Updated: Mom says don’t kill python that bit her boy

A 14-foot python that bit a 10-year-old boy during a Halloween party in West Jordan has been pulled from public shows and may be euthanized — though the boy’s mother says she does not want the snake killed.

Shane Richens, owner of Scales and Tails — the Salt Lake City business that put on the show for about 30 children on Oct. 29 at the Cyprus Credit Union building in West Jordan — said Friday that the female serpent first will be thoroughly examined by a veterinarian to see if some illness or injury may have triggered its “defense mechanism.”

“We want to find out if there’s any reason she did this, but she is definitely not being used in shows. Immediately after the incident, we removed her [from further public appearances],” Richens said.

Depending on the outcome of the veterinarian’s examination, the 150-pound snake could end up being retired permanently, or put down in the wake of having bit Jaren Barker on the chin and neck.

However, the boy’s mother, Christian Martin, said Saturday she does not want the snake euthanized, but does want Scales and Tails to either keep it out of shows with children or at least not allow children to handle the serpent at all in the future.

“I don’t think this was the snake’s fault; it’s their fault for putting her in the show [if there was something wrong with the python’s health],” Martin said. “I do not want the snake put to sleep, but it shouldn’t be around children, either. Maybe it should be in a zoo.”

As for her son, Martin said, “He’s doing better. [The bites] have healed up really good. I think he’s OK [emotionally], but obviously he is not going to want to be around snakes anytime soon.”

Martin said Scales and Tails has offered to pay her son’s snakebite-related medical bills, and even offered to give him a “free party” of his own. She welcomes the help with the medical expenses, but the party? “Not so much,” she said with a laugh.

Martin confirmed that her son’s father, from whom she is divorced, had contacted an attorney. No decision had been made about a potential lawsuit, she said.

Cyprus Credit Union spokeswoman Andrea Barlow said the party was an annual Halloween event the credit union puts on for its employees. The boy was the nephew of one of CCU’s workers.

“Over the years we have hired other entertainment — magicians, face painters, etc. — and this year we hired Scales and Tails. They do these shows all the time, and we carefully checked references and that they were insured,” Barlow said.

“Really, he [Richens] did a good show. The kids absolutely loved it, they were so excited. He explained about safety, not to get near the head of the animal ever. … This snake was the last animal he pulled out at the end of an hourlong show,” she added.

The boy reportedly was about 2 feet from the snake when it struck.

Barlow said the snake’s strike was “quick, instantaneous,” but while “shocking,” the bites were shallow. Employees took the boy into another room and quickly stopped the bleeding, then took him to an emergency after-hours clinic to be checked out. He was treated and then released.

“I understand he went trick-or-treating the next day, and his aunt said he was doing fine, not traumatized or anything like that,” Barlow said.