Rock pythons

[frosty]

Hello everyone i am new to this forum. So i thought i would say hi. I have always liked snakes since i was young. Always took care of my friends and wonted one of my own. Well a month ago i got my wish. I got my favrit snake a african rock python. That is a picture of her with my sister. Her name is fade. And she is very nice. Eats good and love being held.

[burmer]

Congrats on the Rock. Your lucky you got one that doesn't mind being handled. I had one a few years ago that was a demon.

[Invictus]

Welcome to the site, Frosty. You're very lucky to have such a tame Afrock. They have a rep for being pretty nasty.

[crucified]

invicitus.. a rep for being "pretty" nasty? :) first time ever hearing of a handleable one without needing to have cat like reflexes.. hahaha :D

[burmer]

A pet store where I used to live tried selling me a rock a few years ago. I said no because I just got a blood and had no room. I went into the store a few days later and the two girls that worked there were screaming. This three foot rock had gotten away from them and kind of had them cornered. It was one of the funnier things I have seen. Two years later the store still has this snake. It's about 8 ft of terror now. It's well cared for and in a large enclosure. The glass front is covered with cardboard so it won't slam it's face into the front. He is awesome to look at though.

[Invictus]

Originally posted by crucified
invicitus.. a rep for being "pretty" nasty? :) first time ever hearing of a handleable one without needing to have cat like reflexes.. hahaha :D

Hehehe... don't forget the blast shield, flack vest, kevlar suit with a layer of chainmail on top, 42 foot hook, bomb shelter just in case it gets REALLY mad, bionic strength, and of course, a bottle of gin. :D

[TheRedDragon]

*LOL* I would vouch for a lead suit when handling those guys. *LOL*

Welcome to the site frosty, and, I'm glad to hear that you lucked out to get a handelable afrock. :)

[crucified]

and thats just half of invictus' african rock survival kit i'm sure ;)
dont forget the self-destruct id chip in it with a remote
haha

[frosty]

lol i know i heard alot of bad things about them when i was looking. I took alot of time in finding the right snake. I wanted a african rock becouse they move and are alot more active. She likes siting on my sholder when im at the computer but when im walking she want to examine everything. Tangles herself in all the furniture.. However i heard when i did my homwork then when a african rock is nice when its young(preferably hand tamed.) It will be nice all its life. I hope thats true. I handle her everyday and she seems to like it. Exepte she dont like being botherd when she is in her hide box. Got a couple hiss. so i just let her be. But thats all. So i hope she stays good and tame. =)

[JasonBrennan]

You got an African Rock Python as a first snake??? Holy crap!! I really hope you know and are fully prepared for what you have gotten yourself into. And you got a female to boot?? Oh boy...

Don't take this the wrong way, I am glad you are happy with your Rock (because you will be together for the next 25 to 30 years, after all). Are you fully prepared to care for, feed and house a snake that can reach the incredible size of a female afrock? We are talking about a snake that can eat antelope. They do have a horrible reptutation, this is true.

I have two afrocks, both of which I recieved from owners who could not handle the aggressivness of the animal. One of them is progressing nicely and I can handle him....the other will kill you if he gets half a chance and shows no signs of easying up at all.

Like I said, don't take this the wrong way, and I truely wish you the best with your Rock...I just hope you REALLY know what is in store for you (and can handle it)!

[NewLineReptile]

I agree with Jason but good luck she's a nice looking snake:)

Brandon

[Scales Zoo]

Our african rock bit me for the first time when she was that size.

She is now over 12 feet and needless to say, we do not handle her any more.

Good Luck with her

Sheila

[gonesnakee]

I prefer myself to keep animals that can't kill me at will LOL
Seriously Mark

[Mike177]

nice snake,
But like JasonBrennan said just be prepared, because a adult female rock python can need an enclosure that is 32 square feet or more! and if you feed it correctly it wont hessitate to get there as fast as it can, i am not trying to say that you are a bad owner or made a bad choice getting it, but in general people who get cute "little" baby snakes that end up needing that much space usally dont follow through. but good luck with your new snake, your verry lucky to get a nice tame one, lol the only time i hanndled a rock python it didnt bite me but it bit my freind rachel :D lol,

Have fun with your new snake,
Mike

[T.O-SK8TER]

A friend of mine used to live with a family that owned a 16 foot african python, it chased the father into a bathroom once, they got it back in its cage and no one could get near the thing since then! Hope you can run fast Frosty Haha just kidding!

[ANACONDASAURUS]

Yes very nice! I'm picking mine up on Saturday.

[NewLineReptile]

Just because we all say that they can be nasty don't stop what you are doing Always spend time with her by holding her Because the more you hold her the better I my self have seen the odd tame Rock. But like was said just be careful.

