LAS VEGAS -- A Valley mother charged with child endangerment spoke with FOX5 from behind bars Wednesday.

Melissa Melendrez was arrested three weeks after her 3-year-old son was nearly killed by a python.

She said she's upset and saddened and just wants to be back home with her two children. She said she knows the 18-foot snake never meant to harm her son.

“She didn't clamp onto him. If she wanted to try to kill him, she would've crushed him, but she didn't,” Melendrez said.

Melendrez, 25, is in jail, accused of putting her son's life in danger. In a jailhouse interview Wednesday afternoon, Melendrez said she and her husband, who is also charged with felony child abuse and neglect, were baby-sitting an 18-foot python when it somehow broke free from its cage and went for their son.

“The kids weren't allowed around her. She was only allowed in our room, which is why when she got out, she went straight to our room,” Melendrez said.

According to Metro police's arrest report, the 3-year-old suffered several bite marks in addition to being essentially strangled when the snake, named Eve, began to coil itself around the small boy.

Metro said the cage Eve was supposed to be inside was poorly constructed and held together with duct tape and nails. Melendrez said it was only temporary.

“She was in the biggest cage we could get,” she said.

She said she kept several snakes in the house and never had a problem with any of them. She believes a large snake is safer than a large dog.

“We're very knowledgeable about them, and we've always had them around, and nothing has ever happened before that would give us any reason to be scared for our kids,” Melendrez said.

Melendrez said this was an accident, not a felony.

“I understand how he could've got hurt, but there's so many things that can hurt your kid, but you can't stop everything,” she said.

Melendrez said her son is doing fine now.

She and her husband, Anthony Melendrez, will face a judge Thursday morning.

Large snakes like their python are allowed to be kept in Clark County, as long as they are not poisonous.