AFR. ROCK:( Questions on BURNS

[C.ADAMANTEUS]

Hey all:mad:
Just got a disturbing call about a 17 ft 75 KG A. Rock that was supposedly "burned by his heat lamp"
THE BURNS ARE APPARANTLY ALONG 8 FT OF HIS SPINE, AND NOT SUPERFICIAL:mad:
Anyway, will be going to see him later with Game officials, and see for myself how bad it is. and take him from owner if abuse is suspect, And then off to the vet with him.
Wish The snake well for me.
will need info as to weather or not any special care for the species is neccessary since ive never had a rock before. (besides the obvious care for the burns)
Will keep ya posted on his condition
thanks.........Rick:(

[wizbit13]

Hope he aint as bad as it sounds. Keep us posted on how he is.

Adam

[Shad0w]

Rick,

Try to keep us updated, get pics if you can :(

[kevyn]

I too hope the snake is alright. I do keep Afrocks and they are one of my favourite snakes to keep. They can be aggressive though, but basically I keep them the same as my Burms. For a good care sheet check out NERD's site. www.newenglandreptile.com . Just go the articles and caresheets section. Best of luck.

[rmestre]

Here is a link to a care sheet on my site. I also have some medical advice there as well.

http://www.wb.livin4.com/python/e107_plugins/custompages/African_Rock_Python.php

[daiyoukai]

wow, a 17ft rock python is HUGE! there was a threa not long ago and noone could find a picture of a captive rock over say 12 feet.

[C.ADAMANTEUS]

hey all
well, it doesn't look too good for the snake. Very severe burns, and deep. NO WAY DONE BY HEAT LAMP. the fluid secreted would have broken the bulb.
We dont know how it was caused, but obviously abuse.
The law gets it from here, and no pictures were allowed by our rescue people, cause they are evidence. Owner will be brought on charges of abuse resulting in death of animal.
the snake will stay with vet tonight.
Definate Neuro damage, he corkscrews when trying to move, one eye twitches, will probably be euthanized tomorrow.:mad:
Hope I answered every ones questions, forgive me if i missed anything, thanks for the links, but I really gotta go.
no mood for anything right now.:(
Rick

Oh yeah, he's just short of 15 ft near as we could measure. and 72 kg
thanks.........Rick

[AZpythonDude]

Wow, so it was intentional WTF.

[daiyoukai]

Originally posted by C.ADAMANTEUS
hey all
well, it doesn't look too good for the snake. Very severe burns, and deep. NO WAY DONE BY HEAT LAMP. the fluid secreted would have broken the bulb.
We dont know how it was caused, but obviously abuse.
The law gets it from here, and no pictures were allowed by our rescue people, cause they are evidence. Owner will be brought on charges of abuse resulting in death of animal.
the snake will stay with vet tonight.
Definate Neuro damage, he corkscrews when trying to move, one eye twitches, will probably be euthanized tomorrow.:mad:
Hope I answered every ones questions, forgive me if i missed anything, thanks for the links, but I really gotta go.
no mood for anything right now.:(
Rick

Oh yeah, he's just short of 15 ft near as we could measure. and 72 kg
thanks.........Rick
still a big captive rock., but I had a felning it wouldnt be 17 feet. sorry about the condition and that it didnt turn out better.

[JimmyDavid]

Near 15 ft is so far, as good as an afrock captive record for us here.
Before going hard on the owner , THINK!!!
Would a guy care for a snake untill it reached 15 ft, only to get it abused? I can see a lot of time, devotion, money and effort put into such a raising. Sorry, i believe that accidents can happen, and i believe a kid could buy a 3' python out of curiosity just to kill it within a month or so. I DON'T believe, though, someone would raise a giant and then neglect it so badly.
Seems to me, you were wishing it was abuse before you actually saw the snake. I wonder why's that?
p.s.- i meam no offense.

[C.ADAMANTEUS]

Originally posted by JimmyDavid
Near 15 ft is so far, as good as an afrock captive record for us here.
Before going hard on the owner , THINK!!!
Would a guy care for a snake untill it reached 15 ft, only to get it abused? I can see a lot of time, devotion, money and effort put into such a raising. Sorry, i believe that accidents can happen, and i believe a kid could buy a 3' python out of curiosity just to kill it within a month or so. I DON'T believe, though, someone would raise a giant and then neglect it so badly.
Seems to me, you were wishing it was abuse before you actually saw the snake. I wonder why's that?
p.s.- i meam no offense.
Hey Jimmy,
In some ways, you are correct. However, I was in no way "wishing" abuse. I personally do not have any Authority in these cases, so there is no basis for that train of thought. I get called simply cause I've been handling snakes venomous, and non since I was like 7 yrs old. Caught my first rattler, a Scutulatis, in the mojave desert at 9 yrs old. I can confidently handle these snakes, were someone elses nervousness may get them hurt. But I do know the right people to get action taken. In this case, I was called to "Handle" Him.
However, I also receive many cases a year as a rehabilitator, and in alot of those cases, its neglect, or abuse, and so you learn to "expect" the worse. Perhaps I am a little wrong in doing that.
When I here that a snake is burned over half his body, (8 outa 15) What would YOU think? I think "Something isn't right here".

