# Escaped python kills 2 kids - something doesn't feel right here. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 6, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511 "2013-08-06T18:35:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/21 "2013-08-06T23:04:55Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > As another long time snake owner my BS meter is chiming too. The one way I could imagine it happening as reported is if it first killed one child (without that one being able to scream or draw attention), found it too big to swallow, abandoned child one and moved on to the second. > I have attempted to feed my snakes rats that proved to be too big to swallow and they worked for quite a long time before giving up and left a considerable amount of saliva. They should be able to tell if there was attempted swallowing. > [@levdrakon](#): > > I thought it sounded implausible too. > > Also, these two brothers were having a sleep over with another kid. Where was that kid? Didn’t notice and never woke up? Putting two and two together, I think that I’ve solved the mystery. The third child was the smallest of the three, and was sharing the bedroom with the other two brothers. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/22 "2013-08-06T23:07:06Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > tv news now said the apartment was that of the store owner. no mention of which floor the snake was kept on. snake now dead too. Just going from memory, Jacque le Snake Guy owns a creepy two-story reptile store but converts the second floor to living space. He regains custody of his son, and puts double locks on the dangerous reptile cages downstairs. His son has a sleepover with the two victims. Downstairs, the snake somehow escapes its double locked cage, makes its way up a ventilation shaft (really??? Isn’t that so cliche?) into the boys room and kills them. I don’t remember Jacque’s real name. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/23 "2013-08-06T23:30:47Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > I guess there are no dingoes handy in Canada to blame for the kids’ death. Aside: a dingo [really did kill](http://www.news.com.au/national-news/dingo-took-azaria-coroner-finds/story-e6frfkvr-1226392715293) Azaria Chamberlain. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/24 "2013-08-06T23:34:10Z")
Are you all sure there was a third boy? I’ve read a couple articles about this today and both said that the reptile guy was a family friend, but I haven’t seen any mention of him having a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/25 "2013-08-06T23:51:35Z")
According to CNN, the third kid (son of reptile guy) was sleeping in _another room_. Convenient. I would say this sounds like Bullshit, but I think I’m going to go with “someone is trying to sell me snake-oil”. 😉 Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/26 "2013-08-07T00:10:11Z")
I’m seeing the mention of the third boy now…I missed that before. One article said that they had been at a farm earlier in the day and a reptile expert speculated that they may have smelled like goats that they had been playing with, which could have drawn the snake to them. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/27 "2013-08-07T00:22:32Z")
All you people talking about the alleged third kid _in the past tense_ :eek: \ ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/28 "2013-08-07T00:37:33Z")
> [@C3](#): > > I’m seeing the mention of the third boy now…I missed that before. One article said that they had been at a farm earlier in the day and a reptile expert speculated that they may have smelled like goats that they had been playing with, which could have drawn the snake to them. That makes some sense. And now there’s a lesson for other kids: take a bath before bed or snakes will eat you. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/29 "2013-08-07T00:38:43Z")
Just noticed [this article](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-07/canadian-police-launch-criminal-probe-after-snake-kills-two-chi/4869930) (from Australia!) with an additional detail or two that I hadn’t seen before. As mentioned above, third kid was store owner’s son, but it doesn’t say where he was. It seems to say the snake was in an enclosure on the _same_ floor as the kids. Using terminology that I believe is common everywhere but in America, it refers to the shop being on the “ground floor” while the snake was on the “first floor” (apparently, meaning the floor above the ground floor). As the building has only two floors (there’s a photo), that puts it on the same floor as the residence. The enclosure was a glass aquarium, not a cage. Apparently a large one, that went all the way up to the ceiling, where there was an opening at the top connected to the ventilation duct. So the snake went out there. ---
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/30 "2013-08-07T00:51:59Z")
Smelled like goats? Was this snake routinely fed goats? Did it recognize goat as potential prey? And that faint smell on the boys was attractive enough to entice the snake through a ventilation system? So much so that it broke its way through the “registers” (grates over the ducts)? Likely not. Most large pythons in captivity are fed more easily obtainable animals like ducks and rabbits. But even if the kids smelled like a barnyard, I’m still seeing BS in the double kill. Being struck, bitten, and constricted by a snake that size hurts like hell. (Personal experience here.) The first kid had at least one really good scream in him, even if the snake got a fortuitously perfect first strike. Probably several. The second kid, the same. I’m astounded that the first didn’t wake the second. And that neither woke other people in the house – or next door. Lots of things just aren’t right – or complete, anyway – with the story as reported so far. And by the way, I actually AM a reptile expert. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/31 "2013-08-07T01:12:39Z")
