Unbelievably STUPID

[Fubie]

8D My friend informed me that the "standard" precedure for police men when getting bitten by a boa is to LET it eat you half way and then cut your way through it's stomach from the inside.
UnFrickin'believable.
This is in south florida, her grandmother's uncle was a police officer or something.
Seriously, I think they just make stuff up and see if anyone will do it 83

[Slitherz]

thats wierd...when i watched cops one time (lol)they picked up a corn snake with gloves?! i would think youd be able to tell that from a venomous snake....poor snakes though i hope someone doesnt actually try that!?.........

[Chinchilla_Girl]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fubie 8D My friend informed me that the "standard" precedure for police men when getting bitten by a boa is to LET it eat you half way and then cut your way through it's stomach from the inside. UnFrickin'believable. This is in south florida, her grandmother's uncle was a police officer or something. Seriously, I think they just make stuff up and see if anyone will do it 83

Umm...boas are constrictors. they don't bite then eat. they bite, wrap around their prey and squeeze them to death. Then they eat them. How can you cut your way our of a snake if you are dead?

[Chinchilla_Girl]

Quote: Originally Posted by Slitherz thats wierd...when i watched cops one time (lol)they picked up a corn snake with gloves?! i would think youd be able to tell that from a venomous snake....poor snakes though i hope someone doesnt actually try that!?.........

Corn snakes are not venomous, but I would want to wear gloves too...venomous or not, snake bites HURT!

[kathydip]

what if you don't have a knife in your hand when it first goes into the snake?

[Mygala]

I think your friend was pulling your leg, ...or is need of some therapy if they really believe that. That's got to be one of the most absurd things I've ever heard, I can't believe any rational person would 'bite'.

bob

[Vanilla_Rat]

Yes by!

[Keritsubo]

unbelievable is right. like Jade said, boas are constrictors. I think an officer would be unconcious or dead before he had the chance to be swallowed if he were waiting for that opportunity.

[Fubie]

In response, I don't think it's actually practiced, it's probably some leftover protocol from the 20's or something.

[Ravnos]

More likely just a dumb rumor passed around. Boa constrictors don't even get large enough to eat a human, few snakes do. Then you have to consider the whole head first eating thing snakes tend to do, and that humans have shoulders that make the method a snake pulls food into its mouth rather inefficient. Someone less than 3' tall? Maybe. An adult? You aren't going to ever find yourself inside a snake. Wrapped in its coils... perhaps.

As for the gloves and corn snake thing, police and even animal control officers are generally not trained to deal with reptiles at all, muchless learn how to identify the thousands upon thousands of potential species they could come across in their job. This is why there are organizations and professionals who deal specifically with snakes... and people like myself who get called in to deal with them when the cops have no idea what they are doing. You'd be amazed at some of the stories I've heard from the cops around here. From shooting snakes, to calling the fire department to hit snakes with CO2 fire extinguishers until they suffocate or freeze to death. It is truly sad... and I always get sent the pictures, and it is almost always some harmless species that if they had just left it alone, it would have moved on.

[blueram]

That was actually the procedure given to soldiers in Vietnam if they encountered a big snake. They said to lay still and let the snake smell you over, keep your arms at your side and let the snake eat from your feet to your elbows then cut it's head off with your knife. Even though a snake is going to eat from your head down, just to make them think that it wasn't hopeless.

[repforlife]

Well first off,Red Tail Boas,do not eat people!!Mabe bite ya,and rap around your arm but thats even if that happens,second,there is no where in the history of man being killed by a Red Tail Boa,Mabe a dog or cat but not a person.(Mabe a Burmese,or a Retic Python!)Third,that is just plain ole dumb to even consider letting a snake eat you half way and then trying to cut your way out.There are ways of actually getting the snake to let go with out any harm to you or the snake.

[Slitherz]

idk ive never heard of someone being killed by a rtb (i mean kill definitely they cant eat people lol)but im sure if you didnt have someone help you handle it(a BIG female)or made an error in handling or shes not very tame it could rap around you and you wouldnt be able to get free......maybe just a theory lol

[the_real_bum]

ive heard rumors that if you can get ahold of a constrictors tail you can un coil thm and no snake in the world can open its mouth wide enough to eat an adult human. They may be able to eat small children but the likely hood is so rare.

[Ravnos]

Getting a hold on a constrictor's tail when you're being wrapped is much easier said than done. Also, they don't wrap in a perfect roll, they always have coils over coils, which makes unwrapping and pulling them off very difficult - plus, they are constantly tensing muscles and are exceptionally strong, and often try to rewrap as you're going. Not to mention, their teeth being embedded in your flesh is quite painful and they move/tense every time they get pulled on causing more pain. It is most certainly not a pleasant situation. This is generally why they suggest the buddy system when working with large pythons and boas, so if one gets wrapped, the other can help remove the snake - or at the very least, run for help.