years ago, but in very low numbers and it was difficult to find one because of their cryptic behavior," Krysko said in a statement from the University of Florida. "Now, you can go out to the Everglades nearly any day of the week and find a Burmese python. We've found 14 in a single day."

Officials worry that the snakes pose a threat to humans, as well as to native, endangered species, which turn up in the pythons' stomachs. This record-breaking, 164.5-pound (75-kg) specimen found in Everglades National Park had feathers in its belly that will be identified by museum ornithologists, the researchers said. Research published this year suggested the pythons are not only eating the Everglades' birds but they're also snatching, and likely swallowing whole birds' eggs.

Population estimates for the Burmese python in Florida range from the thousands to hundreds of thousands, the researchers said. Studying this massive female specimen with dozens of babies on board could help scientists understand how to curb the spread of the python and other invasive animals.

"By learning what this animal has been eating and its reproductive status, it will hopefully give us insight into how to potentially manage other wild Burmese pythons in the future," Krysko said.

Previous state records for Burmese pythons found in the wild were 16.8 feet (5.1 meters) long and 85 eggs, the researchers said.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0813/Giant-Burmese-python-discovered-in-Florida-video

The usually low-rent, tatted-up assholes who bought these damn things to cover up for their tiny pricks then released them into the wild when they grew to toddler-eating size ought to be publicly flayed alive.....:tard::mad:

The usually low-rent, tatted-up assholes who bought these damn things to cover up for their tiny pricks then released them into the wild when they grew to toddler-eating size ought to be publicly flayed alive.....:tard::mad:

Yeah, owning a Burmese is like an IQ test: if you own one, you fail the test. They do not stop growing. There's nothing anyone short of a zoo owner can do with a twelve-foot snake.

If you have to have a python, get a ball python. They stay thick and small and rolled in a ball.

The usually low-rent, tatted-up assholes who bought these damn things to cover up for their tiny pricks then released them into the wild when they grew to toddler-eating size ought to be publicly flayed alive.....:tard::mad:

Funny, your comment made me realize these should be called "muscle snakes." That's the appeal of them to the set you mentioned. The appeal to the tards must be the snakes look like they're on roids. Snake equivalent of pit bulls or other tuff dogs.

I had a lot of snakes growing up, but they were colubrids. Constrictors like boas and pythons, but much slimmer, North American snakes. Good honest respectable snakes. Ratsnakes and kingsnakes. If they had legs, they would drive to a Protestant service, of a Sunday morning.

There have been reports of king cobras being caught in the Everglades. It takes a real nut case to own a venomous reptile as a pet. Now there are people who have exotic venomous reptiles and they raise them to sell.

In less then 20 years I bet cobras will be found in Florida commonly. This is crazy stuff. We need to get rid of these exotic pets and probably their owners should be locked up in mental wards.

Big Tony

Python eats Alligator 02, Time Lapse Speed x6 - YouTube

Now, that was a small gator. They will eat larger ones.


http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/images/051006_pythoneatsgator.jpg

Updated September 5, 2006—Unfortunately for a 13-foot (4-meter) Burmese python in Florida's Everglades National Park, eating the enemy seems to have caused the voracious reptile to bust a gut—literally.

Wildlife researchers with the South Florida Natural Resources Center found the dead, headless python in October 2005 after it apparently tried to digest a 6-foot-long (2-meter-long) American alligator. The mostly intact dead gator was found sticking out of a hole in the midsection of the python, and wads of gator skin were found in the snake's gastrointestinal tract.

The gruesome discovery suggests that the python's feisty last meal might have been simply too much for it to handle.

An alternative theory will be put forth in a September 16 Explorer episode on the National Geographic Channel.

(National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society, which is part owner of the National Geographic Channel.)

An animated recreation of the python-alligator battle suggests that the python might have survived its massive meal but that a second gator came to the rescue and bit off the snake's head. The force of the tussle, the new theory says, is what caused the python to burst.

But even scientists associated with the show aren't so sure the new theory holds water.

Wayne King, reptile curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, cites the relatively clean decapitation of the snake. "Alligators, they don't bite off a piece," he told McClatchey Newspapers. "They grab hold, then they roll and spin. If one grabs you by the arm, normally they wrench the arm off, or if they grab you by the buttocks, they'll rip away a chunk of meat."

