Six weeks after surgery to remove a queen-size electric blanket he'd swallowed, Houdini, Ketchum's famous 12-foot Burmese python, is now fully recovered—but hungry.
"He was outside all day yesterday just hanging out next to the house getting some sun," Houdini's owner, Karl Beznoska, said Monday. "He's really doing great. He's happy. The only thing is, he's hungry."
Beznoska was under strict orders not to feed Houdini for six weeks following his widely publicized surgery to remove the blanket. The six weeks ended Tuesday, and now Beznoska is trying to find Houdini a nice, fat rabbit to eat.
A few months without food is not unusual in the life of a python. Since pythons have a slow metabolism, Beznoska usually only feeds Houdini about every six weeks.
Houdini's last nice, fat rabbit, unfortunately, got tangled up with the electric blanket that Beznoska kept in Houdini's cage to keep him warm. It took surgery by Ketchum veterinarians Karsten Fostvedt and Barry Rathfon to remove the blanket.
After the story first appeared in the July 19 edition of the Idaho Mountain Express, it was picked up by news wire services, and Houdini became an international media sensation. The story was told by major news agencies across the globe.
Houdini's surgery was anything but routine. Neither Fostvedt nor Rathfon had ever operated on a python before, and the staff at the St. Francis Pet Clinic, where the operation was performed, gave Houdini less than a 50 percent chance of surviving the ordeal.
But survive he did, much to delight of Beznoska, who has owned the 18-year-old python for 16 years.
Beznoska said he's been inundated with calls from well-wishers.
"Everybody wants to know how Houdini's doing. Well, he's doing really good. He's back to normal and fully recovered," Beznoska said.
A somewhat expected side effect of the surgery was that Houdini shed his skin a little sooner than usual. Beznoska said a traumatic event in a python's life can trigger skin shedding.
"So he shed most of his skin, except for where the stitches were. So I stuck him in the bathtub and got it all off, and now he's nice and shiny," he said.
Beznoska even bought Houdini another electric blanket, a used one nonetheless. But Beznoska will make sure he removes it from the cage when Houdini is served his long-awaited rabbit.
Houdini, the 12-foot Burmese python who became world famous after he swallowed a queen-size electric blanket, suns himself at owner Karl Beznoska's home north of Ketchum. Photo by Karl Beznoska
