Who do you guys think will win? a baby or a cobra?

[Cortez The Killer]

I heard a story recently on National radio about a snake that was kept in a house in Ireland. Legion you may be able to validate it's authenticity. The story teller claimed this was 100% true.

A non-venomous snake (I presume a python but am unsure) was kept by a couple for a number of years. The enthusiasts were reasonably well experienced with snakes and were pretty comfortable with this snake.

They had a four/five year old child and he too was very fond of the snake and spent a large amount of time with the snake. The child fell ill and weak and as a result was house and bed bound Having had the snake for even longer than their child the parents were surprised one night to discover the snake had escaped and made foo the child's bed! Upon inspection and unknown to the child the snake had entered it's bed and appeared to be keeping the child warm as it stretched out beside the child. Upon first occurrence the parents were surprised but did not really react. Upon a second occurrence the parents, thinking they had somehow stumbled across a special "caring" reptile consulted a vet/specialist.
They explained their story of and claimed that it was obvious the snake had sensed their child was weak and as they spent so much time together it was trying to protect the child.

The Vet confirmed the snake had indeed sensed the child was very weak, but instead said the behaviour displayed was indicative that the snake was waiting for an opportunity to eat the child!

What is the likelihood of this story being accurate!!!

cc for the story, got a good laugh at the end!

[donnydarkoIRL]

It's funny, I've got a head for stories, when I hear a good one i just have to find out if it's true!

[LEGION]

I haven't heard the story, but I only study the venomous reptiles, so I probably missed the story. But, I must say those parents should be put in jail, as there is no such thing as a "caring" reptile; it is ludicrous to even suggest that and the parents are big dummies. That animal should have had no way to get into the childs bed, and I am very surprised he hadn't already eaten that child.

I kept a few non-venomous constrictors in the mid 90's, and one of them I had was a Burmese python. She was about 8ft. long and very "friendly", and I would let her sleep in the bed on occasion, not at night when I was sleeping, but just during the day when I was up and about. One day I went to a friends house and before I had left, I had filled the tub with water, but had left the window cracked and it was cold. She liked to sit in the tub and then would come out and do whatever. I got home late and when I went to see where she was at, she was still in the tub and it was VERY cold. I could tell something was very wrong with her, as she was very cooled down and sluggish. She started to come out of the tub and when I reached to get her, that was it, she tagged me and got almost my whole hand in her mouth and tried to coil on me. They have alot of backward curving teeth and it took a few minutes to remove her from my hand, and she left about 10 teeth imbedded in me. I had to get a tetanus shot and my hand was black and blue for a few days. I usually greeted her by letting her come up and "kiss" my face; glad I didn't that day. I would have looked like this

Boas and Burmese pythons are known to be gentle, but that doesn't mean they won't attack. That snake that crawled in with the child would have eaten that kid and they got lucky. Snakes can settle in with a person, and become more calm and situated with their surroundings, but that doesn't mean they end up "loving" their owners Snakes have 3 instincts: hide, hunt, and reproduce; and everything is instinctual. Some of my cobras were devils when I got them, but have settled in nicely and don't spook and hood as much, but that doesn't mean they like me and can sleep with me; it just means they aren't as scared of me as I have shown to be no threat. But as soon as they know that I plan on handling them, they see me as fair game and try to end my life. A very intense hobby to put it mildly.

If you want to see a calm, "nice" snake, go to youtube and put in "King Size Surprise". It's 10 minutes long, but get to the 8 minute mark and watch from there. He isn't so "caring" at the end. It's worth watching as it is funny listening to Al scream at the end.

[:::PSL:::]

Obviously the snake was devenomized and defanged. But dang! that was still disturbing to watch.

[donnydarkoIRL]

Hey thanks for that Legion.
I guess it was true, I couldn't actually believe it. They said the reason that it lay beside the child stretched out, because it was "measuring" the child, the snake wasn't sure if it was big enough to consume the kid.

