For those who doubt that pet snakes kill their owners, the most recent death happened on December 16, two days ago, in Cincinnati. According the the Associated Press, Ted Dres, 48, was found inside his snake's cage with the snake, described as a 13 foot Boa Constrictor, still wrapped around his neck. "The snake was still strangling Dres when deputies arrived" the sheriff's office reported. The snake was taken to the Cincinnatti Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Its fate has not yet been decided.
Andy Mahlman, the SPCA director, said many owners of large snakes allow their pets to coil around their necks. "They don't realize they could be a few seconds away from death", Mahlman said.
Incidents like this, while not common, do occur regularly.
I've had a Jamaican Boa as a pet for the past 12 years. It's about 7 feet long, and though I'm very fond of my pet, I'd never let it get too close to my neck. Besides, like most Jamaican Boas, it has a nasty disposition. I raised it from a tiny snakeling, but this cuts no ice with the snake, which will happily bite me if I disturb it. Once, while helping a biologist friend do some field work in a thick forest on Jamaica's south coast, I unthinkingly seized a 4 foot long Jamaican Boa (Epicrates subflavus) as it attempted to crawl into a rocky crevice. That snake bit me at least 20 times in less than 5 seconds, then proceeded to void it vile-smelling cloacal contents all over me. I returned to the small settlement where we had left our car, covered in slime and blood. The local people predicted my imminent death, and attributed my lack of concern to the madness that preceeds death from snake bite. A little girl began to weep.
