Question about GTP's:

[Soul_Reaper]

I find these snakes fascinating. Even though i don't have the required experience or resources to own one, i do plan on having one very soon.

I have a couple of questions about them, the main question is how's their temperament? I've been getting different answers from different people, some say they are quite tame and some say that they will strike at you anytime they can...so how are they?

My Second question is out of curiosity, someone at a reptile store in Hamilton (Canada) had told me that the GTP's teeth are absolutely huge, and that a bite from them could cause serious tissue and muscle damage, i don't know if his opinion was biased or if he actually knew his sh*t, it sounded to me like he did. Is that fact true?

Anyways, any replies would be greatly appreciated.

[Sonyr]

Their temperments are like every other animal. Some are very mellow and some are evil! I have some that strike at any time, as well as others who I can handle at any time, day or night. As far as bites go, they do have a heck of a bite. Their teeth arent as big as Amazon Basins or anything, but a bite will hurt pretty bad. Hope this helps.

[Memnoch]

It's all a matter of how you define "big" teeth. From what I've seen, GTPs and ETBs (and similar species) do have longer teeth than most other snakes.

As for muscle and tissue damage, I would say that they would do relatively less damage, considering it's just a clean strike (teeth in teeth out), because their teeth tend to be long but very thin and sharp.

Think of a tooth as a sharp object. I rather be jabbed with a long syringe needle than a fork. For instance, I've been nailed by ATBs and GTPs and I usually don't feel much pain but I do feel the shock arising from the snake striking.

Now I've been bitten by a cat, a mouse and a rat. The cat didn't really hurt as much as the rat but it left the biggest scar. The rat hurt the most. So I think if you're willing to hold a cat or a dog or any mammal with big blunt teeth, you're risking more damage if they bite you.

In addition, muscle / tissue damage also depends on the size of the animal. If you're gonna get a juv. you'd probably won't even feel the bite and it may not even cause any bleeding. Now if you get a WC adult, well that's a different story.

So far, I've been bitten by my yearling ETB, GTPs of various ages, red tail green ratsnake, yearling JCPs, 2.5y ATB, 2.5ft caiman, red sided garter and probably a whole lot more reptiles that I've handled. All of those bites have healed without any problems and no scars. Now, the bites from mammals is a completely different story. That damn cat left her marks from her upper and lower canines on my hand. And rat and mouse bites sting and hurt like hell... Much more than any reptile... Maybe my immune system is weird... Heal from a caiman bite which is suppose to led to infections, but get infected and gets scars from a house cat... go figure...

One last thing, I'm sure you'll get different questions from who you ask. But I know for a fact that I would rather get bitten by a full size GTP or ETB than a full size Burmese Python or Retic Python...

So bottom line is, tissue damage and pain all depends on how sharp, how long, and how wide and how many teeth are jabbing in you.... But in my opinion, even if you get a snappy gtp it's worth their beauty...

[Invictus]

I know of one person who got tagged by a young ETB and had to get reconstructive surgery on his wrist, because the snake tore all of his tendons, and he had no use of his fingers as a result. I also know of one GTP breeder who had 6 chondros, only one of which wouldn't take your face off. Regardless of what anyone says, these two species do have a higher propensity toward biting, and their bites most certainly are way more nasty than any other nonvenomous snake.

[Soul_Reaper]

I've been getting "black and white" responses from many people. Some tell me that they are not dangerous and very tame, others tell me really bad horror stories.

I guess i'll just have to wait a couple more years, there's no doubt in my mind that I WILL own one of these in the future, i just need more experience and patience.

Thx for the reply everyone!

[Syst3m]

Well, let me give you my experience with GTP and snakes as a whole.

GTP will hate the ground you walk on, they will try to kill you every chance they get. If your lucky.

With age some do get more tame. But don't count on it.
Their first reaction when being awakened will be to strike at you.
Some people have success taking them out of the cage with gloves and then being able to remove them.

