Awful tragedy
 

Two young boys 4 and 6 killed by an escaped Python while they slept in an apartment above a so called Zoo in New Brunswick. (Can) Got the whole of eastern Canada talking. Terribly sad thing to happen. Just sickening.

I heard about this today, so sad and senseless. Prayers go out to the families.

The story was on our news service last night. Appalling... terrible tragedy.

What a stupid way for two boys to die.

Of course the Python is a victim as well....he was just doing what they are supposed to do - and for that had his life forfeited.

The humans who are responsible for this......now they are the ones who should have their life forfeited. Not the poor snake! :(

Am I the only one who finds this story a little fishy? I've owned pythons. It takes a long time for them to finish with one prey and then move onto the next. And they are 100% vulnerable while trying to kill something. Once they're wrapped around something, they have zero self-defense capability. They have no striking distance when coiled up and it takes them a while to uncoil. The second child was not awoken by the noise? It's pretty rare for a constrictor to try to kill what it knows it can't eat. After it had killed the first boy, it's pretty unlikely it went after the next one. Something doesn't add up here.

The shop owner seemed very calm on the TV news. Should he even be giving interviews under the circumstances?

Agree.

When I first heard the story, I assumed these were 6 month old infants who were supposedly killed by the snake.

But a 5 year old AND a 7 year old?

Seems *highly* unlikely.

The ignorance and bogus "facts" in this one are just astounding. My junior high school paper had more intelligent reporters. I guess the folks who fell for the Asiana pilots' names and got fired got new jobs at ABC. Just wow.

Python's Strangling of 2 Boys in Canada Probed - ABC News

I heard this story discussed on BBC radio today and they also said it doesn't add up. They interviewed several experts and they also said the snake doesn't behave like this.

So now the snake was executed - and wasn't even the one who killed the kids?

Oh brother....

I'm with you Baz. Fuch ing arrogant humans.

I read that the snake constricted both of them together at one time, however feasible that is.

Constrictors also don't kill for sport. I don't know if the facts are being sanitized but if a snake like that kills something it is going to eat it as soon as it is dispatched and as it is still coiled around the prey.

my thoughts EXACTLY! My wife and I had this conversation yesterday.

Guns dont kill people, snakes kill people...

Condolences to the family.

I didn't read that the snake ate anyone. I heard it choked them to death.

That's just as unlikely. Snakes constrict, not choke, their prey. And they don't often do so to prey they can't eat. When they wrap around someone and squeeze, it's to either get warm or to keep from falling off. Pythons usually live in trees, so it's their instinct to always have their tail wrapped tightly around something to keep from falling. When they are killing to eat, they go into a wild frenzy. No way in the world this could happen to someone without waking up someone else in the room. It can get messy and violent, even with rats they can easily handle. With prey they cannot handle, it'd be a real fiasco.

We have neighbors behind us who have a pet python. They have three young children of their own and run a daycare. I would think that the parents who bring their children there don't know about the snake yet. Probably daycare rates are really low.......:(

No, you're not the only one.
The snake got out of it's cage in the basement or first floor. It then climbed behind the wall via the ductwork to the attic and crashed through the ceiling. Both boys didn't hear that?
Their friend was in the next room. The snakes owner was on the same floor as well.
Nobody heard anything?
I don't know much about snakes but doesn't the snake bite its prey before constricting?

If it's truly going after prey, it usually strikes at the head and wraps around the body and it's all done in less than a second. If it's a defensive strike, it just strikes and doesn't hold on or try to constrict. When it constricts, it's in a frenzy and trying to kill. They can squeeze pretty tightly when just trying to hang on and keep from slipping off whatever is holding them, like a tree branch or person's arm.

The single most pertinent fact that screams out to me is that anyone who knows anything about large constrictors should know that they are an entirely different snake (much stronger) and should know you must have an over-engineered enclosure to keep it in.

If you just drop it down into a terrarium that "worked fine" for a large snake of equal length, you're just asking for trouble. They can flex outward and pop the thing open at the seams.

If the snake truly broke out, these people were extremely negligent and should be charged thusly in a court of law. I hope some herpetologist steps forward and informs local police.