The link Easyrider provided above, from the U.S. Humane Society, is informative beyond anything I ever knew or feared about these pythons.
For those above who made excuses for the python that killed a 2-year-old child right here in Oxford, saying that it was only because the snake was starved, think again. The humane society link here reports dozens of fatal and near-fatal incidents of pythons/constrictors being cared for by experienced owners and handlers who were attacked and strangled by them. Please read. They are not as harmless as many people seem to think.
If the U.S. Humane Society refers to them as "these deadly predators", then I think people should take note and stop minimizing the dangers they present
when not even threatened:
Constrictor snake incidents
Seventeen people have died from large constrictor snake related incidents in the United States since 1978--12 just since 1990........Scores of adults and children have been injured during attacks by these deadly predators.
Children, parents, and authorities are finding released or escaped pet pythons, boa constrictors, and anacondas all over the country, where they endanger communities, threaten ecosystems, and in many cases suffer tragic deaths. Following is a partial list of incidents, organized by various categories, involving constrictor snakes that have been reported in 45 states.
January 21, 2009/Las Vegas, Nevada: A 3-year-old boy was bitten and squeezed to the point of unconsciousness by an 18-foot reticulated python
that the family was taking care of for a friend. It took six police officers, an animal control officer and the mother, who stabbed the snake with a kitchen knife, to free the child. The child had "light brown stuff" coming from his mouth and his face turned blue.
As the mother began CPR, the injured snake then wrapped around her waist. The toddler was hospitalized overnight.
The snake had been in the home for four to six weeks and had somehow gotten loose. The snake was euthanized. The parents were charged with felony child abuse and ultimately entered a plea deal for a misdemeanor charge.
August 30, 2008/Las Vegas, Nevada: A 13-year-old girl visiting her father was attacked by a pet Burmese python while she was sleeping in a bed. Responding to the commotion, her father and uncle
were unable to uncoil the snake. They decapitated the approximately 15-foot snake with a butcher knife to rescue the girl. The teenager was hospitalized overnight with bruised ribs and a swollen abdomen. The snake reportedly escaped from a large tank with locks. The same day, a student zookeeper in Venezuela was crushed to death by a Burmese python."
Please read the entire report:
http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/...-incidents.pdf