Courtney & George Schertler - Retic Owners Watch Puppy Being Eaten and Posts Pics

I honestly do not even know what to say while I am posting this.

On 19 June 2013, I was contacted by Chris Canada-Smith who asked me if I had seen a photo posted from Courtney Schertler's account in the Boa Constrictor Keepers Group on Facebook where a puppy was being consumed by a reticulated python.

I told him I had not seen it and I doubt it really existed because there is no way that people would not be raising a stink in the group about it.

Courtney is one of those people who posts things and people jump on their case all of the time because their husbandry practices are questionable (they house a retic and a boa constrictor in a room together) and she often showed photos of her retic near an APBT type puppy. They have been chewed out on numerous occasions for this and people have attempted to educate them but because the posts tend to become volatile in the Boa Constrictors Keepers Group, they are often deleted by the moderators.

Either way, without proof, we both kind of let it go.

Later on that evening, Addie Padgett contacted me as well and asked me the same question as she had heard this photo had been posted in the group. Once again, I said no and I had my doubts it really happened.

Curiosity got the better of me though.

Addie pointed me to a post on Courtney's FB profile with a small puppy named Porche and "R.I.P". I asked them what happened to the dog. I had expected to hear the puppy had passed away due to parvovirus or something similar and in the back of my mind I had hoped maybe they had fed the puppy to the retic following its death. This would still be awful, but not as bad as the thought of someone watching a retic snake up their puppy and take photos of it being devoured.

I am disgusted to state that I was very wrong in this assumption.

(attachments are included as well as screen shots)

Due to mass deletion by them (I have been blocked from their page) and the moderators on groups, I have limited photos to provide.

Understand, the photo of Porche being consumed has been removed form Facebook before anyone got a screen shot of it, but the guilt is admitted to and the fact that I do not have that photo is the only reason this is not a Bad Guy Thread.

The conversation between me, George and Courtney.


The retic and boa living together.


Proof that the retic and puppy were allowed to get near one another and hardly supervised. There were photos of the puppy being near the retics face, but I was unable to retrieve these.


So, there you have it. Porche died and no remorse is felt because it's a free country and because retics eat rabbits.

These people should not be owning any animals much less be buying from anyone else. Please, do not sell to these people. They are the poster children of why our ability to keep these animals is questioned, scrutinized and under direct attack.

Knowing things like this happen and not speaking out against it is just as bad and I could not, in good conscience, fail to inform the community of these people.

I apologize, the photo was originally posted on the Large Constrictors Keepers Group of Facebook.

A slight clarification, it was not posted on boa constrictor keepers but was posted on the large constrictor keepers fb group.

im probably going to get flamed for this but whilst its unfortunate it was someones pet it always amazes me how much people value a kittens/puppies life over that of a rat or a mouse. They are all intelligent creatures yet it is ok to feed one type and not the other.

Originally Posted by lilnightmare

im probably going to get flamed for this but whilst its unfortunate it was someones pet it always amazes me how much people value a kittens/puppies life over that of a rat or a mouse. They are all intelligent creatures yet it is ok to feed one type and not the other.

Cattle, Chicken, Goats, Sheep ... we raise them as livestock and they are social and intelligent creatures in some regard. Rats and rabbits are livestock raised for other animals to consume as well.

I have kept rats as pets, they are highly intelligent animals, but they have been used as a form of livestock of various purpose for years. There is a difference.

Cats and dogs, in the Western World, are not food items. It's a morality issue and a responsibility issue. Justifying the death of this dog and the posting of its demise on a public network by likening it to slaughter animals is ignoring the bigger issue.

If that animal was allowed to roam around and get to a puppy what other irresponsible damage could occur?

We have legislators and lobbyists breathing down our necks waiting for the stereotypes to ring true and one of the stereotypes is that constrictor owners feed off puppies and kittens to their snakes. So this is an okay image to you just because there is a distinct difference between livestock and kept animals?

Originally Posted by lilnightmare

im probably going to get flamed for this but whilst its unfortunate it was someones pet it always amazes me how much people value a kittens/puppies life over that of a rat or a mouse. They are all intelligent creatures yet it is ok to feed one type and not the other.

Rats, mice & rabbits are raised and bred as feeder animals; like chickens, cows & pigs ... cats & dogs are bred as pets, strictly as pets. No where in the US is it acceptable to feed dogs and cats to a reptile.

Those owners need not be owners, if they have children ... they may be next in the news, for it is irresponsible actions such as this one, that leads to worse.

Diem, you type faster.

Im not saying posting a picture was the best thing to do as it obviously wasnt, but it does seem as this was an unfortunate accident.

But I think saying someone shouldnt keep animals because of an accident is a bit harsh.

Originally Posted by lilnightmare

Im not saying posting a picture was the best thing to do as it obviously wasnt, but it does seem as this was an unfortunate accident.

But I think saying someone shouldnt keep animals because of an accident is a bit harsh.

That was an accident that should have never happened. They were warned that this same situation could happen. This accident could have been avoided if they had taken the advice of other keepers. IMO, they set that puppy up to die, by having it around the reticent all the time ... the puppy didn't realize that the snake would eat it.

Dumb auto correct *retic