How a snake keeps warm at night

Marie5656 · Post by **Marie5656** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:12 pm

Here is link for pic of snake. http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/19/python ... index.html

Snake gulps queen-size electric blanket

Wednesday, July 19, 2006; Posted: 6:10 p.m. EDT (22:10 GMT)

KETCHUM, Idaho (AP) -- It took surgery to save a 12-foot Burmese python after it swallowed an entire queen-size electric blanket -- with the electrical cord and control box.

The blanket must have gotten tangled up in the snake's rabbit dinner, owner Karl Beznoska said. He kept the blanket in the cage to keep the 60-pound reptile, named Houdini, warm.

"Somehow, he was able to unplug the electric cord," Beznoska said Wednesday. "He at least wasn't hooked up to the power. It might have been pretty warm there."

Veterinarian Karsten Fostvedt conducted a two-hour operation on the python Tuesday, and said afterward, "The prognosis is great."

Neither Fostvedt nor fellow veterinarian Barry Rathfon had operated on a snake before. "We just basically called a couple of specialists and they told us where to go in," Fostvedt said.

X-rays showed the tangle of the blanket's wiring extending through about 8 feet of the python's digestive tract. The surgery to remove it took an 18-inch incision.

Specialists at the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine told them it probably would have taken Houdini six hours to swallow the blanket and the snake probably would have died without the operation.

Beznoska, a retired ski instructor who now works as a draftsman and carpenter, is from Austria and moved to the resort area in 1965. He has had Houdini for 16 years and takes him to local schools for show-and-tell.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Lulu2 · Post by **Lulu2** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:30 pm

As much as I love snakes (and that's a lot,) I'll be the first to admit that they have a really, really, REALLY smooth brain!

Marie5656 · Post by **Marie5656** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:42 pm

SnoozeControl wrote: I don't know a thing about the care and feeding of snakes, but an electric blanket seems like a very bad idea. Don't they have special lamps to keep the terrarium thingie warm?

Yeah..heat lamps. My nephew had one when he had his Iguana. I was rather surprised to hear he had the blanket in its cage.

Would be interested in how BR views this..dosen't she have a snake??

Marie5656 · Post by **Marie5656** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:02 pm

Hey, BR...why not give Fuzzy a blanket?

Lulu2 · Post by **Lulu2** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:38 pm

Because BR knows that a heat pad is better! That's why!

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:44 pm

I use a pad specifically made for heating the snakes tank that is adhesive and sticks to the outside bottom of the tank. Of course, my snake is only 4 feet long, much smaller than this one, and I have no idea if they make heat pads large enough for this size animal. But it sure seems like they would, considering the number of large snakes that are kept privately. I don't think I would take the chance of using an electric blanket, for exactly the reason that this snake required surgery. Multiple heat lamps would be the way I'd go if I couldn't find a suitable pad.

pantsonfire321@aol.com · Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:25 am

You can buy heat pads heat rocks heat lamps i wouldnt even consider owning a Burmese python they grew far to large for the average keeper - i'll stick to my Royal python thank you very much.... oh yeh snakes are not to bright either