Some people have dog tame ones but as far as I can tell not to many.

They have big nasty teeth. Not quite as big as ETB from what I am to understand but they can hurt you. Mostly just puncture but they can give it to you good if they get you the right way.

Not only are they not a snake for the inexperienced keeper they are not a snake for the faint of heart.

I have only two words before you buy a GTP.

BAD SHED....

Yea imagine having to help your GTP shed.....

[Memnoch]

I hope I didn't give the impression that they don't bite. I just said that it's not the end of the world if they do bite.

And besides, why woulld you be handling them so often anyways? Snakes in general are not pets, they are predators. Some will tolerate being handled. The key word is tolerate.

Buy a snake because of they beauty. Buy a snake because of their uniqueness. But don't buy one so that you can handle them. If you want to play with something go buy a dog.

If you bought a rare and expensive painting, would you take it out of its frame to "play with"?

I would treat any snake like an expensive piece of artwork. That's why I don't recommend housing GTPs and ETBs in tupperware where you can't see your investment. If you get a "real display" enclosure you'll minimize the desire to "bother" them by handling them.

That's my 2 cents...

[Soul_Reaper]

Memnoch:

Huh.....where exactly did you read that i would be "handling them so often" or "playing with them"??? I don't quite remember saying that at all, as a matter of fact i hate dogs. But cleaning of the cage will be required therefore handling the snake will happen every now and then.

Even though i came out as a total idiot to you, i do remember saying that i would wait a COUPLE of years before spending 1000 bucks on this particular animal, just so i would have the required experience and information necessary to provide for proper care and the well being of the snake.

And just like i said before i wish you had read it, i find these animals fascinating and i would absolutely love to own one. I guess that i was just curious and wanted to know a little more about them. That's pretty much it.

[Memnoch]

Soul Reaper:

I don't think you're a "complete idiot", I actually have a lot of respect for you and people like you who do their "homework" before diving into something.

My comment about playing with snakes was not directed at you, it was a "in general" comment. Please
accept my apologies if you thought that my comment was directed at you. I just wanted to make a point that there are no "tame snakes" because I was told that my first post implied that there were (GTPs/ETBs in particular).

[Soul_Reaper]

Sh*t dude i guess in overlooked your point, i thought you directed it to me that's why i got defensive. My apologies for going in to hard as well, i guess we just misunderstood each other.

I agree with you, i would never buy a reptile of any kind without devoting 100% to the proper care and well being of the animal. And yes people who buy snakes without any consent or understanding to "just to have a snake to show to their friends" get on my nerves too. Those people are completely missing the point.

One complaint i do have about this website is that some veteran users are so damn rude when it comes to amateurs, a lot of people here claim to be "professionals" and flame everyone who's new to the hobby for asking a "dumb question", and they are so damn cocky about themselves at it too. I am pretty sure that there are a lot of guys here who have a lot of questions on a lot of different topics but are afraid of asking them because they might get flammed and ridiculed by the so-called "experts". The sad thing is that the true "professional" would answer as many questions as possible with the intent of making the hobby grow, by sharing their wisdom in a passive and intuitive way to the newcomer. Unfortunately...a lot of "pro's" here are to full of themselves to help anyone, just to brag about how much of an expert they are and their websites.

I'm not saying everyone is like that, i have received a warm welcome by a lot of people and i thank you all for it. I am not saying you are like that either, i'm actually glad that you apologized so it goes right back at ya once again, i'm sorry for taking it too personally.

I was wondering what kind of Herps do you keep Memnoch? Do you have any pics of your collection?

