That scenario = dead snake.

Have you watched a constrictor eat, up close and personal? I've seen it a few hundred times and it's so fast that you have to see it that many times to understand it. They strike in about 1/50 of one second. I think you'd need strobe photography to really capture it well. Once teeth are locked in, they pull it into a coil and begin wrapping. That all takes less than a second. Even someone like me, who is used to handling them and is relatively fearless around them, would probably not be able to uncoil a large constrictor. If it were attacking a human and I had a very large knife, I'd probably stand a chance. Though I'm not even sure cutting off the head would make it loosen its grip. An elderly person with no snake experience wouldn't have the slightest idea of what to do. Beating on it with a stick would not do a thing. Also, when a constrictor is crushing the life out of its prey and the prey tries to gasp for air, each time the prey gasps, the snake is able to squeeze it more. I've had a lot of Pythons and Boas around my shoulders and I'm always careful to not let them get one good wrap around my neck. They are incredibly strong. You really just have to experience it and get that quick little chill to understand how amazing these creatures are.

Cut it along its length, not across. This destroys the structural integrity of it, of course you would probably want to cut over their torso fast as you could. If all the ribs were broken they would have a good chance of dying I would expect, I expect you would be all shredded inside from the pieces. I wonder if it would stroke you out first though...

No, a snake is totally defenseless when it's eating. It cannot just spit out its prey and bite you.

Si, claro! Me gusto mucho tambien!

I don't understand "exotic" pets or the people who would own them. To me, a pet has to be friendly and responsive to me. And present no real danger to me or anyone else.

I have had exactly two experiences with these oddball "exotic" pets. First was a tarantula that was, um, "presented" to me at an acquaintance's appartment years ago. He thought it would be funny to give me a little scare by turning it loose and not telling me he had one. Well, it worked. I saw it coming accross the back of his couch that I was sitting on and absolutely freaked. He started laughing like hell. He stopped when I swatted it off the couch with my forearm and crushed it under the heel of my motorcycle boot. Har har har; joke's on you, ass hole.

Next was about a ten foot constrictor of some kind on a local beach. My wife and I had our then infant son Chris, and our dog Rocky the lab with us. Some guy shows up with a snake in a basket and pulls it out right in front of us. Plenty of open beach where he could have done that, but no, he had to show it off. I told him very politely, very frankly, and very calmly that if it got too close to us I would kill it. He kind of laughed and asked how close was "too close", then tried to assure me it was entirely "safe". He wasn't going to move. Plenty of open beach around us, and he was not going to move. So I retrieved my revolver from the picnic basket to kill it.

Well, he started screaming like hell, trying to gather up his "pet" back into his basket before I killed it. He started calling me all kinds of mean things; he was pretty upset. By now we had a dozen people gathered around, many of them parents with small children playing on the beach. He was snivelling about how he was going to go call the cops. Pretty much everyone chimed in and said "go ahead", then thanked me for running the guy off.

Hey, I don't mind if people keep these things. Just don't surprise me with them or turn them loose around me. Maybe I'm just an insensitive hick or something, but I do think I understand where various critters fit into the scheme of things. Some of these "pets" are anything but. If I see one loose around me I'll simply kill it and move on. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Damn Jeff,
First good laugh I've had in a while!
Christian.

Jeff, the first story sounds about right. But you would have been totally unjustified in killing the guy's snake. I've been bitten by dogs, cats, rats, snakes, stung by a scorpion, bees, wasps, you name it. The snake bites were by far the least painful of any of them. Common household pets can be far more dangerous than a snake, assuming the owner is responsible. Considering the many thousands of dollars people usually spend on their dogs or cats in their lifetime, keeping snake is far cheaper and lower maintenance. My Boa never once had to go to the vet. I fed it every 4-6 wks. and watching it eat was always great entertainment. If I went on vacation for a few weeks, I just made sure the water dish was full before leaving and that was it. Just handling and watching it is also fascinating. They're only exotic pets because so many people know nothing about them and thus few people have them as pets. I've never seen a pet snake just randomly strike at someone who wasn't holding it or holding another food source. They don't just jump off of someone's shoulders to attack a small child. However, I have seen dogs do this and have rarely thought about shooting one.

I was talking about during the constricting, not the ingesting. Prey is dead by then anyway

I thought you were from sweden?:confused:

He is. They're allowed to learn other languages in that country.

Lots of my friends have Boa's. Personally I could care less for them, as long as they are nowhere near me. Once you learn how to handle them its quite easy to be nonchalant around them.

1. Don't reach your hand into the cage when they know they are getting fed. I have seen them strike.

Scares the crap out of me. Where I grew up there was a creek behind my house in Louisiana. Used to take my pellet gun back there and plink as many snakes as I could find. Sure they are varmint control, but jeez the things scare the jesums out of me.

Great work Jeff. I knew someone whose "pet snake" bit a girl on the face. I would not hesitate to kill any snake I found threatening.

I'm sorry I don't see the Pet angle on it.

I don't mind snakes and I'd look at one, but its a threat to the environment, and I've never met anyone who owned one who wasn't a little off in some way.

Jeff, your part about stepping on the Tarantula got a laugh out of me. Exactly what I would do.

I really don't get the exotic pet thing. I also don't understand rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, etc. To each his own I suppose, but I like to actually be able to interact with a pet. As opposed to sticking some animal in a cage and occasionally looking at it. You can play catch with a dog, with a snake......not so much.

To me there's something really morbid about the entertainment value of watching a snake eat stuff that you buy from the pet store. In middle school I caught a California King snake which I kept for a week or so. Beautiful looking snake. I bought a white mouse in the pet store to feed it. I dropped the mouse in the glass terrarium and we all watched. The mouse was visibily shaking as the snake slowly showed interest. Wham, coil, swallow. We let the snake go a couple days later.

The story seems really off. If there was a 16' snake spotted near/in the house I'm taking the kids (and pets) out of there until folks who handle creatures like that find and remove it.

David, how did a pet store mouse know it was in danger? Maybe a wild one might have some instincts left in its genes. But the feeder rats and mice you get at the pet store have never seen anything but other rats or mice and humans. I bought the biggest rats I could get, would drop one in and the rat had no idea he was facing danger. Often it would walk right up to sniff the snake's head, which lasted about 2 seconds. BTW, would you like to know how they make the food you feed your dog or cat? There's nothing wrong with being fascinated by the food chain at work. It's no different if you watch the Discovery Channel. I think everyone should watch something like a snake eating once in a while to remind themselves how easy we have it.

The region is listed as the Australian Tropics. It's possible that snakes are a regular sight in the area, and not normally cause for worry. I don't know, but it's a thought. There's no mention about how strange it is to see a 16 ft python in the area.

Rick, it was a long long time ago - I'm 45 now ;) I have a clear memory of the mouse shaking and hiding in the corner. Maybe it was "smarter" than the average mouse...

I agree it's important to know how nature works. One of our favorite family TV shows is Discovery. Seeing a snake kill and consume is facinating but not something I need to see first hand over and over again. YMMV.

If I actually saw it myself, absent any kind of obvious owner or handler, I would simply kill it. End of story. If one of the neighbors spotted it and could direct me to it, same thing. That simple. If I wasn't quite sure where it was, I just may go looking for it. No waiting for some one to arrive that handles such creatures; it could be long gone and wrapped around, or have bitten, some one's kid or pet. Sorry; no quarter given on this one. Those things have their place, and it's not with us.