TORONTO – Would you let a 20ft Burmese python give you a massage? How about four of them?
Visitors at the Cebu City Zoo in the Philippines are opting for this “relaxing” treatment, which was captured by Caters News and uploaded to YouTube last week.
“This is actually a good massage… they’re massaging my core,” one person says in the video as the snakes slither over his body.
The snakes are fed before each massage to “prevent hunger pangs.”
According to the video, the snakes – named Michelle, Walter, EJ and Daniel – weigh roughly 550lbs combined.
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Burmese pythons are one of the largest snakes on Earth.
Once the treatment starts there is no way out until the handlers carefully remove the snakes.
The sessions last between 10 and 15 minutes and are considered “therapeutic and calming.”
Patients are instructed to not blow air on the snakes or shout for help as the snakes may think they’re prey or a predator.
Zoo manager Giovanni Romarate tells the Daily Mail, “Snakes do not attack as long as they are not harmed. We also made sure that we use pythons because they are not venomous.”
The massages are free for anyone willing to try.
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