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The absolute idiot that set this picture up should be hung by a short rope from a tall tree!

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you're so wright my friend...Evn if it's fake,it's sick!

I believe that might be one of those small viligaes that have large snakes like that as pets and everyone treats them like you would a dog. I could be wrong but I think thats what that is.
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I thought the same thing. If so, some villages are even known for keeping Cobras as "pets". If it's the way things are, then that's their culture and who they are. If it's just a pic some idiot set up for a good photo, then I agree with Jeff.

I think they should get an even bigger retic on an empty stomach and wrap it around the photographer. That should give him a small lesson of what a snake of that species/size, especially with the reputation of temperment those things have can do to a person, especially a child. Somebody should be shot over that picture. When the snake turns and kills the child, the media gets ahold of it and its blown up all over TV and the newspapers, and it hurts caring herpers like us who do it responsibly. It's a damn shame

I believe that picture was taken in Thailand. Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but that is thier culture. They keep those large Burms and Retics just like some people over here keep dogs and cats. Do a search on it and you'll find that thier are many cultures spread over Asia that do the same thing. I do believe it has a religious backround but I can't remember the specifics

It shows people that snakes especially man eating Retics are gentle in nature...this pic is old and like the others say it is their culture they live with them and accept that sometimes people get eaten by other animals.......we aren't alone at the top of the food chain! Now if the kid was brushing the Retic's teeth.......that might cause me tohave another opinion on this one...

Although I DO NOT agree that this is in anyway safe, I do see it in a slightly different way. I have rarely seen in my travels throughout SE Asia (China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia) where locals would actually treat a snake with such kindness. Generally all snakes are considered either food, evil or dangerous and killed. Sometimes they are eaten, skinned, bottled or simply left to rot.

If that child reaches adulthood(or may already has based on how old that photo looks), there is a good chance that he may make a difference on how his fellow man treats snakes and possibly wildlife in general. I imagine a few of the extremely dedicated guides I have used in the past growing up just like that.
DM EXOTICS

...in the retic forum!...it is crazy!
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"...does it bite?"

that. They live with that python. There are a series of those
pics.

The TV clip shows the python in their house. It seems incredibly
docile. It shouldn't ever happen I agree 100%, but that is a
VERY different culture and environment than here in the US.

I'm sure there is always someone at home, and it is not caged.
It was never caged, so it's feeding response is going to be
radically different than a captive, caged ret...

There was a case here in FL where someone had an alligator
living in the bathroom. I think it was in Gainesville.

It would even vocalize as an adult. Reptiles aren't as mindless
as many believe...

You can't blame culture and not admit to stupid, unwise or barbaric behavior. Some cultures have eaten other people. That doesn't make it right. An extreme example to be sure but an accurate point. Some cultures have sacrificed other people. Doesn't make it right. So any "culture", regardless of the "cultural" system that would allow a tiny child to get this close to a Retic, is a culture that is practicing an unwise and stupid act. It's more analogist to a culture where everyone drinks excitedly. It doesn't make it wise or right. Some babies born in that "culture" will have birth defects. Just because it is in their "culture" to so does not make it OK. It is still wrong to drink while pregnant, especially excessively.

There are some people who do not believe in right or wrong. Only in society setting boundaries to function properly. I worked with a guy who believed that. A mindset that my limited brain could not and will not ever get my arms around. Most "cultural" beliefs or practices are not wrong. The cultural practice in Japan of the woman walking two paces behind the man is fine for example. LOL A little humor there. Or the cultural practice of shaking hands when meeting someone certainly isn't "wrong". But to run to the banner of "culture" to excuse unwise practices does not make sense. It perhaps is a perfectly legitimate explanation for what we see in this picture, but it does not and will not change the fact that that child is subject to stupid, unwise treatment and remains at incredible risk.
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What's wrong with eating other people? especially if that is their culture?

Interesting picture and topic. I will agree with Jeff that a practice is not justified just because it is rooted in a culture's traditions and/or belief system. "Cultural relativism" might seem like a fine idea in the rarified air of a university anthropology department or after you've just taken a massive bong hit, but it's an absurd, even dangerous stance to assume. I am a strong believer the improving influences of modernity (and the scientific method). Evidence-based knowledge about how the world works can go a long way towards challenging the beliefs-- superstitions, really--that underlie unwise, anti-social and often barbaric practices in traditional cultures.