Clashes between alligators and pythons have been on the rise in the Everglades for the past 20 years. Unwanted pet snakes dumped in the swamp have thrived, and the Asian reptile is now a major competitor in the alligator's native ecosystem. (See "Huge, Freed Pet Pythons Invade Florida Everglades.")

"Clearly if [pythons] can kill an alligator, they can kill other species," Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor, told the Associated Press. "There had been some hope that alligators can control Burmese pythons. … This [event] indicates to me it's going to be an even draw."
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1006_051006_pythoneatsgator.html

Giant snake vomits an entire cow in Brazil

Wed, 28 Nov 2012

A video posted on YouTube of an giant snake regurgitating an entire cow has gone viral, ratcheting up over 700,000 views on YouTube in the just five days.

In the minute and half clip, a green anaconda with a large bump in its scaly body can be seen writhing on the shallow river bed. The snake then proceeds to open its mouth and throw up the entire undigested carcass of the animal into the jungle swamp.

The sickening video was posted on the site by MrCocktail888 on 23 November and was allegedly filmed in Brazil. Whilst the reasons for the anaconda to vomit his prey are unknown, it could be because the animal felt threatened and needed to regurgitate its food in order to make a quick escape if needed.

The South American snake is known to feast on a variety of animals, from fish and birds, to deer and even jaguars. The largest animal on record to have been consumed by a constrictor is a 59-kg impala, eaten by a 4.8m long African rock python in 1955.

Not everyone is convinced that the regurgitated dinner was indeed a cow. Some YouTube commentators have said the creature might actually be a capybara, a large guinea-pig like rodent that is native to South America.

The green anaconda is a type of boa constrictor, a non-venomous snake that kills its prey through coiling round its victim and squeezing until they suffocate. The stretchy ligaments of their jaws mean they can swallow any animal whole, meaning that a cow would have been no problem to eat.

Pound for pound the green anaconda is the largest snake in the world. When fully grown, the reptile can measure more than 8.8m and weigh more than 230kg, according to National Geographic.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2238881/Pictured-Shocking-moment-giant-anaconda-regurgitates-COW.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

...more than 8.8m and weigh more than 230kg...

Nearly 29 feet long. 506 lbs. That's not a snake. That's a dinosaur.

Mike

Nearly 29 feet long. 506 lbs. That's not a snake. That's a dinosaur.

Mike


There's a video of the thing. Someone can post it, my adobe flash keeps crash.

I fucking hate adobe, worst company in software.

There's a video of the thing. Someone can post it, my adobe flash keeps crash.

I fucking hate adobe, worst company in software.

Hallelujah and amen.

Funny, your comment made me realize these should be called "muscle snakes." That's the appeal of them to the set you mentioned. The appeal to the tards must be the snakes look like they're on roids. Snake equivalent of pit bulls or other tuff dogs.

Yeah - the tats/ear-disks cunts. The Tank-Toppers, forever showing off their "guns"....:rolleyes:

I had a lot of snakes growing up, but they were colubrids. Constrictors like boas and pythons, but much slimmer, North American snakes. Good honest respectable snakes. Ratsnakes and kingsnakes. If they had legs, they would drive to a Protestant service, of a Sunday morning.



Real Amurricuns, by gawd - not wetback serpentes trash!

This forum software is inconsistent in its new post heads-upping.

It's denying me my RIGHTFUL opportunities to OPINE.....

I've never had the pythons or boas. They just get too large and honestly, they are kind of fat and lazy. Curl up and hide somewhere, don't do shit. The other variety of snakes are way more active.

I've had king snakes, pine snakes, corn snakes and rat snakes caught from Wisconsin which get to be long, are quite beautiful, never, ever have I had a feeding issue with them, either. I've also collected Hognose snakes and was able to get them to not only eat their natural diet of frogs, toads, salamanders and lizards but frozen prepared foods and freshly killed mice and rats.

Also, when you get through with them, you can just let the snake go because they are native to where you live. They will not be "domesticated" and they will go straight back into the forest, park, grain silo or field you found them and do their thing.

States are being overrun by people who do what I did with hognosed snakes with anacondas, burmese pythons, reticulated pythons, etc. They are 15, 20+ fucking feet modern day dinosaurs. From the thread, that is a great term for them. Apart from zoos and pro herpetologists, nobody should own them. You have to get a license to own 2 dogs in America but any shit-for-brains can go down to the pet shop and buy legit 15+ footers menaces to ecology and society.

Everybody gets them when they are cute but they don't conceive of it being 50 pounds of pure muscle and wrath that laughs at the pet store rat and wants to be fed rabbits and broaster roosters.

