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!

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.

findpolitics · 07-21-2006, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beestie

With the knowledge the medical community has gained from this horrible tragedy, the cost of treating humans who swallow electric blankets ...

LOL

I didn't mean for my post to seem to serious. I've just been pondering a lot lately about our (mine included) silly priorities and expenditures.

Surgery for a pet snake who swallowed an electric blanket just seemed to an exciting and extreme case of our societal wackiness.

MaggieL · 07-21-2006, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by findpolitics

Surgery for a pet snake who swallowed an electric blanket just seemed to an exciting and extreme case of our societal wackiness.

Depends how much the snake was worth. Priced a python lately?

glatt · 07-21-2006, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by findpolitics

I've just been pondering a lot lately about our (mine included) silly priorities and expenditures.

My brother used to complain about how much money americans spend each year on golf, and if they would just put that money into his favorite space program, we could really make some progress. The number he quoted me was astronomical. In the multiple billions, I think.

xoxoxoBruce · 07-21-2006, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt

My brother used to complain about how much money americans spend each year on golf, ~snip

Golf must be expensive.... a Florida vet is going to (actually has by now) operate on this Yellow Rat snake to retrieve a golf ball.

07-22-2006, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt

My brother used to complain about how much money americans spend each year on golf, and if they would just put that money into his favorite space program, we could really make some progress. The number he quoted me was astronomical. In the multiple billions, I think.

The same could be said about candy bars or anything else... that kind of thinking makes no sense.

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?

footfootfoot · 07-21-2006, 04:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elspode

Or is pet ownership a crime against humanity as well?

Off the top of my head, I think Helen and Scott Nearing were of that opinion, or close to it.

And pet ownership, as practiced by some of my neighbors, is a crime against humanity.:p

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!

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