Brandon

[skin78]

I have a female afrock here. I took her from a owner who didn't feed it because of the aggression. When I got her she was as tame as a puppy and as sick as a dog . Now she is very very healthy and eats full grown rabbits with a length of near 9 feet. She is not that nice anymore though. she will try to bite me when she gets the chance.. hope you will have the rock that most people are searching for.

cheers

[frosty]

Hi guys here is another pic of my Afrock. She is doing good and i did way all that into my buying here. She has her own room. And im hoping in about 6 months im going to turn that room into a huge imporiam. She will have plenty of space. I also liked snakes for along time so i am keeping her till she dies even if it takes a full 30 years which is rare usauly 20 to 24. She never bit or struck anyone. Only got one hiss when i pulled her out of hide box so now i let her come out on her own then take her out. Also she eats very well. Feed her once a week. A question i have though can u overfeed her. She will eat a rat a medium to large one every other day if ill let her. Not joking ether litturaly every other day when i first got her she ate 4 in 9 days. Can u overfeed a snake i only feed her once a week now but thinking of twice a week. Plz some impute would be nice. Another thing i know alot of people dont like it but she eats live food. She constricts it herself. She never got bit or ever had a bad temper or expected food. So can i keep doing this. Thnx all.

[burmer]

First off congrats. I'm glad she is behaving well for you. You sure can overfeed a snake. They have a huge appetite. If you gave her a rat every day she would eat it. It sounds like your doing ok now. How big is she now? You could go with two rats a week. I have been giving my burm one medium a week and he is doing fine and growing well. That goes to your own personal preference. Good luck with her and congrats again.

[frosty]

tnx she is almost 5 ft about 1 inch short. i usualy feed her 1 medium but she does eat larges but takes her a while to kill them. another thing when do rocks usualy start getting wider. she is 5 feed but pretty thin and not ver heavy maybe 3 to 4 inches around and 14 pounds or so. becouse i know they hit a state were they get wide and heavy. and also how fast will i expect her to grow. i had her about 2 and half months and she grew about 6 inchs so how long will it take till i can expect like 12 ft or so. just wondering. she is a baby though likes to climb u to reach the cealing. she even can get to cealing fans. lol and seem very curias all the time. wants to climb or examin everything. i like it though becouse she just dont sit there. thnx agian guys

[ANACONDASAURUS]

Originally posted by frosty
Wants to climb or examin everything.

My Burms, & Rock are very curious. They examine everything they can reach.

Originally posted by frosty
Feed her once a week now but thinking of twice a week.

I feed most of my snakes 2 sm. frozen rats on a 2 week basis.

[burmer]

At that size you can feed jumbo with no problems. She will get a little bulkier if you do. Are you feeding live or f/t? My burms are pretty curious when they are out. They are nothing compared to my retic though. She is all over and has to see any kind of movement.

[RepTylE]

Feeding a large snake alone would put me off. We have a 16 foot burm at work that eats 4 or 5 rabbits in a meal. I'm talking 25 lbs of meat here and that's every ten days or so. She is a sweetheart though.

[frosty]

yea she is growing fast. not even a year yet already five feet. the pet store where i got her used her as a trash compacter she ate all the rats, mice, hamsters that bit people and were sick or dying. so she ate about 3 meals a week. so she is a good eater. and a fast grower. does anyone have any pics of there rock pythons and also there is a diffrance between the southern version of the rock and the central the southern is smaller and tends to be meaner i here how can u tell the diffrence.

[zouleous]

Yes, you can overfeed a snake..creating an obesce unhealthy animal. I like to call this animal abuse.

Z

[ReptiZone]

well in the first year of a large constrictors life I feed every 3-4 days just to get well on there way to good feeding after that I slow it down to like every 7 to 10 days you will hear a lot of debats on this but that is how I do it. To me you can't realy over feed a BABY Afrock, Retic or burm they just seam to get longer in there first year after that you will see them start to get some girth that is when you start to be regular on what you feed and how much of it you give.

Now feeding live I am sure you have good results from your baby eating rodents they dont stand a chance RIGHT? WRONG!!!
Take that rat and give it a good squezze and let it bit you if you are not brave enugh to do that then why chance your snakes health.

I rodent bit contains bactria it is safe if it is ingested (eaten) but when but in the blood stream raw(through a bite) we are talking a whole new world of trouble I was the same way till my 6 foot bum got biten buy a large rat needles to say it was a 200$ vet bill and a whole lot of cage cleaning and water chaging.

Now lets say you ignore my warnings....and continue to feed live have you ever heard what a rabbit sounds like when it is being constricted some say it is like a human baby crying needles to say how about we not have the neibours do a head count on the neibourhood children every friday night.

Now maby you dont care about the sound or even having every one one your block giving you the evil eye saturday mornings.
But ye all ready coverd rodents and we decided we did not want to be biten by them I am sure as heck not gona see just what a rabbit can do to me or my animal.

NOW lets say you still ignore my warnings and feed live and the enevitable hapends the rabit bites your snake well you 200$ rat bit is now a 600$ rabbit bite and now you decide to listen and switch over to dead pray YES you can be one of the lucky ones and have no problem OR you can be sitng there for almost a year and the snake refuseses dead food and is still traumatised from the bite and will not eat live. so now what let it die of startvation I wish it was that easy but we have this fealing it is called LOVE and for some of us to go out and buy these animals it is because we love them so we will not sit back and let it die.

so now you find your self paying 5 of your closes frineds 100$ each just to step in that cage with that animal not to mention the guy that will be holding the sharp end get 200$ + hasard pay. you may be laughing right now but find 5 well built grown men to bull ride your 15-20 foot ROCK python we are not talking the neibourhood Burm here for free and I will be the guy with the camara cause it will truly be a kodak moment. simply because they are one of 2 type of ppl.

