Dear Burm-philes; Please excuse the 'all-pythons-all-the-time' grouping of all of the press in this submission (its not all burm specific ... plus a boa item snuck in, pls forgive me), I'm off elsewhere on assignment using somebody elses's mini-laptop, NATO's oldest dial-up link, and no Space, Shift or Crtl keys. If somebody could do the kindness of posting this to the general 'python' forum on my behalf (I can't remember their URL), I'd take it as a personal favour.
respects
Wes
MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS (UK) 14 October 05 Snake loose - check your loo!
Yakub Qureshi)
A six-feet long boa constrictor is on the loose in an upmarket Manchester suburb - and residents have been warned to watch their toilet seats.
The alarm was raised after the snake was spotted in an apartment on Clyde Road, West Didsbury.
A 19-year-old man went to the bathroom and spotted the constrictor curled up inside the bowl of the toilet.
He ran from the room and into the garden to find a concrete block which he placed on the toilet seat to stop the snake from escaping.
RSPCA officials and firefighters were called to the apartment block and used a fibre optic camera to check the drains and plumbing.
But there was no sign of the snake and experts now believe it has entered the sewage system on the street where semi-detached homes go on the market for up to £400,000.
Property agent David Fitzgerald, from landlords KF Property, said: "It was 2am and the resident was obviously quite sleepy so I think he was quite surprised to see the snake there looking back at him.
"He raced down to the garden and got a concrete block which he used to cover the toilet seat and I think he quite forgot about going to the toilet."
Tenant Mr Fitzgerald said it was still not certain where the snake had come from but a previous tenant had kept a boa constrictor in his room. "All we know is that we had a tenant in the property who did have a snake and who left a couple of months ago.
"The building has been thoroughly checked out. It's not in the house anymore but I don't think people will be feeling too comfortable."
There are some 100 properties on the street, many of which have been converted into flats.
The RSPCA said there was nothing they could do until the creature was spotted again.
Animal collection officer Donna Holt said: "The camera has done what it can to check the system and it's a question of waiting now.
"We would advise people to keep their toilet lids down and check before using the bathroom."
She stressed that the snake's species had not been confirmed but that any creature should not be approached.
The boa constrictor hails from South America and in the wild eats rodents and small birds and can grow up to five metres (16 feet) long.
http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/men/news/s/177/177875_snake_loose__check_your_loo.html
FREE LANCE-STAR (Fredericksburg, ) 14 October 05 Snake attacks are shady
Snakes alive!
It was only a matter of time before the obesity epidemic spread to the greater animal kingdom.
Sure enough, officials in the Everglades reported last week that a 13-foot Burmese python literally exploded while dining on a 6-foot alligator.
Officials suspect the alligator's resistance to the idea of becoming the reptilian equivalent of a Biggie Meal led to the snake's demise.
Evidence suggests the gator went down the hatch with claws flailing, rupturing the snake's stomach along the way.
In an effort to "make more room," as my Aunt Elaine likes to say, the snake presumably unzipped his pants, only to have the entire lower half of the gator come tumbling out.
By the time a wildlife researcher wandered across the scene, the hind end of the alligator was protruding from the snake's midsection like something out of a Japanese sci-fi movie.
Both diner and dinner perished in the incident.
The lesson here is obvious: Chew your food completely before swallowing.
And also, don't bite off more than you can subdue.
Think about it. That'd be like a man attempting to down a 3-foot cheeseburger while it was still snarling and snapping.
You just wouldn't do it. Unless it was on a double-dog dare. Then you're sort of obligated.
But I digress.
Originally, I took this for an isolated incident, one that unfortunately only encourages Hollywood types to spend actual currency producing the likes of "Anaconda."
Then, a few days later, a South Florida woman discovered a 12-foot Burmese python in her back yard, complete with bulging waist line.
The bulge is presumed to be Frances, the woman's 1-year-old Siamese cat, according to news reports.
Fire-rescue officers captured the snake immediately and carted it off to a nature preserve, fearing that with only 15 pounds of Thai food in its belly, it might get hungry again in about 30 minutes.
And then on Tuesday, another large python was captured after helping itself to a turkey in a Miami man's backyard.