[C.ADAMANTEUS]

Sorry, I wasnt done. In this case, He fessed up to the cops when they started questioning the vicious bite on his calf, so it appears to be retaliatory attack, with lighter fluid, and a match.
He admits to the snake letting go of him.
Anyway, Im still getting filled in also, so I probably said more than I should have.
I did sorta take offense at first to what appeared to be a premature judgement of my character, But now I think, You dont know me except what ive written in the last month, so your entitled to your opinion.:)
Really, I dont take offene
Rick

[rmestre]

I dont think you did anything wrong. The python I have now (adopted) was also mistreated. He is about 16 months, when we got him he had multiple scratches, algae growing on his nose (no idea how that happened), and was very thin. I paid 100 dollars just to get the snake out of her possesion.

The things some people do are very disturbing. I think ones mind always looks toward the negative when they hear of such things.

Caring is caring.

[C.ADAMANTEUS]

As an after thought, I guess I could say the owner does seem to show remorse for what he did. even kept it quiet for two weeks, trying to fix it himself.
But enough for now. I thank you all for the links. Have already bookmarked them for future reference:D
Rick

[JimmyDavid]

After i posted, i looked at my own words and thought they could strike as severe and it was not my intention. That's why i wrote the p.s. :)
Anyway, if the story had an happy ending, it's all right, then. :)
I hope the snake gets better. After all, we don't see those many big captive afrocks around.

[C.ADAMANTEUS]

hey jimmy david, No worries.
I sorta over reacted, and I oppologize for that.
As for the snake, he was euthanizes yesturday at about 5pm GMT. I do understand that he cared for the snake. its obvious enough. but its not obvious why he flipped, and lit it on fire.
Anyway, even though they are gonna charge the guy, it really does not make me all that happy.
Actually im bummed out about it all. I was mad at first, now feel bad that the snake had to die.:(
Anyway, sorry again for the over reaction.
Rick:D

[JimmyDavid]

No problem! I'm the one who should have used better words.

It's really very sad that shuch a snake had to die.

[C.ADAMANTEUS]

Originally posted by JimmyDavid
No problem! I'm the one who should have used better words.

It's really very sad that shuch a snake had to die.
yeah i know. stories end, it turns out the bite got infected, went to doctor, later reported to animal control, thats what got him caught. He has plenty of other beuties too, but they are legal, and taken care of fairly well by him and his wife. really a trip someone can flip out and lose control that way.
Any way nuff said, later on..........Rick:)

[dtocher]

Crazy things happen all the time. My school paper headlined some drunk people finding a chopped up 11 foot burmese on the beach late one night.

A guy had it in his room, and it grew too large and he grew too lazy (not to mention being a speed tweaker), and when he thought he was losing too much for the snake (space, time, money), he killed it with an ax and dumped it on the beach.

Crazy things happen.

[JimmyDavid]

Stupid guy. Why didn't he consider selling or even giving it to someone?

[C.ADAMANTEUS]

never know why people do these things. youd think if money motivated the gut with the burm, he woulda kept the skin whole.
from what I hear the leather is fairly expensive.
:confused:
the one I started the post about, he just lost control, and later regretted it.:(
Rick

[dtocher]

This guy had motives that were twisted by quasi-long term, high volume drug use (at least that's the best I've heard, IMO the newspaper made the story a multi-day, huge deal).

[C.ADAMANTEUS]

Yeah, METH kills, makes ya lose morals, ethics, testicular fortitude, stuffs bad news, Nasty business
Rick

[oliver]

YA thanks for leting me look in on the good and very bad stories!!!

Feel sorry for the snakes!!!!!
Thanks Oliver

[daiyoukai]

well seeing that the snaked had to be put down can you get pics of the dead body? I dont think his parrents will care, lol. (OK bad joke) but for reeal a 15 foot rock python that was confermed to be captive raised would, liek jimmy said, prove to be the largest anyone on this forum knows about.


Now Im just trying to understand something, the guys monster rock bit him and in defence he set it on fire or did he set it on fire as revenge for biting him? the deffencive burning I could SLIGHTLY udnerstand if he felt his life was in danger, but if it was revenge
then he should keep anything that could possibly turn on him again.

[C.ADAMANTEUS]

Originally posted by daiyoukai
well seeing that the snaked had to be put down can you get pics of the dead body? I dont think his parrents will care, lol. (OK bad joke) but for reeal a 15 foot rock python that was confermed to be captive raised would, liek jimmy said, prove to be the largest anyone on this forum knows about.


Now Im just trying to understand something, the guys monster rock bit him and in defence he set it on fire or did he set it on fire as revenge for biting him? the deffencive burning I could SLIGHTLY udnerstand if he felt his life was in danger, but if it was revenge
then he should keep anything that could possibly turn on him again.
Hey there, well as for the pics, probably no. at first cus they authorities wouldn't let me, and now cus they dont keep the animals once they are euthanized. Dont know where they go, but they do haul them off. But I will look and see if any have "slipped through the cracks". it has happened before, but cant make a promise that I may not be able to keep.
As for the burns, By the guys own admition, the snake let him go in the first couple of seconds, and he retaliated with lighter fluid, and a match.
I wish I could tell everyone more, but they only call me to "Handle" and transport, and rehabilitate if warranted.
Sorry I have to leave it on not so full of a note, but I'm not that closely involved with the Animal Control. If it was State park Rangers, (who I deal with alot) I probably would have posted pics already, and had a lot more info for everyone to get read.
I did see the bite though, and I can imagine the pain from such a bite causing you to lose your mind, but not enough to do that to something you hand raised for so long. How old do you think a 15 ft Afrock would be? His wife says she thinks 9 yrs, but isnt for sure. Still a long time to throw away like that.
Anyway, the morbidity of the whole situation still fresh in my mind, so Im gonna let this go for now, OK?:D
Thanks..............Rick