to think there're an awful lot of stories in the news about pple abandoning Boa Constrictors at the moment?

[Desperatelyseekinginspiration]

In the last couple of weeks, I recall at least three stories.

Boa escaped from bathroom window in Conventry (I think).

Man seen releasing Boa in Canal in Stroud.

And today, A womans left one in a pillow case on someones doorstep in LOndon.

I'm not searching for these stories, I promise.

Why on earth are people allowed to keep such dangerous snakes without a license?

There stories are serpently addering up, aren't they? Perhaps they should organise some kind of amnesty so people could hand in snakes they can't handle; be able to viper the slate clean and start again.

Not in the Guardian, there aren't. But that's probably because the sub editors thought it said bra constrictors, and didn't think the stories wew suitable for a high brow paper.

YABabitU, as only the guy releasing the boa into the canal could definitely be said to be abandoning it.... and maybe the woman who left it on the doorstep was returning the pet to Andrew, its rightful owner, and just got the address wrong...
The other one escaped (I've had that happen to me in the past), so it wasn't exactly abandoned....

at Heracles

A 4ft boa constrictor is not particularly dangerous. Snakes generally don't kill something unless they feel that they could eat it, and boa constrictors don't get large enough to eat humans. Having said that, I wouldn't trust any constrictor around pets or infants.