When people have children, and disregard their kids' safety by owning dangerous pets, it really bugs me. I really hope they punish these idiots hard.
Python Strangles Toddler
Python Strangles Toddler
Python Strangles Toddler....this kind of stuff bugs me
- Thread starter Madcrawdad
- Start date
We have a thread about this already, posted yesterday.
It isn't about owning "a dangerous pet" and therefore disgarding a child's safety. If you want to own such a pet, fine. I have many friends that do. However, safety protocols are in place that maintain that no one individual ever holds the snake or remove it from it's enclosure, and the snakes are kept in locked rooms that have to avenue of escape.
It isn't keeping the pet that is dangerous, it is HOW you keep it.
Kristina
It isn't about owning "a dangerous pet" and therefore disgarding a child's safety. If you want to own such a pet, fine. I have many friends that do. However, safety protocols are in place that maintain that no one individual ever holds the snake or remove it from it's enclosure, and the snakes are kept in locked rooms that have to avenue of escape.
It isn't keeping the pet that is dangerous, it is HOW you keep it.
Kristina
Holy cow. I can't even imagine that. If the snake was well fed it wouldn't have done that, would it?
Unfortunately, nothing is fail-safe. So, why even risk it?
When people have children, it's their job to do everything possible to make sure the kids are safe. If that means not keeping a 10-foot snake whose nature is to strangle and eat small warm animals, so be it.
The choice is easy...snake or kid? I'd go with the kid.
Lupin
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Which is why Kristina elaborated her statement to this. She has experience on reptiles. If you want to own a snake that can potentially strangle someone, you have to make sure your enclosures are not touched by unauthorized persons. It was not a choice between a kid and a snake. It is all about how you keep your pet and minimize the risks involved.
Correct, Lupin. It isn't a choice either or. And yes, especially for a snake that size, it is more than possible to create an escape proof enclosure. It is the smaller snakes that are more difficult to contain.
As to whether the snake would have done that if properly fed - who can say. In the wild snakes are opportunistic feeders. They spend most of their time in their burrows or hidey holes, and emerge once their last meal has been digested. Yes, large snakes can go weeks, even months without feeding, but it is a big bone of contention with me and many other keepers whether or not they SHOULD go fo that amount of time between meals. A snake can digest it's prey in any where from 48 hours to a weeks time. If the owners were feeding say on a three week regime, then a snake would CERTAINLY take the opportunity to feed on a meal that was appropriately sized.
I am not saying this isn't tragic. I cannot IMAGINE the pain of this family. But a snake this size isn't gonna squirrell out of a two inch opening, or a padlocked enclosure.
Kristina
As to whether the snake would have done that if properly fed - who can say. In the wild snakes are opportunistic feeders. They spend most of their time in their burrows or hidey holes, and emerge once their last meal has been digested. Yes, large snakes can go weeks, even months without feeding, but it is a big bone of contention with me and many other keepers whether or not they SHOULD go fo that amount of time between meals. A snake can digest it's prey in any where from 48 hours to a weeks time. If the owners were feeding say on a three week regime, then a snake would CERTAINLY take the opportunity to feed on a meal that was appropriately sized.
I am not saying this isn't tragic. I cannot IMAGINE the pain of this family. But a snake this size isn't gonna squirrell out of a two inch opening, or a padlocked enclosure.
Kristina
I agree. The child cannot fend for itself; it is up to the parents/caregivers to provide a safe enviroment. Period.
Mad, are you against guns? many people have guns in their home and if aren't careful end up with dead kids. I see no difference.
IMO it kinda is an either/or situation. If I've got a kid, and I've got an animal that is programmed to kill and eat that kid, it's not a matter of trying my darndest to keep the animal away from the kid. I'd get rid of the snake and eliminate the threat completely. That way I'd NEVER have to call 9-1-1 to say, "Uh, yeah, uh, our snake escaped and killed our kid.
Guns don't climb out by themselves, and go looking for little kids in their cribs...