One incident is simply a rarity, but three make for a clear and convincing pattern.
I suspect this is an all-out assault on humanity, the likes of which hasn't been seen since dingoes declared open season on babies in the '80s.
No longer satisfied with the rodent food pyramid, Burmese pythons are striking out in search of more substantial fare.
First, it's alligators, poultry and household pets. Next, God willing, it's Geraldo Rivera.
Suspicious behavior on the part of the snakes' home country indicates a conspiracy.
First, Burma unleashes its snakes on suburbia. Next, it changes its name to Myanmar in a clever attempt to cover its tracks.
Be not fooled.
Stupidity also seems to be fueling what is becoming a worldwide threat.
Police in Tokyo rounded up a search party after a python got loose in a city park there last month.
The owner, a 41-year-old man, said he was playing with the snake in the park when he dozed off--as in fell asleep .
When he woke up, he was apparently shocked to discover that the sit-stay he'd given the python hadn't worked and the snake was gone.
Police were optimistic about finding the snake but immediately called off the search for the man's common sense, declaring it a monumental waste of time.
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2005/102005/10142005/136920
PALM BEACH POST () 14 October 05 Commentary: Big python chart would be helpful for keeping track of snake stories (Frank Cerabino)
In case you haven't noticed, we're experiencing a run of snake stories.
This sort of thing happens occasionally, usually with shark attacks, airline runway mishaps or Jackson family misadventures.
A new peril materializes from thin air and then becomes a mini-epidemic of concern until it culminates in a front page story in Newsweek or Time, and then promptly disappears.
We're in a python cycle.
It started with that photo last month from the Everglades, the one showing what appeared to be a battle of mutual destruction between a 6-foot alligator and a 13-foot Burmese python. The photo, beamed around the world, shows the carcass of the snake, apparently ruptured while trying to digest the alligator, which is protruding from the snake's body.
Since then, it has been snakes galore.
Drama, doubt from Miami to West Palm
This week, we've already learned about a Miami Gardens woman who said her Siamese cat was the bulge inside the body of a Burmese python trapped behind her home. That was followed by another python story from Miami later in the week, this one involving a snake eating a turkey at a nursery. Meanwhile, closer to home, local trappers were getting their share of new python sightings.
Bud Howell, who works for Trapper John Rodent & Animal Specialists in Boca Raton, answered a call from Tropic Bay, a Delray Beach condo that complained of an albino Burmese python living near the community swimming pool and dining on the area's feral cats.
"I saw the den," Howell said, "and I would say it's been there for a year."
He got the call, he said, when somebody saw the snake sunning itself by the pool.
"We're going to try to lure it out of its den with rabbit urine," he said.
Meanwhile, Allyn Szejko, a trapper for Wild Life Rescue of South Florida in Boca Raton, is waiting for a call from a Deerfield Beach condo that notified her about a python sighting.
"I'm not going out there until they find it again," she said.
Ron Dupont, the owner of Wild Cargo in West Palm Beach, has been selling and handling snakes for most of his life. He has some doubts about the authenticity of the famous photo that started the new snake buzz.
"Alligators don't smell right to a python," he said.
But he thinks there's a real reason why we might continue to see more snake stories in the near future.
"We've had a tremendous amount of low pressure and rain," he said. "Low barometric pressure makes snakes move. And the water makes them happy and romantic.
"It's the same with people," he said. "It's why we sing in the shower. It's the water falling. It creates negative ions. We crave negative ions."
'The problem is they keep getting bigger'
And we crave a good snake story. Bob Freeman, who owns Grizzly's Wild Animals, a trapping service in West Palm Beach, has done his share of snake trapping. So far, he has been spared from the new python craze.
"I used to own one," he said. "You think they'd make a good pet because you don't have to walk them every day, but the problem is they keep getting bigger.
"It starts out eating a mouse, then a rat, then a cat, a chicken, and pretty soon you've got to feed it the neighbor's dog," he joked.
How much longer will snake stories continue? Hard to say.
It's too late in the year for sharks, and we've exhausted the Jacksons.
