brett 2,310 Posted April 6, 2012 Report Share Posted April 6, 2012 Surprise! http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/snakes-plane-australian-pilot-makes-emergency-landing-discovering-140345209.html Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted April 6, 2012 Report Share Posted April 6, 2012 Finally, a valid reason to take up skydiving.... John Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,495 Posted April 6, 2012 Report Share Posted April 6, 2012 That would be no good John, according to the article "golden tree snakes, or Chrysopelea ornata, are nonvenemous, can grow up to 5 feet (or 1.5 meters) long and are "able to glide through the air." Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted April 6, 2012 Report Share Posted April 6, 2012 If they can glide, I wonder what the distance:height fallen ratio is? Link to post Share on other sites
dodgy-alan 1,587 Posted April 6, 2012 Report Share Posted April 6, 2012 If they're so good at gliding I think I'd leave the cockpit and let the snake get with flying the plane ! Personally I love snakes and would love to get some pet ones, Marie's threatened to walk out if I ever did !!! Link to post Share on other sites
britfrog 180 Posted April 6, 2012 Report Share Posted April 6, 2012 If they're so good at gliding I think I'd leave the cockpit and let the snake get with flying the plane ! Personally I love snakes and would love to get some pet ones, Marie's threatened to walk out if I ever did !!! snakes can never be pets they havent the brain for affection, i used to catch snakes for the audobon society and the local museum when i lived in the bahamas when i was a kid luckily they were all constrictors, we had nothing poisonous there, but they could still give you a very nasty bite. one day a friend of mine and I were talking to some locals about a "large snake" that had been seen that they wanted taken away from their houses, we went across some bush to a large pile of old trees and stuff that had been bulldozed into a pile and sat there waiting for dark. As night began to fall this large snake came out of the mound and we pounced on it, it immediatly wrapped itself around the pair of us squashing us together, i had the head which was hissing merry hell at me and it was trying to bite me but before i knew what was happening i could hardly breath nor could my friend and it was with virtually our last breath that we managed to untangle ourselves and get the bugger into a sack, my ribs ached for a week, and it was all of 8foot long!! imagine something 16 feet long like my parents put up with in Nigeria, and some people have in houses nowadays, you wouldnt have a chance. pretty yes ! pets ? no! Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,495 Posted April 6, 2012 Report Share Posted April 6, 2012 Wow that's an experience britfrog, there's nothing like the naivety of youth! Cheers, Joe Link to post Share on other sites
dodgy-alan 1,587 Posted April 6, 2012 Report Share Posted April 6, 2012 wow, pretty awesome! a few years ago we found some kids outside my neighbours house poking something with a stick, It turned out to be a very pretty pink cornsnake, It was very young, about a foot long. and it was sunning itself on the pavement. we were not sure where it had come from nor what breed it was at that point but I grabbed it behind its head and we popped it into a pillow case that my wife had gone indoors to get. It calmed down again after being upset by the kids. We had christened it "Missing Sid" (after captain beaky!)by that time as had no idea where it came from. We took it to a local vets for safekeeping. We later heard that a local pet shop had lost a load the previous year and it seemed they had adapted to our climate and were now breeding ! I,ve never seen another one though. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,310 Posted April 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2012 Most snakes are ok in my book but I definetly wouldn't want to see one poking his head out of the dashboard of my car much less while in the air. I think my wife would have jumped out, with or without a chute. Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted April 6, 2012 Report Share Posted April 6, 2012 There's a growing problem in south Florida, particularly in and near the Everglades, with various species of pythons and boas. They are non-native here and the theory is that pet owners had released them when they got too big to keep. They are breeding here now and causing a lot of problems. The state is trying to reduce their numbers but it's an ideal environment for them and they're flourishing and adversely affecting native species up to the size of deer. As far as I know there have been no human attacks, except one where a baby was killed by a family "pet" that had escaped it's terrarium. John Link to post Share on other sites
