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W von Papineäu
at Thu Aug 2 07:19:24 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by W von Papineäu ]
MORNING CALL (Allentown, Pennsylvania) 31 July 07 Python slithers from Carbon home - 2 brothers see 12-foot snake in the road. Owner seeks Dehlia. (Chris Parker)
Robin Rhyder was crawling around in the cramped space between the ceiling and roof of his East Penn Township home Monday afternoon, looking for Dehlia, a 2-year-old, 12-foot-long reticulated python who, he said, escaped two months ago.
East Penn Township police are also looking for Dehlia. Her unexpected appearance across Deiter's Hill Road on Friday has residents of the rural area fearing for the safety of small children and pets.
Rhyder, who said he has five other snakes at his West Bowmans Road home, said the reptiles broke their cages, so he had let them roam an area of his home.
Then, he said, he found a hole in the roof, explaining the absence of Dehlia.
''If I found her, I could just grab her,'' he said. He said snakes can't be trapped.
Rhyder believes the snake is still in his home -- somewhere.
Police Chief Rodger Gehring said he'd be in the area today, searching for the snake.
Gehring said he got a call from Deiter's Hill resident Dave Weiner, who said he and his brother, Jeffrey, had seen a large snake. Weiner said it didn't look like an ordinary snake.
Gehring checked the area, but could not find anything.
''Nobody reported this snake missing,'' Gehring said Monday. He said he doesn't know if the owner could be charged with anything.
Earlier Monday, Supervisor William G. Schwab said he had heard of the Weiners' startling discovery.
''Somebody saw it and reported it,'' Schwab said. ''Something is slithering, they say.''
Weiner said he and his brother saw a python stretched across Deiter's Hill Road, a stone's throw from his home, late Thursday night.
Weiner said he asked neighbors if they knew anyone who kept snakes, and was directed to the Rhyder home. There, he said, he spoke with a woman who told him the snake was missing.
''I can't even let my grandson run around the yard now,'' Weiner said Monday. ''We saw the snake the other night -- my brother thought it was a tree. He couldn't drive around it -- it was the width of the road.
Weiner said he and his brother later saw the tail sticking out of woods. ''[Jeffrey] grabbed it, then he pulled it out of the woods and the head came around, and he dropped it. It was twice the width of my car,'' Weiner said.
Weiner said he called police the next morning.
Weiner said he is keeping a close eye on his dog and doesn't allow his 5-year-old grandson out of sight.
He has also warned his older neighbors to watch out and to keep their pets close to home.
Jeanne Carl, a naturalist at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center in Summit Hill, hadn't heard about the East Penn python, but said she and Chief Naturalist Susan Gallagher late last fall were called to round up a python in Lansford.
Carl said a landlord called, saying his tenant had left and left behind his 10-foot Burmese python.
''He was under a propped mattress and box spring. He was very cranky,'' Carl said.
She said Gallagher pinned the reptile's head and they lifted the snake into a tank while they contacted reptile rescue groups. Finally someone did take the snake, Carl said.
''Our knees were shaking,'' she said. ''We were quite nervous. We're used to dealing with a foot-and-a-half long garter snake.''
''They are cute when they are babies,'' Carl said. ''They are 3 feet long and adorable. But [people who buy them] don't know what they are getting into.''
There have been other snakes that have slithered off throughout the region.
In September 2005, Sid, a 13-foot-long Burmese python who had been missing for six weeks, was spotted by police and nabbed in a field of tall grass in Plumstead Township.
The snake had escaped in mid-August while owner Thomas Esbensen worked the night shift at Kmart.
According to the Western New York Herpetological society, Burmese pythons can grow to a length of 17 or 18 feet and weigh up to 200 pounds.
Python slithers from Carbon home
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 PA Press: Python slithers from home - W von Papineäu, Thu Aug 2 07:19:24 2007
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