Good luck, fucker. Those things will literally eat you out of house and home. Until you throw 'em out the car down south. Like a loser.

Edit: My suggestion for people with hard-ons for owning pythons and boas would be to get Australian pythons. Beauty, activity, appropriate size and demeanor. Ah, but if you got one of those, it wouldn't add 2 inches to your dick, now would it, Cleatus?

Some snakes have beautifully colored markings and are interesting to watch, but I like my pets to be capable of affection and play. Snakes seem to just be mindless predators.

You might be more of a lizard man, N.B.

:)

I haven't had exotic pets since I was a child and I've got a hankering to get one.

I'm looking at the smaller varieties of boas now, about 4 to 5 foot ones.

VNN is the best.

Snakes maintain a dignified reserve in contradistinction to god's furry, emotionally needy creatures.

Snakes are living jewelry; they ennoble all around them. I find their chaste decorum and proclivity for ridding their environs of vermin exemplary.

I see snakes out here all the time, usually huge ass rat snakes, or garter snakes, and sometimes copperheads. Garter snakes are actually the most aggressive of those 3, they will raise hell if you try to grab them. I've picked up rat snakes and copperheads before and they remained docile. Find a big old rat snake and throw it in under your craw space and it will take care of your rodent problem if you got one. Now if we just had a snake that ate Jews.....

I see snakes out here all the time, usually huge ass rat snakes, or garter snakes, and sometimes copperheads. Garter snakes are actually the most aggressive of those 3, they will raise hell if you try to grab them. I've picked up rat snakes and copperheads before and they remained docile. Find a big old rat snake and throw it in under your craw space and it will take care of your rodent problem if you got one. Now if we just had a snake that ate Jews.....

The last snake I saw in my yard was about 10 years ago: a garter (one would think I'd see many more, since my property is surrounded by overgrown fields & bordering woods). You could tell that it was a touchy creature, too; reacted nervously when I walked past.

Farmer bites back snake to death in tit-for-tat attack in MP
P Naveen, TNN Jul 26, 2013, 04.56PM IST

BHOPAL: An angry farmer who was bitten by a snake bit it back and killed the reptile in a retaliatory attack, in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday night.

Nilabh Dhurvey chased the snake, which bit him on his right thumb, caught it and killed it by biting it to pieces.

"I survived the bite only because I bit him to death," the 30-year-old Dhurvey, who lives in Macchiborgaon village, some 40km from district headquarters and 215km south of state capital of MP, told doctors at district hospital.

The incident took place at around 7.30pm on Wednesday when Dhurvey, member of the Korkhu community (categorised in Primitive Tribe Group - PTGs), was returning home after grazing his cattles.

As soon as the snake bit him, he pounced upon the snake and bit it to pieces - as Dhurvey told to his treating medico Dr Rahul Shrivastav, at the district hospital. "I have seen more than 200 cases of snake bites since my posting in this tribal dominated area, this was the first of its kind," Dr Shrivastav told TOI.

The doctors administered him only a loading doze of the polyvalent anti-snake venom serum and he was out of danger. He will be discharged by Friday, they said, adding his vengeance was followed by an old belief that biting back a snake ends risk to life. Dhurvey believes that he would have succumbed to poison if he had allowed the snake to escape.

Forest officials said that Dhurvey is out of danger, and would not be charged with killing the snake unless the species of the reptile is identified. "Initially, it seemed that this snake was not among the endangered species," said a forest ranger.

While state forest department government provides compensation for the loss of human life by wild animals except snake and monitor lizard (guhera), the revenue department pays Rs 50,000 to the dependents in case of death by snake bites.

Experts on reptiles claim, Betul district has a large variety of non-poisonous snakes like rat-snake, chequered keelback, and kukri. While poisonous snakes found in the area includes, cobra, krait and Russell's vipers. According to officials figures, 800 people have died in MP by snake bites in the last seven months.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-07-26/bhopal/40813738_1_snake-bites-betul-district-monitor-lizard

Snakes rescued ahead of Nag Panchami
TNN | Jul 28, 2013, 12.19 AM IST

HYDERABAD: The Wildlife Protection Society and several other organisations working for animal welfare rescued as many as 20 snakes including seven pythons from snake charmers in the wee hours of Saturday, a fortnight ahead of Nag Panchami.

