Reptile & Amphibian Forums

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_187011049

Published July 06, 2006 12:00 am -

Python on lam in southwest Joplin

The Joplin Globe

By Jeff Lehr

Globe Staff Writer

A large albino Burmese python is on the loose in the Greenwood area southwest of Joplin.

Its owner told the Newton County Sheriff's Department that the missing snake is almost 20 feet long and weighs about 100 pounds.

The yellow-and-white patterned constrictor reportedly escaped from a glass, aquarium-type container in the back yard of its owner on Bonnie Lane.

"It's a pretty good-sized snake, so we don't want anyone coming across it not being aware of it," Chief Deputy Chris Jennings said Wednesday afternoon.

He said the owner, who has had the python about eight years, reported it missing on Wednesday and has been informing all his neighbors.

The owner maintains that the snake has never been aggressive in the past, Jennings said. But the potential for danger to people or their pets and livestock is inherent in the species, according to Jennings and two local snake experts.

"We're just concerned about it getting hungry," Jennings said.

Anyone who comes across the python is advised to contact the Newton County Sheriff's Department at (417) 451-8300, authorities said. Jennings said people should not try to capture the snake on their own.

Pythons in the wild eat mice, rats, amphibians, lizards, other snakes, birds and various mammals. In captivity, they frequently are fed rats, mice, rabbits, pigs and goats. The owner of the missing python told the Sheriff's Department that this one has been fed mice and rats all its life.

The Burmese python is not venomous. It kills by coiling around its prey, squeezing the breath out of it and causing the prey's blood vessels to explode from constriction of the coils. The snake generally swallows its prey whole with hinged jaws that are capable of consuming an animal four to five times the size of the snake's head.

"Even domestic dogs and cats would be fair game for a snake that size," said Mike Crocker, superintendent of the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield.

Crocker said a Burmese python normally will not grab a human, but there is no guarantee. He said basic precautions need to be taken by people who are around the snakes. Matters can take turns for the worse with such snakes, even for owners who have kept them as pets all their lives, he said.

A Burmese python killed its owner in St. Louis in the 1980s, Crocker said.
"Usually, what happens is they'll grab you at feeding time," he said. "They smell a rabbit or whatever you're feeding them, and aren't smart enough to know you're not what they're smelling."

Both Crocker and Ron McCoy, co-owner of Reptile World Zoo on Kodiak Road in Newton County, are somewhat skeptical of the reported length of the missing python.

Twenty feet is about the maximum length the species reaches. But 20-foot pythons usually top 200 pounds at a minimum, they said.

Crocker said the Springfield zoo has two Burmese pythons in the 12- to 14-foot range that weigh around 100 pounds each. McCoy said his walk-through zoo has a 15-foot Burmese python that weighs 230 pounds, and graduated from eating mice and rats to 90 pounds of rabbits per month quite a while ago.

McCoy said people, even owners, frequently overestimate the true length of snakes. But even if it is just a 10-foot python that weighs 100 pounds, it would be capable of killing a person, he said.

Jennings said the owner, who was not being identified by authorities, believes he must have forgotten to latch the container in which the python was being kept.

Jennings said the Sheriff's Department may have to kill the python if it is spotted by someone. He said the owner would be contacted, and recapturing the snake would be considered as an option, but the safety of people, pets and livestock would be the primary concern.

Crocker said it is possible that the snake may never be seen again. He said it probably could survive in the wild in Missouri for a few months, but it could never survive a winter here as a temperate-climate snake.

Great. One more black eye for my hobby. A burm that large should have never been in a glass aquarium anyways. Outside too?
I wish people would be more prudent about making sure cages were properly secured. It probly had a couple of bricks and a 20 pound weight on the top.The more and more I hear of these inccidents the more I think some kind of restrictions or ban of large snakes is likely. I am actually for some kind of requirments or permits just because I think it would weed out some of the would be irresponsible owners. I mean if we can't find a way to insure that these wonderfull creatures won't keep falling into the wrong hands, it is only a matter of time until none of us are allowed to keep them.

