Bald Python Stolen

Just how many incorrect statements can be in one article?

http://www.bakercountypress.com/inde...id=130&Itemid=

‘Show me the python’
Written by Jim McGauley
Thursday, 07 December 2006
Anybody seen a 33-inch long bald python?
It’s whereabouts are a bit of a mystery since the 20-year-old Glen St. Mary man who admits to stealing it doesn’t remember what he did with the reptile.
Christopher Woolf, in an inteview November 30 with Lt. Chuck Brannan and Investigator Steve Harvey, said he was drunk and high on prescription medication when he took the snake from Gregory Griffis’ residence on South 4th St. in Macclenny. The theft occurred the previous day.
Mr. Griffis, who is confined to a wheelchair, told police the accused came to his house about 7:20 and, after asking to hold the snake, intentionally knocked out a light and plunged the room into darkness. Mr. Woolf complied with the owner’s request to turn a light back on, and realized when Mr. Woolf left soon after that he had taken the snake.
The accused, who lives at 7881 Narrow Trail in Glen St. Mary, got in touch with Mr. Griffis the following day and admitted taking the python valued at $350, and offered to pay for it because he could not locate it. Mr. Woolf’s girlfriend Lindsey Chase also telephoned the owner to promise Mr. Woolf would sell his ATV to raise the cash.
Bald pythons are generally considered good pets and don’t pose a danger to humans, unlike some of their close relatives like Burmese pythons that grow to 30-feet in length. The bald species with its distinct markings rarely gets over eight feet, according to Brian Higginbotham of Callahan, an amateur snake expert who has several for pets.
“They (larger ones) can be dangerous to smaller animals including cats and small dogs,” he said. Whether they seize prey depends largely on their quirky appetites since they can go months without eating, he explained. A snake the size of the missing one normally feeds on mice.
Bald pythons are easily recognizable with a black and brown pattern of striping with white stomachs.
As of Tuesday of this week, Investigator Harvey said the python is still at large.

I love it...

"Bald python" and "amateur snake expert"... it's one or the other, you're either an amateur or an expert, but both?

The writer is a moron, I wonder if he even bothered to google search "bald python".

I e-mailed them through their website. As a former Army journalist, reading that whole thing made me cringe. I can't belief a news writer would put a story out without researching or backing up his "facts"!!!

ROFL, wow, that is insane!

Well, how "special." Another amateur expert ... this one in the field of reporting and writing in the English language. And to think, Burms growing to 30 feet. I'm not sure there's even one confirmed on record at over 25 or 26 feet long. I'm still amazed at the 8 foot remarks I'm seeing lately about balls (or should I now start using the amateur expert's name of "bald?") This type of reporting is not totally uncommon in small circulation newspapers in small communities but even a great number of them now require some simple background research before publishing. The editor should be flogged.

Eh, I saw an "animal expert" on one of the late night talk shows Thursday night, that brought in an albino Burmese along with some other animals. He said that Burmese commonly grow to lengths of over 30 feet as well (along with a couple of other bits of misinformation)....so it MUST be true.

I'll never understand how folks come up with the whole "BALD python" thing.....like so many other snakes have hair.

Wouldn't a bald would be worth more than $350.00?
It is a new morph, right?

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

Shame on the media...

Just perpetuates the problems and misunderstandings of Reptiles and their place in the pet industry.

well... TECHNICALLY... "bald" is defined as not having (or missing) hair

Bald wasn't the only misnomer..

The facts were skewed all over the place... Boooo!