More than 300 pythons found in California man's home.
A California python breeder was arrested today after authorities found hundreds of dead pythons in his Santa Ana, Calif. home. William Buchman, a school teacher with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, apparently ran a snake breeding business out of his home and according to neighbors, experienced some sort of change after the death of his mother a few years ago, which may have contributed to the death of many of the snakes in his possession.
Forest Long, Buchman's next door neighbor said that Buchman was an easy-going man who joined him to watch sports on television. But in the last year, Buchman apparently changed, and stopped hanging out with Long.
According to Sondra Berg of the Santa Ana Police Department's Animal Services Division, the pythons were stacked floor to ceiling and wall to wall in four of the five bedrooms in the house on wooden and metal racks, with each snake catalogued by name and species.
"House of Horrors–That's the best way to describe it," Berg said of the house. "I mean there's so many dead snakes, ranging from dead for months to just dead. There's an infestation of rats and mice all over the house. There are rats and mice in plastic storage tubs that are actually cannibalizing each other."
According to news station KTLA 5, of the more than 350 snakes that were in the house, the majority of them were dead. Animal control officers visited Buchman on several occasions in an effort to gain entry into the house, but only gained entry after a warrant was issued by the courts.
