Cambodian kid having 16 foot python for a FRIEND!!!

Can I ask where you found this story & is it verifiable? If the story is accurate, this sort of thing makes me nuts. First, I am a huge fan of snakes. With proper care, and respect they can make great pets. Proper care includes keep yourself & your children safe from the harm a snake can do when it's doing what it's instincts tell it to do. That snake is too big to be allowed to "cuddle" with a child. Snakes do not cuddle. Snakes have a very primitive brain, they are guided by instincts. They do not form bonds with each other, much less with humans. They also do not have the same nervous system structure that mammals have, no receptors close to the skin that would make "cuddling" a pleasurable activity for them. The only benefit a snake may get from being close to a human is that the radiant heat of a person may help the cold blood snake keep warm. Irresponsible handling such as this leads to disasters which in turn leads to restrictions on snake ownership for responsible snake owners.

oh my god that is amazing... the bond between the kid and the python AND the size of the python... wow.. im not exactly a fan of snakes, and i dont know what to say in this topic. im torn between letting the snake stay with the kid or taking it away from the kid. on one side, if the family thinks that the snake is harmless then ok, and if the snake is well fed by all means keep it. but on the other hand, its a snake. its a wild animal and even though it has been domesticated we [humans] probably dont exactly know when the animal would turn against its owners. and that thing is so huge already, on its width i mean its really dangerous for the kid. it could probably swallow the child whole. i dont know exactly where to stand, but i do know that the snake has to be under observation.

That i would never allow my seven year old boy to do no matter how traumatizing the seperation may be-snakes dont have emotions do they?-if it became hungry in the middle of the night wont it turn the little boy into some kind of snack without feeling sorry about it? I would send the boy far away to aboarding school and by the time he returns, the snake would have been sold off to another pet owner or to a zoo!

well i dont think having a snake for friend is anythign but crazy.... though you might just want to be a little more cautious but there are no real dangers when the snake gets used to the human and the human feels the required comfort level with the reptile too .... i have seen videos of a small baby and a python, a small kid with a cobra (which is a dangerous poisonous snake) but i guess ultimatrly it all depends on how much trust is between the reptile and the human....if the reptile knows that the human wouldnt harm it any way and just wants to be friends then thats it.... you have acheived a new level of friendship....an odd one too for some people....but i have always loved reptiles and wanted to have an iguana of my home though the people in mu house disagreed with me profusely.... but when i stay on my own im sure ill have one.....they are absolutely amazing

I don't like snakes, and I certainly woudn't want to sllep with one. That is definitely dangerous. If I had children, I wouldn't let them have any snakes, much less a pyton. What are those parents thinking?

I hate snakes with all my being. Let's pray that this PET doesn't have a change of heart and do something horrible.

well i dont think having a snake for friend is anythign but crazy.... though you might just want to be a little more cautious but there are no real dangers when the snake gets used to the human and the human feels the required comfort level with the reptile too .... i have seen videos of a small baby and a python, a small kid with a cobra (which is a dangerous poisonous snake) but i guess ultimatrly it all depends on how much trust is between the reptile and the human....if the reptile knows that the human wouldnt harm it any way and just wants to be friends then thats it.... you have acheived a new level of friendship....an odd one too for some people....but i have always loved reptiles and wanted to have an iguana of my home though the people in mu house disagreed with me profusely.... but when i stay on my own im sure ill have one.....they are absolutely amazing