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Snakes

Utah collector can keep his 29 boa constrictors for now

Last updated Saturday, May 4, 2013 - 4:48pm

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — A Utah collector of expensive, exotic snakes has won at least a temporary reprieve from the Cottonwood Heights City Council after he’d been ordered to remove more than two dozen rare boa constrictors from his home.

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Thomas Cobb shows off several of his exotic reptiles that he keeps in a special basement room of his home Friday, April 26, 2013, in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Cobb has been ordered by police to get rid of all but one of his 29 exotic boa constrictor snakes because he doesn’t have an exotic pet permit. (AP Photo/Scott G. Winterton)

Utah snake collector ordered to give up boas

Contributed The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, April 27, 2013 - 6:01pm

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS -- A Utah man has been ordered by police to get rid of all but one of his 29 exotic boa constrictor snakes because he doesn't have an exotic pet permit.

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Genevieve Felix, 5, looks at a boa during Repticon in Farmington on Saturday. (REYNALDO LEAL/Standard-Examiner)

Creepy? Reptiles actually make great pets, say some

Dana Rimington Standard-Examiner

Last updated Monday, April 22, 2013 - 6:46am

FARMINGTON — Snakes, spiders, and salamanders, oh my! These exotic animals may be out of the comfort zone for some, but for others, they are deemed lovable pets.

There was a host of reptiles, amphibians and arachnids, including frogs, iguanas, bearded dragons and tarantulas on display Saturday and Sunday at the Repticon Reptile and Exotic Animal Convention at Legacy Events Center in Farmington.

It was exactly why the Prestwich family from Bountiful came to the show. Nine-year-old Avram Prestwich dreams of one day catching big snakes as a career.

Exotic animals, Legacy Events Center, Pets, Reptiles, Snakes, Featured Read more Comments

Read this if you don't like spiders and snakes

Jodi S. Cohen Chicago Tribune

Last updated Sunday, June 3, 2012 - 7:18am

The college student was pacing the corridor, so scared of the caged spider at the end of the hall that he considered leaving before the therapy session began.

After about two hours of "exposure therapy," which involved touching the taran-tula with a paint-brush, then with gloves and finally with bare hands, he didn't want to leave the arachnid.

"It was so sweet. I re-member thinking this was not a problem I had antic-ipated -- that he wouldn't want to leave the spider," said Katherina Hauner, a post-doctoral neurology fellow at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

The patient's phobia was cured. And Hauner was able to observe how the brain changes when fear is successfully treated.

Features, Arachnophobia, exposure therapy, fear, Phobias, Snakes, Spiders Read more Comments

Snake blamed for power outage

Contributed The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, May 3, 2012 - 11:57am

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Officials say a snake slithered into an Oklahoma City electric substation and knocked out power to about 10,000 customers overnight.

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USU scientists claim snakes resistant to poison in favorite food - newt

Nancy Van Valkenburg Standard-Examiner

Last updated Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - 3:56pm

LOGAN -- In the evolutionary arms race akin to rock/paper/scissors, human beats garter snake; garter snake beats poisonous newt; and poisonous newt beats human.

Education, Science, Snakes, Utah, Utah State University, Featured Read more Comments

Grandchildren of Steve and Kaylana Gertsch pose with Monty Python. The snake died Jan. 29 after 27 years as a class pet. (Photo courtesy of Steve and Kaylana Gertsch)

Students remember Monty Python, the letter 'S'

Nancy Van Valkenburg Standard-Examiner

Last updated Thursday, February 9, 2012 - 7:30am

PLAIN CITY -- One of Plain City's best-known and most-beloved celebrity residents has passed away. Monty Python, 30, was a muscular 70 pounds and measured 10 feet 6 inches tall, uh, long.

Education, Exotic animals, Family, Pets, Plain City Elementary School, Python, Reptiles, Science, Snakes, Utah, Animals, Deaths, Featured Read more Comments

Reptile rescuer settles into new home in Delta

Contributed The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, January 23, 2012 - 6:03pm

DELTA -- A reptile rescuer ousted from his West Valley City home by a major freeway project says he's finally found a suitable spot for his 500 critters.

Reptiles, Snakes, Utah Read more Comments

Wildlife smuggling is endemic in Asia, where exotic species are used for food and traditional medicine.

Smuggling ring caught with 10,000 snakes

Contributed The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, January 20, 2012 - 11:37am

YANGON, Myanmar -- Forestry officials in central Myanmar have seized nearly 10,000 snakes in 400 crates that were to be smuggled to China.