There are a dizzying array of examples to choose from of ages-old practices that are inhumane, socially destructive and all-around stupid that nevertheless make sense within theological and ideological framework of a society and, on grounds that they are somehow "essential" elements of a culture that have been in place "forever", have been allowed to persist far too long. The one that springs immediately to mind is the Indian practice of Sati: widow burning. That's right folks, if you were an pre-colonial-era Indian woman whose husband had died, you would be tossed on the funeral pyre with him and burned alive. Of course, this was one of the first things the British outlawed when they colonized India. Yes, the British were imposing their own sense of morality on a foreign culture in contravention of its core principles...but were they wrong to do so? I certainly don't think so. In clear-cut cases like this, a belief-system that invalidates a individual's right to exist should not be tolerated and should be forced to conform its behaviors, in at least this one area, to the consensus understanding of right and wrong, whether or not doing so is intrusive, "disrespectful" to a foreign society's right to make decisions for itself or somehow upsets it equilibrium of values. What matters most is the life and well-being of the individual.

The case of the child's picture with a retic that's capable of eating it is a little less clear cut, but it still falls along the same continuum of intolerably wrong-headed behaviors as Sati. I am unfamiliar with the beliefs of Thais regarding giant snakes, but I don't think I'm going out on a limb to assume that the child's family believes there to be an acceptably low risk involved in having a retic around a child. Perhaps they have been lulled into "trusting" the snake to be a tamed house-pet or believe it to be divine. However, to our eyes--and we should bear in mind that our sensibilities as observers have been honed by empirical evidence, ie our actual experience with big constrictors and our knowledge of their unpredictability and dangerousness--this picture represents an insane risk. Perhaps if the boy's family had the benefit of our wide-ranging experience and knowledge, which any person with motivation and internet access can avail themselves of, they would share the sense of alarm with which we perceive this situation. Their assumption (rooted in ignorance) that the snake is trustworthy would probably be dispelled by the abundance of hard evidence that there is no such thing as a trustworthy snake and that no bond, supernatural or otherwise, exists between a retic and its keeper that will override a retic's potentially deadly instincts. If the family were aware, as we are, of a reticulated python's unpredictability, I'd be willing to bet they would not expose their child to such grave danger.

This is child endangerment any way you slice it. I cannot blame the child's parents because they probably don't know any better. I can, however, lay the blame for their unwise decisions on ignorance and superstition. But I'm certainly not going to blame my "cultural insensitivity" for allowing me to recognize that this picture represents incredibly bad judgment, whether the parents know it or not, and a stupidly dangerous situation.

LOL, that was long! We might as well start discussing the "Barbaric" practice of someone chopping off our foreskin while we're here trying to judge the practices of the world. I say, back to the boas!!!

That is extremely thoughtful of that snakes owners to make sure it has an adequately sized food item!

Actually I think, or I should say I hope that the Retic was actually a dead animal. If you look where the Retic drapes over the edge of the bucket, it is really flat looking. When laying over the edge of an object like that tub, I would expect the Retic to be more tense looking and not so flaccid or almost flat looking over that edge. Does anyone else think it may be dead?
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There is a clip that they've aired on TV.

There are a whole series of pics that go along with that one.

I think that's got to be at least ten years old....

I remember those clips. That retic is the family pet that also sleeps with the children in bed....or so it was claimed.

Jeff, you really do have to take culture into consideration. Let's look at how many people think that all of us put our families in danger by simply owning a "pet" boa. They probably even rationalize that we are a danger to the entire community. The only difference between your pet snakes and the one in the pic is proximity. So, how close can a child be from one of your pet snakes before it is "wrong"? This is strictly opinion based. What if the child was bathing a Pit Bull? Would you have the slightest concern? Going by numbers, they have done more damage to humans than pet snakes. I would not have a child that size bathing that snake, but I don't presume my BELIEFS are the way everything should be. Your friend is probably correct, right or wrong is determined by your culture to a certain degree. Is pre-marital sex alright? Depends on how you were raised I'd imagine! Well, just my opinion...which is right to me, and wrong to you....if things are so clearly right or wrong, how could we possibly ever disagree?

"Going by numbers"? Numbers of what? Dog attacks by dogs labeled as Pit Bull Terriers that were some cross bred type dog or other type of Pit Bull looking dog because it is easier to call them that? You can't go by numbers when any dog that remotely looks like a Pit Bull, be it a Bull Dog, Bull Terrier, or Bull Mastiff, etc. is automatically catagorized as a Pit Bull Terrier because it looks muscular or "tough".
If you knew anything about real American Pit Bull Terriers you would not have such a closed minded view on them.