Authorities, who are taking necessary steps including visiting the major activity hubs of snake charmers and stationing teams at bus stations, said this time the snake charmers, if caught, will be prosecuted. Mahesh Agarwal, special officer, Wildlife Crime Control Board, said, "So far, we have managed to rescue 20 snakes including 7 pythons, three patched sand boas and 10 cobras. They were rescued from Vijayawada highway."

According to Agarwal, the reptiles were being transported to various parts of the state from Srikakulam and West Godavari by a seven-member and a four-member gang of snake charmers respectively. Snake charmers and collectors display the reptiles in public and offer them to people for worshipping for a fee on the day of Nag Panchami that will be observed on August 11 this year.

Wildlife officials said that they started the rescue operations a fortnight before this year so that the snake charmers do not cause harm to the reptiles. "Snake charmers subject snakes to various types of cruelties. Devotees should perform rituals only at temples," said Agarwal.

Rescuers said that snakes cannot digest milk as it is not their natural diet. Milk causes severe dehydration, allergic reactions and dysentery in snakes, at times even causing death. But during Nag Panchami, they are fed milk by the public as part of the rituals. Venomous snakes, including the Indian cobra, are protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (1972) and catching snakes or causing injury to them is a legal offence punishable under the Act, officials said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Snakes-rescued-ahead-of-Nag-Panchami/articleshow/21409388.cms

Venomous snakes seized after Clearfield house fire

July 26, 2013, by Ben Winslow

CLEARFIELD — Authorities seized a half-dozen venomous snakes — including an exotic viper — from a home here after firefighters stumbled upon them while trying to extinguish a kitchen fire.

Firefighters responded to a home near 950 East 1150 South on Friday. Inside, firefighters found cages of snakes. Davis County Animal Control officers said that of the 28 snakes inside, five are rattlesnakes and one is a Gaboon viper; the rest are boa constrictors and pythons.

The Gaboon viper, native to Africa, is considered one of the most dangerous in the world. It has 2-inch long fangs and its venom is especially potent.

“It has very big fangs and they can strike a long ways and they’re very fast, too,” said Jim Dix with Reptile Rescue, which took custody of the serpents from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. “So it is dangerous and it is not a beginner snake. It’s not something you would want loose in a neighborhood.”

Davis County Animal Control Officer Jamie Stell told FOX 13 the venomous snakes are illegal to possess in Utah.

“Because of the propensity of being bitten,” she explained. “Availability of things like anti-venom, because with the viper I heard the closest anti-venom is in Florida. It’s not good to have something where you can’t get treatment for it.”

Dix said they were well cared for and said the owner, whom he knows, knew what he was doing. Still, he said, the man did not have the permits.

State wildlife officers on scene said the man could face misdemeanor charges for possessing the venomous snakes. Formal charges would be screened at a later date.

Dix said he has been dealing with a spike in exotic pet smuggling in Utah. Over the past three years, he said, Reptile Rescue has recovered 30 alligators from various spots across the state.

“They’ve been loose on alfalfa farms, in the Kaysville Botanical Gardens Pond, a couple out of Hill Air Force Base that people owned illegally and one out of a Del Taco Dumpster in Lake Point,” he told FOX 13.

http://fox13now.com/2013/07/26/venomous-snakes-seized-after-clearfield-house-fire/

Venomous snakes seized after Clearfield house fire

July 26, 2013, by Ben Winslow

CLEARFIELD — Authorities seized a half-dozen venomous snakes — including an exotic viper — from a home here after firefighters stumbled upon them while trying to extinguish a kitchen fire.

Firefighters responded to a home near 950 East 1150 South on Friday. Inside, firefighters found cages of snakes. Davis County Animal Control officers said that of the 28 snakes inside, five are rattlesnakes and one is a Gaboon viper; the rest are boa constrictors and pythons.

The Gaboon viper, native to Africa, is considered one of the most dangerous in the world. It has 2-inch long fangs and its venom is especially potent.

“It has very big fangs and they can strike a long ways and they’re very fast, too,” said Jim Dix with Reptile Rescue, which took custody of the serpents from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. “So it is dangerous and it is not a beginner snake. It’s not something you would want loose in a neighborhood.”

Davis County Animal Control Officer Jamie Stell told FOX 13 the venomous snakes are illegal to possess in Utah.

“Because of the propensity of being bitten,” she explained. “Availability of things like anti-venom, because with the viper I heard the closest anti-venom is in Florida. It’s not good to have something where you can’t get treatment for it.”

