I happen to be a bit of a reptile enthusiast myself. I have owned many since I was a child. Today, I have a small 5' long Honduran Milk Snake that I purchased as an educational exotic pet exercise for my 16 year old step daughter. We bought him when she was 12. But long ago, things were different...................
I am the only person who most people will ever personally know who nearly died by being in the coils of a 12'-6" Rticulated Python. This is the longest growing snake on earth. This was my pet 25 years ago. And it was only 3 1/2 years old!
It was
MY complete mistake that I was handling the snake without assistance. His body was being supported by my shoulders. Something triggered a fear response in the snakes programming (they don't think, they don't love, they don't hate, they are pre-programmed marvelous machines for living, and only respond to situations. They can't be hated for doing what they do.) He began to flex some muscle in order to maintain his position. I didn't take it seriously. So I slowly and carefully began to loosen his grip with my hands. This triggered an immediate response to snap his muscles tight. I began to feel the pins and needles overcome my upper body. Then tunnel vision. Then a loss of conciseness. This happened in less than 30 seconds.
I collapsed. Now it was all up to him. Once you loose conciseness, there's nothing you can do. The outcome will always result in death. The snake is programmed to continue the grip until his victim no longer has a pulse. He can feel the death with his body and will hold almost indefinitely until it comes.
Why am I here?
When I collapsed, I was on the second floor of my home. I fell into the 5 foot long x 3 foot high on a 2 foot high stand, the custom glass enclosure I made for the snake. I shattered the glass and caused it to fall over...... crashing into the floor. The sound alerted everyone in the house that something bad had just happened upstairs. Funny thing, even then, no one really rushed up as fast as they could have. But my mother was the first into the room.
She hated that snake. She couldn't stand that I fed it rabbits and Canadian Geese (geese were free! Pond next to my house!) But even then, she pulled and tugged and couldn't get it off. Then my father and some friends rushed in. He pulled it off. They looked on in horror.
The snake was unharmed.
I, on the other hand, had broken blood vessels in my eyes for about 2 weeks, and bruising on my neck for about a week. I also found myself in a position to have to find an new knowledgeable and caring owner for a snake that could possibly reach 20+ feet in just a few years. I finally found an expert collector who intended to find a female for breeding purposes.
I never saw the snake again. Before and since then, I have owned many other snakes. But I would never recommend this type of creature to anyone less than an experienced herpetoculturist........EVER!
Later......I bought a Buick.
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