Burmese Python

Question
I have a 7 year old Albino Burm. Python that's 17 feet long and my husband & I are the only ones that's ever taken care of her but the larger she gets the harder it is to get into her cage to clean it.At this point we open the door & let her roam while my husband "keeps an eye out" & uses a shield to keep her back while I go in to clean it. She has never been aggressive but I sense a change in her attitude in the last year & I often worry about what one of us could do if she should decide to coil around the other one. We have no one else that will even stay in the house when we even open the cage. Is there anything to do in case of emergency? In your opinion how much should she be eating at her size? We were giving her the largest rabbits we can find about 15lbs. every 10 days but the man we were buying them from died & his wife thinks it's cruel and it's almost impossible to get her to sell them to us. She is family to us & I knew she'd get to this size but I never considered her attitude changing since she pretty much free roamed during the day since she was 3 feet long and only locked up all the time in the last year. We gradually started leaving her in her cage more & more since she was about 11 feet long so it's not like all of a sudden she's locked up. My husband wants to call a local zoo but I am having a hard time dealing with the idea and we don't even know if they would want her.  

Answer
Hi Nancy,
Two weeks ago, I became the proud new owner of an 18 foot Burmese, Dark phase for the very same reason. This is a very common problem. I treat all of mine as members of the family also. Zoos and just about every place else are full of giant snakes. Most are euthenised as the last resort. I have rarely been successful in placing a large snake. I have found good homes for many Burmese in the 4 - 8 foot size and have kept all of the big ones at my home.

This snake should weigh 120 -140 pounds and eat 10 pounds of food every 2 weeks. The food item should be prekilled, frozen, then thawed in warm water being sure there is no ice left inside. This kills any bacteria in the food item and over time causes the snake to loose aggressiveness at feeding. Mine will usually just eat the item without constricting. Large snakes get sick quicker than the smaller ones as they tend to be more inactive. You may already be doing this and rabbits are but one food choice.

You should do several things before an emergency. (1) Do what you are doing. This how my wife and I do it. (2) Have a spray bottle full of cheap rum or bourbon close by. (3) Be able to get to a water supply such as a shower. (4) A phone.

If the snake starts to constrict you need to take action very fast. First spray the booze all over the snakes mouth and nose area. This will make most release there hold especially if there is a bite with constriction [There usually is]. If this does not happen immediately, Grab the tail bending it backwards and start to unravel the snake keeping constant pressure on the tail. If you are still having trouble, try and get under a shower that has been turned on but not to hot. A little hotter than a normal shower for a minute then full cold. the sudden drastic temperature drop  should do it. Keep in mind that you may  get burned as well as the snake but at this point you are trying to survive. I have never yet called emergency services as the actions here have always been successful.  Keep in mind that if you do need the emergency services there may be other ramifications such as impounding and destroying the animal or legal issues. As soon as you are free get the snake back into the cage and recompose yourself . Finish the booze if you want to. Try to figure out what triggered this. In my case, every time this happened it was clearly my own fault. Carelessness usually.

As with any emergency that you may face, work out a plan to use in advance. Stay calm. I have had severe bites that has scattered my blood all over the place. Clean and dress the wound right away. These are deep puncture wounds in which stitches are rarely beneficial.

The best cure for bad attitude is more handling. They are so big that you can't hold them as you used to and this affects them. Sit down and put their head on your lap and put some lifting pressure beneath the snake about 3 or 4 feet back to encourage the snake to crawl across your lap. Repeat this a couple of times and stay close to it petting its back as it crawls around the floor. You can rebond with the snake in this manor so it will be more like its old self again.

Hang in there. It sounds to me like you are very good with this snake and you should be just fine with it for perhaps another 10 to 15 years. Edmund Brown [ReptileEd] http://www.ReptileSpectacular.com