...it dosent matter,german shepard,pitbull,mutt,blah,blah,blah...
...point is dogs maim and disfigure and even kill more people (especially children)every year than "pet" snakes...
...im not saying i would let my child that close to a huge retic,but hes right,i see pics of kids with dogs all the time...no one ever thinks bad aboput that...
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1.0 Oscar 10" "Jaws"
"...does it bite?"

Or course more kids get hurt by dogs than snakes. Why??? Because more people keep dogs and a dog is almost always kept as a member of the family where as a snake is confined to a cage. More people keeping dogs in the house while interacting with family members vs a snake confined to a cage? Of course the #s are lopsided.
I do believe that any animal warm or cold blooded has the potential to do harm and should never be taken for granted, especially a huge snake and a small kid!

...i was one of those children...i was mauled by my neighbors PIT BULL when i was 4 and now carry both the physical and emotional scars from that...i was also raised in a house full of large constrictors many over 15'...im not saying that they should ban pits...i like dogs,but this whole dogs are harmless thing really grates my nerves...
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1.0 c.b.02' 6' Pastel Colombian Boa(thanks Bill!)"Maverick"
0.1 c.b.06' 17" Firebelly x Pastel boa "Betty Boa"
1.0 wc 3' Savannah Monitor "Ozzy"
0.0.1 wc 1'Savannah Monitor "Uggy"
1.0 c.b. 04' 4' Everglades Yellow Ratsnake "Pooh"
1.0 c.b.? 5' Candycane Albino Corn "Oogie Boogie"
1.0 c.b. 05'2' Snow Corn "Zero"
1.0 Oscar 10" "Jaws"
"...does it bite?"

Hop off the soapbox! Next time, I'll say Chihuahua, or are you partial to those as well? I've worked animal control in 2 states, and actually do know a little bit about your preferred breed. Change that ONE line to any type of dog you like. Either way, you missed the point.

No offense meant, but the numbers about pit bulls are highly inflated. If a dog is 25% pit and 75% lab it is reported as a pit 99.999% of the time. If a dog looks like a "pit" even if it is a boxer, mastif or some other mix it is almost always recored as a "pit bull". Don't get me wrong...pits are really really bad when they bite, but the likely hood of them biting is much less than most other breeds.

According to one behavioral study done, the ONLY dog which had a better temperment than a pit bull was the lab. It will take time, but I can locate that study again if you wish. Please note that that study was based on "normal" pit bulls. ANY dog that is inbred &/or comes from a bad home is a danger. The vets I've talked to always say that pits are easier to work with than cockerspaniels....which I've been told (although I haven't researched it) is the number 1 dog for bitting.

I have three dogs. 1 full pitbull, 1 half pit / half husky and one burnese mountain dog crossed with something stupid. I am more worried about my snakes hurting my child than I am the dogs. Of course my son is never left alone with any of them.

Travis

None taken! I personally really like Pit Bulls. I KNOW they can be wonderful pets, and I know they can also attack.....just like ANY dog can. As for the numbers thing, I meant in general but I can see where it would seem I was talking only about Pit Bulls. I apologize for the confusion. Take care

Paul

Hi everyone my name is Arnold...I usually just lurk around here and live in the Philippines....

I remember it very clearly at least a decade or so ago....I was not yet into snakes at the time...

The retic was found by an indonesian farmer when it was a hatchling...I believe it was found with its siblings. The animal's name is SIBELANG....the python grew up free-roaming around the farmer's house.

News is that people would travel to pay homage to the animal because they believed it had mystical powers or housed a higher spirit. Certainly ample donations are required to maintain the animal's feeding regimen.

Im sure if the family could not profit from the animal it would surely end up in the dinner table.

The article was one of the reasons I got into snakes as a hobby.

Many rural folks in this part of the region believe in spirits in animals and such things. Especially if it displayed a different behavior or appearance.

In the philippines, I have heard of stories of leucistic animals that are not caught because they feared the animal was mystical. Not entirely difficult to believe in the context one who is brought up in the mountains surrounded by mystical folklore.

Do you believe in ghosts

Cheers,
Arnold

to apologize in advance for what others have or will say about some of the culture that still lives on in the region. I really appreciate your contribution to this topic. Someone no doubt will insult you or may already have. I think that is great that that story is part of what inspired you to join this hobby. I am going to Boracay in October.

Since we're on the subject (Sorry to hijack your thread Ronne) how do you folks feel about these pics? Just wondering...

http://www.reptilescanada.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15508&page=1