Exotic animals, Smuggling, Snakes, Wildlife, International Read more Comments

People climb onto chairs and tables to defend themselves from snakes scattered in an office room in Basti, about 186 miles (300 kilometers) southeast of Lucknow, India, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011. Two farmers fed up with alleged bribery demands emptied three bags filled with slithering snakes in a busy tax office in northern India, an official said Wednesday. The 40 or so snakes of different sizes and species, including at least four deadly cobras, sent clerks and villagers climbing atop tables and scurrying out the door to escape the office. (AP Photo)

Indian farmers protest bribery demands by dumping bags of snakes in tax office

Biswajeet Banerjee The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - 2:36pm

LUCKNOW, India -- Two farmers fed up with alleged bribery demands emptied three bags filled with slithering snakes in a busy tax office in northern India, an official said Wednesday.

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Python bitten by Sacramento man is on mend, needs new home

Whitney Mountain The Sacramento Bee

Last updated Saturday, September 3, 2011 - 9:40pm

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A pet python that underwent surgery after being bitten by a Sacramento, Calif., man is “looking a ton better,” Sacramento animal control officials said Saturday.

Animal Cruelty, Animal Rescue, Animal Rights, Odds & Ends, Pets, Python, Snakes, Animals Read more Comments

NICK SHORT/Standard-Examiner
Dillon Bosworth tries to coax Echo into the water before the dog diving competition on Wednesday at the Davis County Fair in Farmington. The fair will run through Saturday night at the Legacy Events Center in Farmington.

Viva Las Davis events scheduled through Saturday night

Bryon Saxton Standard-Examiner

Last updated Thursday, August 18, 2011 - 12:00am

FARMINGTON -- Tage, a 4-year-old Labrador retriever, cooled off at the Davis County Fair on Wednesday by making a spectacular 12-foot-plus horizontal plunge into the pool in pursuit of his float toy.

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Logan hospital reports high number of rattlesnake bites

Contributed The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, August 9, 2011 - 10:46am

LOGAN -- A Logan hospital is reporting an increase in rattlesnake sightings and bites this summer.

Hospital, Rattlesnakes, Snakes, Utah Read more Comments

Couple found guilty in killer python case

Stephen Hudak The Orlando Sentinel

Last updated Thursday, July 14, 2011 - 1:20pm

BUSHNELL, Fla. -- After deliberating for two hours, jurors in the killer python trial on Thursday found Jaren Hare and her boyfriend Charles "Jason" Darnell guilty of all charges in the death of Hare's 2-year-old daughter Shaianna, who was strangled two years ago by an 8-foot-6 inch snake.

Each faces up to 35 years in prison after being convicted on manslaughter, third-degree murder and child-neglect charges. Hare, 21, and Darnell, 34, earlier rejected a pretrial plea agreement that could have put each in prison for up to 10 years.

Crime, Fatal, Python, Snakes, National Read more Comments

Jaren Hare, center, talks to her defense attorney, Ismael Solis, right, on the opening day of her and co-defendant Charles Jason Darnell's murder trial on Tuesday, July 12, 2011, at the Sumter County Courthouse in Bushnell, Fla. Darnell, 34, and Hare, 21, are being tried on charges of third-degree murder, manslaughter and child abuse for the 2009 death of Hare's 2-year-old daughter, Shaianna Hare, who was strangled to death by Hare's pet albino Burmese python, Gypsy. A previous charge of child neglect was changed to child abuse on Tuesday morning. (AP Photo/The Daily Commercial, Victoria Aldrich)

Python that killed little girl called 'instrument of death'

Stephen Hudak The Orlando Sentinel

Last updated Wednesday, July 13, 2011 - 10:42am

BUSHNELL, Fla. -- Sheryl Hare never trusted Gypsy.

The Marion County, Fla., grandmother said she so feared that the 8-foot-6-inch Burmese python would hurt her tiny granddaughter, Shaianna, that she offered $500 for the pet reptile from her daughter weeks before it strangled the child.

In opening remarks to jurors Tuesday, Assistant State Attorney Pete Magrino said Shaianna's mother, Jaren Hare, 21, and her boyfriend, Charles "Jason" Darnell, 34, both charged with manslaughter, third-degree murder and child neglect, ignored the risks posed by the snake, which had repeatedly escaped its tank.

Crime, Fatal, Python, Snakes, National Read more Comments