Oh wow a retic as you know no joke of a snake .
I recall when albino retics came out in the late 70s they cost about 20k and now so cheap as retics breed like hamsters .
As you know banned in Florida because they are a real issue but people still keep them and sadly reality is impossible to eradicate in Florida due to connecting canals , marsh areas .
I have in the area corn snakes , ring neck , black racers , garters , water snakes but tegus ( Green Ameivas ) have taken a toll on them .
Re: Staying calm. Some people are afraid of being bitten, so they’ll grab a snake by the neck basically choking it. Of course that will make him feel threatened & he will struggle to escape. I calmly pick him up near the middle & let him move through my hands. I’ve handled 25 wild snakes & never been bitten. When I was a kid, I had a Boa (10 ft.) & a Burmese Python (12 ft.). At the time, I had no idea how large they would get - especially the Python - and how big their meals would have to be. Unlike dogs & cats, snakes can’t live on processed food like kibble. They have to eat the whole animal. They were both very calm & loved to be handled. I gave both to the zoo who provided a huge enclosure.
That is amazing .
Boas are ok but most pythons become aggressive , yours was not ?
I recall when they first hit the market how expensive then cheapest snakes going other then morph colors .
As you know snakes USED to be " popular " but not in last 10 to 15 years might be due to price of rodents , chicks .
There was talk some time ago which I found insane to introduce sterile honey badgers to the Everglades but thankfully never happened .
‘‘Florida’s invasive python crisis has sparked bold ideas – but this one might top them all. In a daring ecological experiment, one of nature’s most fearless predators, the honey badger, is being considered as a biological counterforce.’’
The Python was aggressive at first. The guy I adopted him from kept him outside, didn’t interact with him & tossed him a rat now & then. He just had the snake for a conversation piece & didn’t take care of him, the cage was filthy, moldy water & had no temperature regulation & the snake had mites on him which I drowned by soaking him in the bathtub. He would hiss as soon as I put my hand near him. I worked with him (with thick, arm-length gloves). After a few weeks, I could just reach in & he’d crawl up my arm - no hissing & I could trust him near my face. But when he reached 13 ft, I gave him to the zoo. Most people who want a Python now get a “Dwarf Retic;” they don’t get that large.
I got the Boa from a pet shop & he was tame from the beginning. But he had a very aggressive food drive; the store owner warned me to be careful when feeding him - use tongs or drop his food in & close the cage immediately. He was right; when I fed him, he’d grab the rat before I closed the cage door. He also told me to keep all other animals away from him. He escaped one night in the store & ate a very expensive Persian Kitten.
Oh no .
The big snakes were never for me .
Glad for the snake you adopted him , pythons as far as the bigger types are snakes I do not trust but you have a knack I do not . However I would never trust one near my face as you know those teeth are like syringes , lol
Since you know reptiles a few years back when I moved here to Miami , I was at someone’s house and the man had a breeding pair of Australian woma pythons which for me were a treat as had never seen one .
I have also never seen dwarf retics .
My friends retic is a kitten. It will occasionally bite & draw blood. But that is rare. But I used to know someone with a large female retic & that was ONLY handled if 3 people were around. It was approaching 25 feet & the most dangerous snake I have ever handled.
Yes, any constrictor over 9 ft. shouldn’t be handled alone.
Lol to me that is no kitten and as you know those teeth are no joke they can break off into a person .
The big females are simply to big way to dangerous but yes as you know " smaller " males can kill a human .
25 feet is huge , imagine your friend fed it chickens or rabbits ?
Going back decades I recall even when anaconda babies were sold and imagine still are but nothing like before .
Interestingly enough roughly till late 70’s venomous snakes were actually popular in the UK , I used get a " magazine " with for sale and info called FAUNA this is of course before internet and countless ads in UK ( they would place ad calling on land lines ) looking for cobras ( most popular ) and other venomous snakes .
Think by mid 80s banned in UK and most of the USA .
The The Federation of British Herpetologists was big but now think no longer around or sliver of the past
Many people breed venomous snakes - not really for pets but to milk them for venom to make antivenom to save lives - especially where snakebites are more common & their venom is much more toxic. Producing antivemon is very expensive. The venom is also used in medical research.
Speaking of teeth, are you familiar with Emerald Tree Boas & Green Tree Pythons? They feed mainly on birds & are provided with very large teeth to get through feathers:
I seem to remember rabbits.
DWA, The Dangerous Wild Animals Act came into law in the late late 70’s making it illegal to keep venomous snakes unless you were licensed. The herpetologist I knew was DWA licensed & often worked with Police, RSPCA etc when illegal reptiles were found. Being interested in snakes. I helped him care for his own, plus rescued snakes etc & that is how I came to handle such snakes.
At the time I became a keen invertebrate keeper, having tarantulas, true spiders & scorpions. They are much easier to keep & just as interesting. My largest at the time had a 9 inch leg span. Toe to diagonal toe.
Decades ago when I was in Miami I went to Miami Sedentarism which closed think 20 years ago after a kid fell in alligator pond and killed .
They showed the snake milking and fascinating .
I have seen them an Reptile exhibit and yes some fangs since as you know bird grabbers
There is a place here by the beach big as far as tarantulas which were never for me but love the look of Green Bottle Blue and Mexican Flame Knee .
Which type tarantula did you keep ?
Tarantulas as you know not the most active , most hide but now more popular then reptiles .
We have little wood scorpions here like on palm trees and interestingly enough adult Knight Anoles eat them
‘’ The Dangerous Wild Animals Act came into law in the late late 70’s’’
Had no idea but I recall a free for all when I was a kid and a pet store my dad and I would go which had exotics even sold Gila monsters .
My father had a saltwater fish tank with under gravel filter which as you know archaic but his worked
I has short tail opossum , Duprasi , Bushy tail jirds , Flying squirrels ( pair ) incredible dog like pets .
Later on snakes , 2 Alapaha bulldogs , cat , owl finches / fish still have the finches and fish .
Kinkajous and dissented skunks " popular " here as you know terrible pets .
I kept several different Tarantulas. My largest was a female Lasiodora parahybana. She was just over 9 inches. I brought her as an adult & kept her for at least 15 years, maybe more. Females can live for 25 years plus. Depending upon the species. Males for maybe 5 years. I had a few Brachypelmas, so maybe an auratum. But some of the species names have been changed & not everything sold in the hobby is always what they claim it to be.
The GBB, if I remember correctly. Has a lovely party piece. They jump.
I also had a Theraphosa blondi & her party piece was the make a hissing type noise, not unlike a snake. It is a similar action to what a cricket does with it’s rear legs. But some tarantula species can do it using front legs. And an Australian species is called the barking or whistling spider, due to their noise making ability.
Words of wisdom in the invert and reptile world , ESPECIALLY online buying .
Inverts are what some call an acquired taste , I am looking at Rhino beetles for a terrarium ( not sure what type yet ) which as you know remain popular in the UK , perhaps more then the States .
I had no idea so looked up what you kept and one was a Goliath Bird eater , big the females most certainly are .
He was quite a guy.
Yes he was , he was way before his time .
He lived at the serpentarium and provided a lot of the venom in those days as you know he believed he had some immunity as bitten several times but some say if anything it was the opposite as it weakened his system .
I read that doctors told him he was insane & committing suicide; sorta funny when he lived to 100.
Yes not only lived to a 100 but was active and hands on at the serpentarium .
