There’s a 34-second video of a young girl, probably 4 or 5 years old, playing with a large python. The snake is a long-time pet. I wonder if the parents have any clue of how dangerous that situation is.
Normally, I’m not a fan of interfering with how people raise children. But I would be quite willing to make an exception in this instance.
I saw that and had the same reaction. Foolish people. But I bet they’ve received a lot of “advice” since that video went viral (sadly, some of it likely encouraging them).
It’s not something I would do, and definitely find it very cringe worthy, but, like a lot of YouTube videos, there may be more than it shows, going on.
Like, it’s more than likely that the parents took this picture knowing the python is actually in an overfed stupor from having just had a big meal.
Doesn’t make it okay. But it also may not be quite as dangerous as it at first, appears.
I don’t think anybody should have kids, but I don’t see the big deal. I mean, somebody was filming that, so would be 3 feet away from rendering assistance if Mr. Wiggly slowly tired to off the kid. No worse, possibly better, than kids that age with dogs. Or bicycles. Or pools. Or riding in the family car, for that matter.
I consider it just a little reckless to be that casual. We discussed this general topic in an earlier thread a couple of years back and my opinion is pretty much unchanged.
I think it is great to introduce young kids to herps and teach them not to fear them. And I think the vast, vast majority of the time a tame Burmese python like that one (a notoriously placid large snake) is not going to be a problem. But letting quite young kids casually handle them when they are not physically capable of getting one off of themselves is slightly risky. Because snakes are basically very, very stupid critters and can get triggered at weird moments. Even just a bite from a snake that size is going to suck. If people get complacent enough that they let their young kid play with a snake like that then get distracted by a phone call when something goes south it could potentially be dangerous.
Such occurrences would be quite rare, but why take the chance? Have an adult handle and control the snake and let the kid touch it respectfully all they like. But letting one of the big constrictor species entwine around you is just not a great idea, even for an adult really.
Okay since it was an albino I originally assumedt that was a Burmese python, a widely bred and usually placid animal in captivity, at least most of the time. But on re-read they’re claiming that’s a RETICULATED python. I’ve never actually seen an albino reticulated, perhaps they became popular post-my interest in the pet reptile trade decades ago. That’s a much worse idea, unless the purpose-bred albinos are temperamentally different from their normal kin. I had an acquaintance that owned a regular one and they can be seriously twitchy fuckers.
95% of parents should not have children, and that’s a conservative estimate.
I know little about owning and caring for snakes but I was impressed a few months ago with how quickly this all went wrong:
I believe it was Kurt Vonnegut who said something along the lines of “Just because you can reproduce, it doesn’t mean you should.”
That line of Mother’s Day cards is what got him fired from Hallmark.