Yea, Pythons can be very dangerous. I'm surprised the parents didn't realize this could happen.

Pythons are several feet of pure muscle. They are like ropes with hooked teeth and killer instinct, so having a child around one is a definite no no.

I hope somebody at least learns a lesson from this.

What a sad story. I can't even imagine what the parents are going through.

Definitely need to keep a close eye on pets that could be dangerous when small kids are around.

Python, Newborn. Hello? I would never do it. Snakes do get out. I know, I have owned them in the past. They can be escape artists.

I am sure people can think , oh mine will never escape, but it does happen.

I had one loose in my house that took me a month to find once. Cat finally found it for me.

I am so mad at this!

1. I have a 2yr old girl and would never have something (let alone an animal) that could kill her in my house! Period! My kids mean more to me than my own life!

2. They did nothing to lock the snake up!! What freakin' idiots! They knew the cage was defective because it had gotten out before.

Wake up America!! I hate hearing how many children die because of selfish, lazy, stupid parents!! They should be charged! Both of them!

i have a ball python hes gotten out once a few months after we got him, took like 6 weeks to find it, good thing it was winter and he found the bathroom and got cold, but hes not to big, i trust him with kids if im right there.... he gets more scared from people then they do from him but really i wouldnt let anyone else mess with him without me being there. always figured if he wants to bite someone it should be me not anyone else.

but really if you have your cage top secured good then theres little chance it could get out,

edited to add*

8ft is way to big of a snake to keep as a pet, my ball python is like 3 ft and for me thats almost to big

and also, its getting to the point i think florida needs to start doing something about big snakes before they completely take over the everglades

[edit on 2-7-2009 by rls420]

One way of looking at this is that any parent dumb enough to have a python around a 2 year old is probably not fit to be a parent anyways. I wonder how that kid would have turned out being raised by these 2 cretins.

Get a clue people, most of you aren't fit to be parents. Stop buying into tradition and realize, your life will be much fuller and richer WITHOUT kids.

cretins.....man....

liquidsmoke got a point there...
just survival of the fittest and these parents aren't fit to be parents
just like the rest of the world

I think that it's time to stop importing non-native species into the US.

There is no reason that people should own a python. What do you do with it when it's 12-15 feet long ? Of course, you set it free in the everglades.

Now there are breeding populations of pythons in the Florida everglades.

I think that it's time to put an end to the business of importing and/or breeding non-native species into the US.

I am with you there wildbob.

You are not allowed to own wild American animals but you seem to be able to own wild foreign species.


I am guessing that the parents were thinking that the snake would not be attracted to a human, considering they usually eat rodents and four legged animals.

What I am wondering is if the snake was starving. If they hand't fed it, and it got desperate, worked it's way out and sought the first food it could find.

What I can't get over is that it is still alive. Now a tiger or bear would of been destroyed. I am floored by this.

Now I am an animal advocate, and I believe in the protection of the welfare of animals. But if that happened in my house, thing would been beaten into a belt by a bat.

But if it was starving, the parents have no one to blame but themselves.

I had a python too. At three feet it was already strong.
and it was cranky. When I got pregnant, I got rid of it. Was even much happier and started thriving with a new owner, good news all around. But I was just worried about biting issues.

But the previous poster was right, they are escape artists.

Another instance of "play stupid games, win stupid prizes."

Yesterday we had a little "animal show" at the community center for the kids. A nearby center/refuge/rescue brought in some mammals, reptiles and amphibians and birds to show the kids. On the front page of the paper this morning was a picture of this kid maybe 5-7 years old holding up a segment of a python just as large as the one involved in this incident. He was happy as ever.

On page two was an article about this 2 year old who was killed.

A family with an unstable dog could have easily suffered a similar tragedy. Do you then call to ban dogs as pets? Just eh breed in question? All dogs who look similar? Dogs who rank high on a "looks scary to me" test? Ban non-native dogs? Some politicians have and others are trying and it's all absurd.

No regulation or law or ban is going to have any impact on anything. The only thing that can even hope to prevent crap like this is for people to stop being such raging morons and stop and think.

Should you keep a big ol constrictor snake in a house with a little kid? Probably not. Should you adopt/rescue shelter animals with questionable histories if you have little kids around? Probably not. Should stupid people procreate? Probably not.

Everyone needs to make more thoughtful decisions for themselves. That would solve nearly all of the worlds problems.

Originally posted by gravitybender
I am so mad at this!

1. I have a 2yr old girl and would never have something (let alone an animal) that could kill her in my house! Period! My kids mean more to me than my own life!

I see where you coming from! But Dogs can be dangerous too.

I was trying to look for stats on how many people are killed annually by snakes in the United States and unfortunately all I could find was snake bite deaths. Apparently there is about an average of a dozen deaths a year from bites, which makes sense since the poisoness snakes in this country are fairly non-lethal(compared to the rest of the world).

But I did find out that about 1000 people are treated for dog bites every day and in 2000AD 33 people died from dog bites in the US. Almost three times the number that die from snake bites.

So yeah, let ban dogs!

But keep the snakes.

Vas

ps I am of course kidding, I don't think it is any of the government's business what pets I keep.

YOu try to protect your children from everything, I bet they never considered the python would try to eat her.

I'm with you. They probably thought that *their* snake was something special, like a loved member of the family, instead of just a primordial beast that acts purely on instinct.

How someone could allow one of those into their home is beyond me.

[edit on 2009/7/2 by GradyPhilpott]

Becasue its a loved pet, doens NOT excuse anyone from simply forgetting its a ruthless animal that is driven by its natural instincts. When i was in high schoo, a freind of mine had a Boa..a snake that can get big and suffocates its victims. Even he knew, being the pot head he was, NEVER to leave it around kids, even if the tank was secured closed. He used pices of cement blocks and rocks to hold the cage lid down 2 in hte middle, the corners, and one piece in the middle.
Ownign a pet comes with responsabiltys, jsut as having a baby is. Becasue yuo own a pitbull or rotweiller, whos to say it might not turn on yuo or the kid one day? its best to be safe than sorry...we love our pets, yes but they have natural instinct out of our control.

And i bet NOTHING will be done to the owner of the snake. This is his fault and he should be charged w manslaughter and do 20 years but not a chance. It's just like when a parent drives drunk or uses a cell phone while driving and crashes killing their kid. The cops just call it an accident and forget it.

Yes dogs can be dangerous but this is still a little different. Most of the time dogs are dangerous because they were made that way. 95% of the time it is owner error.


And 75% of the time the dog has exhibited red zone aggression or other aggressive or fearful behaviors that the owners refuse to see. I see this happen all the time, even in my own home.

A dog that growls when you try to take a toy or food is showing serious behavior, but it is dismissed.

Wild animals are just unpredictable, unlike the domesticated kind.

see this is what happens when idiots have kids. just like some idiots have
thier pit bulls around little kids. why not put a loaded gun in the kids hand?
a lot of people think, no way not my pit.though they may be right, who pays
if there wrong?. isn't it just something you don't risk?



[edit on 3-7-2009 by randyvs]