Snakes on a plane

"Snakes on a plane" is one of the worst movies I have ever watched but it does have a great title. The reason for this blog entry is that a 2 year old girl was killed yesterday by a burmese python owned by the mother's live-in boyfriend. I have kept snakes as pets most of my life. I along with hundreds of thousands of snake owners worldwide would have never had this happen.

There are some hard and fast rules to owning large snakes. Idiots watch reruns of "The Crocodile Hunter" and think "oh it would be so cool to own a snake". A python,boa or anaconda is not a freaking dog. These animals are predatory. Snakes are like sharks, they are for all intents and purposes "eating machines". It is true some snakes do enjoy being handled, however they are not just going to come get in your lap to be petted.

The most important rule of snake ownership is to know what you are getting yourself into. There are questions you must ask yourself. How big does this animal get? How long will it live? How much do I feed it? Could it kill my children or me? What do I do with it when it becomes too big to handle?

How big?? The vast majority of breeds of boas, pythons and anacondas will easily grow to be over 8 feet in length. They also are heavy bodied. Trust me when I tell you a six foot boa could kill you. The strength these animals have is almost unbelievable.

How long will it live? If the animal is properly fed and taken care of twenty years or more is entirely likely.

How much do I feed it? When they are young they will require more food. As they get bigger and older they will need bigger food but at longer intervals between feedings. Keep in mind if the snake can get it's mouth around it, it will try to eat it.

Could it kill my children or me? YES. The bigger they get, the more likely small children will be seen as prey items. In the case of the 2 year old in Florida yesterday, this is exactly what happened. The snake was hungry, escaped from it's cage and sought out prey. This was NOT the snake's fault. All blame must be put on the owner.

What do I do when it gets too big? There lies the real problem. If it gets too big for you to handle, you picked the wrong pet! I made this mistake years ago, when I was much younger and far too inexperienced to handle a large snake. I bought a baby burmese python that was about 16 inches long. He grew to 8 feet long before I learned that I was in over my head. The snake bit me and would not release. It then tried to wrap around my neck. Obviously I was successful in escaping from his grasp. I gave the snake away to a friend a short time later. Lesson learned.

I truly beleive that the extremely large breeds should be banned from importation. The zoos of this country have more than enough of their own and can't handle the number of privately owned ones that are getting too big. Letting a large snake out into the wild is not a good option. As we can now see on the news from Florida on a weekly basis, burmese pythons are thriving in the Everglades. These snakes will eventually kill off the alligator population and become the highest predator in that food chain.

A small guide to the large constictors:
Boas- 5 feet up to almost 16 feet in length
Pythons- 5 feet and up to 23 feet in length
Anacondas- up to 25 feet in length

The big ones (should not be owned, in my opinion) : Burmese pythons, African rock pythons, Reticulated pythons and all breeds of anacondas.

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