Bali Dwarf Retic - Need Help to Decide

[fionak]

Hi all. Ages since I've posted in this forum. When I first came here I had 1 Pueblan Apricot Milksnake. Now I have 2 Royal Pythons (BPs), 2 RTBs, 6 Cornsnakes and the Milksnake.

I have the chance of buying a Bali Dwarf Retic young female. She's about 4ft - 4 1/2ft in length and absolutely stunning. I handled her the other day but unfortunately she seems to have a really nasty streak. She went for my face several times (luckily I managed to get my face just out of reach) so she bit on my hand. To start with she musted me so I thought that maybe she was scared, so held her fairly gently. She wasn't having any of it and was striking out all over the place. When I got my Royal (he was very young) he tagged me a couple of times. He just tagged and immediately let go. He bit me twice and has never even so much as hissed at me since.

The Bali, however, managed to bite my hand. She didn't let go, she started chewing it (ouch!). I still held her and managed to keep my hand still until the shop owner got her off by distracting her. (I didn't want to pull my hand incase I hurt her mouth). So there I was, dripping blood, with probably the most beautiful snake I've ever held with the meanest streak I've seen in any snake yet. Since all she'd done to make me let her go hadn't worked, she then decided to try and constrict my arm to death. I'm happy to say she didn't succeed and I still didn't put her down. When she did go back in her viv, I sat on a stool watching her. She started to come up to the glass then, (still S'd up) but tongue flicking. I thought she was probably going to try and strike at me through the glass but she didn't. We just sat there looking at each other for about 10 minutes. As the shopkeeper knows us well, we were in the shop after hours which I'm glad about because anyone seeing the way she behaved may well have been put off snakes for life.

The asking price for her is £300 ($526) and because we are very good customers of the shop, they have said if I want her they will give me a discount (that was before I handled her).

It's a difficult situation I'm in as she is a truly beautiful snake and I would really like her. The only problem is her temperament. I don't want a snake that's going to be difficult - especially as she could grow to 11ft + and that could be a major problem. If I thought she would tame down, I would probably have her.

Any advice on this, especially from anyone who owns a similar snake would be greatly appreciated.

By contrast, I held her next door neighbour which was a young female normal Retic. She was as gentle as a kitten. Very inquisitive but totally at ease being handled. She was an equally beautiful snake, but I definitely don't have room for a snake that's going to grow huge or I would have bought her on the spot.