Safe handling practice for large snakes

[dave himself]

Originally Posted by trailblazer295

Don't worry man, hard with text to pick up the tone. Cheers




No snakes are that cheap here but don't think the market for retics here is big enough. No breeders I'm aware of so any retics are expensive.

Though I've seen a lot of fish sold for cheap red tail catfish (3000g aquarium, couple hundred lbs) silver arowana (5ft and couple hundred gallon min tank) sadly these fish usually die. Unfortunately in the pet trade you can buy anything if you have the cash in your pocket. Even in a province where HOTS are illegal you can buy them if you know where to go and have the cash.

I'd never own giants or hots but keep the pics of your giants coming. Cheers.

Thanks buddy and I know exactly what you mean we had a case over here about 10 years ago when a 15 year old lad came on to one of the Irish reptile forums, posting pics of his hatchling purple tiger female retic. Luckily one of the Mods off the site lived not to far from him and she went round and explained just what mummy and daddy had bought for their son. But just think someone sold a kid who up to that point only experience was a dwarf boa, a mainland retic

[DrSimonsSays]

My hubby and I have an 11 foot or so beautiful Burmese morph sold as a "jigsaw". He is close to 40 lbs. We have him out of the cage in our bedroom for much of the day, and we are both in contact with him at least 4-6 hours every day. I'm pretty sure he thinks he is human. Definitely the 2 person rule, but only when he is on the floor in front of his cage--as that is where we always feed him (on a towel).
Ours is about 95% potty trained. He has only gone in his cage when left in there while we were on a vacation.
When he needs to go, he pushes the door to our bathroom area open and crawls into the spa tub. We fill it with water, and watch his tail. Once it starts to flatten out and go up, I grab the butt and hold it over a large cup (he doesn't like ANY urine or feces in his bath water, he'll jump outta fast as an 11ft snake can) then he just goes in the cup. Sometimes I help express out the pellets by massaging his underbelly. Then LOTS of positive reinforcement, of course. If he hasn't urinated for a week, we'll put him in the tub, and he knows what we expect of him. After one "accident" on our Tempurpedic, that is all we wanted.
I'm thinking that potty training might only be possible on bigger snakes that are VERY well socialized; regardless, we are very happy to have a OCD clean snake!

[dave himself]

Originally Posted by DrSimonsSays

My hubby and I have an 11 foot or so beautiful Burmese morph sold as a "jigsaw". He is close to 40 lbs. We have him out of the cage in our bedroom for much of the day, and we are both in contact with him at least 4-6 hours every day. I'm pretty sure he thinks he is human. Definitely the 2 person rule, but only when he is on the floor in front of his cage--as that is where we always feed him (on a towel).
Ours is about 95% potty trained. He has only gone in his cage when left in there while we were on a vacation.
When he needs to go, he pushes the door to our bathroom area open and crawls into the spa tub. We fill it with water, and watch his tail. Once it starts to flatten out and go up, I grab the butt and hold it over a large cup (he doesn't like ANY urine or feces in his bath water, he'll jump outta fast as an 11ft snake can) then he just goes in the cup. Sometimes I help express out the pellets by massaging his underbelly. Then LOTS of positive reinforcement, of course. If he hasn't urinated for a week, we'll put him in the tub, and he knows what we expect of him. After one "accident" on our Tempurpedic, that is all we wanted.
I'm thinking that potty training might only be possible on bigger snakes that are VERY well socialized; regardless, we are very happy to have a OCD clean snake!

got any pics of your snake mate

[bigsnakegirl785]

Originally Posted by DrSimonsSays

My hubby and I have an 11 foot or so beautiful Burmese morph sold as a "jigsaw". He is close to 40 lbs. We have him out of the cage in our bedroom for much of the day, and we are both in contact with him at least 4-6 hours every day. I'm pretty sure he thinks he is human. Definitely the 2 person rule, but only when he is on the floor in front of his cage--as that is where we always feed him (on a towel).
Ours is about 95% potty trained. He has only gone in his cage when left in there while we were on a vacation.
When he needs to go, he pushes the door to our bathroom area open and crawls into the spa tub. We fill it with water, and watch his tail. Once it starts to flatten out and go up, I grab the butt and hold it over a large cup (he doesn't like ANY urine or feces in his bath water, he'll jump outta fast as an 11ft snake can) then he just goes in the cup. Sometimes I help express out the pellets by massaging his underbelly. Then LOTS of positive reinforcement, of course. If he hasn't urinated for a week, we'll put him in the tub, and he knows what we expect of him. After one "accident" on our Tempurpedic, that is all we wanted.
I'm thinking that potty training might only be possible on bigger snakes that are VERY well socialized; regardless, we are very happy to have a OCD clean snake!

