Safe handling practice for large snakes

[SerpentineDream]

I see way too many photos of people with large snakes draped around their necks or shoulders. This to me seems like a tragedy waiting to happen. Sure, the snake may be chilling out at the moment, but it only takes an instant for the situation to change and then your neck is suddenly in coils.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Originally Posted by SerpentineDream

I see way too many photos of people with large snakes draped around their necks or shoulders. This to me seems like a tragedy waiting to happen. Sure, the snake may be chilling out at the moment, but it only takes an instant for the situation to change and then your neck is suddenly in coils.

When they get that big, you don't have a choice but to put them on your shoulders if you want to move them around. Around your neck, not so good, but good luck picking up 80 lbs of wiggling zooming snake just in your arms. As far as the neck, it's not a smart idea for even a 4' snake, they could easily cut off the blood flow to your brain even if they couldn't suffocate you. Just make sure the snake is on one shoulder. With such large snakes as adults, I would try not to drape them across the back of your shoulders, since they could still get to your jugular, but it's fine for smaller ones.

Originally Posted by dannybgoode

I saw the video of the Burm swimming. Madness but people think it's cool.

@dave. That is bonkers! Darwin award winners abound though. I don't know what the answer is when it comes to giants. The morph craze in particular seems to be pushing the Retic thing and at some point the market is going to implode and there's going to be a ton of very large snakes around that no one wants to home.

Makes the beardie problem seem like nothing!

Trouble is so few sellers vet the buyers. Thing that attracted me to the reptile store I go to is they make it really difficult for you to buy a giant but they're so much in the minority.

I'm kinda hoping the morph and breeding craze moves towards the super dwarves, a pure or high content SD is 100% manageable by even one person, and there are morphs being bred into them all the time.

When I bought River, I was asked questions about my other snakes and my experience/research, but that's about it. She was being maintenance fed (one fuzzy mouse every 2 weeks, she was 6 months and still only 3'), too, so not too sure how much of a role model they are, but I feel at the very least you should try to get a feel for the person's knowledge before letting go of a giant.

[Sublimeballs]

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

When they get that big, you don't have a choice but to put them on your shoulders if you want to move them around. Around your neck, not so good, but good luck picking up 80 lbs of wiggling zooming snake just in your arms. As far as the neck, it's not a smart idea for even a 4' snake, they could easily cut off the blood flow to your brain even if they couldn't suffocate you. Just make sure the snake is on one shoulder. With such large snakes as adults, I would try not to drape them across the back of your shoulders, since they could still get to your jugular, but it's fine for smaller ones.



I'm kinda hoping the morph and breeding craze moves towards the super dwarves, a pure or high content SD is 100% manageable by even one person, and there are morphs being bred into them all the time.

When I bought River, I was asked questions about my other snakes and my experience/research, but that's about it. She was being maintenance fed (one fuzzy mouse every 2 weeks, she was 6 months and still only 3'), too, so not too sure how much of a role model they are, but I feel at the very least you should try to get a feel for the person's knowledge before letting go of a giant.

I think they ment around both shoulder as opposed to the much needed over the shoulder method. There used to be a thread displaying the differences for the prospective buyer.

You're not kidding about SD stuff. My pure kalatoas are comically small, those things are bottomless pits aswell....