A woman was found dead in her St. Petersburg apartment after apparently being bitten by her pet python, Russian media reported this week, citing the Interior Ministry.
The 40-year-old woman, who made a living selling tanks and other equipment for pet reptiles, had reportedly kept the three-meter-long snake as a pet for many years before it apparently turned on her on Saturday night, according to the report.
Police who arrived at the scene found blood stains in the woman's apartment, thought to have come from a bite on her leg inflicted by the python, local news site Fontanka.ru reported. Pythons are nonvenomous and kill their prey by asphyxiation, but their bites contain small levels of toxins, and the woman is believed to have died from an allergic reaction to these.
Russian media has been rife with headlines involving venomous snakes in recent weeks. Last week, two Russian fishermen in the Chelyabinsk region were hospitalized with poisonous viper bites after they attempted to take a selfie with the reptile. The men had reportedly mistaken the viper for a common water snake.
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