This story was on the news tonight and it is just bizarre! It immediately caught my attention because I spent all day today making a powerpoint presentation on Burmese pythons for my comparative animal nutrition class.


Python bursts after gobbling gator

I know that Burms are huge, but this one was only 13 feet (they can get up to 20+ feet long). You have to wonder what the snake was thinking when it tried to swallow a gator half its size!! Craziness...

Personally I do not think that people should own giant snakes as pets...I mean, who needs a 20+ foot long constrictor that can live past 25 years? They can pose a big threat to small animals (like your neighbour's cat) and small children.

Sort of off the topic - in Ontario we have a new pit bull ban, which I don't agree with. Not all pit bulls are bad dogs, and not all golden retrievers are angels either. It's like racial profiling for dogs. My argument (and my friends who are in vet school agree with me here) is that it is a case of irresponsible ownership. Alot of the time, certain people buy or raise pit bulls around here for sport - dog fighting - or they raise them to be guard dogs. If you ban pit bulls, then these people will just move onto another breed such as Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers, German Shepherds, etc.

Sorry, off topic - but I don't think that giant snakes are the same as dogs. They aren't pack animals and don't have the same response to a 'master'.

Anyway...I should have put that last bit in the 'debate' section and if anyone actually wants to debate it, I could start a thread there.

But in the meantime, that story about the python is amazing. I don't know who to feel sorry for...the python or the alligator...I guess the alligator won???