RCReptiles.com

[reptilehunter]

*SURGERY UNCOVERS BLANKET INSIDE SNAKE*

Surgery saved a 12-foot Burmese python after he swallowed an entire
queen-size electric blanket — with the electrical cord and control box.

The blanket must have gotten tangled up in the snake's rabbit dinner,
owner Karl Beznoska said. He kept the blanket in the cage to keep the
60-pound reptile, named Houdini, warm.

"Somehow, he was able to unplug the electric cord," Beznoska said
Wednesday. "He at least wasn't hooked up to the power. It might have been
pretty warm there."

Veterinarian Karsten Fostvedt conducted a two-hour operation on the
python Tuesday, and said afterward, "The prognosis is great."

X-rays showed the tangle of the blanket's wiring extending through
about 8 feet of the python's digestive tract. The surgery to remove it took
an 18-inch incision.

Specialists at the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary
Medicine said Houdini probably would have died without the operation.

Beznoska has had Houdini for 16 years and takes him to local schools
for show-and-tell.

*Courtesy of the Houston Chronicle*

[deborahbroadus]

Wow, this story has been spreading like wildfire! People that don't keep snakes have asked me if I have seen the story. It's sad...and just proves that snakes should not be left to eat unsupervised if there is any thing other than their water dish in their cage.

Ohhhhh, can you imagine the snakes difficulity swallowing that? I wonder if he was thinking.."uh oh...I think I did something wrong, this is taking longer than usual to swallow...WHERE is my master/mistress??"