Dix said they were well cared for and said the owner, whom he knows, knew what he was doing. Still, he said, the man did not have the permits.

State wildlife officers on scene said the man could face misdemeanor charges for possessing the venomous snakes. Formal charges would be screened at a later date.

Dix said he has been dealing with a spike in exotic pet smuggling in Utah. Over the past three years, he said, Reptile Rescue has recovered 30 alligators from various spots across the state.

“They’ve been loose on alfalfa farms, in the Kaysville Botanical Gardens Pond, a couple out of Hill Air Force Base that people owned illegally and one out of a Del Taco Dumpster in Lake Point,” he told FOX 13.

http://fox13now.com/2013/07/26/venomous-snakes-seized-after-clearfield-house-fire/

Some stoopid bitch bought the farm a while back when she was playing with her "pet" Gaboon Viper....:tard:

Any fools who keep venomous snakes deserve the hideous deaths waiting for them. Like this stereotypical Tuff Guy:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTSVuGK6yYGaU7zIgblM9INHo-aMvdtR5wbHdFgVExdUnFkqx-G

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQHCeqsqV9iBwDwHCxQTTwlfsrdR5-NtmhC2fRauVF0vvoYyizW

Bitis Gabonica

http://www.sareptiles.co.za/gallery/albums/userpics/10006/Gaboon_EA_Male.jpg

Can you dig it?

Some stoopid bitch bought the farm a while back when she was playing with her "pet" Gaboon Viper....:tard:

Any fools who keep venomous snakes deserve the hideous deaths waiting for them. Like this stereotypical Tuff Guy:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTSVuGK6yYGaU7zIgblM9INHo-aMvdtR5wbHdFgVExdUnFkqx-G

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQHCeqsqV9iBwDwHCxQTTwlfsrdR5-NtmhC2fRauVF0vvoYyizW

yeah, there are a few too many of these morons, because we see this story several times a year. as i've said before, people don't seem to realize that venom can do a lot of damage short of killing you. even if your life is saved, you can lose a finger or an arm, or have one permanently messed up (things that swell up huge and turn charcoal black don't go back to normal when you get out of the hospital). the venom injection is basically the start of digestion. when the needles puncture your cuticle, you have begun being consumed. you taste good, like an idiot should. is what a snake would say, out of both tines of its tongue, if snakes vouchsafed articulation to their Speise (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Speise).

it is truly dumb to handle venomous snakes. even the comparatively minor venomous snakes as we have in North America (apart from the coral snake, which you're least likely to come across, and which is least likely to bite you, altho its poison is old-world dangerous if it did).

http://www.sareptiles.co.za/gallery/albums/userpics/10006/Gaboon_EA_Male.jpg

They are one impressively deadly-looking variety of death rope, that's for sure: heads as broad as a driver golf club.

Other brands that scream "Fuck with me, and I will KILL your ass...." are the king cobra & the black mamba. Shit, the mambas will actually chase you....:eek:

http://www.sareptiles.co.za/gallery/albums/userpics/10006/Gaboon_EA_Male.jpg

They are one impressively deadly-looking variety of death rope, that's for sure: heads as broad as a driver golf club.

Other brands that scream "Fuck with me, and I will KILL your ass...." are the king cobra & the black mamba. Shit, the mambas will actually chase you....:eek:

They're awesome looking. My fingers itch to pick the Gabooni up. But this is where self-control must kick in.

African Rock Python escapes from pet store in Canada, kills two white children upstairs.

http://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2013/08/05/escape_snake_kills_two_new_brunswick_children/connor_and_noah.jpg.size.medium2.promo.jpg

Savoie, the pet shop owner, told Global News that the dead boys were his “best friend’s kids” and they were like an extended family.

“I have so many mixed emotions right now it’s ridiculous. I can’t believe this is real,” Savoie told Global. “I feel like they’re my kids.” You have mixed emotions? Do you know what 'mixed emotions' means?

“There is nobody to blame. The snake broke out of its enclosure. The enclosure locked. There was no negligence. This is a terrible accident,” read one of Reptile Ocean’s posts. Yeah, um, you're supposed to be smarter than the snake. If the snake was able to break out, then the enclosure wasn't strong enough. That is certainly negligence on the owner's part.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/08/05/escape_snake_kills_two_new_brunswick_children.html

African Rock Python escapes from pet store in Canada, kills two white children upstairs.

http://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2013/08/05/escape_snake_kills_two_new_brunswick_children/connor_and_noah.jpg.size.medium2.promo.jpg

Savoie, the pet shop owner, told Global News that the dead boys were his “best friend’s kids” and they were like an extended family.