This sounds like a troll post...especially since this is the only post they've ever made. A snake allowed to be out of its enclosure as often as this one would be dead, and essentially free-roaming an 11' snake? Sounds fake and dangerous.

[marvelfreak]

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

This sounds like a troll post...especially since this is the only post they've ever made. A snake allowed to be out of its enclosure as often as this one would be dead, and essentially free-roaming an 11' snake? Sounds fake and dangerous.

My thought too.

[dave himself]

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

This sounds like a troll post...especially since this is the only post they've ever made. A snake allowed to be out of its enclosure as often as this one would be dead, and essentially free-roaming an 11' snake? Sounds fake and dangerous.

Originally Posted by marvelfreak

My thought too.

I'm with you good folks that's why I asked for pics , they're either a troll or their weight and measurements are way off

[dannybgoode]

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

This sounds like a troll post...especially since this is the only post they've ever made. A snake allowed to be out of its enclosure as often as this one would be dead, and essentially free-roaming an 11' snake? Sounds fake and dangerous.

@BSG you'd be surprised. I know of a couple of burms that are freeranging in people's homes. There's one that lives upstairs and their chihuahua lives downstairs. No amount of telling them will convince them that one day that dog will probably 'disappear'.

Completely stupid yes but it does happen...

[bigsnakegirl785]

Originally Posted by dannybgoode

@BSG you'd be surprised. I know of a couple of burms that are freeranging in people's homes. There's one that lives upstairs and their chihuahua lives downstairs. No amount of telling them will convince them that one day that dog will probably 'disappear'.

Completely stupid yes but it does happen...

They're also asking for a host of health issues with their snake. There's no way a home could properly provide the temp and humidity needs they need without also destroying their home and their wallets. They're tropical/subtropical animals. I have seen 3 animals allowed to free roam. A ball python, that ended up dying from infections and had pretty bad dehydration despite them running humidifiers and offering multiple heating spots. A tegu that went to the vet's and had severe dehydration and the start of MBD despite multiple humid spots and basking spots throughout the house (afaik it survived but didn't follow up on the story), and a third one that was a tegu that was put in an enclosure before anything noticeable occurred.

Even if it took a few years, their snakes are going to suffer and ultimately perise without proper care, even with the dog and human safety aside. Which if their dog and their safety isn't a high priority the snakes' safety probably isn't, either.

I'm not arguing that it happens, I'm saying the way they wrote their post and the fact that it rarely happens makes it seem fake. The whole thing seems like a caricature.

[dave himself]

Originally Posted by dannybgoode

@BSG you'd be surprised. I know of a couple of burms that are freeranging in people's homes. There's one that lives upstairs and their chihuahua lives downstairs. No amount of telling them will convince them that one day that dog will probably 'disappear'.

Completely stupid yes but it does happen...

I must admit the free-range part didn't even make me raise an eye brow sadly as when I was on Facebook I saw some absolute trainwrecks that just hadn't happened yet. One guy who lived on his own had an adult burm free roaming in his bedroom 24 hours a day. I agree with everything you said BSG and when I asked him what about her humidity, temperature and everything else the answer I got was, she goes back into here viv when she wants. Sometimes you just have to walk away because you no your no going to get anywhere arguing

[Minkness]

Omg that be AMAAAAZING to have a potty trained snake! Lol.

I have one that almost always goes in his water. I prefer this since it's way easier to dump and clean his water dish than to clean his cage.

Alsoooo, my leopard geckos all go in one corner, so I use a paper towel in that corner and just remove it when needed lol. All of my leos do this too.

So cool to hear about your dedication to such a large animal and how they, and you, have benifited from the unusual relationship.

I'm with dave though...we need pics!