We may just have to hang on until the dry season when those negative ions disappear.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/local_news/epaper/2005/10/14/s1b_bino_1014.html
PETERBOROUGH EVENING TELEGRAPH (UK) 14 October 05 Python strikes terror
A pet snake sparked a 999 drama when it attacked one of its owners.
The man's terrified family, who wished to remain anonymous, called firefighters after the 13ft long Burmese python escaped from its tank and lunged at him, sinking its razor sharp fangs into his leg.
His wife managed to free him by prising the snake's jaw open before firefighters arrived at the home in Eastrea Road, Whittlesey.
The creature had slithered out of its tank and on to the landing of the house during the night, biting the man as he investigated the cries of his frightened lodger.
He suffered bad cuts and bleeding, but the python is not poisonous and he did not need hospital treatment.
His wife said the incident, which happened on Wednesday, had left the family feeling shaken and they had decided to hand the snake over to a rescue centre.
The snake, which can travel at up to 35mph and kills its prey in the wild by squeezing it to death, will now be re-homed.
The woman, an experienced snake owner, said the creature had doubled in size since she started caring for it two years ago, and she had recently ordered a larger tank for it, but she no longer felt it was safe to keep it.
She said: "She was always a very gentle, docile thing and had been used for entertaining by its previous owners.
"She did bite me once before, but that was my fault for putting my hand in the tank when it had been eating.
"I feel very scared of it now. It was a completely unprovoked attack – it just flew at him. It was horrible.
"It could have been much worse if it had been my little grandson walking across the landing, so I think it's better to get rid of her."
The attack happened on the same day that another Burmese python was discovered in the back garden of Trudy Dukes, in Ravensthorpe, Peterborough.
Mrs Dukes, an experienced snake handler, spotted the 4ft python in her garden, picked it up and put it in a rabbit hutch until the RSPCA arrived.
The two incidents were completely unrelated.
Chris Nice, RSPCA Inspector for Cambridgeshire, today said Burmese pythons can be very dangerous.
He said: "These snakes are only a couple of inches long where they first hatch, but they can grow to up to 20ft and are extremely powerful.
"There have been cases in America where young children have been killed by Burmese pythons and small pets are certainly at risk from them."
http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=845&ArticleID=1222552
ORLANDO SENTINEL (Florida) 13 October 05 Another python bites off a bit more than it can chew
Miami (AP): Once again, a python was done in by its dinner.
After one python exploded while trying to eat an alligator, and another was blamed for the disappearance of a Siamese cat, a 10-foot African rock python was apparently trapped by the turkey it ate at a Miami nursery. It couldn't slither back through a fence to digest the bird in peace.
Dozens of turkeys and chickens live at the nursery, and owner Felix Azquz noticed one turkey was missing early Monday.
Then Azquz, 77, saw the bulging snake.
"It scared me," Azquz said. "I ran outside to call the police."
Capt. Al Cruz of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue antivenin unit said a similar 16-foot-long snake was found in the same area three years ago, before a new housing development was built.
The snake was taken to a Miami-Dade County nature center, but Cruz said it will be moved to a zoo because of its aggression.
"It launches at everything that tries to come near it," Cruz said.
Last month, a 13-foot python exploded as it tried to swallow a 6-foot American alligator in Everglades National Park. Neither animal survived.
On Sunday, a bulging 12-foot Burmese python was captured near the backyard of a Miami Gardens home. A snake expert said the python had eaten the homeowner's year-old Siamese cat named Frances.
"The moral of the story," Cruz said, is that pythons "are eating more than they can chew."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-python1305oct13,0,5740913.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state
THE LEDGER (Lakeland, Florida) 12 October 05 Pet Snakes Gone Wild A Problem in Polk, Too (Shelley Preston)
`Python. Call to Identify," a recent ad in the Ledger classified read. Seven feet long and as thick as an adult's thigh, the "python" was actually a boa constrictor found by John Cory in a drainage ditch along Mine and Mill Road in Lakeland. The well-fed creature likely dined on rats, raccoons and perhaps cats or small dogs.
Pulled from its dank lair, the snake now resides inside a 60 gallon tank -- its screened lid locked in place by four stacks of cement bricks -- at the home of Cory's girlfriend, Mary Beck, along with a gaggle of their own pet snakes, at least until they find a proper home for the new boa.
