From Fox News….
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A 15-month-old boy suffered minor injuries when he was attacked by a 4-foot ball python in a Mecklenburg County park here.
Christine Abdelmonem had taken her son, Adam, to get a better look at some ducks waddling nearby in Freedom Park on Monday. As she lowered the boy to the ground, she felt a tug and saw the snake wrapped around his leg.
She screamed for help and two maintenance workers rushed over. One hit the nonvenomous snake with a shovel before trapping it in a bucket, said Karla Thornhill of Mecklenburg Park and Recreation.
Adam was treated at Carolinas Medical Center for bite marks on his leg.
“When I pulled it off, he was fine,” Abdelmonem said. “I wasn’t.”
John Calchera, a pet store owner in nearby Pineville, took in the constrictor snake. He thinks it may have been abandoned by a pet owner and that it won’t survive being beaten.
“It’s a totally harmless thing,” he said. “Why attack a harmless thing?”
Ok, folks. Let’s be honest for a moment. Anyone not experienced with exotics snakes would freak out when seeing their infant being bitten by a Ball Python. No, the shovel wasn’t necessary, but the folks there didn’t know with what they were dealing. For all they knew it could have been some deadly pit viper. The one thing that is obvious is that John Calchera is not a parent!
As most of you may know, Lady Beth owns and operates Chaos & Critters Animal Rescue. This rescue is wholly dedicated to exotic pets, and most of the one hundred plus creatures we rescue each year are snakes. Ball Pythons make up a rather large percentage of those snakes. Yes, they are harmless. Even our six year old daughter has one for a pet. Sarah dearly loves her snake, affectionately named “Nosey”. Ball Pythons grow to no more than four feet and tend to be extremely docile. I expect this bite was due to starvation and being stepped on far too often. Be glad this wasn’t a huge Burmese or Reticulated Python!
Exotic snakes are NOT meant to be turned out into the wild! This is a fine example of why we are trying to get our State to enact legislation to regulate the sale of large constrictors and require the licensing of the owners. We are NOT trying to ban the snakes as pets, but we think that a little planning and education on the part of a potential owner would put an end to these types of problems. Take the time to learn about the species you wish to own and understand that exotics require far different care than your average dog or cat. Above all, just use your head for something other than a hat rack!
Go visit our Rescue website here, and feel free to write to The Bull or Lady Beth with any questions concerning exotic pets before you buy. The advice is free.
Bull, out. 
Related posts
Tags: 2 Comments
2 responses so far ↓
I almost agree. It’s cruel to keep a large (> 8′) snake in anything smaller than a very big room. Nobody looks at it from that angle though.
Think of it this way. What kills more people, reptiles or people? Well people by a long shot. Then why don’t you need a license to make more people?
Whoever let that ball python out is an ass and should be strung up for cruelty to animals. There’s no way that snake can survive anywhere in the U.S. for more than a few months.
We do! That is another of our points on why to think VERY carefully BEFORE buying a large python as a pet. Sadly, damned few people think about anything.