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SNAKE SEIZURE: UPD removed 20 pythons from a Holladay home, but the man who lives there tells me this is his life and these Burms (Burmese pythons) are his kids. Tonight @ 9, he explains how much he loves these snakes, but why @UPDSL says owning them was illegal. @fox13
The man loved his Burmese pythons so much, he said they slept with him on his king-size water bed. But it wasn& #39;t just the pythons that @UPDSL found around the house that concerned them. @fox13
In addition to 20 pythons (10 longer than 10 ft), UPD said they seized 585 rats and 46 rabbits. Even if they were for snake food, @UPDSL says having that many in a residential area is a problem. So is owning 20 snakes with an expired exotic pet license. @fox13
Python owner Marty Bone tells me he kept rats in a shed in his backyard. @UPDSL didn& #39;t catch them all, many were running around when I was there tonight. Marty managed to trap some and put them back in the cage. He says he had less than 400, UPD says it was 585. @fox13
This is the rabbit pen, for size reference you can see the truck bed topper on the ground as part of the pen. Marty guessed he had about 27 rabbits, and said he needs 18 to feed to his pythons once a month. @UPDSL said they removed 46 from the pen. @fox13
Marty says he& #39;s owned snakes for 43 years. Some of pythons @UPDSL seized last week, according to Marty, were 15-30 years old. Others were babies. He said he didn& #39;t realize his exotic animal permit expired 3 yrs ago and blamed animal control for not telling him.
UPD says they got a search warrant for Marty& #39;s home after Marty sold a baby python to an undercover officer. They said they went undercover b/c of complaints they received. Marty said ppl sell baby snakes all the time online without permits.