“I have so many mixed emotions right now it’s ridiculous. I can’t believe this is real,” Savoie told Global. “I feel like they’re my kids.” You have mixed emotions? Do you know what 'mixed emotions' means?

“There is nobody to blame. The snake broke out of its enclosure. The enclosure locked. There was no negligence. This is a terrible accident,” read one of Reptile Ocean’s posts. Yeah, um, you're supposed to be smarter than the snake. If the snake was able to break out, then the enclosure wasn't strong enough. That is certainly negligence on the owner's part.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/08/05/escape_snake_kills_two_new_brunswick_children.html

I don't quite understand this behavior of the snake. I thought they only killed in order to eat. And why wasn't one kid awakened by the death struggle of the other one, and therefore able to escape? Can one of those fuckers kill 2 kids at once? *shrug*

“I thought they were sleeping until I seen the hole in the ceiling. Everything had fallen, and I turned the lights on and I seen this horrific scene.”


I think we may have our answer as to why the goddam snake escaped....:tard:

I don't quite understand this behavior of the snake. I thought they only killed in order to eat. And why wasn't one kid awakened by the death struggle of the other one, and therefore able to escape? Can one of those fuckers kill 2 kids at once? *shrug*



I think we may have our answer as to why the goddam snake escaped....:tard:

Good questions. And maybe I got the downstairs upstairs mixed up.

Possible the snake was interrupted. I know if a snake comes across, say, a nest of newborn mice, pinkies, it will usually eat them all.

One of my earliest memories was of my grand mama throwing a log onto a snake. I've been wary ever since. I just cut their heads off with a hoe.

One of my earliest memories was of my grand mama throwing a log onto a snake. I've been wary ever since. I just cut their heads off with a hoe.

My grandparents killed snakes on sight, but that's an old country attitude, born of no quick access to doctors and widespread rattlesnakes. Today snakes are fewer and appreciated. At least by me. Snakes eat insects and mice, if one wants to get all utilitarian about it; more significantly they are beautiful and quiet - something we can all aspire to.

My grandparents killed snakes on sight, but that's an old country attitude, born of no quick access to doctors and widespread rattlesnakes. Today snakes are fewer and appreciated. At least by me. Snakes eat insects and mice, if one wants to get all utilitarian about it; more significantly they are beautiful and quiet - something we can all aspire to.

Message recieved.;)

How did the screams of the attack of the first child not cause the second child to scream out...and run...and seek help before this second child was killed.

I can make no sense out of this.

How did the screams of the attack of the first child not cause the second child to scream out...and run...and seek help before this second child was killed.

I can make no sense out of this.

If you'd ever had even a small constrictor around your neck you wouldn't ask that. It is astonishing how much power even a 3-4' comparatively thin ratsnake can exert; and that's single-A ball next to a full-grown African python.

tracking baby pine snakes

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/tracking-devices-shed-light-secret-lives-baby-snakes-6C10868300

I don't get the point of the child killings in the first place. The snake didn't eat them. Do they kill just for the hell of it? Do they attempt to kill automatically, intending to eat, but pinch off more than they can chew? *shrug*

I don't get the point of the child killings in the first place: the snakes didn't eat them. Do the kill just for the hell of it? *shrug*

I don't know. It's a bizarre story, and apparently causing quite a tizzy in Canada.

So...this 100-lb snake comes crashing down through the ceiling in the middle of the night...then, collects itself, staggers to its feet, grabs a sleeping-kiddie throat in each hand, and squeezes out a couple winners.

*shrug*

I don't get it either. They are still posting stories on this. One said the kids were playing with farm animals earlier in day, so maybe they had smell on them. I would think they washed up before bed, but...

You know, since it's "reporting" we can be sure we'll never get any actual facts, like how did the snake

1) not wake them up when it came through the ceiling

2) how did it kill one without waking the other

3) why didn't it eat or attempt to eat either one?

I guess it's possible the snake was so upset and frightened by falling through the ceiling it attacked the sleeping kids.

The scenario as presented in the reports I've read doesn't really make sense. It's possible the snake did try to eat one of the kids, and they don't want to say this. But they do talk about autopsies/necrosy, so that doesn't make sense either.

I don't know. It's a bizarre story, and apparently causing quite a tizzy in Canada.

