Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sorry all, I just need to vent a little.

I don't understand why it is that if you own a dog... you have to have it licensed and shots and blah blah blah... but if you own a snake or another large reptile you don't have to have squat!!!!!
My neighbor found a 7 foot python in her back yard, under the dryer vent last night. She called me and I came over to take a look at it. At first I thought it was dead, I wasn't moving AT ALL!! We picked it up and put it in a pet carrier that's when I started to move a little.... The thickest part on this snake was about the size of an empty papertowel roll....I've never owned a snake, but I've seen enough to know that this thing had not eaten in a LONG time!! We called animal control and they were just going to pick it up and probably put it down... I couldn't really do that.. so I called my vet, and she took it in. I talked to her this morning and the snake is not doing well at all......

So far no one in our neighborhood know's anything about the snake...... figures.
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TFFF
(Tootie Freakin' Fruity Feenie)

Oh man... that's terrible!! Thank goodness you were there to rescue it and didn't let them put it down, though. I LOVE snakes, and I can't imagine what a 7' python as thin as a paper towel tube even looks like. Poor thing, I hope it makes it. I also can't believe how badly some people can treat animals. Granted, it may have been loose a while and couldn't find food.... but snakes are pretty good about sniffing out a meal.

Do you know if the snake is accepting food now? I sure hope so.
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©

I'm glad you guys took the snake to the vet. I hope it turns out ok. It really is funny how you have to lisence dogs (and some places cats too) but not anything else except maybe larger exotic mammals... Not that they provide any education when lisencing a dog, it's simply a form of tracking...
Anyway, yeah, I hope the snake is ok... poor little guy.
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Charlie - RIP 9-8-05 (Veiled Cham)

If you woulda just moved to Vegas back when I asked you to, you'd be venting about desert heat and black widows and not someone's escaped snake.... You had your chance!
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

needs to license and nueter you Tyler.....
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TFFF
(Tootie Freakin' Fruity Feenie)

Licensing dogs started as part of the fight against rabies. Licensing also helps fund animal control agencies and public shelters, as most of the services we want from such officers is related to dogs...strays, bites, neglect and abuse, illegal dog breeding, dog fighting, feral dog packs, etc.

You may get your pets vaccinated because you care about them, but many people have to be forced to protect their own animals from disease (contagious by the way). Licensing is also a way to track that any one dog has gotten the right vaccinations on time over it's whole life. Rabies needs to be given every 3 years. Rabies is a threat to humans of course, but it's no picnic for the poor dog either!

Any mammal can carry and spread rabies, herps can't. Dogs tend to go to people when they are sick and can unintentionally spread disease to humans. Cats tend to go off and hide when they are sick and are less likely to bite a human, so fewer states require cat vaccinations.

My pet peeve about cats is how little we require their owners to do. Dogs are not supposed to run loose but cats? Loose cats kill over 3 MILLION native songbirds a year in this country alone. They tend to torture their prey also, as their instinct to catch and kill is distorted by lack of hunger. I've treated too many suffering birds and small animals to ever own a cat.

On the Cat issue!! I lost two flowerbeds last year to cats... This couple on my street has 7 cats all outdoor cats... and they have the nerve to approach myself and two other neighbors about our dogs eating their cat food!!!!!! My dogs NEVER leave my yard unless they are on a leash!! Her out door cat food has attracked other cats, possum, raccoons and coyotes!! I spent over 300.00 last year making a "neighborhood" of birdhoused and baths in my corner yard and all the birds were chased out...

BUT I still think if dogs and cats have to be tagged and even birds too...(little metal tag on their leg) I think big snakes should have some sort of "tag" to hold owners responsible for their pets!
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TFFF
(Tootie Freakin' Fruity Feenie)

I don't know what you've tried to keep cats out of your yard, but just in case you haven't heard these ideas...

Clean the old hair out of your hairbrushes and spread it on the perimeter of the area you want them to stay out of.

Fill glass juice bottles with water and put them around the area you want them out of. Apparently at night the water creates a reflection that cat's eyes are sensitive to and it spooks them.

Go to the zoo if you have one. Get a sack of lion poop and spread it around. I'm sure they've got lots!

Get a Hav-A-Heart trap and tell your neighbors that you will turn any cats you trap in to animal control as strays. You have the right to do this on your property.

Same here - I feel VERY strongly about outdoor cats and their impact on wildlife. I rent where I live and the owners have an indoor/outdoor cat. I have two but they are strictly indoor (my previous pair were, too). I live in a rural area with lots of wildlife year round. I do put feeders up in the winter once the ground and/or temps freeze or we have a heavy snowfall. I only put them up about a month ago (very late for this region). I DO NOT put up feeders (except hummer) in the summer as I will not invite the birds into the yard to become Greylock's meal (he is out less in winter) - or rather his play thing.

He was hit by a car a couple years ago, totally smashed hip. They were able to fix him up (no internal injury - amazing!) and they spoke of leaving him in - he was back out by that spring.

When I was getting my Wildlife Habitat Naturalist Certification we had to do a wildlife management plan for our property. In it I of course included that the owners keep their cat inside. This is a real bone of contention b/t us so we do not discuss it anymore, but I decided when I move next year I will give them a copy of the plan - at least I'll be out of the line of fire

OH, and get this - NO BELL! NO TAGS! on their cat! THAT should be a LAW. There are nights that he is out all night, too. Int he summer I will often get up to check on my moth mating at 2-4a.m. and there he is. It is amazing that a fisher or great horned has not picked him off yet. UGH

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I wish I could quote the number of ferral cats out there. My two neighbors across the street have 12 between the two of them. The crap in my flower beds and have tried to make a meal of my pond fish. Thank god my three big dogs keep them out of my back yard.

I understand the benefits of licensing dogs. I think that for all of us who keep exotics, we should be "registered" in some way...just in case.

I had a friend who had a bermise python...18 footer. She was georgeous, but occasionally got loose! There would always be a news story and a missing dog from someones' yard!

I guess it just comes down to people as a race in general...most of them suck!!!! If we cant stop hunger and child abuse, crime and drug abuse...there is no hope for the animals those individuals destroy as well. I wish I could be president! Things would change.

Kris

PS...my two snakes stay quite contained!
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