Safe handling practice for large snakes - Page 4

**Tsubaki** · 08-24-16, 11:13 AM

I have to agree with Dave, there are no pure Sula albinos.

Also agree that he looks great! retics are amazing

Wish · 08-24-16, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tsubaki

I have to agree with Dave, there are no pure Sula albinos.

Also agree that he looks great! retics are amazing

Thank you! Would love to hear back on your thoughts if you feel he's not a Sula. I went with what I was told, and do not have the knowledge to know myself.

dannybgoode · 08-24-16, 11:15 AM

A story for you all. Was chatting to one of the guys today that runs the store I go to.

Regular customer of theirs been keeping giants 15+ years, snakes in general 35 years. Had a male Retic 16' long who was out and about whilst his viv was being cleaned. Never shown any aggression before.

Just went for the guys foot. He was only wearing some flimsy Nike trainers and the Retic very nearly had his foot off. Several months of reconstructive surgery and his foot is as good as it'll get but still pretty mangled.

He broke the 2 person rule and it's unlikely it would have happened if a second person had been there IN THE ROOM.

@wish. No good your wife being somewhere in the house- they need to be there with you. A spotter spotter would have a) probably seen it coming and could have controlled the head, shouted a warning etc and b) had the bite still happen, react immediately.

Also you say your wife is not fond of snakes-are you confident she would react in the right way if she came in to find a very large snake properly attached to you. I know my wife would not so no giants for me.

A Retic, rock pyhton or anaconda has the potential to attack however calm you think it is and regardless of how long you've had it. Burms not so much but still wise to be cautious.

Wish · 08-24-16, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannybgoode

A story for you all. Was chatting to one of the guys today that runs the store I go to.

Regular customer of theirs been keeping giants 15+ years, snakes in general 35 years. Had a male Retic 16' long who was out and about whilst his viv was being cleaned. Never shown any aggression before.

Just went for the guys foot. He was only wearing some flimsy Nike trainers and the Retic very nearly had his foot off. Several months of reconstructive surgery and his foot is as good as it'll get but still pretty mangled.

He broke the 2 person rule and it's unlikely it would have happened if a second person had been there IN THE ROOM.

@wish. No good your wife being somewhere in the house- they need to be there with you. A spotter spotter would have a) probably seen it coming and could have controlled the head, shouted a warning etc and b) had the bite still happen, react immediately.

Also you say your wife is not fond of snakes-are you confident she would react in the right way if she came in to find a very large snake properly attached to you. I know my wife would not so no giants for me.

A Retic, rock pyhton or anaconda has the potential to attack however calm you think it is and regardless of how long you've had it. Burms not so much but still wise to be cautious.

I appreciate your story Danny. For the most part, my Wife is there. The furthest she is would be 10 to 15 feet away. She's just not literally on top of me and watching my every move. Would she react how I want in the case of an emergency, 100% yes sir! Unfortunately, the snake would probably not be so lucky. I joke with her all the time and say "just don't kill my snake" lol. Cause given the chance, she'd happily do so . I tell you this though, I'd never have my retic just out and about while I'm cleaning the tank. When I clean, he goes in a separate holding tub. I don't even start cleaning until he's been relocated and secure.

I'm not saying it can't happen. Anything has the potential to snap and do something unpredictable. Just as I can make a mistake and provoke the undesired behavior. It's a risk! I'll take your advise, and always be cautious.

macandchz · 08-24-16, 11:47 AM

love pogie's advice-"don't drink and snake". like to get a t-shirt with that on it! love the big ones but even with the small ones-an animal is an animal. you never know what they are thinking. they can change moods in a minute. my dog is sweet as can be, but he has snapped at me and shown teeth occaisonally. why take the chance-use 2 people.

Snake_eyes_88 · 08-24-16, 04:09 PM

I'm loving reading through this and seeing how I approach my handling to everyone else's. Of course my retic is still young but I've approached him from day one the way I intend to for his lifetime... With Floki (my retic) being 50% madu and 25% Jampea he's on the smaller size but I've no doubt of what he will be capable of as an adult.

It's scary sometimes when you see the mentality of some keepers, and how they show literally zero respect for what these animals are... I've wanted a retic for about 5 years, so after a lot of research and thought on the matter we finally agreed on an SD.. Of course we ended up with a lottery ticket in terms of size in the end with an SD cross but at almost 17 months and barely being 3ft we should be ok.... I hope

It's when the purchase of a giant is a snap decision based on the "cool factor" that it usually turns out bad for the snake, the person... And in the end these idiots will make it worse for all of us.