Pic of my large psycho rock!

[Dom]

Hey ..

Here is my favorite snake in the whole world! .. My only large constrictor (with her mate) .. She is about 13 feet .. maybe a bit more.. around 100 poudns.. and has just hit the 3 year mark ..

This was the first time I had take her out in over 3 month ( I only move her if I need too) .. let me tell you - IT WAS nuts.. I love this girl. Shes a striker, a pisser and a constrictor to anythign that comes near..

Her name is Herpees .. cause its something u just don't want.. lol

Here she is in a shed .. She ate her first goat 2 weeks ago.. I am so proud lol

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/507/55Herpees_-_full_body_shot_100_pounds_-med.jpg

Let me know what u think
Dom

[Cruciform]

Where do you get goats? :)

And are they FT? :D

[marisa]

Wow! Holy crap.

How do people manage to handle large large Rock Pythons when they have an attitude?

Marisa

[Bartman]

an amazing creature...nice work :D

[Stav.T]

Thats a nice rock lovely shape. You have great courage to ;)
Stav

[Dom]

Shes my baby! ..

Cruciform .. I get the goats from farmers.. also from the reptile zoo I work at. There defenetly frozen thawed..

Marisa .. How do ppl manage to handle large rocks .. the answer is simple .. NOT alone lol .. She is the hardest snake that I have ever handle and I have handle a few hundred different large snakes.. I think thats why I love her so much ..

Thanks for all the compliments guys

Ohh and here is a pic of her mate.. he is het for patternless .. about 9 feet and only 15 pounds.. a mad man as well..

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/55Malerock-med.jpg

Dom

[crucified]

hard to handle? haha.. yeah right.. moving her out of the enclosure was no sweat... after she pissed on me.. haha..
amazing snake... definitely not something to sling on your shoulder to show off to ppl.. lol... :)
quite the experience to work with though...

good job dom.. *thumbs up*

oh yeah and if you ever have babies from her
don't let me buy one :D
ive seen the mother
hahaha

[Dom]

lol Joey .. Tx for the help! Actually Joey .. u are one of the first person in over a year except for me to have touched her .. kind of funny..

[CDN-Cresties]

Wow thats an incredible snake. Thanks for sharing that pic :)

-Steve-

[jfmoore]

Hi Dom - I was kind of hoping for a photo of you guys holding that big female. Yeah. Just kidding. Great looking snakes. I’ve got to admit, I was happy to be able to find a good home for the male I had many years ago. He was a little heavier than yours. Had the disconcerting habit of constricting me when I took him out of his cage, and I did not see a happy future for us. I like to think now that I would know better how to manage the husbandry of P. sebae, but I never got another one. Are you planning on breeding them?

-Joan

[Dom]

I plan on introducing them to each other in the next few weeks to come .. I would like to breed them once but that would be it after..

Thanks for al the compliment guys

Dom

[Scales Zoo]

How big are the goats.

Our femae is close to 13 feet, but still quite far from 100 lbs I would guess, havn't weighed her recently. She'll eat a 12 lb rabbit faster than the much larger retics.

I'd love to find a source of goats, how do you thaw them?

Our rock doesn't enjoy physical contact, but Sheila has trained her to a trap box. She seems much more happy now, that she isn't being touched by people. She seems quite friendly if we don't touch her.

Ryan

[sapphire_moon]

beautiful snakes!

Scales Zoo- How do you train a snake?

[Scales Zoo]

I used the term train pretty loosely... We used to leave the light on her for 24 hours, and then she would usually go find the box at night. Now, we just put the box in there, and she will usually crawl right in it, day or night. We can then safely clean the cage, do light changes or any other maintenance needed.

It's more the humans being trained than the snake, to get specific.

We've never had retics do this for us, likely the box represents safety to the African Rocks, like mammal burrows do in Africa.

Ryan

[Tim_Cranwill]

Nice giant, Dom. :)

You should get shirts printed saying "I love Herpees!" :D

[Dom]

Actually shes ate a month ago two large 12 pounds rabbits and this feeding ate one 10 pound goat.. it takes her 20 minutes to eat a 12 pound rabbit .. and about 2 hours to eat a 10 goat.. the shoulders and belly seem really hard for her to get down..

I get my goats from lacal farmers.. Simply look around..

