Alice Cooper's snake swallows a heat pad

[Edwin]

Link:
Click Here (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=501&ncid=716&e=8&u=/ap/20040806/ap_on_en_mu/people_cooper_snake)

[Derrick]

hehe thats nuts. At least they got it to a vet and fixed up

[reptilesalonica]

Fortunately the Boa I lend (http://www.reptilesalonica.com/alicecooper.html) to Alice to use him on the song "Poison", ate well 3 days before the show :D
~Greg~

[Edwin]

When I read the article, my first thought was that Alice Cooper should visit ssnakess, that way he would know to put the heat pad outside of the enclosure, lol.

Greg, thats very cool to have your boa in a concert.

[reptile boi]

Hey,

I saw something exactly like this a while ago on ripleys beleive it or not, except it was a BCI that ate the heating pad. go figure.




Thanks,
Ben

[annieb_mice]

I really thought that Alice Cooper (Vincent Fornier) knew a bit more about how to care for his snakes. Perhaps I misunderstood this, but it seemed to me that he had planned to feed the snake a live rat (never good as the rat could easily have injured the snake), but he also left a heating pad INSIDE the snake's enclosure and the fact that the snake was able to eat the heating pad without anyone stopping it shows that he left the live rat in there with the snake unattended. :P
I have always loved Alice Cooper, but this raised a lot of questions about how he cares for his animals. :P
I'm glad to hear the snake is doing well... and kudos to Alice for taking the snake to a good herp vet. :)

Greg.... nice pics of your snake! That must have been neat to see your snake up on stage with Alice! Was it just there for the one song? Or did he use it for a few different ones? :)
Take care
Annie B. <:3 )~~

[marisa]

Well about people saying he should have left the heating pad outside the enclosure, if you didn't know there are quite a few lnes of heating mats available for larger snakes that are meant to go INSIDE the enclosure.

Not everything is tiny heat mats and lght bulbs. :) I know some people with large snakes even use pig blankets, and yes they go in the enclosure.

But he obviously could have avoided this situation.

Marisa

[reptilesalonica]

Thanks edwin, he came here in my city and he wanted a boa for the performance. So, they found me ;)

Hey guys, Alice is not responsible for his Boa (or python whatever). Others are taking care (or not) of the snake.

Also, Annieb_mice has a point. If they had a close look they would noticed that the snake tryied to eat the...heat pad.
Thanks annieb_mice, yeap I lend him the Boa only for the song "poison". I had posted a thread (http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=46321&highlight=Alice+Cooper) about that issue also.:p

[TheAardvark]

Accidents happen... If you'd seen the case that they have for holding the snake on tour, and knew the care they take of them between shows and the concern they show for thier herp friends, you'd realize that these humble ssnakess are the rock and roll stars of the herp world.

I had the honour of wrangling a snake for thier Thunder Bay and Winnipeg dates recently. It was short notice, but I was able to arrange a 6'5 ft Albino Burm from Westman Reptile Gardens for the show. We shipped it by air to Thunder Bay, and they used it there for the two shows, and brought it home here to Winnipeg for thier last show on that part of the tour.

She was just finishing a shed, so Brian (the road manager) sat up with her after the first show and gave her a nice warm bath and rub to help her finish her shed. He knows quite a bit about the snakes (not as much as the experts on this website, but not too many people do). He is genuinely concerned for thier health and well being, and the snake ( a trademark of Mr. Cooper ) is only on stage a few minutes. Our little girl returned none the worse for wear, and in fact, I think she's gotten a little bit of the rock star attitude now, I hope were not going to have to take all the green M&M's out of the bowl in her dressing room...

All in all, our experience with the band was phenominal, they are true professionals, and treat thier animals far better than most of the "professional" herp handlers and shows that I've encountered.

PM if you'd like to see some shots of Alice and us and the snake...

Jeff
Aardvark Pets
Winnipeg

[Tim_Cranwill]

Post your pics, Jeff. :)

[TheAardvark]

OK, here it goes, never posted a pic before, so if this doesn't work, bear with me.

[TheAardvark]

That was Alice in Thunder Bay, and here he is with my business partner Greg, Dave from Westman Reptile Gardens in Brandon, and me... and no, we did not do the "We're not worthy" routine...

This was the alternate snake, the one we didn't use in the show. These pics were taken after, backstage, as we were trying to see if this 10' male would be better than the 6.5' female he actually used in the three shows. At 10', it actually could drag on the floor, and this guy is a little aggressive (Hey, how come *I* had to hold the head?)

Alice is a very smart man, very social, a wicked golfer (his favourite caddy is the pro here at Rossmere golf course) and an all around nice guy. Not what you'd expect from his shows, but then again, you'd have to be this smart to last this long and still keep it fresh and exciting. The stage show just blew us all away, his music has always been great, but the concert experience was the best I've ever had, even without the backstage passes...

Jeff
Aardvark Pets

[TheAardvark]

Still, it was surreal, getting the call "Hi, This is Brian Nelson, Alice Cooper's road manager. We were told that you were the guy to call in Winnipeg to find us a snake for our show there.." First reaction.. "Yeah, right... who is this Really..." but after a few minutes discussion, I agreed to find them a snake, but not just for the Peg, but for thier 2 sold out show in Thunder Bay.

Thanks to Dave at Westman Reptile Gardens, he had a couple snakes that would work, but unfortunately the number 1 choice, an regular morph 8ft Boa was just starting to shed, so we settled on a tame 6.5 footer that he'd rescued. She was tame, but had a little damage on her from a live feeding incident from the previous owner. Still, she was albino burm, so she'd show up nice on stage, even if she was a little smaller than they'd like.

So I called my brother in Thunder Bay (a huge Cooper fan, who couldn't get tickets for the first two shows, had to settle for balconys in October..) and said "I need you to go to the airport and pick up a snake and take it to Alice Cooper's road manager..." His first reaction "Yeah, right, who is this Really...", but after assuring him it was true, and promising him the tickets and backstage passes, off he went... here's a pic of him, his daughter and Alice in Thunder Bay.

[Tim_Cranwill]

LOL! He <b>must</b> be a big fan of Alice Cooper if he named his daughter after him! :p

Nice pics, Jeff! :)

Next time you get the call, let me know and I'll hook Mr. Cooper up with some hatchling cornsnakes for the show! lol ;)

[Kevin McRae]

lol......maybe a few amazons as well.....lol

[SnakeyeZ]

No No, i think my brazilians would make the best choice....with all the highlights and stage lights LOL

-RiCh