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PYTHONS ON THE LOOSE : Largest of Florida's pet pests invade Everglades
florida-weekly ^ | August 2, 2007 | ROGER _WILLIAMS

Posted on 08/02/2007 8:26:56 AM PDT by george76

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To: tupac
I've got a pet corn snake. He is a little under 4 feet long (fully grown) and lives in a 70 gallon aquarium with plenty of room to move around.

I change his water and feed him mice about every 10 days and he's happy.

He's never tried to bite me or anyone who I've let handle him.

I treat him well, and feed him regularly. He seems equally happy if I take him out and let him crawl around the room on a regular basis, or if I just take him out to feed him.

I do feed him in a separate, smaller aquarium because that was suggested as a good way to keep him from thinking that things being put in his home might be food, and I don't feed him live mice.

I would never want to own a large snake, but ass long as you have room for them and treat them well, the main difference is the cost of the food.

I have heard of some snakes being very temperamental. That has not been my experience, but I would guess that you would have to deal with a large temperamental snake in much the same way you deal with a large temperamental dog.

Snakes are generally low-maintenance, solitary pets. I'm allergic to both cats and dogs, and I really wouldn't want the hassle of having to let the dog out all the time.

81 posted on 08/02/2007 11:50:20 AM PDT by untrained skeptic
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To: Ditter

I’ll certainly kill poisonous ones if I run across them in my yard (because my dogs wouldn’t know to leave them alone) but what’s the point of killing non-poisonous snakes? They eat alot of things I don’t want around.
susie


82 posted on 08/02/2007 11:50:39 AM PDT by brytlea (amnesty--an act of clemency by an authority by which pardon is granted esp. to a group of individual)
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To: Shyla

No..if I knew you owned him and you had told me that you didn’t want him fixed then of course I wouldn’t. If he was in my yard and with no identification—then I’d trap him and get him fixed with a rabies shot. It’s really only cats though, that I trap and get fixed. Haven’t run into any dogs yet.


83 posted on 08/02/2007 12:07:18 PM PDT by Fawn (God created Birds and Mice for Cats.)
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To: Fawn
People who keep snakes have a screw loose.

Guilty as charged. But I have a ball python, which will get no longer than four to five feet. It is a very low maintenance pet and not dangerous at all.
84 posted on 08/02/2007 12:08:52 PM PDT by Happy Valley Dude
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To: brytlea
It is reflex I guess. 90% of the snakes I have seen in my life have been poisonous, copperheads, water moccasins, coral snakes and rattlesnakes, in that order. I have seen fewer chicken snakes, rat snakes and garter snakes that the poisonous varieties that I mentioned.
85 posted on 08/02/2007 12:09:39 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: Ditter

My neighbor killed about 3 coral snakes in the last couple years.


86 posted on 08/02/2007 12:10:27 PM PDT by Fawn (God created Birds and Mice for Cats.)
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To: Ditter

Most of the snakes out here (S. FL) I see are harmless. Had many more poisonous ones in E. TX (mostly cotton mouth and copperhead).
Had the dogs bitten 3 different times.
susie


87 posted on 08/02/2007 12:13:45 PM PDT by brytlea (amnesty--an act of clemency by an authority by which pardon is granted esp. to a group of individual)
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To: Willow25
Why on earth would anyone get one of these snakes?

Carolyn

88 posted on 08/02/2007 12:15:38 PM PDT by CDHart ("It's too late to work within the system and too early to shoot the b@#$%^&s."--Claire Wolfe)
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To: Shyla

I don’t agree, but whatever.


89 posted on 08/02/2007 12:16:37 PM PDT by Shyla
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To: untrained skeptic

Last summer I went into an art supply store in Santa Fe NM. I opened to door to the ladies restroom and thought what I saw was something like a big bean bag chair. As my brain made sense of what I was looking at, it materialized into a huge coiled snake. It was the owners pet and the snake’s room was being cleaned so they just put it in the ladies restroom. After slamming the door I saw a small note said “out of order”. I should pay closer attention to small signs posted on doors.


90 posted on 08/02/2007 12:22:10 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: brytlea

I am in east Texas.


91 posted on 08/02/2007 12:31:06 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: Fawn

The last coral snake I killed was in a public park on the hiking trail, shhhhhhhh don’t tell on me.


92 posted on 08/02/2007 12:33:00 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: Ditter

IS it against the law to kill a snake in a park? I would of too...


93 posted on 08/02/2007 12:35:11 PM PDT by Fawn ("If it works, we're right. If he dies, it was something else." ---Greg House M.D.)
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To: Fawn
LOL! I am sure the environmentalist would have been appalled that I killed the creature but against the law? I don’t know.
94 posted on 08/02/2007 12:37:36 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: tupac
That generalization might have some grounds when talking about people who keep venomous snakes.

My pet corn snake has never bitten anyone. He is equally good with children and adults (he goes and hides from both). If there are people he isn't used to in the house, he hides in his aquarium. If I bring him out, he will crawl over people arms, but doesn't strike at people or get aggressive.

I just tell people not to move quickly so as not to scare him. I'm mainly afraid that someone might hurt him, or scare him enough that he jumps and tries to hide some place I can't easily retrieve him from.

He's not very bright. He explores his aquarium and falls out of the same branches in it over and over again, even in the same night.

However you are much more likely to get hurt by the playful actions of a cat, or by a large dog jumping on you out of friendliness than from most snakes.

However, if you can actually point me towards on of these alleged studies linking snake owning to antisocial behavior characteristics, it might make for amusing reading, so please pass on info about these studies.

95 posted on 08/02/2007 12:59:44 PM PDT by untrained skeptic
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To: untrained skeptic

Thank you for being a responsible snake owner. Sadly, too many snake owners go for the exotic and the dangerous. Not many of these types are being concientious (sp) or responsible. This is how the problem of pythons in the Everglades has occured (sp).


96 posted on 08/02/2007 1:00:05 PM PDT by tupac
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To: george76


I'm Feeling Lucky

.


97 posted on 08/02/2007 1:08:19 PM PDT by OESY
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To: untrained skeptic

The study that I read involved pit-bulls and their owners. The owners have a disproportionate lean towards crime and anti-social behaviours. It seems that owning a pit-bull is a symbol of their overly macho-thuggishness. These same types of folks like to own dangerous snakes, venomous or large constrictor types. They identify with danger and the threat of danger. As I said before this is my observation in conjunction with studies done on the pit-bull-criminal owner. Glad to know that you have nice little snake that doesn’t hurt people and won’t become societies problem someday.


98 posted on 08/02/2007 1:09:24 PM PDT by tupac
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To: Ditter
Sounds like the store owner is an idiot.

Clean the snake's cage after hours.

If the owner wasn't watching the snake, they weren't watching their store either.

Unfortunately, there are simply a lot of stupid people in this world.

99 posted on 08/02/2007 1:09:24 PM PDT by untrained skeptic
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To: xsmommy; Argh; secret garden
Their defacatory production is renowned.

I don't think I've seen this as the WFTD....

:-)

100 posted on 08/02/2007 1:10:09 PM PDT by RikaStrom (The number one rule of the Kama Sutra is that you both be on the same page.../Exeter 051705)
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