Charlotte O: "John Calchera, owner of Pineville Pets, took in the snake...'It's a totally harmless thing,' he said. 'Why attack a harmless thing?'"

Hmm. Maybe this had something to do with it: "Wrapped around [the toddler's] leg was a ball python. She could see the snake, at least 4 feet long, biting Adam on the leg."

Comments

[Danny Wright]

I had a ball python for a couple of years that was only 2 feet long. It snapped at me a couple of times when I was in the process of feeding it (or soon thereafter). It scared me to death. If that 4-footer bit that poor child, it must have hurt like heck at first. It looks like NC may be getting a seasonal taste of the Everglades problem.

[dale]

That kind of thinking reminds me of the dog owners who say, "Oh, Fang wouldn't hurt a thing."
No! Even if you believe it, you don't know it. I don't know it.
And it's supposed to be on a leash.
Even if it is on a leash, I shouldn't be the one who has to step into the street to keep the thing from jumping on me.

[Ian McDowell]

"At least" four feet long? Female ball pythons top out at just over four feet. The males often don't get any longer than a yard. As constrictors go, this isn't exactly a large species we're talking about. The bit can painful, particularly if you pull against the curving teeth (if you have enough self-possession to remain still until the snake lets go, which I'll admit is damned hard, you end up with some pin pricks).

I feel sorry for the toddler, who was certainly terrified and in pain, but I doubt a ball python could seriously injure anyone, even a small child. It's not quite the same thing as the potentially twenty foot pythons that have spread to the Everglades.

[Ed Cone]

Various reliable looking sources (including this one) make four feet seem plausible.

In any case, we're not talking about herpetologists making a clinical decision about the relative danger posed by different species of constrictor, it's two maintenance guys running over to help a toddler who has been grabbed and bitten by a big-ass snake.

[word_worker]

Just lucky it wasn't this one:

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b1_1snake.5972472jul31,0,3043350.story

But seeing as the 12-ft snake on the loose near my old haunts in PA has been seen "in the neighborhood", it sounds like it is not the summer road-trippin' kind of snake anyway. The neighbors must be thrilled.*

*In the interest of full disclosure, I did have a four foot long Iguana escape its home and slither through Ed's yard at one point. My first and last ownership experience with exotic pets.

[Bryan Gates]

Blaming the snake for biting the toddler seems like blaming an alligator for biting. It is just what they do.

[Ed Cone]

Assigning blame to the snake is irrelevant anthropomorphism.

It's the response of the humans that's being judged.