Dom

[dave68]

SCALES ZOO what ? you seriously kept a light on 24/7 in hopes to train your nocturnal snake to sleep at night, i don't get it.

[Auskan]

Ryan, my local zoo has had some success in "training" their retics. I talked to the keeper once, to ask how they remove the male when feeding the female (which is a public demo once a month). He said they had pretty much trained him that when the door opens, he is to go out back where he is fed, while the female is fed up front. Apparently as soon as the door opens, he heads straight for it, though I've never been around to see it.

[ReptiZone]

SCALES ZOO what ? you seriously kept a light on 24/7 in hopes to train your nocturnal snake to sleep at night, i don't get it.

I am not sure you grasped the consept here they dont leave the light's on in the hopes that it sleeps at night..LOL. I belive I never asked them personaly but this is what my logic tells me.

that they leave the lights on 24/7 to heat the animal up a bit more then regularly not in a dangerous fasion just ebugh to make the animal seek shealter '' the trap box'' they come in the morning and the animal is hiding in a closed and cool area all they need to do is cautiously open the cage and seal the trap box.

Rock Pythons are not Ball pythons in any streach of a persons imagination so sometimes we need to take extra precautions to stay alive...lol

I would jump a 18+ foot Burmese Python ALONE B4 attempting to think I could dance with a 12+ foot Rock Python alone and I am verry serious on that....That is just thinking of the event I would probebly test parashoots for a living B4 dancing with a 12+ foot Rock python alone...The risks are just that high!

so to up a animals tems 6-12 degreas every mont or maby less to keep all there bodily functions in tact is not a bad way of doing things this way they can clean 20+ cages that day in stead of 1/2 of one and runing to the ER for drastic life threatening prosidures.. I think you get the point.

And if not I will give you a 12+ foot African Rock Python and I will be nice you get to wear gloves and you can bring your own hook and see how far you can get doing the job alone even better I will let you choose 2 friends to help you. and at the end of the day you tell me if the 6-12 degreas still sounds like a bad idea...LOL

Peace out man!

and dome that is one Hell of a good looking Rock if you get Babys let Me know a C/B African Rock Python could look good in my collection.

The ReptiZone
Marc & Lucie

[Dom]

Tx Mark and Lucie.. Great post I agree with everything u say!

to anyone curious .. She is housed in a 6 x4x2 cage right now ans her neww cage is a 6 x 4x 4 cage .. for one reason a 4x4 door lol to make it easyer on me .. put in large 1 cm plexi window .. alrge pad locks on every door and there will be a seperator in the middle .. kinda like a venevous cage works so basically I will never or almost never have to touch the animal .. as much as I love to handle her .. Its a risk I can go without ..

Take care all
Dom

[Retic chic]

Originally posted by Scales Zoo
I used the term train pretty loosely... We used to leave the light on her for 24 hours, and then she would usually go find the box at night.
Ryan

I think you misunderstood. The lights are left on, rather than having then shut off for night. The rock goes into the box for security, rather than for darkness. Her record is 22 days in the box, she actually dragged 2 dead rabbits into the box to eat them when we were trying to lure her out overnight. She has learned that the box is a safe place to be, so she readily seeks the entry shortly after the box is placed inside. I am in no way about to try to remove her from that box.

Our retics and burms are also 'trained'. The exit doors are on one end of the cage, at the bottom. The snake knows that the door opening will allow them out for a slither while someone (usually me) cleans the cage. The feed door is on the opposite end, at the top, and the snakes also know what it means to have that door open. Needless to say - we only open that door for one reason - food. We NEVER take the snake out that door, or enter to clean or maintain the cage from that end.

[Scales Zoo]

The lights being on for a 24 hour period of time don't increase the enclosure temperature. We have found that when the lights are on for more than 12 hours, 24 in this case, the snake would go into the box.

Now, most times, the snake just goes into the trap box, sometimes staying inside of it for weeks. It is an african rock pythons, they are known to do just that. In the wild, they sometimes stay down burrows for months at a time in the dry season.

A few articles I have read regarding breeding of African Rocks suggest prolonged periods of cool and dark, to simulate their wild behavior. I'm guessing a trap box, or any small hide box with a small hole would mimic the natural behavior quite well.

Ryan

[Dom]

I totally agree guys .. I beleive I will use your methods in the near future.. Great post again ..

[TheRedDragon]

Great looking Rock, she's sure a big girl! You have way more courage than I! :)