Warning, Large Snake Lose In Yorkshire!

[Akasha72]

Hi all.

Just a warning to any Yorkshire folks. A 6ft boa constrictor has been seen at Swinsty resevoir - check out BBC radio York website for more information.


This is NOT a joke! I know it sounds unbelievable but it's all true

Anyway, just wanted to warn anyone who lives or walks in that area to be careful, especially if you have dogs. A 6ft snake is large and strong enough to take a small dog for it's lunch

Be safe people

 

[MBOU]

Balls! and scaremongering.

A 6ft boa isnt going to eat anything larger than a teacup chihuahua. Its also likely to be very cold and therefore not even slightly hungry, if it was to bite, it would be because people arent controlling their dogs

A bite from a 6ft boa is also very much unlikely to do much damage, their arent venemous either.

Its likely as not terrified and someones beloved pet (whom they love as much as you value all your dogs!) so if you see it, chuck a jacket over it, bundl it up and not the sleeves so its bundled up, when cold they are very sluggish. Or just pick it up and carry it or put it in a bag or take a pillowcase when you go out walking, once in a pillowcase a snake will just curl up to sleep feeling safe. Then you can call your local police station (not 999) or the RSPCA or any local number given out for the snake.

When you look at one, a 6ft boad is tiny!! They can get 2-3 times that size and part of that 6ft is its skinny tail and at 6ft they are still fairly skinny, not huge chunky boas yet so wont look big at all.

 

[Akasha72]

hey, no need to be so aggresive, I was only repeating what I'd heard and read here - http/www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9772747.Boa_constrictor_spotted_near_Harrogate/

and trying to warn anyone in my area that walks at the local beauty spot with their dog that their dog maybe at risk

 

[Akasha72]

the snake still hasn't been caught. It's been confirmed by an expert that it is definitely a boa and is not an escaped pet as no-one has come forward to say they've lost one.

By all accounts the area has a large police presence and experts are searching the area - despite it's size - it's a good 5 miles walk all around and is surrounded by dense woodland. It's also a large farming area so it has plenty of places to hide.

The weather forecast for the next few days isn't great and it's currently bucketing down with rain - it's also pretty cold.


Can I just say, I'm NOT scaremongering, and I'm NOT talking balls either. That comment has really annoyed me.

 

[FishBlast]

Reminds me of that time when our Zoo lost a rare tiger female... which was not even aggressive anyway. But guess who they got to capture her? A team of hunters and a team of policemen.
The hunters' team found it first and killed her, leaving her cub an orphan and thus the Zoo had to give away the cub to a reservation because it stopped eating. -.-

 

[phoenixgsd]

a neighbour lost his indian python once, it was missing for 6 weeks before being found in the compost heap in a garden nearby,

 

[Akasha72]

I hate snakes - as mentioned here on general chat a few weeks ago I have a very real phobia ... but, I really hope they find it alive and take it somewhere to be looked after. At 6ft it's still young and in the abscense of anyone coming forward to say their pet boa has gone missing I guess you gotta accept it's been dumped.

What a place to dump it though. A beauty spot popular with dog walkers and young families. Why not just sign it over to the RSPCA.

Whilst I hate them I still feel sorry for it

My Dad says they like water aswell .. well it's a resevoir so it's not short of water! Although the water maybe a bit short on resident ducks if they don't find it soon ...

 

[FishBlast]

I hate snakes - as mentioned here on general chat a few weeks ago I have a very real phobia ... but, I really hope they find it alive and take it somewhere to be looked after. At 6ft it's still young and in the abscense of anyone coming forward to say their pet boa has gone missing I guess you gotta accept it's been dumped.

What a place to dump it though. A beauty spot popular with dog walkers and young families. Why not just sign it over to the RSPCA.

Whilst I hate them I still feel sorry for it

My Dad says they like water aswell .. well it's a resevoir so it's not short of water! Although the water maybe a bit short on resident ducks if they don't find it soon ...

I don't hate snakes, though I'd be cautious around them (due to not wanting to be bit by a venomous one or one that might harbor bacteria in their mouth).
When I was a kid, I dragged a snake out of its den (small snake, barely 1 foot long I think) and the woman that complained about the snake invading her chicken pan rammed the snake on the head with a shovel when I dragged the snake out. Then stuff got weird. My cousin and I skinned the snake... and I kept the skin to this day (got even a pic to prove it). It was a house snake though (gray with black and white belly).

 

[MBOU]

Sorry Akasha, wasn't meant to come accross so harsh! We just dont need people drumming up fear in people about snakes, its honestly bad enough with the idiots that work for Lush and APA (animal protection agency) running about screaming all sorts of rubbish about snakes being bad and shouldnt be kepts as pets and stuff.

There is just so much people assume about snakes that when posted on a forum (even in a completely innocent way i know!) it makes other people panic when its like as not untrue! Like the ridiculous 'fairytale' of "I know someone who ownd a 15 foot python and she used to let it loose in her appartment and one day she woke up and the snake was stretched out beside her, seizing her up befor it ate her". Utter nonsense but enough to scare the life out of people if they believe it!!

