women killed by retic....

[Meaningless End]

this is realy sad for the hobby.. i can just feel the ban coming..

for anyone who keeps retics and more importanly for anyone planing to keep them.. check this out.

http://www.wvec.com/news/topstories/stories/wvec_local_102308_python_kills_woman_.13f084d54.html

if anyone wonders why im always trying to talk people out of getting large boids.. thats why.

 

[crpy]

well atleast NEVER work large boids alone ...dang

 

[Mushroom Spore]

well atleast NEVER work large boids alone ...dang

Especially if you're "giving them medication." Even my little sweetheart ball python started acting a little hateful when the vet had to give him some meds for his respiratory infection a couple years ago. A ten or thirteen-foot (the article lists both) snake would be a lot less cute when they started getting pissed.

I really cannot fathom what she could have been thinking, except that maybe she lost respect for the very large, very powerful, very wild animal she was keeping in her home. Or I don't know if "respect" is what I'm looking for...people just have a tendency to forget that animals are what they are, and giant snakes may seem docile but they aren't dogs.

if anyone wonders why im always trying to talk people out of getting large boids.. thats why.

Plenty of people can safely own large boids. People who can't practice proper safety and good common sense are another story.

Stories like this one always tick me off. I LOVE big snakes, and I think albino Burmese are some of the most gorgeous animals around. But I'm five foot one and live alone, and so there will never be a snake over six feet long in my apartment. This woman was apparently doing it right...up until she got comfortable and got lazy and didn't wait until someone else was in the house. It's such a stupid mistake. Ugh.

At least they didn't kill the snake for being a snake.

 

[pitbulllady]

The HSUS already IS, and has been, pushing for a ban on ALL snakes, and they're really ramping it up now. What is so ironic is that I have NEVER, ever heard anyone suggest a ban on horses, or tell anyone to "get out of horses", in spite of the fact that horses kill an average of 38 people per year in the US, and that does NOT count people who die as a result of falling off a horse. Compare this to the eleven known cases of a large boid killing a person in this country since 1980:
Facts:
Eleven known cases of people killed by pet pythons in the United States since 1980
• 2008 (Virginia): A woman was killed by a 13-foot pet reticulated python
• 2006 (Ohio): A man died at the hospital after being strangled by his pet python.
• 2006 (Indiana): A 23-year-old man was killed by his 14-foot pet reticulated python.
• 2002 (Colorado): A man died after his pet Burmese python, who was wrapped loosely around his neck, suddenly constricted.
• 2001 (Pennsylvania): An 8-year-old girl was home alone when she was apparently strangled by her father's pet Burmese python.
• 1999 (Illinois): A couple's 7.5-foot African rock python escaped from an enclosure and killed their 3-year-old son.
• 1996 (New York): A 19-year-old was killed by his 13-foot pet python.
• 1993 (Colorado): A 15-year-old was killed by his brother's 11-foot pet python.
• 1983 (Missouri): A man was crushed to death by his 16-foot pet Burmese python.
• 1982 (Nevada): An 8-foot python escaped from his cage and killed a 21-month-old boy in his crib. The snake belonged to an unrelated man who lived in the house.
• 1980 (Texas): A 7-month-old girl was killed by her father's 8-foot pet reticulated python. The snake had forced his way out of a covered aquarium.*

Of these, the case in which the 8-year-old girl in PA was killed was never satisfactorily solved, since there was a great deal of evidence pointing to a human agent as having been responsible for strangling that child, and the blame being put on the 8-ft. python. On average, 1.5 people in the US are killed by captive snakes per year, including venomous, and while that does not negate the need for caution and common sense when working with ANY potentially dangerous animal, wild or domestic, it does, or rather SHOULD, put the actual statistical risk in perspective. Unfortunately, when it comes to the Animal Rights movement, there's no such thing as common sense. They feed on the public's fear and ignorance like some sort of disgusting vampires, turning it to their advantage, with the gleeful assistance of the sensation-driven media. You run a high risk of death by drowning in a bathtub, or falling off a chair, but you never hear dire warnings not to bathe or use a chair, or demands that bathtubs and chairs be banned, since these things don't rely on the fear factor or emotional issues associated with animals, but dead is dead. It's unfortunate what happened to this woman, but also extremely unfortunate that there are those who would use this unfortunate accident to further their own nefarious agenda.

*information courtesy of Rexano.org

pitbulllady

 

[Shagrath666]

man, i dont work alone with any constrictor over 5 feet, but also I'm a small person. A 10 foot snake should be handled by two maybe three depending on the personality. but of course no one will say on the new "snakes are good pets when handled properly" and no one will blame it on the owner.

 

[GiantVinegaroon]

Too many people in this world are incredibly stupid. This is why I oppose the keeping of giant constrictors.

 

[JohnEDove]

I read another news account of this story that mentioned the snake kept striking at the officers as they tried to capture it, but strangely lacking in all of the reports I've read is any mention of bite marks on the victim.
Has anyone ever seen Retic constrict without first getting a firm hold on the prey?

 

[crpy]

I read another news account of this story that mentioned the snake kept striking at the officers as they tried to capture it, but strangely lacking in all of the reports I've read is any mention of bite marks on the victim.
Has anyone ever seen Retic constrict without first getting a firm hold on the prey?

she might have been holding its head at the time but that would piss it off even more, anybody other than me thinking about Darwin

 

[Red Eyes]

It is unfortunate that a person has lost their life but it's the rest of us who will have to pay the price for their actions (read stupidity). I am amazed at how the snake grows three feet from one story to another (the main story says 10ft long and the 13news video headline says 13ft long).

