The difficulties of being a cat

[akane]

How do you decide which reptile tank to watch and how do you get that lizard out? Some day we will know.

http://i1321.photobucket.com/albums/u548/takakageri/cat/Miyu/DSCN4108_zpskshgxcql.jpg (http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/takakageri/media/cat/Miyu/DSCN4108_zpskshgxcql.jpg.html)

http://i1321.photobucket.com/albums/u548/takakageri/cat/Miyu/DSCN4112_zpshfuqxgmp.jpg (http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/takakageri/media/cat/Miyu/DSCN4112_zpshfuqxgmp.jpg.html)

http://i1321.photobucket.com/albums/u548/takakageri/cat/Miyu/DSCN4118_zpsqhgxdycb.jpg (http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/takakageri/media/cat/Miyu/DSCN4118_zpsqhgxdycb.jpg.html)

When all the reptiles stop moving for basking time or have finished their business in the open she informs me with a "mmrr" and leaves. I think it's to tell me I can have my laptop spot back. :rolleyes:

[sockSnek]

Haha...my cats were terrified the first time I brought a snake home. They were still curious so they were standing on their hind legs trying to see up into the tank, but if you made any sudden moves they would both fly into the air and bolt out of the room.

[akane]

Mine thinks the hungry rosy boa who wants to try tasting her paws is trying to play. We had to establish claws in mesh top = squirt bottle. The other critters have learned to ignore her. She did just remove my night viewing light from the top of the 29g because she couldn't see the snake well enough sitting on the metal bars holding the light above the mesh.

[GyGbeetle]

I have a cat that b*tch slapped my 7 foot boa, Fang. Fang remembers, and he will intimidate the cat and poster like he's going to slap him back, until the cat leaves. This same cat started antagonizing my baby tiger retic in front of her enclosure. She's about 5 feet now, and won't be so tiny anymore. I don't think the cat will ever learn, so the cat is often times removed from the room when the snakes come out to stretch and get cuddle time.

[TRD]

...This same cat started antagonizing my baby tiger retic in front of her enclosure...

Your cat will learn... in a year or 3 ;)

[akane]

In 3 years it will be one less feeder to buy that month ;) I keep telling mine we should not attempt to whap baby bullsnakes and blood pythons. If they get loose some day in a couple years it will not end well even if they aren't big enough to swallow the cat.

[GyGbeetle]

We have 2 tiger retics, 1 Burm, 1 Woma, and the rest (6) are Columbian red tails or some weird morph of those guys. So we basically have a bunch of large snakes. And Blossom, our female tiger retic, doesn't look happy when Meow Cat sashays in front of her enclosure. And now the cat is antagonizing our 3 baby boas. Poor kitty cat is going bye bye soon if he's not careful :(

[GyGbeetle]

There's Meow Cat and Fang, in the honeymoon phase of their relationship

[dave himself]

Why would you risk the life of your cat, just put it out of the room :confused:

[GyGbeetle]

Why would you risk the life of your cat, just put it out of the room :confused:

I think I approach it the same way others would approach allowing their young children or babies around snakes. If you understand your snake's temperament, then you know when it's becoming stressed. After said slapping incident, I will not allow my snake around the cat, because I can tell he gets stressed by this one particular cat. Similarly, if you have concerns for a child's safety around a particular snake, you wouldn't subject that child to that snake, correct? All their introductions were in a controlled environment (2 handlers, firm grip on snake, and an out for the animal), so I hardly define this as "risk(ing) the life of your cat"

[dave himself]

I don't let children under a certain age or my small dog anywhere near my snakes, but then that's just me :). I wasn't attacking you honestly. But I've seen one of my own snakes who we had for over five year's at the time, and had never shown any sign of aggression, suddenly turn on me, I just wouldn't trust any of my snakes as far as I could throw them, which wouldn't be very far :D. This is only my opinion though and I'm no expert :)

[GyGbeetle]

I will say, my husband has been bit by nearly every one of our snakes. Because of this, everything is closely supervised with 2 adults in the room at all times. And we don't let this one cat near them because it's just not worth the risk (to the snake. Cats all have claws and that's just a no for me). I know how you feel about them turning.

There is a very popular herp enthusiast that had a cat that was literally best friends with her snakes. It was amazing to see them interact. But it's not always the case, and we are cautious

[dave himself]

Thanks for not picking me up wrong and thinking I was attacking you :). As I said I really am no expert and was jist voicing my concerns :)

[TRD]

I don't either let any of my other 18 animals get within biting, striking or scratching range of my snakes. Even if they wouldn't be able to kill each other because I'm right there, someone (likely the snake) could get seriously hurt. My cats have a seriously bad disposition around the snakes, as do most of the others because they are menu items. It's just not worth it.

On the other hand my 3.5 year old daughter can handle the snakes just fine and without issues, my almost 2 year old has some serious issues that snake eat mice and on feeding days she tends to run to mommy crying that the snake is hurting the mouse. Kind of cute, though :)

[akane]

My cat is never around when the snake is out or the tank lid she can be on level with is open but my cages are scattered through the house so she regularly reptile watches some and sees others when I go in that room. Her feet were moving so fast I couldn't get a pic of it but she was bopping the glass of the small tank while the inhabitants ignored her and she does it toward the rosy who stares back at her. If they were hiding, flinching, striking, or threatening at all, beyond the rosy tasting her paws through the mesh, I would not allow it but usually when I do worry something is bothering my reptiles they then turn around and show me they don't care. My desert king snake tank gets hit by the door sometimes and it has the loudest light system for the cats to land on top of. I kept getting concerned and trying to stop the dogs bumping it and keeping things quiet to encourage him to come out but then at the loudest, most active moment in the room he just came out, wandered around, laid in the open, drank some water, and burrowed again. He also has no problem eating while the dogs are wrestling and the cat is bopping the glass because his feeding rock is right in the front so I guess he doesn't actually care about the commotion and isn't hiding from it. He just picks random times that match when he feels like food, water, or temp change to come out. I see no real pattern to be concerned about or to encourage.

I am talking more about if a snake escapes which has already happened to us but it was the harmless dekayi and he stayed curled on top of his tank so he was found and slipped back in. I worry more about a defensive strike because of her desire to bop the snakes and then the cat responding with it's own weapons. Even a big snake that could eat the cat would probably suffer puncture wounds which reptiles can be more durable than mammals to such things but cat wounds have a high rate of infection. Then if you don't have a dead cat, first you might have to separate snake and cat and you should have seen the one time mine got stuck on some flypaper and shot off falling over and bashing into things. When it's all done you've got wounds on the cat to deal with too. They won't sit there waiting to get the angled teeth to release without breaking off or tearing skin like an experienced human will even if the snake doesn't do internal damage wrapping around the cat.