Or the number of people convinced that reptiles will give you salmonella. Short of licking the snake, its defrosted food or its faeces... you arent going to get salmonella... that one annoys me because people get rid of their snakes because they think they are going to get salmonella... *sigh* basic hygeine peoples... basic hygeine... (though from working with the public i can tell this isnt a lot of peoples strong point! )

is not an escaped pet as no-one has come forward to say they've lost one

Just because its not been reported, doesn't mean its not a lost pet, most people with common sense wouldnt bother reporting a snake missing to the RSPCA, they generally couldnt tell one end of a snake to another and have a habit of not being able to correctly look after reptiles.

Might well have been dumped, poor mite, but will only be one of many many snakes loose. But it would definately have been someones lost pet as its hardly a native species!

My ex called me in a panic once from Dunstable high street screaming at me that there was "a bright pink snake slithering down the road, what should he do!?". Well for one... if its bright pink coloured its most likely a harmless corn snake lol. Pick it up and take it down the road to the reptile shop He didnt quite manage this but did manage to scrape the poor cold thing into a cardboard box until i could come rescue it.

I'm sorry you fear snakes so much Akasha! Its a terrible shame as they are lovely critters... well... some are anyway!

If you ever did want to get remotely close to a harmless snake, let me know, i can probably find a reptile keeper local to you with somethnig really docile, even if just to look at and watch through glass. Most reptile keepers (though crazy looking) are the biggest bunch of softies who love to show off their loved pets as much as the next person

Once again, sorry, not meant as an insult, its just a fragile hobby with the stupid animal rights activists spouting misinformation left right and center and we dont need more people scared than need be!

 

[phoenixgsd]

Just because its not been reported, doesn't mean its not a lost pet, most people with common sense wouldnt bother reporting a snake missing to the RSPCA, they generally couldnt tell one end of a snake to another and have a habit of not being able to correctly look after reptiles.

Might well have been dumped, poor mite, but will only be one of many many snakes loose. But it would definately have been someones lost pet as its hardly a native species!

not forgetting someone is probably ripping there house appart because they swear blind its in the house somewhere, ive lost count how many times someones lost a snake and 6mths later its turned up under the bed

 

[MBOU]

Lost a Kingsnake for 14 months before! Well... I say lost... we had some crazy girl living with us until she found somewhere to live as we were all house sharing and decided to move somewhere she wasnt but felt sorrry for her (though letting snakes out and kicking in laptop screen = me packing all her stuff into binbags and leaving outside in the rain... though was nice enough to send her a text telling her so!). That and she stole over £2K off the three of us. Grrr.

But the snake was once very angry california king snake hatchling and she resurfaced over a year later (survived the cold!!) under the kitchen floorboards of the semidetatched house next door they were not happy....!

However, George the Kingsnake was more than 3 x the size we last saw her, very fat and absolutely covered in mouse bites! I think she only survived so long purely because she really was so aggressive (we had her as a rescue as her previous owner had chucked her about and traumatized her) and she was food orientated enough to hunt out mice!

 

[Akasha72]

I wasn't trying to scare anyone MBOU, it was purely a "if you go for a walk up there, there has been a sighting of a snake. If you have a small or very inquisative dog please keep it close to you, preferably on a lead - and the same with your kids!"

My Dad walks up there with my uncle every day - normally taking both mine and my aunties dogs with them. Both the dogs are inquisative enough to sniff it out and go dancing around it. Both are too big to be 'lunch' but my Dad has still said he'll avoid the area until we hear it's been found.

Whilst I do have a horrible phobia of them I mean it no harm. I know it's reletively harmless if left alone. But I'm an animal lover and I know it needs to be found and taken to a safer place.

When I posted the news was only just breaking and I purely wanted to advise people from this area (of which there are quite a few) to be on their guard and also if they see it to call in the right people to help it.


As I said, my Dad walks there everyday. In the resevoir there are 6 very large Koi carp dumped about 3 years back - presumably because they got too big for the garden pond. He's also seen a large black cat - too big to be a domestic cat and now this snake.
As it can be very quiet up there later in the day or very early in a morning it's becoming an area to dump unwanted animals. Because it has plenty of flora and fauna and a large expanse of water the dumpee's survive reasonably well. It's only a couple of years back that dog owners were warned about allowing their dogs to swim too far out into the resi as a very large pike had attacked a dog!

Anyway, glad we sorted it out MBOU

 

[Box]

It's fine I'm back in Kent now!

 

[Akasha72]

just reading on StrayFM's website that a woman from Burnley has come forward to say it could be hers. She lost her snake on 12th June and suspects it may have got into her father's van as he then drove to Harrogate. He reports hearing strange noises on the journey that he put down to possible exhaust rattles.

The lady says he's very tame and isn't due to eat for another 3 weeks. He's never eaten anything larger than a rat and is easy to handle .... er okay. Cue large amounts of people going to swinsty waving around dead rats lol

God I hope they find him soon

 

[Akasha72]

oh, apparently it's named Legless ... here Legless ... come and get a nice juicy rat