 

[Meaningless End]

im not opposed to people keeping large constricters .. its more the quantity and experience of people doing it that bothers me. everyone makes a big deal about keeping hots but aperently a burm isnt a big deal...a person can say "ya i dont ever hold my burm unless theres someone else with me" but everyone knows thats a load of crap and exeptions are always made.. i dont know any large boid keepers who at least on rare ocations havent admitted to changeing watter on there own and doing cleaning stuff.. its a good rule but it will be broken at some point by nearly everyone who keeps them.

i will preach all day long about all the reasons not to get a burm, retic, conda, rock.. the reason being is that the people i preach too are on a forum asking a question... once they are ready to keep a snake that size they wont need to ask questions and wont give a dam about what i have to say.. i just wish that breeders and shops would take the sale of theise species more seriously and use the hott keeping comunity as a good model for the way we treat newbies getting boids.

i love large snakes.. personaly the largest any snake in my collection will be my scrub.. she will get about 10 feet. and thats all the snake i want to have to deal with.

 

[Widowman10]

Plenty of people can safely own large boids. People who can't practice proper safety and good common sense are another story.

totally agree. a bit of good common sense can go a looong way with any animal you own.

At least they didn't kill the snake for being a snake.

yes! nothing hacks me off more than people killing animals for being what they are supposed to be.

Facts:
Eleven known cases of people killed by pet pythons in the United States since 1980
• 2008 (Virginia): A woman was killed by a 13-foot pet reticulated python
• 2006 (Ohio): A man died at the hospital after being strangled by his pet python.
• 2006 (Indiana): A 23-year-old man was killed by his 14-foot pet reticulated python.
• 2002 (Colorado): A man died after his pet Burmese python, who was wrapped loosely around his neck, suddenly constricted.
• 2001 (Pennsylvania): An 8-year-old girl was home alone when she was apparently strangled by her father's pet Burmese python.
• 1999 (Illinois): A couple's 7.5-foot African rock python escaped from an enclosure and killed their 3-year-old son.
• 1996 (New York): A 19-year-old was killed by his 13-foot pet python.
• 1993 (Colorado): A 15-year-old was killed by his brother's 11-foot pet python.
• 1983 (Missouri): A man was crushed to death by his 16-foot pet Burmese python.
• 1982 (Nevada): An 8-foot python escaped from his cage and killed a 21-month-old boy in his crib. The snake belonged to an unrelated man who lived in the house.
• 1980 (Texas): A 7-month-old girl was killed by her father's 8-foot pet reticulated python. The snake had forced his way out of a covered aquarium.*

pitbulllady

thank you pitbulllady for your stats, they are always appreciated :worship:

Too many people in this world are incredibly stupid. This is why I oppose the keeping of giant constrictors.

i don't oppose it at all. i oppose stupid people with no common sense keeping giant constrictors.

anybody other than me thinking about Darwin

hahahaha, yes!!!

 

[ballpython2]

This just goes to show that no matter how long you have a wild animal you cant take its instincts out of it at all...this is also why i want a SUPER dwarf reticulated python or not at all.

On a different note i wish people would STOP Dressing up their dogs for any reason.

dogs arent meant to wear clothes at all. and just because you think clothes look cute on your dog doesnt mean he wants the clothes on him...

lets be for real its a pet but its still an animal in general. animals werent born to be put into clothes.

sorry had to vent that real quick.

 

[pitbulllady]

I read another news account of this story that mentioned the snake kept striking at the officers as they tried to capture it, but strangely lacking in all of the reports I've read is any mention of bite marks on the victim.
Has anyone ever seen Retic constrict without first getting a firm hold on the prey?

This is a good point, one that I've certainly considered, and one that was even brought up on another board by someone who admittedly knew very little about snakes. I've had constricting snakes start wrapping around me as I was holding their heads, but as soon as I released, the snake took off like a rocket. In this case, the constricting was just a defense mechanism that replaced the first defense mechanism, which would be to bite. In a FEEDING response, I have yet to see a constricting snake NOT bite; they inevitably bite first then constrict, and a 10-foot Retic would definitely leave bite marks. If the scenario of someone gripping a python by the head, and the snake getting its coils around that person's neck played out, as soon as the person started to black out from lack of oxygen, their grip would have relaxed, and as soon as the panicked snake felt that happen, it would have taken off before the person got past the point of no return, unless there was some underlying medical issue.

pitbulllady

 

[Hedorah99]

I wish someone would get numbers for the amount of retics/burms that are purchased vs the amount that actually make it to large enough size to kill a man. I see a lot being bought at shows and know for a fact there are not that many large snakes in the north east. From the sheer amount of bodies I have had to pick up in my tenure at the zoo coupled with the copious amount of people trying to donate them, I am guessing the number is pretty small.

 

[Meaningless End]

as far as being wraped without a bite.. its rare.. unless of course you have the snake by the back of the head.. much like im sure this women did because she was administering medicne to the snake... i can definatly picture it...

bummer

 

[Skullptor]

Too many people in this world are incredibly stupid.

I couldn't agree with you more.

 

[Tokendog]

If you go to that link you provided, you can click on her name and it takes you to a myspace page. I wonder why they would link you to her myspace profile...

 

[crpy]

If you go to that link you provided, you can click on her name and it takes you to a myspace page. I wonder why they would link you to her myspace profile...

last log in was the 25th, the report was the 23rd, but it may have been her husband logging in

 

[Tokendog]

Yeah. She's 25 on the profile and lives in Virginia Beach, so I dunno. She's pretty. Not that that makes a difference, but still just sad to have a face put with the story/name you know...

 

[crpy]

Yeah. She's 25 on the profile and lives in Virginia Beach, so I dunno. She's pretty. Not that that makes a difference, but still just sad to have a face put with the story/name you know...

yep, I agree, and it is sad