Ron's Ball Python Blog

This is a quick unplanned blog entry about a disturbing news report out of Las Vegas, Nevada that I just read a few minutes ago. The irony is that I recently wrote a blog entitled It's a Small World After all and now here's another incident surfacing in the media that only adds more fuel to the fire and helps to build a stronger case for the US Government in their all out war to ban the ownership of certain exotic animals as pets.

Anthony Melendrez, 26, and his wife Melissa Melendrez, 25, were brought up on felony charges as the result of their 3-year old son being attacked by the families' 18-foot python. They claim that it wasn’t the families’ pet; they were only watching it for a local business owner while his building was being renovated (yeah right). Let me stop right here for a minute before I continue. The parents allowed a situation to occur so that an 18-foot python was in close enough proximity to a 3-year old child? It's irresponsible behavior like this that gives our government ample artillery in its fight to ban the ownership of certain exotic animals as pets.

 

They were both rightfully charged with one count of felony child abuse and child neglect. Do you think the charges were a bit too harsh and unfair to the parents? The only way you could have possibly answered “yes” to this question is because I didn’t inform you from the beginning that the 18-foot python struck, wrapped and started constricting the 3-year old child who began suffocating helplessly in the coils of his attacker. You’ve seen a ball python strike, wrap and constrict a mouse or rat so you know exactly how this process works. Now imagine an 18-foot python initiating the same set of actions on a 3-year old child. For the record, this was NOT a ball python. Ball pythons are incapable of this and you’ll never hear any reports or news stories about a ball python doing a similar feat because it’s not possible.

The story goes on further to say that Melissa Melendrez, the mother, used a kitchen knife to free the child from the coils of the 18-foot python. Let me stop right here again. As you probably already know, I deal exclusively with ball pythons and no other snake species. I do know other breeders that breed some of these larger species - Reticulated Pythons, Burmese Pythons, Anacondas, etc. – and they say there are techniques available to release a python that has either bitten or started to constrict. Some of these techniques include pulling the tail back towards the spine, running hot water over the pythons head, spraying alcohol into the pythons face area, etc. but none of them mention using a kitchen knife. This only tells me that this family owned a large 18-foot python and had no prior knowledge of what to do in the event that such a situation ever occurred! I heard of a story where a Reticulated Python attacked the reptile curator of a zoo who was in the cage doing some maintenance. The man reached into his pocket, pulled out a knife and began stabbing the python but the python did not release its coils and continued to constrict even tighter. The mans life was only saved due to an employee who was nearby that overheard the commotion and came to his rescue!

The child suffered injuries but was not killed by the 18-foot python. I would venture to say that she, Melissa Melendrez, was extremely lucky that the 18-foot python released itself from the 3-year old child. I can only hope that people start to “wake up” and become more responsible when dealing with or keeping potentially deadly exotic animals as pets. It hurts everyone else as the government casts their broad net into the ocean to catch the larger dangerous fish and by doing so; smaller innocent fish are also caught in the net as well.

You can read the full story of the attack here Parents of boy attacked by python enter plea.