i could be wrong but thought the big Mo. had the registering deal on the bigger boids and pythons that got to be a certain size as well as venomous. registering with the county of your residence to the local law enforcement. this was passed as a what-if scenario and it looks like the what-if has happened. as in other townships of escapees of any exotics,i can see the sensationalism now of the media............i know of the incident of the east part of Mo. of the death caused by python and the past several years of another rumored but never confirmed escape of a exotic venomous snake in a very small burg of town and the very confirmed report of that tiger escape in another small town of Mo. Funny how it went from notifying your local game warden of exotics to the local law enforcement agency of county. When i lived there 5 years ago i was paid a visit by my local game person as it was rumored that i was keeping the large exotic felines ( venomous snakes , yes, exotic cats, no ) and was made aware of at that time the Mo. exotic feline law.....it seems this state had that law all to itself. don't know if other states have adopted the Mo. lion law........
-----
I may be old , cantankerous, crabby, and cynical, but......

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_190235944

Published July 10, 2006 12:00 am - There's no place like home - even for a snake.

Julius Squeezer returns home

The Joplin Globe

By Nammi Bhagvandoss

nbhagvandoss@joplinglobe.com

There's no place like home - even for a snake.

After nine or 10 days on the lam, Julius Squeezer found his own way home, to the delight of his owner and family. He was a bit perturbed but in good shape.

The 14-foot-long, yellow and white albino Burmese python turned up shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday. He was placed back in his aquarium. But this time, concrete blocks were put above the locking mechanisms on the metal hood that covers the aquarium.

"The kids found him in the field," said James Johnson, 21, the python's owner. "They didn't catch him. They just (saw) him coming back. ... He allowed me to pick him up, but he was really aggravated."

The python had been missing since June 29 or 30. Johnson said the snake escaped after he left the python's cage unlocked.

Johnson, who has had the python since he was 13 and since the python was 10 days old, had been looking for it by clearing brush near his home in the Greenwood community, southwest of Joplin. He also had been looking for the python at night with a spotlight.

Johnson said his young cousins and neighborhood children were playing outside Sunday, and one of them was alerted by a barking dog.

Jessica, 9, the daughter of Johnson's aunt who named the python, said she saw a dog barking and looked to see what he was barking at.

"I looked over, and there he was," Jessica said. "I screamed, 'Julius is back!' I ran and told them."

Jessica said she was at the entrance to her home when she heard the barking dog. When she saw the python, she went inside and told her family.

"I'm glad he's back," Jessica said. "It just wasn't the same without him being here."

Johnson said he was sleeping when Julius Squeezer arrived home.

"They ran over to see what (the dog) was barking at," Johnson said. "They seen it was Julius and they ran up to the house to wake me up, and they were screaming, 'Julius is coming back. Julius is coming back.'

"I didn't know what was going on. I thought they were playing."

When he got up to see what was going on, Johnson said, he saw the python moving forward and the children walking behind it.

"They were following behind him," Johnson said. "I went out there, and he started hissing when I stopped right in front of him. I put my hand out, and he started moving around. He allowed me to pick him up without any problems."

Johnson said it appeared as if his python was anxious.

"I'm not sure if some animals messed with him," Johnson said.

"I'm glad he's home, back in his cage," Johnson said. "Nobody's been hurt. He didn't get hold of anybody's animals. It takes a lot of stress off. The possibilities of things going bad were endless - whether an animal had attacked him. But, he decided to come home on his own."

Johnson said he believes the python might have been searching for water, and it's likely he did not eat anything because he did not have a wide girth.

"He's not even moving. He's probably glad to be in there (the aquarium)," Johnson said. "After eight years, he's found out that's where he wants to be."

Security check

James Johnson said he called the Newton County Sheriff's Department and local media shortly after getting the python back into his cage.

Newton County Deputy Brad Black went to the Johnson home to make sure that the family had taken precautions so that the python would not escape again.

I'll bet that was music to somebodys ears. Funny how he found his way home. Glad it all worked out for the best.

Quig

Yup,
Good to be home, but cinder blocks on the cover of the cage??? Come on, that's just plain irresponsible!!! How bout a cage that is escape proof so they don't end up with another problem. Just my opinion, they should get the right housing or get rid of the snake.