[LEGION]

Here's a pic of a Reticulated Python from Asia. This picture is debatable, as some claim it wasn't really a man inside the snake, but whatever it was was alot larger than a child, and that snake wasn't anywhere near full grown. Reticulated pythons are notorious for being very aggressive with people, and if those people in Ireland had a retic, that child would have been quickly consumed. There is a pic somewhere of a guy in Cambodia who was actually in the process of being eatne when some people came up on the snake. The guy was already dead and the snake was stuck at the mans shoulders. I'll try to find it just cause' I'm bored

http://www.blackbearheaven.com/man-eating-snake.htm

[LEGION]

Lol, nevermind, the pic I was talking about is the last one shown in the link I posted. It wasn't Cambodia, it was Malaysia, my bad.

[donnydarkoIRL]

CoolClick Legion, that is some truely amazing stuff. It's completely understandable that you wish to study these creatures so much and obviously love your subjects. Really fascinating creatures.

[LEGION]

CC back Cuchalain.

I do love snakes, always have since I was a kid. One of the most amazing, adaptable animals on this planet. And it is amazing considering they have no arms or legs and are such successful creatures. It's a shame people hate them so much, as though alot are dangerous, they are integral to a balanced environment, and without snakes we would be over run with rodents, which could bring massive disease. I understand people not liking them, but to kill them for no reason is dumb IMO. And people don't realize the cure for cancer, alzheimers, parkinson's and others are already being found in venom. Pretty cool stuff to me. Cuchalain, look at the thread on this board titled "attn:lefty lee", and you can see one of my cobras I have.

[donnydarkoIRL]

CC back Cuchalain.

I do love snakes, always have since I was a kid. One of the most amazing, adaptable animals on this planet. And it is amazing considering they have no arms or legs and are such successful creatures. It's a shame people hate them so much, as though alot are dangerous, they are integral to a balanced environment, and without snakes we would be over run with rodents, which could bring massive disease. I understand people not liking them, but to kill them for no reason is dumb IMO. And people don't realize the cure for cancer, alzheimers, parkinson's and others are already being found in venom. Pretty cool stuff to me. Cuchalain, look at the thread on this board titled "attn:lefty lee", and you can see one of my cobras I have.

Yeah I saw it mate it was really cool.
I'd be afraid to handle a snake now, as I'm totally inexperienced and wouldn't know how to manage it correctly, but I do find them fascinating to watch and I don't find them all that threatening. What people don't realise is any animal can be dangerous if it feels threatened, it's all about respect. There are few creatures that will attack unprovoked and by and large that includes reptiles.

[LEGION]

Like I just said on another post, I didn't realize it was you Donny, or formerly Donny anyways

[donnydarkoIRL]

Like I just said on another post, I didn't realize it was you Donny, or formerly Donny anyways

I know, I just realised my Profile is very different looking!
I'll bring back the Hitman Moniker when I'm done with this little infatuation!

[ono]

I was showing my brother the snake videos on here and he told me something very interesting indeed.....

His gf's best friend used to keep a python and apparently it used to sleep at the bottom of her bed, curled up. She used to feed it and look after it. Then she noticed that at night the python would sleep right next to her in a straight position (basically mimicking her posture). Apparently she thought this was strange but didn't think anything more of it.

However she realised that it hadn't eaten for a while and no matter how much she tried to feed it, it wouldn't eat. So she took it to the vets and mentioned that it wasn't eaten and also mentioned how it was sleeping....

Now this part shocked me (am no snake expert).....apparently the python was 'sizeing her up.' Thats why it was mimicking her sleeping posture....and thats why it wasn't eating. Basically it was preparing to eat her. Scary shit is that.

Now i don't know this girl so my question to Legion is 'is she likely to be telling the truth?' and 'is this behaviour normal from a python?'

[LEGION]

I was showing my brother the snake videos on here and he told me something very interesting indeed.....

His gf's best friend used to keep a python and apparently it used to sleep at the bottom of her bed, curled up. She used to feed it and look after it. Then she noticed that at night the python would sleep right next to her in a straight position (basically mimicking her posture). Apparently she thought this was strange but didn't think anything more of it.

However she realised that it hadn't eaten for a while and no matter how much she tried to feed it, it wouldn't eat. So she took it to the vets and mentioned that it wasn't eaten and also mentioned how it was sleeping....

