Any snake catchers that are CPF members?

The pics were taken in Africa, they are self explanatory.

Wow, that's a nasty looking one. Who'd he eat?

:sweat: Didn't know pythons have two rows of fangs.
Guess how many HIDs fit inside there?

:eeksign:

Guess that illustrates my mantra - "don't kill anything your're not going to eat or that's not trying to eat you". You could go both ways on that one.

Beautiful snake and pics BTW.

I grew up in rattlesnake country, and I think I'd rather meet up with a rattlesnake than this thing!

ouch.. teeth..
what'd it eat? there s noticeable bulge.

Used to catch and keep 'em as a teenager. Our most unusual was a six foot Boa (got that one from a pet store).

We prompted a fight between a copperhead and a king snake and as a result, named the king snake Freddy the Chicken. The copperhead attacked Freddy several times and he did nothing. A king snake is immune to the copperhead's venom and is supposed to be able to prevail.

I got bit a couple of times by an overactive 5' black rat snake. The teeth were razor sharp but small and fragile. Two or three would break off and you just pick them out of your skin.

The rat, king and boa are constrictors. The boa was probably 6-8 times the thickness of the other two and the two were pretty strong. It would take two of us to get the boa uncoiled.

We would shoot birds and freeze them and then defrost them to feed to the snakes. We'd warm them with a light bulb, put them on the end of a stick and wiggle them around in front of them to make them think it was alive. They'd attack it and constrict it for a few minutes until they were convinced it was dead and then eat it.

Those were wild and crazy days. I don't much like contact with snakes these days.

I kept and caught snakes as a kid. What kind of venomous snake is that?!?! It is obviously not a constrictor (boa or python) as they don't have teeth or fangs like that bad boy!! :green:

African Rock Python after eating an impala

This is what snopes has to say about the pics.

Thanks for the link mckevin, I didn't know what to make of it, a friend sent the pics. Here's another one, looks to be a Joey (baby kangaroo) being pulled out of the water.

Dang! I had no idea pythons had teeth like those!! :duck:

Yeah, pythons just got a lot scarier. I didn't think they had those teeth, either!

They use them to "anchor" their head so they can constrict their prey.

Oh boy :green:
Suddenly I am glad that I live where I live.

I'll reconsider watching Anaconda.

KD5XB said:

I grew up in rattlesnake country, and I think I'd rather meet up with a rattlesnake than this thing!

Click to expand...

I'm not so sure. I've come across eastern diamondbacks in the 7 or 8 foot range and I've seen what rattlesnake venom can do... there's nothing quite like 500 or 1,000 milligrams of necrotizing venom to ruin your day.

McGizmo said:

Dang! I had no idea pythons had teeth like those!! :duck:

Click to expand...

Yes they do. The inner rows of teeth in the upper jaw moves independently of each other and of the other set of teeth. These 2 rows alternates in pulling the prey inside the head.

What's worse is when you get bitten by this thing, you can't pull out straight because the teeth are angled towards the back. You have to "push" towards the back then open it's mouth.

Having said all that, I would still rather be bitten by a python than a venomous snake.

I have a 6-7 foot red tail boa, and he's pretty strong (like trying to pry his tail off a table leg when he doesn't wanna let go). And we used to have a burmese python. He got about 10 feet I think before we sold him. He got too big and heavy and it gets to be a hassle feeding him guinea pigs and bunnies. I cannot fathom the power of that snake in the picture. The article cited said he was 4 meters and 10 inches in diameter; I'm guessing he weighs over 200 pounds easily based on the snakes we've had. Absolutely amazing. And while he's not venomous, the bite is definitely still painful. My boa bit me in the hand once (completely my fault, not his) and though the teeth holes are real tiny, I had bruises on my hand from the strike force. Snakes are beautiful creatures, but they deserve respect.