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They found the mothereffin' snake on the mothereffin' train - alive
By adamg on Thu, 02/03/2011 - 8:56pm
MBTA Transit Police tweet workers on the Red Line found Penelope, so it's safe to put your feet down on the train again (or stop worrying whether ceiling snake is watching you).
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo says a rider spotted the snake this morning. Tonight, Red Line train attendant Sharon Lynch, "a pet snake owner herself," managed to snare Penelope, who is being returned to her owner tonight.
The Globe talked to Penelope's owner, who said she will keep taking the snake with her on T rides but will "probably pay a little bit more attention."
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Comments
Well at least the important
Well at least the important things get detailed explanations.
Here's my question
This thing was missing for almost a month. What the hell was it eating? Are there enough rats and stuff on a red line train to keep a snake alive or a month?
Sure
There's plenty of food for an enterprising snake.
Megaphython & Gatoroid vs. the MBTA
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1680138/
Oh oh oh please please please someone write a sequel that will bring Tiffany & Debbie Gibson to Boston....
A well fed snake can go
A well fed snake can go months without food, especially in cold weather.
Garter snake's hibernate all winter.
A snake could survive for
A snake could survive for months if not years down there. Plenty of food and heat sources (though I'm sure commuters would disagree this winter). Snakes are pretty good at finding that stuff.
Glad she found her pet, but...
As someone who's had all kinds of unusual animals myself, I'm glad she recovered her pet. But, honestly, exotic pets don't belong outdoors, and certainly not on public transportation unless they are in a secure carrier. Otherwise, for the animals' sake, leave them home! They are not ornaments or toys.
I hope she gets her snake back, and I think she should get a hefty fine for animal endangerment.
"secure carrier"
Good luck finding one for my seven fool long Komodo Dragon!
Done
Check out this place. They sell large dog crates and dog crate trolleys http://www.bestdogcrate.com/
I would be extra careful with your pet on the train, you would want to avoid any one getting bitten or clawed (including your self) should any thing happen.
Snake owner should get a bill.
Seriously.
Platypus owner already has a bill
just sayin'
Dammit Adam
Why did you get rid of the like button?
For a comment?
Never had one. For the main post? It's there, or should be.
I think you should put one on the comments
And/or vote up/vote down buttons.
MBTA should get a bill
...from the owner, for providing pest control services for a few months. Heck, we should consider letting a whole lotta snakes loose in the subway tunnels. Might help to do something about the mouse and rat problem.
I'm not sure why
But this story is just awesome.
I mean, write-a-kids-story-about-Penelope awesome.
So, so awesome.
Or a song...
Let me tell you a story bout a snake named Penelope on that tragic and fateful day...
Huh -- "pay a bit more attention"?
Are you kidding me? How about keeping the snake off the T altogether so the T (and the taxpayers) don't have to pay for all the time and service delays devoted to finding her lost animal. There's a reason only service animals should be allowed in public places.
Herp? Derp?
So people shouldn't take animals to the vet? I certainly want a city full of rabid sickly animals. What.
Whether people should take
Whether people should take their pets to the vet or not isn't the question.
If they're responsible pet owners they can arrange to get their pet to the vet without violating T rules and inconveniencing others.
And Penelope wasn't being taken to the vet. Way to mislead, there.
What do pythons dream of
when they take a little python snooze?
Do they dream of strangling squirrels,
or Sienna Miller in her Baroness Suit?
Don't you worry your very scaly head
We're gonna get you back to Quincy
and your cozy python bed
And then we'll all feel fine
And we're gonna ride the red line
whoa, ohh ohh, ohhh
But if you're owned by a crystal meth tweaker...
then we're shit out of luck!
Get this lady a cukoo cockatiel to carry around
Since we all want to see what crazy pet that's hanging off you while you buy lottery tickets.
Alternative Pets by Paul F. Tompkins
Oh I knew I'd heard that somewhere... stole it from Paul F. Tompkins
Alternative Pets
http://new.music.yahoo.com/paul-f-tompkins/tracks/...
Better know a Red Line snake
The Globe posts a photo of snake and owner in case you want to, you know, move to another part of the car when you spot them.
Don't tell me that seeing
Don't tell me that seeing that snake in a train car wouldn't give some old woman a heart attack.
Another goofy hipster
who, in her quest to show the world that she is hip and different, brings a jungle animal onto a Red Line train. For what, I ask?
What reason could you possibly have to bring your snake on the T?, other than to get the attention that your blue hair and hip t-shirts clearly aren't getting you.
Idiot.
Judge not....
...lest you should be judged.
Tell that
to the snake.
No no no.
The snake tells YOU.
To eat the
applepomegranate.Now get offa my lawn.
So. The T can do
So. The T can do unconstitutional search checkpoints, but somehow a snake in a Red Line car can elude them for a month? What a joke.
The special snowflake will
The special snowflake will keep bringing that thing on the T? How about a no-pets rule?
because sometimes people need to transport their pets
for example, to vet appointments.
Small animals are supposed to be kept in carriers while on the T. The snake would fall under that category, so she should be required to bring her in a carrier.
I like when people bring pets
I like when people bring pets onto the T. It brings smiles to people's faces, and is one way in which Boston is slightly friendlier and more civilized than other American cities.
I'd prefer if the T focused on getting people not to make a mess (thanks, whoever you were on the Red Line that left half a beer on the seat yesterday), and not make noise talking on the phone or with headphones turned up too loud.
Snakes bring smiles to
Snakes bring smiles to people's faces? Other than to the faces of biker mamas. Who are strapped to the back of chopped Harleys, not riding the Red Line.
