From the Fringe | 08.10.2008
Snakes Succumb to Both Man and Mouse
Mice have long been seen as little more than appetizers for the snakes living in the world's zoos, but one Taiwanese showed it's capable of more. Zookeepers in Stuttgart may want to invite the rodent to Germany.
A zookeeper had to be rescued in Germany when a 12-foot snake began trying to eat her head.
Renate Klosse was cleaning its cage when the 126-pound (57-kilogram) tiger python named Antonia clamped its jaws on her face.
She tried to relieve the pressure from its 70 teeth by sticking her thumbs into its jawbone, The Sun newspaper reported.
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: You won't be half so tough when I get a water hose
Colleagues then sprayed it with hoses until it slithered off at Uhldingen Zoo near Stuttgart. Klosse's thumb-to-the-jaw technique would have hurt the snake and colleagues' spraying it with water would have disorientated the creature, python expert Jan Knoll said.
"Its jaws opened so wide that it was able to completely cover the woman's face," said a police spokeswoman. "She was in danger of slithering down its gullet."
While Renate was treated at the hospital for bites and shocks, Antonia had to settle for yet another dinner of mice.
Mouse: You look like lunch, Mr. Snake
Still, the German snake may want to be a bit more thankful next time Renate comes in to the clean the cage or the Stuttgart zoo's reptile house may start making the beast work for her dinner like a viper in Taiwan.
Firefighters who found the snake put it in a cage for safekeeping until they could locate a suitable snack and quickly came across a small mouse.
But when they tossed a tiny rodent into the enclosure it turned out to be more than the 35-cm snake could handle.
"It attacked the snake continuously, biting and scratching it," a fire department spokesman told Apple Daily.
After a 30-minute battle, the snake was dead and the mouse was left with hardly a scratch.
"Perhaps it used up its venom when we caught it, and perhaps it was a novice predator," said fire chief Lan Sengqiu.
Whatever the cause of the mouse's good fortune, the Stuttgart Zoo's reptile house may want to get its hands on a few for the first aid kit.