PanzerFodder 0 Posted April 7, 2012 Report Share Posted April 7, 2012 There's a growing problem in south Florida, particularly in and near the Everglades, with various species of pythons and boas. They are non-native here and the theory is that pet owners had released them when they got too big to keep. They are breeding here now and causing a lot of problems. The state is trying to reduce their numbers but it's an ideal environment for them and they're flourishing and adversely affecting native species up to the size of deer. As far as I know there have been no human attacks, except one where a baby was killed by a family "pet" that had escaped it's terrarium. John Not even the aligators are safe from those things now http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1006_051006_pythoneatsgator.html Cheer's...Graham... Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,310 Posted April 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2012 Hopefully, in the future, python purses and shoes will come into vouge. The best way to get rid of an animal population is for it to become a financal windfall for hunters. I kind of feel sorry for that poor python in that news story, talk about your eyes being bigger than your stomach. Thats what happens when you go shopping for food when your hungry I guess. Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted April 8, 2012 Report Share Posted April 8, 2012 16ft-long snake found with adult deer in its stomach http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2054968/16-foot-python-Everglades-eaten-deer.html#ixzz1rP33TU7B I know this is the Mail but have found the same story in several other news sites. I linked this one because it had the most compelling images. If you have a weak stomach or a fear of snakes, don't follow th link. One photo is pretty gruesome. John Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,495 Posted April 8, 2012 Report Share Posted April 8, 2012 That is a remarkable picture, it puts into perspective how powerful they are. I would have used a knife and fork personally. Link to post Share on other sites
dodgy-alan 1,587 Posted April 8, 2012 Report Share Posted April 8, 2012 If it had been a small indigenous tribesman it had eaten i'd be tempted to wrap the whole thing in pastry and serve it up for dinner.............................................well surely you've heard of Snake and Pygmy pie !! Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,495 Posted April 8, 2012 Report Share Posted April 8, 2012 Consider yourself crowned for the worst joke of today! Link to post Share on other sites
britfrog 180 Posted April 18, 2012 Report Share Posted April 18, 2012 Many years ago--- as the story starts (just after the war) we used to live in Nigeria when it was a peaceful colonial country, and the stories my parents and i can recall would keep you all amused for days, despite being asked on many occasions they never wrote a book of their experiences there sadly, so it is down to me to remember them. I was brought up on a compound of 8 houses in the bush my father was charged with mapping nigeria and the cameroons and opening up mail routes etc. he never trusted snakes cus they would get everywhere on the planes and they were mostly cobras or worse! However he tells a lovely story of when flying a bristol 170 freighter upcountry they were given an orphaned young hippo by the local workers at the airfield, now my parents already had a large menagerie of animals , more about them another time, so my father accepted the little hippo which was quite calm and quite happy to suck on a babies bottle with milk in it or your thumb. At any rate they knocked up a crate to keep the little fellow safe and put him into the a/c whereupon they took off to get back to Lagos where we lived. Enroute the little fellow managed to break open his crate and disturbed by all the noise was running back and forth in the hold wiggling its little ears and squeeling like a little pig , so dad sent down the navigator and first officer to see what they could do to calm him down, when he next looked down and back as one did in those a/c he could see the 2 fellows being dragged along by this little tearaway and each time they came to the front the plane descended and each time they went to the back it wanted to climb, eventually my father ordered the first officer back to the controls and he went down with the bottle of milk and pacified the little feller so it just stood there leaning against my dad making little happy noises. Well they got basck to lagos and the little fellow was having no part of being tugged out of the plane with a rope around its neck so it set off across the apron with 3 aircrew all in whites doing their utmost to steer it in the direction they wanted to go, eventually they managed to get it into the back my dads drop head moggie minor and he brought it home. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,310 Posted April 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2012 Thats a good story. I find real life drama just as or even more exciting than fiction. I could just picture that little guy running loose in the plane. Link to post Share on other sites
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