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DAILY REGISTER (Harrisburg, Illinois) 17 October 06 Dumped snake drinking, not yet eating (Brian DeNeal)
Marion: The injured snake found Wednesday in the Dumpster at First Baptist Church is improving some, but has not yet eaten.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources, District Natural Heritage Biologist Scott Ballard has been taking care of the snake at the IDNR office in Marion since Wednesday. Initially reported as a boa constrictor, Ballard said the snake is actually a female 10 foot 4 inch Burmese python.
Ballard said the first couple of days the snake was sedentary. On Friday it drank water.
"It was offered food over the weekend and refused it. The fact it was drinking is a good sign because drinking involves its jaw and gets its musculature moving. It was favoring the musculature on one side of its face. It is probably in a lot of pain. There is swelling on its head and neck," Ballard said.
Ballard said he would care for the snake as long as the Harrisburg Police Department wants.
The snake suffered trauma to its jaw, presumably from a blunt object. How the snake came to be injured and in the Dumpster remains a mystery that Harrisburg Animal Control Officer Mike Sullivan hopes to have solved by week's end. Sullivan put out a plea for information on the snake to the public Thursday and has received some feedback.
"I am investigating a few names. Nobody has come forward, yet, or volunteered any information. I'm hoping by the end of the week I'll come up with names or the owner will absolutely volunteer to come to the Sheriff's Department to talk to me," Sullivan said.
He has spoken to an individual who claims he knows the former owner, but has not provided the name of the owner, Sullivan said.
Ballard says in most cases of dumped large snakes, the owner realizes he is not capable of caring for the animal.
Most people buy a python or similar large snake when the snake is a baby, about 3 feet long. Properly cared for, the snake grows rapidly.
"They can go from 3 feet to 9 feet in six months eating three or four mice a day," Ballard said.
He is estimating the python to be three to four years old, but said determining a snake's age is difficult.
"A lot of times it gets expensive keeping a big snake like this," Ballard said.
"Probably this animal consumed quite a bit of food."
He guessed a young snake eating four mice a day might cost $4 per day. As snakes grow, they may need larger food. Rats might be $3 each. Rabbits are more expensive.
As the snake grows larger, which all pythons will, the owner might become intimidated by it, especially if the snake accidentally bites the owner's hand during feeding. The owner could have struck the snake in anger, self-defense or could have been intending to kill the snake prior to dumping it.
Ballard said it was obvious whoever owned the snake did take care of it for some time.
"At least we will try to get it placed in a good facility and try to find out the extent of its injuries, also," Ballard said.
Whether or not he will pursue criminal charges depends on the wishes of the Department of Agriculture operating through IDNR. The former owner could face charges of animal cruelty, animal abandonment and even animal running at large since the city of Harrisburg has such an ordinance. The snake could even have been stolen from the owner.
"There are a myriad of scenarios. I don't know what happened," Ballard said.
"The take-home message is if you get a pet that is 2 or 3 feet long as a baby, this guy is going to get big and if you can't take care of it throughout its life, you don't have business buying that pet."
Pythons live up to 25 years.
Reptiles are often impulse buys, Ballard said. People don't do their research and soon learn a big snake will not stay in a 10 gallon aquarium all of its life.
Ballard used to keep snakes himself and learned the hard way the cost, responsibility and sometimes bite injuries involved.
"I've kept them before and the reason I don't now is it is cost prohibitive to keep them. They eat more than an adult dog would," Ballard said.
People who are successful at caring for large snakes throughout their lives are likely also raising rats or rabbits in large cages simply to keep up with the expense of the snake's diet.
Dumped snake drinking, not yet eating

snakes daily? We must have been doing it all wrong for all these years. Or is only burms that need daily feeding? just kidding.
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phflame
kingsnake.com host

Sounds to me like a good thing he got out of keeping snakes since he hasn't a clue. (Or I guess this could be another "editing" job...)