Now this part shocked me (am no snake expert).....apparently the python was 'sizeing her up.' Thats why it was mimicking her sleeping posture....and thats why it wasn't eating. Basically it was preparing to eat her. Scary S*** is that.

Now i don't know this girl so my question to Legion is 'is she likely to be telling the truth?' and 'is this behaviour normal from a python?'

Sounds fishy to me for a couple of reasons, though a python trying to eat someone isn't out of the question, as they have tried/done it before.

I am no expert on constrictors, so don't take my word on this but if the python wasn't eating its normal food; i.e. rats, guinea pigs, etc., then it probably wouldn't eat her. If it is hungry, and healthy without parasites, it will take any food offered to it I would think, and if it wouldn't take a rat or whatever, it was probably sick and wouldn't in my estimation try to eat a person.

Also, depending on the living conditons of the animal and whether this person had the proper requirements being given to the animal, these things will affect the animals well being, such as proper diet, heating, humidity, etc. Snakes are cold-blooded animals, and always need to regulate their body heat. The snake, most likely IMO, was sick and probably didn't have the right set up to live in to maintain proper body heat. This is most likely why in my opinion the snake would lay in a straight line and parallel to the owners body, so its body could soak up as much body heat from the person as possible, as we as humans generate body heat and so she was acting like a living heat rock to the python. And like I said above, if the animal is sick from improper heat or parasites, it can cause bad bronchial infections and the snake will just constantly try to find/be near the closest heat source.

I could be wrong, but this seems most likely considering. Just doesn't make sense the animal wouldn't eat normal prey because it was "sizing" the person up to eat. That implies way too much scheming and intelligent "problem solving" for me to concede to a reptile.

[ono]

I was showing my brother the snake videos on here and he told me something very interesting indeed.....

His gf's best friend used to keep a python and apparently it used to sleep at the bottom of her bed, curled up. She used to feed it and look after it. Then she noticed that at night the python would sleep right next to her in a straight position (basically mimicking her posture). Apparently she thought this was strange but didn't think anything more of it.

However she realised that it hadn't eaten for a while and no matter how much she tried to feed it, it wouldn't eat. So she took it to the vets and mentioned that it wasn't eaten and also mentioned how it was sleeping....

Now this part shocked me (am no snake expert).....apparently the python was 'sizeing her up.' Thats why it was mimicking her sleeping posture....and thats why it wasn't eating. Basically it was preparing to eat her. Scary S*** is that.

Now i don't know this girl so my question to Legion is 'is she likely to be telling the truth?' and 'is this behaviour normal from a python?'

Sounds fishy to me for a couple of reasons, though a python trying to eat someone isn't out of the question, as they have tried/done it before.

I am no expert on constrictors, so don't take my word on this but if the python wasn't eating its normal food; i.e. rats, guinea pigs, etc., then it probably wouldn't eat her. If it is hungry, and healthy without parasites, it will take any food offered to it I would think, and if it wouldn't take a rat or whatever, it was probably sick and wouldn't in my estimation try to eat a person.

Also, depending on the living conditons of the animal and whether this person had the proper requirements being given to the animal, these things will affect the animals well being, such as proper diet, heating, humidity, etc. Snakes are cold-blooded animals, and always need to regulate their body heat. The snake, most likely IMO, was sick and probably didn't have the right set up to live in to maintain proper body heat. This is most likely why in my opinion the snake would lay in a straight line and parallel to the owners body, so its body could soak up as much body heat from the person as possible, as we as humans generate body heat and so she was acting like a living heat rock to the python. And like I said above, if the animal is sick from improper heat or parasites, it can cause bad bronchial infections and the snake will just constantly try to find/be near the closest heat source.

I could be wrong, but this seems most likely considering. Just doesn't make sense the animal wouldn't eat normal prey because it was "sizing" the person up to eat. That implies way too much scheming and intelligent "problem solving" for me to concede to a reptile.

yeh the more i think about it, the more i think she's full of shit.

The scheming bit did freak me out a little bit tho.
















until i realised it was made up