I just want to draw attention to the bug report in http://projects.scipy.org/scipy/ticket/1187. Basically, scipy.integrate.ode takes a function as input, and the error occurs if that function returns a tuple (instead of, e.g., a list).
If there isn't a simple fix (I can't tell b/c the error occurs within C-code, which I'm not at all proficient in), then I think this should print a more informative error message.
Best,
-Tony