1) they know what they are geting them selves in to and are just trying to impress you OR

2) have know idea what they set them selves up for think you need to push a pinky down a corn snakes mouth so they thaught they would do you favore. the kodak moment is when all 5 arrive at 5:30 sharp and realise tney are all there for the same reason.

so why bother with all the drama and just do the switch now while you still can.
Marc Doiron

[Zoe]

Hi!
Yes, that snake could definitely stand to bulk up a bit. Don't feed her more often - a snake needs a chance to digest their meal and replentish the digestive fluids before eating another rodent. But I would think moving to a large rat every 10 days would be good now. Even every other week. My 4 ft boa eats a large rat every 10 days.

I know you probably haven't had a problem feeding her live in the past, and it's very possible you never will have a problem. However, I strongly suggest you feed f/t rats or rabbits instead of live. First, it's more humane for the rat (imagine how much more traumatizing it is to be killed over 30 seconds by a snake, than quickly by C02 or with a whack to the head?). Second, you are risking a bite to your snake. The bite probably won't be fatal, but it only takes half a second for the rodent to get a good bite in the snake's eye or major blood vessel. Also, you can keep more than one rat this way. You can put 35 in your freezer and they'll last you for a year, instead of counting on someone having a rat available for you when your snake needs it.

Plus, your snake is an afrock, which probably won't have trouble switching for live to f/t!

Good luck!
Zoe

[skin78]

Well here I go.. I know that a lot of you guys will disaprove my feeding way. I feed my snakes very infrequently. Most snakes eat ones every 3 to 4 weeks. For my biggest animals ( burm and rock) sometimes 5 to 8 weeks.. I feed this way because of the following reason.


In nature the snake will eat when they get a prey. This may take some time before thy get one. Now my snakes get a few prey items in one meal. For instance my burm will eat 2 to 4 prey items a meal. depending on the size of the prey. Then I will wait until she gets active again to search for food. WHen she goes hunting ( most of the time after a week or 3) I will let her hunt for a few days and then feed her..I think that this is good for the snake ,and looking at my animals is the best way. None of my animals look sick or thin. All of my animals are healthy and look very nice. My burm for instance is only 5 years old and is 16 feet long. her weight is not known .

feeding is for every man different and also for every snake.
As long as we keep our snake healthy everything is oke. Even if you feed it only once a while.

[SCReptiles]

And in a few years when that thing is grown, I would suggest you feed her f/t gazelle. I hope you have a lot of freezer space. =)
http://secw.bravepages.com/Chuck/scr/Rock1.jpg

[mark129er]

I never thought of mimicking the natural predatory actions of the snake. I'll have to think about it and maybe give it a try.

mark

[skin78]

Originally posted by SCReptiles
And in a few years when that thing is grown, I would suggest you feed her f/t gazelle. I hope you have a lot of freezer space. =)
http://secw.bravepages.com/Chuck/scr/Rock1.jpg


LOL I will feed her my parents :) they are a pain in the *** so good buy :)

[kelhoon]

everyone makes afrocks sound so bad Its true they are nasty or maybe a better word would defensive.after all they do mostly strike at what they see as a threat.As for feeding, space your feedings out ,once a week for a young python like that is good. Try larger meals,they can eat alot.Everyone is right though stop feeding her live prey.I have 10 snakes one of them is my afrock her name is peaches. she is just under 2 yrs old and 12 ft long. I feed her well. she has never eaten live prey in her entire life,this is true of all of my animals.she is mostly docile and is content just to check everything out.I don't take her out much because of her size and potential to attack in defence.I knew this when got her and I have learned to apprieciate her from the safe side of the glass.Her sister is on display at the Calgary zoo they call her pebbles.they don't feed as much so my girl is bigger.take precautions when handling they can deliver a nasty bite without warning, ask reticguy he knows.

[NewLineReptile]

For sure start feeding F/T you will have no problems that way.
Good luck again with your rock they are a awesome snake i have 2 my self 1.1 Female at 8ft and the male at 6 1/2'ft

Brandon

[VenomAngel]

waw ilove rock pythons...i was told that they can be quite nasty tho...is that true?

[ANACONDASAURUS]

Yes, sometimes they can be. I hand selected mine and he so far is a pretty good snake with no problems.

[tHeGiNo]

Wow, was he really eating that Gazelle or is that fixed? That just seems impossible...

[ReptiZone]

no it is realy a gazelle And it is more then posible it hapends often in the wild. Anacondas hunt and kill and eat Black panthers and Jags

[NewLineReptile]

LOL....Marc a Anaconda will eat anything that dont eat it first

Brandon

[VenomAngel]

yeah lol they got to be one of the top five on the food chain hehe