Here are some links that shed some light on the danger of large snakes. The second two are taken from links in the first one. [The Keeping of Large Pythons](http://www.anapsid.org/coloburm.html) > [@](#): > > "…This raises the question of why the snake killed so large a victim. Although any answer that we can put forward would be conjectural, it is known that pythons and certain other constrictors will sometimes attack prey that cannot be ingested (Branch and Hacke, 1980; Fritts et al., 1990), whether through misinterpretation of size or through presence on the victim of chemical or other cues that are associated with normal prey. [Pssst…Wanna see my pet snake?](http://www.anapsid.org/louisbaby.html) [Thirteen Foot Burmese Python Kills Owner](http://www.anapsid.org/nyburm.html) > [@](#): > > Large boids should not be allowed to free-roam. They can unpredictably attack anyone in the household or escape by pushing out a window or screen with relative ease. I’m not a reptile expert, I’ve merely kept several lizards, snakes, and other herps, spent some time in contact with several herp experts, and once had to help bathe a 9 foot anaconda. None of the behavior described about this case is surprising to me. If the news about this incident is very inaccurate I wouldn’t be surprised either. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/32 "2013-08-07T01:51:17Z")
The snake getting both boys makes me wonder, too. Why no screaming? Only thing I can think of was if they were sleeping in the bed right next to each other and the snake wrapped up both of them together. Snake experts- is that possible? ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/33 "2013-08-07T03:34:54Z")
If the snake wrapped up the kid & started to constrict before he awoke, there’d probably only be one scream as he wouldn’t be able to get more air in his lungs. If kids can sleep through smoke alarms for minutes on end ([cite](http://www.today.com/news/kids-can-sleep-through-smoke-alarms-experts-say-1C9010718)), then I can see the other child(ren) sleeping through one scream. If the kid was facing the wrong way & had it’s mouth blocked, possibly by said snake, & depending upon the bedroom layout, the scream might be muffled enough that adults asleep down the hall might not hear it either. That being said, the allegation that it killed two & ate neither seems unusual…unless it was a mafia hit-snake. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/34 "2013-08-07T04:32:10Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > tv news now said the apartment was that of the store owner. no mention of which floor the snake was kept on. snake now dead too. Well, there goes the witness. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/35 "2013-08-07T04:44:52Z")
Okay, I’m going out on a limb and making a bold, reckless and out-of-my-ass prediction: The Snake guy (whose building this took place in, and whose kid survived, in another room) has a hard-on for snakes and likes to get off on watching snakes “do what they do”. He set this whole thing up and kinda did a “murder by snake”, while watching and getting his groove on. Whatever that may mean to him or anyone else, who knows? Not making any solid accusations, just speculation. Just my crazy opinion. “Murder by Snake” And that poor python? He was a “snapegoat”! Or would it be “snakegoat”? At any rate, somewhere, there is a bass-player who is not going to get a new pair of boots. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/36 "2013-08-07T12:41:59Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > If the snake wrapped up the kid & started to constrict before he awoke, there’d probably only be one scream as he wouldn’t be able to get more air in his lungs. I can possibly see a snake being able to crawl NEXT to a sleeping child without being detected. But how does a snake _encircle_ a non-drugged, non-ambulatory, non-mute, live human being in prone position, without detection? Not once, but twice. So improbable. And even if the sound of the snake crashing through the ceiling didn’t waken them, reptiles _smell_. How would they miss the smell of such a thing? Call me a cynic, but I’m getting a squicky feeling that the pet owner drugged the boys and let the snake loose on them. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/37 "2013-08-07T13:04:34Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Hard to think that the pet store below and the apartment above shared a ventilation system. I assume a ventilation system would be ductwork connected to a furnace? > Also hard to imagine a ventilation system that doesn’t have secured grates over either end. > [@Gatopescado](#): > > According to CNN, the third kid (son of reptile guy) was sleeping in _another room_. Convenient. … These two things are what make me suspicious. Ventilation systems should have grates over them, usually screwed in and not easily removed. Also, “sleepovers” usually mean all the kids sleep together. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/38 "2013-08-07T13:11:37Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > And that poor python? He was a “snapegoat”! Or would it be “snakegoat”? Snakescape? No, that’s a whole other thing… ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/39 "2013-08-07T13:27:02Z")
A couple of the stories I have seen suggest that the heating system of the building was ducted directly into the snake’s cage. One of the details of keeping tropical reptiles is the need to keep them warm. Rock pythons need an ambient temperature that is warmer than most people keep their houses. It sounds like this guy was solving that problem in a pretty strange way. Most people use under-cage heat sources like pads or tape for non-basking species, and incandescent or infra-red heating sources for basking species. And about the smell of reptiles: their cages may stink, but the animals themselves are pretty aroma-free to human senses, unless they spray some musk defensively. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511/40 "2013-08-07T13:30:58Z")
The theory now is that the boys smelled like farm animals, thus triggering the snake’s hunger instinct. > **[Python said to have killed two New Brunswick boys may have been lured by...](https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/08/06/python_said_to_have_killed_two_new_brunswick_boys_may_have_been_lured_by_their_scent.html)** > > The kids were playing with farm animals earlier and may have smelled like prey, an expert says. Another specialist not sure why the snake would strangle two boys and leave them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-python-kills-2-kids-something-doesnt-feel-right-here/665511.md?page=3)