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Police raiding a drug den in the Italian capital have been confronted by an aggressive albino python which was used to intimidate addicts. Police had been tipped off that they would find "an animal" during the raid on the apartment in the centre of Rome, and when they opened the door they saw a striped yellow and white snake curled up on a heat mat. The snake, which was three metres long and was kept hungry so that it would be more aggressive, was allowed to roam the apartment to scare addicts into paying for their drugs, police said. Animal...

ITALIAN police were stunned to find a hissing python guarding a stash of cocaine as they swooped on a Rome drug den. The 3m reptile had been deliberately starved to make it all the more aggressive...Officers placated the rare albino python by feeding it a whole chicken

A THREE-METRE python that swallowed a family's pet dog in Cairns has struck again, attempting to devour a chihuahua. But this time, the dog's owner was able to prevent the animal from becoming dinner, dragging it out of the snake's mouth... Australian Venom Zoo operator Stuart Douglas was called to remove the python, keeping it temporarily at his zoo before releasing it into the wild at a secret location... The same snake had stalked and eaten Dot, a nine-month-old Jack Russell terrier, while she was playing in her backyard ... Ms Stewart said she had become so distressed over the...

GONZALES, La., - A Louisiana woman discovered a python in her car that dealership employees said belonged to a couple that nearly purchased the vehicle. Marquita Lawrence said she was driving in the Toyota Camry she had recently purchased from Hollingsworth Richards Used Cars in Gonzales when she saw a ball python crawl out from under the passenger seat to investigate her fried chicken, WAFB-TV, Baton Rouge, La., reported Wednesday. "I threw it in park and hauled tail and I did not look back. I'm running across the highway screaming, 'There's a snake in my car, there's a snake in...

RIVERSIDE, Calif., April 12 (UPI) -- A California animal control officer said she captured the "Monster of Lake Evans," a 15-foot Burmese python apparently abandoned by its owner. Riverside County Animal Control Officer Kristina Hillegart said she responded Friday to a report of a huge snake at Lake Evans in Riverside's Fairmont Park and discovered the 60-pound reptile near the bank of the lake, KTLA-TV, Los Angeles, reported Monday. Hillegart, who nicknamed the snake the "Monster of Lake Evans," said the snake did not put up too much resistance and was easily lured into the back of her vehicle. She...

OAKDALE, La. (AP) - A reptile rescue group is looking for permanent homes for 21 big pythons confiscated from a snake farm near Oakdale. Joe Lewis, president of the Louisiana Association of Reptile Keepers, says many are 16 to 19 feet long. He says they seem healthy -

For some Burmese pythons captured in the Everglades, the end of the line is a building in a warehouse district of Hallandale Beach. All American Gator, which turns alligators into meat, belts, shoes and wallets, is the closest thing South Florida has to a python-processing plant. It was here that Josh Zarmati brought two pythons he caught in the Everglades. Brian Wood, the company's president, was waiting. He has processed three snakes so far and anticipates more from the state-sanctioned python hunt that started last week and runs through April 17 in sections of the Everglades in Broward, Miami-Dade and...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed last Friday to add nine constrictor snake species, including Burmese pythons, reticulated pythons, boa constrictors, and yellow and green anacondas, to the list of injurious reptiles, which would prohibit the importation of any live animal, gamete, viable egg, or hybrid into the United States except by permit for scientific, medical, educational, or zoological purposes, and also would prohibit their interstate transportation. While FWS will accept comments on the proposal until May 11, it already received 1,528 comments during a 2008 public comment period held after the South Florida Water Management District in 2006...

A Townsville man has had the shock of his life after a 2.7 metre python climbed through the sewerage pipes to emerge through his toilet bowl. Richard Eves found the massive carpet python in his toilet at around 9pm one night after coming up through the pipes. Despite its size, carpet pythons are largely harmless to humans but Mr Eves said it was still a shock to find it. "It is unusual having a python in your toilet bowl — it doesn't happen every day," he said. "I knew it wasn't dangerous but I was absolutely flabbergasted." The wrangler who...

Thousands of 10-foot pythons roam the Florida Everglades, menacing man and beast alike. Catharine Skipp prepares to join the historic hunting expedition designed to stamp them out. There are giant beasts stalking South Florida. Seriously: Burmese Pythons that can grow as long as a Winnebago and have been known to swallow German shepherds who take a wrong turn. There are an estimated 30,000 of them, slithering through Miami and surrounding counties. The reptiles wreak havoc on the local ecosystem. They can also kill people. Just last year, an 8½-foot family pet Burmese escaped its cage and strangled a 2-year-old girl...

