7/20/2006: Python eats electric blanket

Undertoad · 07-20-2006, 11:12 AM

Official caption: Karl Beznoska's 12-foot Burmese python, Houdini, is attended to on an operating table, Tuesday, July 18, 2006, in Ketchum, Idaho. It took surgery to save the python after it swallowed an entire queen-size electric blanket _ with the electrical cord and control box. 'The prognosis is great,' veterinarian Karsten Fostvedt said after Tuesday's two-hour operation.

Facts culled from other news stories on the event:

- The blanket was in the cage for warmth; Beznoska thinks it got caught up in the snake's regular food.
- It probably took the snake 6 hours to eat the thing, and it took them 2 hours to take it out.
- The blanket was lodged in about 8 feet of the 12-foot snake; the incision to remove it was a foot and a half.
- It had been plugged in.

Somehow the snake unplugged it.

Trilby · 07-20-2006, 12:08 PM

Maybe Houdini just wanted to impress Houdinette with some Electric Lady Land.

Slothboy · 07-20-2006, 12:08 PM

Get this Motherf*&%#ing blanket out of my Motherf*&%#ing snake!

Emrikol · 07-20-2006, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slothboy

Get this Motherf*&%#ing blanket out of my Motherf*&%#ing snake!

Funny++

BigV · 07-20-2006, 12:44 PM

I wonder if it didn't smell and feel (temp) like food.

MaggieL · 07-20-2006, 01:07 PM

And they say Python isn't bloated. Just look at it...

findpolitics · 07-20-2006, 01:20 PM

what a waste of surgical skills and money when 20% of americans have no medical coverage at all!

wolf · 07-20-2006, 02:39 PM

I don't think that the veterinarian took time off from treating any human patients.

Beestie · 07-20-2006, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by findpolitics

what a waste of surgical skills and money when 20% of americans have no medical coverage at all!

Not for long. That rumbling sound you hear is the uninsured 20% of Americans moving to San Francisco. Actually, it could be more like 10% of Americans and 20% of the people who live in America.

However, there is a bright side. With the knowledge the medical community has gained from this horrible tragedy, the cost of treating humans who swallow electric blankets will surely decline - a benefit we can all enjoy.

Elspode · 07-20-2006, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by findpolitics

what a waste of surgical skills and money when 20% of americans have no medical coverage at all!

Do you not have any pets, then? Or, if so, do you just let them die when they are unwell? Or is pet ownership a crime against humanity as well?

axlrosen · 07-20-2006, 04:10 PM

That X-Ray is amazing! It looks like something out of a sci fi moving. Are circular ribs? What's all that wavy stuff that looks so cool? I can't figure out of they're part of the blanket or part of the snake.

MaggieL · 07-20-2006, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by axlrosen

What's all that wavy stuff that looks so cool?

I would imagine they are the resistive heating wires inside the blanket.

ajaccio · 07-20-2006, 04:15 PM

That xray is, indeed, way cool! I bet those wavy lines are part of the blanket. Think about it, an electric blanket has lots of wires that deliver the heat. With it squished up inside the snake's stomach, those wires just might look like that.

And I agree, that it's fine to spend $$$ on a pet's health.

BigV · 07-20-2006, 04:15 PM

Parallel circle looking parts are ribs, not really circles, of course, more like "C"s with the open part along the belly. Wavy parts running mostly lengthwise are the heating elements woven through the fabric of the electric blanket, then wadded/twisted up into what you see. The doctor's pen is pointing to the control box for the blanket.

dar512 · 07-20-2006, 04:24 PM

Anyone have a python? I'm wondering how long it took to eat this thing -- and where the owner was.

07-20-2006, 11:12 AM	#1
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	7/20/2006: Python eats electric blanket Official caption: Karl Beznoska's 12-foot Burmese python, Houdini, is attended to on an operating table, Tuesday, July 18, 2006, in Ketchum, Idaho. It took surgery to save the python after it swallowed an entire queen-size electric blanket _ with the electrical cord and control box. 'The prognosis is great,' veterinarian Karsten Fostvedt said after Tuesday's two-hour operation. Facts culled from other news stories on the event: - The blanket was in the cage for warmth; Beznoska thinks it got caught up in the snake's regular food. - It probably took the snake 6 hours to eat the thing, and it took them 2 hours to take it out. - The blanket was lodged in about 8 feet of the 12-foot snake; the incision to remove it was a foot and a half. - It had been plugged in. Somehow the snake unplugged it.

07-20-2006, 12:08 PM	#2
Trilby Slattern of the Swail Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 15,654	Maybe Houdini just wanted to impress Houdinette with some Electric Lady Land. __________________ In Barrie's play and novel, the roles of fairies are brief: they are allies to the Lost Boys, the source of fairy dust and ...They are portrayed as dangerous, whimsical and extremely clever but quite hedonistic. "Shall I give you a kiss?" Peter asked and, jerking an acorn button off his coat, solemnly presented it to her. —James Barrie Wimminfolk they be tricksy. - ZenGum

07-20-2006, 12:08 PM	#3
Slothboy *No known superpowers. Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Oregon Posts: 48	Get this Motherf&%#ing blanket out of my Motherf&%#ing snake! __________________ Super perfundo on the early eve of your day.

07-20-2006, 12:44 PM	#5
BigV Goon Squad Leader Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 27,063	I wonder if it didn't smell and feel (temp) like food. __________________ Be Just and Fear Not.

07-20-2006, 01:07 PM	#6
MaggieL in the Hour of Scampering Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Jeffersonville PA (15 mi NW of Philadelphia) Posts: 4,060	And they say Python isn't bloated. Just look at it... __________________ "Neither can his Mind be thought to be in Tune,whose words do jarre; nor his reason In frame, whose sentence is preposterous..."

07-20-2006, 01:20 PM	#7
findpolitics Long Time Listener, First Time Caller Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 32	what a waste of surgical skills and money when 20% of americans have no medical coverage at all!

07-20-2006, 02:39 PM	#8
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	I don't think that the veterinarian took time off from treating any human patients. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

07-20-2006, 04:10 PM	#11
axlrosen Major Inhabitant Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 125	That X-Ray is amazing! It looks like something out of a sci fi moving. Are circular ribs? What's all that wavy stuff that looks so cool? I can't figure out of they're part of the blanket or part of the snake. __________________ Warp Bill Gates

07-20-2006, 04:15 PM	#13
ajaccio Colloquialist Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 76	That xray is, indeed, way cool! I bet those wavy lines are part of the blanket. Think about it, an electric blanket has lots of wires that deliver the heat. With it squished up inside the snake's stomach, those wires just might look like that. And I agree, that it's fine to spend $$$ on a pet's health.

07-20-2006, 04:24 PM	#15
dar512 dar512 is now Pete Zicato Join Date: May 2003 Location: Chicago suburb Posts: 4,968	Anyone have a python? I'm wondering how long it took to eat this thing -- and where the owner was. __________________ "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain." -- Friedrich Schiller

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)