The constrictor was probably someone's pet before it was let loose or escaped. Based on its size, Cory estimates it ate like crazy for about six months in its new Polk County habitat. Today, it is still too wild to remove from the tank and is adjusting to captivity and to eating a few less meals.
On a recent rainy afternoon, Beck peered at the new visitor as it coiled over its water dish and moved to the other side of the tank.
"When snakes are little, people think they are so cute and have to have one," she said, reaching into another tank and removing one of her friendly ball pythons. She explained this snake was rescued from the Auburndale flea market, where it was covered in mites and had skin rot. Now smooth and cool to the touch, the snake poked out its tongue and curled around her arm, stretching out its head to check out a visitor. "But when they get larger, they say, `now what?' and let them go."
Abandoned snakes landed in the news recently when a 13-foot-long Burmese python in the Everglades tried to eat a 6-foot-long alligator, a chilling prospect given most humans are smaller than that. The snake, which bit off more than it could chew, literally burst in the middle when the gator tried to escape from its belly. Both reptiles perished. Wildlife officials once thought alligators could be a predator to unwanted exotic snakes, but as this case proved, even a tooth-laden alligator can be out-matched by a hungry snake.
Boas and ball pythons don't pose much risk to humans and do stop growing at some point, but they are part of a larger problem of exotic reptiles that have been released into the wild and are wreaking havoc on indigenous plants and animals, as well as threatening pets.
"I know of a couple of instances of snakes getting over the fence and taking out the neighbors' dogs or cats. It's not an unusual occurrence," says Dr. Bob Irelan, a North Lakeland veterinarian who takes care of Beck's snakes.
Though owners may feel they are doing snakes a favor by giving them a taste of freedom, the majority of reptiles released in Polk County are unable to adapt to the outdoors and die of cold or starvation.
Bringing out a black-and-white California king snake found in a garage, Beck said "she was all bones. She was so domesticated she didn't know how to eat on her own." The now healthy snake curled its tail inside Beck's hand as its lower half explored the living room carpet.
Many exotic snakes likely go undetected, but the Polk County Sheriff's Office is called out once or twice a month to deal with one. Glenn Ferrell, a sergeant of administrative investigations, handles those calls.
"Before someone buys an exotic animal, they have to know what the potential is to grow 20 feet long," said Ferrell, a friend of reptiles for more than 20 years.
Some pet snakes, such as Burmese pythons, have the ability to grow to monstrous proportions if left to their own devices or fed too much in captivity. Responsible owners feed them just enough to keep the snake healthy, and they know how to manage their pet's size, said Ferrell.
"It makes me nervous to read headlines about that python in the Everglades," he said with a sigh. Besides taking in abandoned snakes around the county, Ferrell raises his own exotic reptiles and shows them around the state. "It puts a black eye on the industry when people are irresponsible."
Ferrell advises snake lovers without much space buy a ball python, which only grows to about 4 feet long and can be kept in a 20 gallon tank, rather than species that grow indefinitely and need special cages. Corn snakes also make good pets.
Snakes are not the only reptiles that need a lot of thought before purchasing. Iguanas can grow to 4 to 5 feet long and need large enclosures. Ferrell suggests getting a bearded dragon instead, because they are content inside smaller tanks.
Exotic lizards proliferating in the wild have also been a nuisance in Southwest Florida in recent years. Aggressive and carnivorous, Nile monitor lizards grow more than 5 feet long and threaten native birds on Sanibel Island.
"The only natural predator these things have are Nile crocodiles," said Ferrell, "and there aren't any of those around here," said Ferrell.
At least, not yet.
As for the homeless boa at Beck's home, if no one steps up to claim the snake, it will probably go to a zoo or a private breeder where it will have the room it needs, Beck said.
Beck looked back at the huge snake and felt sorry for it. "When these guys grow up, things change," she said. "It's not the snake's fault."
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051012/NEWS/510120303/0/FRONTPAGE
Although I'm not real sure how effective it would be in controling the right from wrong. Some people just don't care, and there are those in almost every aspect of our lives. LOL, not sure THAT made sense. Need more caffiene 