[Wish]

So, I'm sure many wont agree... But here's my situation in a nut shell. I have a Mainland (Sulawesi), male. A year and a half and he's pushing just over 8 feet. Before that, the largest snake I ever owned was a red tail boa, about 6 feet long. Just my wife to help, and she is not much of a fan of him. Never the less, I've always had a passion for retics! Once he hit 8 feet, I no longer open the cage unless my wife is home. I am in his cage 3 times a week, minimal. For water, spot cleaning and feeding. He comes out for everything except feeding. I've had him since three weeks old. His attitude is pretty chill, in my opinion. He occasionally takes a shot at me when his tank opens, for the most part he just retreats with out striking. Very normal retic behavior. Hook goes in first, then I pull him out. He's never struck at me outside the tank. I still show him the utmost respect, and always anticipate a strike just in case. I'm aware he will get a lot bigger. The conditions of me being the only hands on person with him will not change. With that said, I'm always prepared for anything. Bottle of spray alcohol, and like some one else mentioned, a sufficient weapon in case things ever go that sour. Which of course would only be used if it is a life/death situation. Let me also say I love my animal! I feel extremely confident that it will never come to that.---But one must always be ready. Bottom line, retics are predators. While many like them for their colors, beauty and size... they are hunting, stalking, large wild animals.--And they're not for everyone. Like anything else in life, no your limits and potentials. If your not comfortable dealing with large snakes, then retics aint for you. That goes for Dwarfs too. Retics are just a different kind of snake. I took many things into account before I purchased mine. One being that I would have to handle this animal for the most part by myself. It's something I feel I can handle. I come from a state where you can't find retics anymore. Nor is it easy to find others in the hobby locally. Most of all my research came from forums and youtube videos (pretty dangerous) lol. Still, I'm comfortable with my choice, and confident in providing excellent husbandry. The attached photo was taken months ago. He's a lot larger today.

[dave himself]

Originally Posted by Wish

So, I'm sure many wont agree... But here's my situation in a nut shell. I have a Mainland (Sulawesi), male. A year and a half and he's pushing just over 8 feet. Before that, the largest snake I ever owned was a red tail boa, about 6 feet long. Just my wife to help, and she is not much of a fan of him. Never the less, I've always had a passion for retics! Once he hit 8 feet, I no longer open the cage unless my wife is home. I am in his cage 3 times a week, minimal. For water, spot cleaning and feeding. He comes out for everything except feeding. I've had him since three weeks old. His attitude is pretty chill, in my opinion. He occasionally takes a shot at me when his tank opens, for the most part he just retreats with out striking. Very normal retic behavior. Hook goes in first, then I pull him out. He's never struck at me outside the tank. I still show him the utmost respect, and always anticipate a strike just in case. I'm aware he will get a lot bigger. The conditions of me being the only hands on person with him will not change. With that said, I'm always prepared for anything. Bottle of spray alcohol, and like some one else mentioned, a sufficient weapon in case things ever go that sour. Which of course would only be used if it is a life/death situation. Let me also say I love my animal! I feel extremely confident that it will never come to that.---But one must always be ready. Bottom line, retics are predators. While many like them for their colors, beauty and size... they are hunting, stalking, large wild animals.--And they're not for everyone. Like anything else in life, no your limits and potentials. If your not comfortable dealing with large snakes, then retics aint for you. That goes for Dwarfs too. Retics are just a different kind of snake. I took many things into account before I purchased mine. One being that I would have to handle this animal for the most part by myself. It's something I feel I can handle. I come from a state where you can't find retics anymore. Nor is it easy to find others in the hobby locally. Most of all my research came from forums and youtube videos (pretty dangerous) lol. Still, I'm comfortable with my choice, and confident in providing excellent husbandry. The attached photo was taken months ago. He's a lot larger today.

Beautiful retic mate but I don't think it's a Sula

[Wish]

Originally Posted by dave himself

Beautiful retic mate but I don't think it's a Sula

I purchased him from Chase Dallas. To be exact, I was told by Chase he was a Lavender phase Albino and was a Sulawesi. Please, would love to hear your thoughts if you say it's not a Sula. I don't have the eye or knowledge to actually tell.

[dave himself]

Originally Posted by Wish

I purchased him from Chase Dallas. To be exact, I was told by Chase he was a Lavender phase Albino and was a Sulawesi. Please, would love to hear your thoughts if you say it's not a Sula. I don't have the eye or knowledge to actually tell.

Sulawesi retics are Wild-type/normal retics mate they get their name from an island some people also call them Makassar retics their ment to be one biggest locals along with the Sumatrans from what I've heard from people, and if hes Sulawesi I can't see how he can be albino

[dave himself]

I lifed this image off locality retics these guys are specialist in local retics this is a Sulawesi