What we watch in the news appearing in unlikely places (lately in Congress) are Sawa or local Reticulated Pythons (Python reticulatus) that have adapted well to human habitations. They do not need much space and are quite happy living in an empty lot or in sewers where there are rats aplenty. Since I was a young boy growing up in rough San Andres at the heart of Manila, Pythons, some even the size of my yaya’s thigh, have made appearances to the panic of reptile-phobic neighbors! My analysis is that present communication has been so hi-tech that an appearance of one of these 20-foot monsters is just a text away from TV crews, coupled with the fact that snakes in the news make good copy and rate well, so we get an overdose of Snakey appearing in urban areas. Fear not! Snakes have nothing to do with earthquakes or tsunamis although some would argue that they have a keen sixth sense.
Here’s a friendly offer. If you spot one in your area, give me a text and I shall pick it up for you. Unless the well-meaning but misinformed barangay tanods get to the poor creature first and make it pulutan.
Exotic pet-keeping entails a lot of research if your pets are to be healthy and happy. Caring for cutesy dogs and cats are quite straightforward simply because they are domesticated and have been part of human lives since Magellan was killed by Lapu Lapu (Snakey just wants to sound knowledgeable in history). Exotics are quite complicated. In one of my Animalandia tapings in Zoobic safari, I was featuring a playful teething juvenile tiger that gave me a "play bite" on my right heel. It was quite painful and drew blood! Little domesticated kitty would not do damage but a 100-pound tiger cub can maim you in play! There are cases in the States where seemingly harmless Iguanas bite their uninformed loving owners. There is even a website where a pet owner had to go to his local Vicky Belo to have a nose reconstructed because of a male Iguana bite! Male Iguanas turn vicious when they reach the age of four and a little bit of homework will tell you this. The Manila Zoo is thriving with former "cute" 12-inch juvenile pet Burmese Pythons that have grown to humongous 15-foot reptiles that eat pigs! It is the aim of this column to inform and educate kids from 10 to 110 that exotic pet-keeping is an enjoyable hobby but one has to do all the studying if the animals and the owner are to be symbiotically (million-dollar word Snakey learned in elementary) happy.
The Philippine Python or Python reticulatus is the world’s longest snake and is clearly one of the most beautiful pythons in the world. It is also the most vicious. Did you know that very few Boids (herp speak for pythons and boas of the family "Boidae") actually strike at the hands of their handlers? The Philippine Python is one of them! The sore mouth is caused by rostral rubbing because of constant friction and striking against the chicken wire. This is the reason why professionals keep their wards in glass cages. If left untreated, the sore mouth may lead to stomatitis and poor Snakey’s eventual demise! Is the snake still eating? This problem is best handled by a professional exotic vet that can treat mouth rot with antibiotics. Your poor pet is wild-caught and is much better off in the wild where it belongs.
Snakey shall answer other queries in articles to come! Adiossss!