[maiden_canada]

soul_reaper, from what i have heard from numerous people...theres a very high chance you will end up with one that will bite the hell out of you, but they can be tamed after lots of patience (depending on the individual). but you might get lucky and find one that is ''tame'', you could always ask breeders if they have one that is handleable, i doubt they would lie to you. and if they do bite you it isnt the end of the world, it would probably hurt for a bit but not as much as some of those tattoos and piercings you have gotten haha. and GTP's teeth aren't as big as ETB's. you can search the forums and find pictures of their teeth on the ETB forum.

good luck

[maiden_canada]

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28347 theres the link. thats an ETB, GTP's teeth are likely 1/2 to 3/4 that size (only judging on pics ive seen)

[Soul_Reaper]

Thanks for the insight, i have seen those teeth...i can't imagine how badly hurt one would get from taking a snap from them, didn't the guy compare them to a quarter or something? That's pretty impressive, both the teeth and the snake, ETB's are gorgeous...tattoos hurt like f*cking hell, piercings don't hurt to much and i know that taking a bite wouldn't be the end of the world but still...i wouldn't want one! hehehe!

[Syst3m]

Actually they don't really hurt that bad.

I've been hit by my GTP about 20 times in one sitting
I bled pretty good but it was like getting stick with small needles all over. Hurt more then a peircing and less then a tat I assume.

[Memnoch]

Soul Reaper:

I do agree with you that there are a lot of rude people who think they know it all. But I've found those are the people with the crappiest information.

Personally, I have relatively very little experience with herps compared to some of the herpatologists that I know. My major is not even biology, so I don't even attempt to claim that I know the partial truth. But that is precisely the reason why I love snakes SO much. If you want to know something about a dog (I know you hate dogs but it's just an example) you can just pick up a book about it and the information is right there. On the other hand, if you want information about snakes, you have to search high and low, and everything you get is just opinions and very little truth. That is unless you want to read actual scientific journals. This field is so new that there is SO much to learn. Even the people who have been in the field for the last 20 years still don't claim to know everything. That is what I love. I want to be able to discover new ways of doing things. Things that others have overlooked. That's what I love about this field.

I am also so amazed about other people's experience, especially when they have been in the field for decades. I had a really good conversation with a guy who has been working with herps for a very long time and it's mind blowing how much information he knows. I dunno, but I've found people of that caliber in other fields won't even give you the time of day. But I far as I've seen the real "pros" in this field are some of the most informative people.

By the way the snakes that I have are:
1.1 New Guinea Carpet Pythons (8months old)
0.0.1 ETB It's his/her birthday tomorrow! (Nov 26th) and who has never ever striked at me.
0.1 Yellow ATB (2.5y) Who always strikes at me. :-)
1.1 BRB
0.1 Red tail Racer - Which we can't really find at the moment... (escaped yesterday, and we have no clue we she went.)
1.1 Yearling Biak GTP.
1.1 Juv. Aru GTP
0.0.1 WC Adult ETB - Picked it up at the last show, but he/she is in quarentine for the next while...

You did say you hate dogs, but you never really said what animals you have... Anyways, I should really keep my verbal diarrhea in check. :-)

[Soul_Reaper]

Whoa! That's quite a nice collection you have there, mine is super small compared to yours but here it is:

0.1 Regular BP (9 months old aproximately)
0.1 Charcoal Corn (year and a half old)
1.1 Green Iguanas (3 years old)
0.1 Fat black cat named Isis (who bites me all the time....lol!)

Well that's it for now unfortunately, i do intend on expanding my collection though, i don't want a lot of snakes, to the point where taking care of them becomes my second life but i do want a couple more. My next choice might be a Boa C. , we'll see...

[Memnoch]

That's exactly why I'm trying to scale back.... School itself is taking a lot of time, and I really don't want to be distracted by too much more... Sitting up at 3 in the morning trying to get them to eat really wrecks your next day... :-)

[Soul_Reaper]

Originally posted by Memnoch
That's exactly why I'm trying to scale back.... School itself is taking a lot of time, and I really don't want to be distracted by too much more... Sitting up at 3 in the morning trying to get them to eat really wrecks your next day... :-)

I can imagine, even with the few herps that i have right now, cleaning and feeding and cleaning cages is already kinda time consuming...imagine having 20 more like yourself...yikes!!!