So...this 100-lb snake comes crashing down through the ceiling in the middle of the night...then, collects itself, staggers to its feet, grabs a sleeping-kiddie throat in each hand, and squeezes out a couple winners.

*shrug*

I don't get it either. They are still posting stories on this. One said the kids were playing with farm animals earlier in day, so maybe they had smell on them. I would think they washed up before bed, but...

You know, since it's "reporting" we can be sure we'll never get any actual facts, like how did the snake

1) not wake them up when it came through the ceiling

2) how did it kill one without waking the other

3) why didn't it eat or attempt to eat either one?

I guess it's possible the snake was so upset and frightened by falling through the ceiling it attacked the sleeping kids.

The scenario as presented in the reports I've read doesn't really make sense. It's possible the snake did try to eat one of the kids, and they don't want to say this. But they do talk about autopsies/necrosy, so that doesn't make sense either.

You can't get any sense out of these shits. Either they're covering up facts in pushing the jewline, or they're covering up facts because they're "too gruesome" and are likely to "traumatize the family".....:rolleyes:

You can't get any sense out of these shits. Either they're covering up facts in pushing the jewline, or they're covering up facts because they're "too gruesome" and are likely to "traumatize the family".....:rolleyes:

Here's the Daily Mail. Of course, DM is famous for lying, be it imaginary German atrocities or whatever.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2386648/Noah-Connor-Barthe-Two-angels-killed-snake-mourned-town-hundreds-turn-vigil.html

I see this press problem a a version or variation of the problem Anglo-Saxons have with sex and nudity. These are not problems on the continent, but they are huge problems in Anglo-Saxon culture. I think their inability to cover anything simply and honestly is related to this, or possibly even the same thing, psychologically.

The thing about German society is the calmness. There's a certain bluntness, matter-of-factness that can be almost shocking if you're from a different culture. But, damn, I think it's better. You never get anything in America or Britain that isn't coated.

Just tell the reader the fucking facts first. You can moralize later. But you can never get this. Even in a story where there's no PC involved, like this one, or where it's at best a minor, you still can't get the thing straight.

I mean - fuck - you're a "reporter" - that means you're supposed to tell me WHAT HAPPENED?

How can a snake choke two kids without one of them waking up? Where were the parents sleeping?

But you know, hell, they didn't care enough to give the facts about how the WTC came down, so why would anyone care about the technics of a snake strangulation?

Our opinion: Exotic snakes and deadly consequences
Posted: 08/09/2013 03:00:00 AM EDT

Friday August 9, 2013

The death of two young boys in New Brunswick, Canada, this week brings to light the dangers inherent in keeping certain types of exotic animals as pets.

The boys died from asphyxiation when a 100-pound African rock python escaped from its enclosure, slithered through a ventilation system and fell through the ceiling into the room where the boys were sleeping. They had been visiting the apartment of a friend whose father owned an exotic pet store on the floor below, although police said the 14-foot python had been kept inside the apartment. A snake expert said it was possible that the python was spooked and simply clung to whatever it landed on.

Exotic snakes have been a problem in this country as well, with sometimes dire consequences for humans and the environment. For example, pythons and boa constrictors are a major concern in south Florida and are typically found in the Everglades where they have been released by pet owners and allowed to reproduce unchecked.

A scientific survey published by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences last year showed that areas infested with the pythons and other constrictor snakes since they took hold about 15 years ago had found no rabbits, no foxes and a nearly 90 per cent drop-off in raccoons, opossums and bobcats. And in a case tragically similar to that of the two Canadian boys, a 2-year-old Florida girl died four years ago after being strangled by a pet python that escaped from its aquarium and attacked her in her crib.

Another exotic snake story emerged a little closer to home earlier this week. Police in Burlington reportedly found a 5-foot-long boa constrictor in the parking area at Leddy Park. Fortunately, animal experts from the Vermont Wildlife Refuge Center were contacted, and assisted in the capture of the snake before anyone was hurt.

Unlike the pythons, boa constrictors are not illegal in the United States.

In 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey recommended banning nine species of large constrictor snakes under the Lacey Act. In 2012, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service banned only four species -- Burmese pythons, northern and southern African rock pythons and yellow anacondas. The agency has yet to take action on reticulated pythons, green anacondas, DeSchauensee's anaconda, Beni anaconda and boa constrictors. By banning only four of the nine species, the trade simply shifts and does not solve the problem, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

Boa constrictors, identified as "high risk" by scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, have become established as an invasive species in more areas than any other boa or python species. They have colonized in Puerto Rico and pose serious threats to other states and territories, including Hawaii, where loose boa constrictors are being found with greater frequency.