If I'm going to be trapped in a subway car with a loose snake, I'm going to have to start carrying a machete.
Why?
So you are such an arse that you would bring a large knife to attack a snake that is harmless to people. I guess that makes you a rat?
I'd love to take you to the places that I lived when I was, like, 7 or 8. It would be fun to see you piss your pants and run in circles when the first rattler turned up.
For the record, New England has plenty of indigenous snake species that may very well be on the T at a given time. I've seen milksnakes in my yard that were 2-3 feet long, as well as collected molts that size. Think about it.
I Enjoy Animals, Too, But...
... some folks have fairly serious problems with them.
For instance, someone with an allergy to pet dander could have a severe reaction causing them to not breathe well. Add that to a confined space, possibly crowded, where the air quality isn't exactly great to begin with, and there exists some possibility of death. Others have fears of certain animals. That sort of thing isn't likely to cause severe physical problems, but the mental discomfort (and possible irrational behavior stemming from it) could be quite profound for that person and for those nearby.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Then those people should stay
Then those people should stay home. It's public transportation, not the secure ward of a hotel.
I'm sympathetic, but where
I'm sympathetic, but where does one draw the line? Should we corral squirrels and pigeons? Exterminate overly pollenating plant species? Outlaw peanuts? We can't rearrange our society to accommodate every allergy or irrational fear. In conditioning our public infrastructure to fit a fraction of people, we inconvenience the remainder.....
Service Animals
Service animals have dander, too, but people can move away, change cars, etc. The mobility and employment of people with visual impairments is more important. They also "bother" some people and cause "irrational" behavior. Last summer, there was a dog that was assisting a blind person at Davis Station that became the obsessive focus of a woman who had general dog issues. Other passengers explained some basic concepts to her when she started acting rude and nasty - like, she can move to another bench, that the guy had a right to have the dog lead him around, etc.
Service Animals Are Always Exempted From General Regs
So far as I know, anyway. I was only speaking about the notion that any and all animals be allowed, and why that might not be seen as a good idea.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Oh, I Basically Agree, Pierce
I'm not one of those folks who thinks it's a good thing that bringing a peanut butter sandwich to school can now get a kid in trouble. I was just stating what should have been obvious to those who might question why there could be restrictions.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
hipster snake girl
After having seen the initial TV interview with hipster snake girl, I thought she was pretty cool. Her scrapbook page with the sloughed-off snake skin was hysterical. Not sure why there are so many hipster haters out there. Being different is interesting; being cookie-cutter is boring. Glad she got her snake back.
Hispter is neither diffident,
Hispter is neither diffident, nor interesting.
It's just conformity to a different standard, while decrying everything else. Hipsters are just attention whores like all the rest, and there are not much difference between them and the barbie that needs to carry their pooch around in a handbag.
Conformity to a different
Conformity to a different standard. The key is different. Not all 15 year olds fit the mainstream mold so they form their own group of 'misfits' which at this time happens to be hipsters. These are essentially kids. I don't think they deserve the animosity directed at them. You choose to call them attention whores, personally I think that's overdoing it. Not sure what the average age of the anti-hipster commenters are, but if you're over 25 and you hate children because of their style of dress and music choices, then a little introspection might be in order. Or not, and you're free to keep on hating.
Tell us what you are like
So we can all be just like you (obviously perfect).
Just what we need on UHub -- more anonymous grumpy jerks.
I agree w/ anon above
Snake girl is simply a different spin on conformity, w/ the requisite tats and "edgy" hair style... I'm sure she fits right in w/ her friends the same as the "cookie-cutter" conformists others decry fit in /w theirs.
As for the snake... not my thing, but she should endeavor to keep it suitably secure. Dogs are supposed to be on leashes... how the f*ck does one "lose" a snake they- purport- to care about for almost a month? Where's the love?! (Methinks the snake is more for show, hipster ornamentation.)
I would never drape a snake around my neck
But I've known people who did this -- and very few could be classified as "hipsters" (most examples date from before the first "hipster" was born).
As an old codger, I find hipster bashing boring and obnoxious.
...ssssssss
"Wait, so I'm a hipster now?"
+1
;~}
Penelope's Secret
She knows something that Charlie doesn't, apparently.
As for "old lady will have heart attack", well, said lady better not walk through the garden or common either. Snakes are all around us.
That reminds me of a funny story
One day back at the pet shop I was feeding the small snakes. One of them was a bit to small and I would put him in a small cotton pouch around my neck. I would cinch the top and let him ride on my chest for a bit. A person came in the store with her child to get a small pet and was startled by seeing my breasts "wiggle" When I brought out the snake she was one unhappy camper.
I hope she takes better care of the snake
As loosing the snake once should have shown her, this is a living animal, not a scarf. I have had snakes and other small reptiles for years and always took them out in small animal carriers. Same with birds and other small pets.
It is for their safety as well as the safety of others. What if the snake did not slither off of her, but was enticed off her neck by someone who wanted a snake for free? To just carry the snake around like it's a scarf or bracelet is foolish. For both the animal and the person. It's a living creature that you have promised to care for, not an accessory!!!
For very large reptiles you can get a dog crate with wheels.
Yes, it should have been in a
Yes, it should have been in a pet carrier, but just because it wasn't doesn't mean she was treating her pet as an accessory. If it was merely that to her, she wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to get it back.
why can't it be both? Just
why can't it be both?
Just because you love something doesn't mean you're judgment is supreme.
this woman is an incredibly
this woman is an incredibly irresponsable pet owner. She is very lucky that this snake did not get an upper respiratory infection from the cold temps. If anything this animal should have been brought to MSPCA so it could be adopted by an intelligent owner..