Man held for keeping 51 poisonous snakes without permit in Tokyo apartment

Thursday 28th August, 03:26 AM JST

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ambrosia at 05:58 PM JST - 27th August

GW: Not to defend this guy because he is an idiot but there is really nothing wrong with keeping snakes in plastic containers assuming they can be securely sealed from the outside, are maintained at the correct humidity, have proper ventilation and are big enough for the snake. The good thing about plastic containers over glass ones is that if they do fall (earthquakes), plastic containers are less likely break than glass and even if they do crack the snake still won't be able to escape as easily as if it were in a shattered glass container. Also, being lighter, plastic containers are easier to handle. The exception is when it comes to big, heavy snakes who could tip over plastic containers rather easily. Otherwise, the ideal situation is of course a large glass aquarium type container set at the right humidity and with ground cover for the snake, ground cover that is as close to its natural habitat as possible, as well as tree limbs for it to climb or rest on. Ideally, he shouldn't be keeping so many snakes anyway and certainly not dangerous ones. Heaven forbid one of them got loose and slithered over to an unsuspecting neighbor's apartment!
cwhite at 08:03 PM JST - 27th August

my guess is this insane guy probably knows a lot about snakes. Maybe one day he will become the foremost expert in venomous snakes. Very similar situation to oldie hackers/crackers who now work for the CIA or NSA. It's always the slightly over the top maniacs that excel in one specific genre.
Orangeporange at 08:53 PM JST - 27th August

What was he doing with all those poisonous snakes to begin with? Was he planning a terrorist attack in central Tokyo unlike "Snakes on a Plane"?
Sarge at 10:45 PM JST - 27th August

"eastern green mamba from Africa, one of the world's most poisonous snakes"

How poisonous is it? Could one bite kill an elephant?
miokou0 at 03:02 AM JST - 28th August

An eastern green mamba huh.i wounder who he got it from? or the even more important question is, how did he smuggle 51 poisonous snakes into his apartmen without being noticed?
OgieDoggie at 05:08 AM JST - 28th August

miokou0-how did he smuggle 51 poisonous snakes into his apartmen without being noticed?

Easy He just hide it in his pants and everyone at the apartment complex thought he was just well...you know (as one nieghbor asked "hey is that a snake in your pants or are you just happy so see me?").
miokou0 at 06:38 AM JST - 28th August

lol that's pretty funny oqiedoqqie!!!
Taka313 at 08:25 AM JST - 28th August

How big was his apartment? Considering the size of most apartments and the fact that a big chunk of his salary for whatever his job is went to care and feeding of snakes, I can't imagine much of his place being snake free.

Yuck.

Altria,

Nice.

Taka
mindovermatter at 09:09 AM JST - 28th August

Gee, I'm wondering what the cops did with these snakes...

Probably released them at the nearest corner park...
doedel at 04:56 PM JST - 28th August

Weren't they just saying the other day that they are annoyed by snakey phone calls?
mikihouse at 05:59 PM JST - 28th August

black mamba, green mamba and spitting king cobra are among his collections...he gets his high by having an adrenaline rush when he feeds these poisonous creatures. Well, hope he will not lose his hand. Mambas bite are really painful because it induces tissue necrosis or gangrene according to experts.

No police checking the area due to a poisonous snake bite previously? There are no poisonous snakes in Japan except in Okinawa and therefore a person coming to a hospital because of a snake bite should have set an alarm. The report never said that they catched the snake too! No alarms?

Shame, the police said snakes are not part of their work and report it to be a nuisance call.
GW at 06:18 PM JST - 28th August

ambrosia

I agree on the benefits of plastic as long as the cases can be secured from the outside but a lot of these cases are various sizes of the bug cages that clip close & many snakes cud open unless they are altered.

I have a poison dart frog, now about 14yrs old, smaller than my thumb, domestically bred & isnt poisonous because its captive. I like snakes but this guy was way over the top, an accident waiting to happen & it did twice.

Mikihouse

there are LOTS & LOTS of poisonous snakes in Japan not just on the southern islands. I live in Narita & have 2species of poisonous snakes in my neighbourhood, the mammushi, seen on occassion & the very very common yamakagashi, both live all over Honshu, better watch yr step!!
ca1ic0cat at 03:55 AM JST - 29th August

on the US news it was said that the police spokesman couldn't say what happened to the snakes.

That means they are either sushi, in the koban or loose in yoyogi park....
rranta at 11:32 AM JST - 29th August

"A Green Mamba?" What in the world was he thinking about? and more important, How in the heck did he ever get it into his country???
kavikahi at 02:14 PM JST - 30th August

**Last November, a female acquaintance who visited Kashiwagi’s apartment was also bitten by a snake, according to police.

We haven't heard from her since.