In the U.S., a dozen people have been killed by African rock pythons, Burmese pythons, reticulated pythons and boa constrictors since 1990.

Based on those facts, and in light of the recent deaths in New Brunswick, the Humane Society is again urging the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to immediately ban the import and interstate transport of those five additional large constrictor snake species for the pet trade.

"The tragic death of these two young children once again illustrates that these powerful wild animals belong in their native countries, not in private hands in the United States," Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the HSUS, said in a statement. "Private ownership of large constricting snakes almost never turns out well for these animals, it puts people at risk, and it threatens our natural resources and native wildlife species. The risks are just too great, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has already taken a positive step by banning the species involved in this tragedy, must act to curb this trafficking of this class of wild animals for the pet trade."

There have been too many cases of these snakes escaping from their enclosures, or being released into the wild when they got too big for their owners to handle. It's time to end the importation and sale of these exotic monsters before they wreak more havoc on the environment and kill more innocent children.

http://www.reformer.com/opinion/ci_23825918/exotic-snakes-and-deadly-consequences

Note: too bad christians brainwashed people into believing that humans are something radically distinct from the animal world - or they could easily see that the warnings above apply 100,000x more strongly to exotic human animals

The owner of Little Ray's Zoo in Ottawa said snakes like the African Rock Python that killed the boys on Monday morning do not visually recognize their prey - but if the boys smelled like food, it could serve as a realistic explanation for the attack - which has left experts puzzled.




So they'll hit anything that smells like food?

Strange beasts....

So they'll hit anything that smells like food?

Strange beasts....

Snakes have lousy vision - they can only see 3-4 feet, from what I've read.

It is true that they are primarily motivated by smell. When I was a kid in Californnia, I had two California kingsnakes. Ideal pets, small constrictors, would always eat, very docile. Normally I fed them mice. One time I fed them a small lizard I caught. One of them bit my finger, probably because it smelled the lizard on my finger and made a mistake.

https://sphotos-b-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/402598_250421915043237_1400751302_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/402598_250421915043237_1400751302_n.jpg

What the hell kinda death rope is that? The body looks huge like a constrictor, but the head is triangular like a viper....*shrug*

What the hell kinda death rope is that? The body looks huge like a constrictor, but the head is triangular like a viper....*shrug*

That has to be an Eastern Diamondback, look at the rings by the tail, the head, and actually that's not a boa pattern on back. That is as big as anything gets in USA. One time I spent a couple weeks in the panhandle of Florida at a place for sportsmen who hunt boars under the pines; this place had some diamondback skins on the wall, and they were from snakes the size of the one in this photo. Just an astonishing span, widthwise. Nothing like that up north. You can find the odd six-foot ratsnake, but it's not even 1/4 as thick as this. This was just a photo on my Facebook, don't know who it is.

I have seen two of one of the rare snakes in USA actually longer than EDs, an Indigo snake. Both in Laguna Atascosa wildlife preserve near South Padre. I've been to that park probably 30x, and that was the only time I've seen indigos. Which feeds my theory that nature is a lot more clock-specific than one would think. Other examples: Pennsylvania: same day, I see three of the same type of spider which I havent seen at all that year. Third example: me and sister both, as kids, catch big catfish, about 6 lb apiece, on separate sides of a farm, when we're fishing for bluegill. It's obvious there are cycles in nature, but in my opinion they are much less loose than one would think. Almost eerily...

That has to be an Eastern Diamondback, look at the rings by the tail, the head, and actually that's not a boa pattern on back. That is as big as anything gets in USA. One time I spent a couple weeks in the panhandle of Florida at a place that had some skins of those things on the wall, and they were that big. Just awesome, there's nothing like that up north. This was just a photo on my Facebook, don't know who it is.

I knew they sometimes grew pretty large, but nothing like THAT....:eek:

Notice that he's got his snake boots on: no fool.

http://www.khon2.com/2013/09/30/snake-killed-on-pali-highway/

Boa run over in Hawaii, where it is illegal to possess snakes.

Don't know the authenticity of this video, but it made the news! WARNING: This stuff is nasty and stomach-turning! [FULL] Snake regurgitating dog, Python regurgitating fully grown dog in Bangkok Video - YouTube