Talk:Reticulated python
Does this belong?
If a person is ever attacked there are a few easy things that you can do to ward off the snake. The first one is to get alcohol and pour it over the wound and into the snakes mouth, causing it to release almost immediately. The next thing you can do is get warm to hot water and pour it over the snake and this should also make it let go almost immediately. The final thing to do only works on the family Boidae, take the tail about 4-5 inches up and bend it backwards, causing it to let go.
I removed the above text from the article. It is very interesting and probably true but it is hard to verify. Furthermore, is there a liability issue involved? Please advise. Comatose51 01:22, 24 May 2005 (UTC)
- No liability issue - every single page of Wikipedia has a link to Wikipedia:General_disclaimer at the bottom. True and/or verifiable? I don't know. I think you did the right thing to move it here. FreplySpang (talk) 01:27, 24 May 2005 (UTC)
'pet' retics
The relative merits of keeping a retic outside of a zoo are hotly debated as with any number of giant snakes.
A blanket statement that the 'best' pet for a first snake is specifically and always a Ball Python is a gross oversimplification. Individual snakes have individual temperaments. Ball pythons may well not be suitable for some people. Personally, I'd recommend a Columbian Red-Tailed Boa over a Ball Python due to a more 'cuddly' and affectionate temperament, though they get much larger and cost more to feed. Burmese pythons are very popular, though this is partly due to a misconception that they are the mildest-mannered of pythons -- something that if often true but untrue often enough to lead to the occassional disaster. Blood pythons are also sometimes kept for their temperament, though this widly fluctuates from blood python to blood python, and the most common reason for keeping a blood is the pretty ankh on the forehead.
However, there are also plenty of non-python, non-boids that would also make suitable pets. Western Hog-nosed snakes in particular often have mild dispositions when socialised, and as to the 'brag' factor, a hog-nosed owner can honestly state that they own a venomous snake (though the venom only has a mild anaesthetic effect and is injected by back-facing fangs inside the throat, which means one would have to shove a finger down its throat in order to get a numb finger). King snakes and black racers (both colubrids) have also been often found as good starter ophidians.
If more detailed advice as to the keeping of a retic as a pet or not is to be given, it might be pointed out both that retics who have grown over a certain size should certainly never be kept without special facilities (however a four-foot adolescent is no different than any other mean-tempered, moody snake -- many ball pythons come to mind), and that there is a smaller option, the Dwarf Retic, which has not been seen to ever get large enough to swallow its owner, unlike a egular retic. : 66.199.69.117
Herpetoculture vs. Herpetology
A number on interesting things have been done with reticulated pythons over the past couple of 10 years in the field of herpetoculture . A variety of new strains have developed through the selective breeding efforts of private breeders producing snakes for the pet trade.
It is unfortunate, however, that this article has more information about keeping reticulated pythons in captivity rather than it does about the animal in the wild. --Bezbaq 01:49, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)
"Fatalities"
Reptile enthusiasts are quick to note, however, that there are far more human deaths each year caused by dogs than by large constrictors.
THe above is an absurd statement. Of course there are more deaths attributed to dogs than snakes: one could say there are more deaths per year because of dogs than of unicorns. I removed it.
Eating People
As a herpetologist myself, I have *never* seen a single, verifiable report of any snake eating a person, ever. Killing, yes, but not eating. Snakes simply can't distend their jaws far enough to get their mouth around human shoulders. Although it is possible that at some point, a small child has been eaten by a snake, I have removed that section from the article as this is a popular misconception I'd like to not see spread still further. If someone feels that this is important, factual information, please cite a reliable source. 69.92.141.242 02:41, 23 August 2005 (UTC)
- In the edit that I add that, I also add a single source, located in the Sources section. You can view the entire edit here. Given that I actually do cite a source, I think it should go back. Wikibofh 03:32, August 23, 2005 (UTC)
I would prefer something more easily checked than just a single book that I don't have access to. Or failing that, how about a compromise where you actually quote a brief section of the book in question word for word? What I'd like to convey is that snakes eating people is by and large fiction, and not have the public walk away with the impression that large snakes regularly, or even rarely, eat people. If you track down one source in a book where they found an uncorroborated report in the 1800s where someone was supposedly eaten, I don't think that should be included. As I don't have access to the book in question, or know what exactly it says I have no way of knowing whether or not it's reliable, and given all other articles I've read about it previously, I'm much more inclined to believe it to be unreliable and / or verifiable.69.92.141.242 03:48, 23 August 2005 (UTC)
- My recollection is that this was a paraphrase from the book. It said something like "One of a few snakes documented to eat people". I checked this book out from my library, so don't have it handy. If you would like verification I can check it out again, scan the page in and post an image of it. It would be a while before I got this done. The book seemed by a reputable author (here is a list of the books he's published). There are also some online sources that say the same thing. In a quick google search I even got some rather gruesome images. For something like this, I can't prove a negative. I think the preponderance of evidence would suggest it's true, but rare. Wikibofh 04:02, August 23, 2005 (UTC)
As far as those images you linked, they were debunked on snopes. [1] In my opinion, the evidence usually tends towards snakes not eating people, however, as people tend to believe that they do, such rumors are widely propagated. Although I don't deny that an exceptionally large Reticulated Python is physically capable of eating a human (and much smaller snakes are capable, physically of eating a child), in practice they don't. My belief is that at some point, someone somewhere has probably been eaten by a snake, however I've never seen what I would consider to be good, factual coverage of such an incident. Although there may be 'documented cases', again, I doubt whether the sources the author was citing were reliable.69.92.141.242 04:10, 23 August 2005 (UTC)
- How about something like this for a comment:
"This species of snake is one of the few that have documented, but not verified, cases of eating people. Given the size it grows to, it is possible, although likely exceedingly rare."
Oh, and good job on the snopes reference. I was sceptical, but hey it's late and I get up early. :) Wikibofh 04:19, August 23, 2005 (UTC)
I would find that agreeable; I mostly wanted to convey that if it happens at all, it's highly unlikely, and mostly an urban legend. 69.92.141.242 04:24, 23 August 2005 (UTC)
- Ok, I added that sentence in, with a minor adjustment on the wording. Thanks for coming by. I'm always up for reasonable compromise. :) Wikibofh 04:29, August 23, 2005 (UTC)
Phyton Eats Man!!
On February of 1998, Philippines, a "Mangyan" (native of Mindanao) was reported eaten by a reticulated phyton.
- — Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.90.68.65 (talk) 22:42, 19 September 2005 (UTC)
- Source or citation? Wikibofh 00:03, 20 September 2005 (UTC)
- source: ABS-CBN News (Magandang Gabi Bayan)
- — Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.90.68.199 (talk) 17:05, 21 September 2005 (UTC)
- A search of their website returns only one, non-relevant, hit for python, so it can't be verified. Do you know of anything that can be verified? Wikibofh 17:25, 21 September 2005 (UTC)