Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Help me out here please Ball-people ... can anyone here detect any alarmist or possibly exaggerated-in-tone language in the following?

THE MIRROR (London, UK) 21 September 07 Teen mum's bath snake shock (Rebecca Evans)
A young mum was giving her baby a bath when a 5ft python slid out from under it.
Leanne Smith, 18, screamed as it hissed at her and four-month-old Millie.
Terrified Leanne scooped Millie into her arms and leaped over the snake - which experts said was ready to pounce.
She said: "It was huge and it just sat there hissing and looking at me.
"I just screamed and screamed, which was probably the wrong thing to do as it started to hiss at me even more.
"I jumped over it and called the RSPCA. They said it had probably got in through a pipe and was ready to attack me.
"So I locked the bathroom door and waited for them to take it away."
An RSPCA officer caught the royal python - a non-venomous constrictor that crushes its prey - and a neighbour experienced in looking after large snakes is caring for it while the owner is sought.
Leanne, who lives with boyfriend Ben Payne, also 18, in a council flat in Dartford, Kent, added: "If Millie had been on her own it could have killed her. Pythons have been known to swallow children whole after suffocating them.
"I am desperate for the council to find me a new place to live as I don't feel safe. I am too scared to go to the toilet now."
She added: "The RSPCA have no idea where it came from as they asked all the neighbours and no one had lost one."
Ian Stephen, London Zoo senior reptile keeper, said: "It would have been more aggressive than usual because it would have been very stressed and afraid, cold, confused, hungry - and more scared of Leanne than she was of it."

At least some balance is added with Mr. Stephens' comment - W
Teen mum's bath snake shock

Wow some people really need to educate themselves.

>>can anyone here detect any alarmist or possibly exaggerated-in-tone language in the following?
-----
Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

Why don't they have a "Delete Post" button in here so I can fix my screw ups before posting them LOL?

To continue my train of thought.......Exagerate? Ummmmm, extremely so. I think they shouldn't mix species. They have a ball and are referencing, probably, burms or retics to explain the danger here. Where DO these people come from?

Quig
-----
Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

Hey Quig,

That gets you everytime brother!

Lol...

No worries mate.

~Alan

ROTFLMAO!!! I know it does. Maybe someday I'll get it right.

Quig
-----
Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

It must have been one of those new human eating ball pythons.
-----
RIP Gunner

Human-Eating Python?? Fancy that! Where do I get one of those morphs???

LOL
-----
Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

Beyond the bad BP info, how the heck does a mother not notice a snake in a bath tub that her daughter is in???

Let's see, mom fills the tub, gets the bath ready, gets daughter. Umm, am I missing something here?? If it wasn't in the water when she put her daughter in, how would she not notice it getting into the tub??

I suppose education is beyond some people.
-----
http://www.GilbertBoas.com/
http://www.BoaList.com/

"A young mum was giving her baby a bath when a 5ft python slid out from under it."

Based on how that was written, I sounds like the snake slithered out from underneath the bathtub. "it" = bathtub, not baby. They probably have one of those porcelain claw-footed tubs that stand up off the ground.
-----
~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

Don't you know that strangulation and ingestion by ball pythons is one of the leading causes of death in young children?

I was very disappointed to read this article. I spent almost 20 minutes on the phone with the Daily Mirror trying to educate them on Ball pythons. For example, the RSPCA had claimed the snake was ready to "attack!" Weall know newspapers love to exaggerate, so we just need to take these things with a pinch of salt. We also need to remember that a python is a python to most people,hence the boyfriend's comment. The thing is senstation stories sell newspapers, and what I had to say doesn't!

Ian
-----
_____

signature file edited, contact an admin. 2/13/06

Has anyone of your Balls ever "hissed"? Thought not. This ding-bat 18 year old mom is probably making it up for attention.

we have had 4 of our balls hiss at us before and one of them does it very regularly

I have a few that hiss also. Never do anything else.

Exhaling air is not the same as hissing.

Anytime I have heard any of my Balls they are about an inch from my ear...thats not a hiss you can hear from 5feet away.

yes I agree
exhaling air and hissing are different
theres no mistaking the hiss
I hear him do it from across the room
and if he was hissing at me I certainly wouldn't let it near enough to my face to hear it simply exhaling...hes a grumpy bastard

a have a number of balls that his consistently. you can hear them from 20 feet away. so... at times, they are true hissers.

I've heard a few of my balls distinctly hiss. My Albino hisses every time Frank comes near her -- she absolutely hates him for some reason. Also, my male Pastel is a grumpy goon and hisses quite frequently. Even a couple of my mildest snakes have hissed once or twice if you startle them; like when you pull the rack and they are not expecting it. They deffinately have the ability to hiss.
-----
Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

"a neighbour experienced in looking after large snakes is caring for it while the owner is sought."
But the RSPCA can't find someone with a missing snake, well he isnt going to admit its his, is he! LOL

and how do they know it was ready to strike did she have a camcorder in one hand and the baby under the other arm when she "jumped" over it???
-----
You all talk Balls,I talk Royals ;0)
www.alpharoyals.co.uk

they get it all wrong......

.....

the stupid snake should have waited for the mother to take a bath before pouncing on her and crushing her to death then swallowing her......bigger meal means better nutrition?......LOL

.....like I said....normal stuff.....

last Sunday I went a couple blocks to a lady I work with's home because she called and they had a copperhead in a bucket........I went to save the poor snake from them.........the baby black rat ate and is ok now...........they were all afraid as can be too.....

..
.
-----
.....too many critters.....
......too little time.........
.......
.
.
.