A Queensland woman claims a 5m-long amethyst python has devoured her pet goat. Monica Spah, of Kuranda in the state's northeast, noticed her 35kg goat missing three weeks ago. PHOTOS: Snake 'eats goat'She then came across the snake, which had a giant lump in its back, in her backyard. The snake disappeared after three days into neighbouring rainforest. Nykea Ralston, who works for Kuranda's Uncle Pete's Petting Zoo, told ninemsn Ms Spah went overseas last week and instructed the zoo to take her other five goats. "She was worried the snake would come back and eat them," Ms Ralston said....

Vultures circled over Everglades National Park's Anhinga Trail, where thousands of dead non-native fish floated in the marshes. About half the Burmese pythons found in the park in the past few weeks were dead. Dead iguanas have dropped from trees onto patios across South Florida. And in western Miami-Dade County, three African rock pythons — powerful constrictors that can kill people — have turned up dead. Although South Florida's warm, moist climate has nurtured a vast range of non-native plants and animals, a cold snap last month reminded these unwanted guests they're not in Burma or Ecuador anymore. Temperatures that...

(OBAMA enters the House of Representatives with a large binder.)OBAMA: Hello, I wish to register a complaint. Hello, sweetie? PELOSI: What do you mean, "sweetie?" OBAMA: I'm sorry, it’s been a rough week. I wish to make a complaint! PELOSI: We're closing for recess. OBAMA: Never mind that, honey. I wish to complain about this health care reform bill that I proposed a year ago. PELOSI: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian-style Nationalized Health Care Reform Bill... What's, uh...What's wrong with it? OBAMA: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, dear. It’s dead, that's what's wrong with it! PELOSI: No,...

Fears of a new "super snake" emerging in the Everglades grew this week during a hunt to track South Florida's invasive python population. A three-day, state-coordinated hunt that started Tuesday so far netted at least five African rock pythons — including one 14-foot-long female — in a targeted area in Miami-Dade County. Those findings add to concerns that the rock python is a new breeding population in the Everglades ... In addition, state environmental officials worry that the rock python could breed with the Burmese python, which already has an established foothold in the Everglades. That could lead to a...

In (dis)honor of Ben Nelson’s collapse of integrity, I offer up a video that pokes fun at toupees. As one reader put it, Nelson was destined to cave under pressure because men in toupees can’t be trusted.

Mr. Obama's attempt to extort a supporting vote out of Ben Nelson by threatening to close Offutt AFB reminded me of a skit from Monty Python. (Most things remind me of Monty Python sketches but that's beside the point.) The "Army Protection Racket" There's a brief sketch before the main sketch which starts at 1:28.

Fluffy, a 24-foot python at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is measuring more than 24 feet long and weighed more than 300 pounds-which sets the new world record for the Longest snake in captivity.It was sold to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium by Oklahoma snake breeder and herpetologist Bob Clark. Fluffy, a reticulated python, the Longest snake in captivity, was loaned to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in 2007, and they paid Clark $35,000 to put the python on permanent display. "It isn’t even my snake anymore, but I’ve still got a relationship with it. I’m still proud,” he said....

I came across this in my surfings this morning. Here is the blurb that accompanies a video of celeb favorite Python moments: Monty Python was first aired on British television screens on October 5 1969. Famous for the ministry of silly walks and the dead parrot sketch, the legacy of the series lives on. The BBC spoke to Ricky Gervais, Justin Lee Collins, Jeremy Clarkson and Stephen Merchant to find out their favourite Monty Python moments. Click here to watch the video.

The Salt Lake Tribune Updated: 09/25/2009 08:25:27 PM MDT A South Salt Lake City man is accused of attacking his pregnant wife during an argument over the couple's pet python snake. The 21-year-old man allegedly threw the snake across a room in the couple's home on the 800 West block of Timber Creek Way (3875 South) on Monday, according to charging documents filed Friday in 3rd District Court. After he tossed the snake, the two "scuffled" and the man threw his wife to stop her from apparently reaching the snake to rescue it, charges state. The woman, who was 38...

In an case of real life imitating Hollywood, the US scientific community is increasingly concerned that two nonnative python breeds currently slithering free in south Florida could morph into a giant man-eating swamp coil. The capture of five African rock pythons recently near an Everglades already teeming with the gentler Burmese pythons has scientists worried about so-called "hybrid vigor" – a phenomenon that occurs when interbreeding uncorks volatile recessive genes, passing traits such as aggression onto the offspring. Think Africanized bees. The two species have interbred in captivity. While Burmese pythons aren't known to eat people in their native habitat,...