Is Reticulated Phyton that devil many describe?

Niten · 01-02-15, 02:50 AM

It looks like I'm quite talented in building relationships with snakes actually, my Boa (first snake!) just loves me, does the Retic have such a different temperament as i could read in many places?
And... is Green Anaconda legal? I guess it's not, such a pity, such a noble animal...

SSSSnakes · 01-02-15, 07:54 AM

Retics and Anacondas are nothing like a boa. In my opinion neither are good for a beginner.

sharthun · 01-02-15, 08:42 AM

Oh btw, snakes don't love anyone, they just tolerate us.

MDT · 01-02-15, 10:01 AM

my experience has been that captive bred animals are much more tolerant than wild caught. i have 3 retics. none of which have ever struck at me, let alone bitten me out of aggression. one of my relics (ironically the smallest of the trio) has a crazy hair trigger feeding response. walking by his enclosure after feeding even up to a week later will often elicit a strike. but i can handle each one (with respect) and not worry about aggression.

every snake is different. sometimes you get a pussycat. sometimes you get a butthole. just like people

some are merely cage defensive and once you remove them from the enclosure, they will settle down for handling. some never will. "hook training" and patience, working w your snake will go a long way, but sometimes, you just end up with a grumpy snake.

and, sharthun is right....your dog loves you. your snake couldn't care less who you are.

Niten · 01-02-15, 12:50 PM

She'd better love me and all the money I spent to provide her with a slice of jungle, only beautiful spot in my gara... room o.o
Besides jokes, her behaviour has improved a lot since the first days (taking her out was a fight against the enclosure decorations), that's enough for me. ^^
So it looks like it's true what they say about the great reticulated. I want one now. o.o My room could even get decent at that point, mmh...

CosmicOwl · 01-02-15, 05:36 PM

Snakes aren't capable of building emotional bonds with people. You can develop a trust but, I believe that is it.

**millertime89** · 01-02-15, 06:02 PM

MOST captive bred retics aren't bad at all and some are an absolute delight to work with. Wild caught animals can be a real pain though.

Cmwells90 · 01-02-15, 06:21 PM

ya know what I've never understood, why people feel a NEED to tell others that there snakes don't really love them. If he wants to believe that his connection with his snake is love, then let him. But when the post was about a retic, and he mentions love, we immediatly tell him they don't love him, and ignore the question, in fact it's happened twice on this thread alone, and I've seen it countless other places.

Bottom line is, who cares if it's love or trust. To some people they're the same thing. I'm not trying to be rude, but when it's already been said once in a thread, and then someone else brings it up, it's a little crazy, and clearly Niten doesn't care, plus I'm sure someone has said it to him in another post. -_-

**Minkness** · 01-02-15, 06:36 PM

Yup. People have told him multiple times.

As for retics, while beautiful, I don't know that they would be great for a beginner handler if only due to their size and unpredictability of their individual personality.

I would say the same for anacondas as well.

Just my 2 cents on it.

Kuamata · 01-02-15, 10:04 PM

I think people feel a need to mention that truth because some people may become of the mindset,"My reptile loves me, therefore would never hurt me." No matter how much you want to sugarcoat it, they are still wild animals with very strong instincts. If you held a retic when it hasn't eaten in a while, chances are you're probably going to get attacked. This is where it becomes very dangerous to think these kinds of things. They don't love you, the best you will ever get is that they become accustomed and tolerate your presence, but if they happen to be starving and you make the mistake of trying to cuddle that giant snake that 'loves' you, that snake isn't going to think twice about eating you, assuming you've made the even worse mistake of handling a giant alone. You should always have someone with you when holding giant snakes like retics, rock pythons, burmese, etc.

Additionally, I also agree they certainly aren't for beginners. A lot of time, care, and maintenance goes into them, not to mention they are very large, overpowering snakes(why backup is needed).

FWK · 01-03-15, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuamata

I think people feel a need to mention that truth because some people may become of the mindset,"My reptile loves me, therefore would never hurt me." No matter how much you want to sugarcoat it, they are still wild animals with very strong instincts. If you held a retic when it hasn't eaten in a while, chances are you're probably going to get attacked. This is where it becomes very dangerous to think these kinds of things. They don't love you, the best you will ever get is that they become accustomed and tolerate your presence, but if they happen to be starving and you make the mistake of trying to cuddle that giant snake that 'loves' you, that snake isn't going to think twice about eating you, assuming you've made the even worse mistake of handling a giant alone. You should always have someone with you when holding giant snakes like retics, rock pythons, burmese, etc.

Additionally, I also agree they certainly aren't for beginners. A lot of time, care, and maintenance goes into them, not to mention they are very large, overpowering snakes(why backup is needed).

While I agree with your first sentence I honestly had no idea Reticulated Pythons readily killed and ate humans. I had some thought of keeping a Retic one day (albeit a Super Dwarf) but with that kind of knowledge I may steer clear altogether. You must have access to information I do not, would you care to elaborate on the subject a bit and educate me? Provide evidence to corroborate these claims and what not. Your personal experience with these animals would be interesting as well. Since you seem to be interested in the truth and all.

Kuamata · 01-03-15, 12:27 AM

All I was saying is they are big enough to, at adult size, and they can definitely overpower a lone human. I don't know of any retic keeper that maintains them by themselves without anyone assisting them. There are plenty of stories online of people making the mistake of, say, leaving the retic alone with their child, their wife, and well, other household pets are just a given. You may not like it, but they are wild animals, captive born or not, though captive born is usually more tolerant than a wild born, the bottom line is they're no where near domesticated.

No need to be rude about it.

**Minkness** · 01-03-15, 12:32 AM

I cannot pin point specific documentation, however I have watched many documentaries about reptiles and it came out in a study on wild retics and anacondas that while an anaconda may attack a human with the intent of food, they do not go out of their way to hunt us down. However, the retic showed signs of actively hunting humans by following and 'stalking' it's prey.

I believe that the numbers of retic related human deaths were higher than anacondas as well.

Again, this was a documentary, not Internet research, so please take this information with a grain of salt.

Edit: oh yeah, and several years ago there was a big deal about a retic that was in a zoo. Attacked the keeper when the guy was cleaning the large enclosure and nearly killed him but another keeper heard the struggle and jumped in to help. The victim lived, but had broken rips, dislocated shoulder, cracked sternum, and lacerations on his face and scalp from the bite. O.o

Kuamata · 01-03-15, 12:37 AM

^ and that is why no one should ever maintain these animals alone. It has happened many many times before, you can find stories all day online of these kinds of mistakes.

Niten · 01-03-15, 02:26 AM

Well, I don't know if it can be called "love"... but when I see a child with a python 4 times his size cuddling him, riding him, massaging him, sleeping with him etc well.... I think there is something, he's just a prey's size after all.
A dog considers you the god of his universe while a cat dominates you as an inferior being, but he still shows true love. (I owned both)
A snake should be presented to people with method, giving him the time to get used to them one by one, and he's got all that he needs to distinguish them in a 10 square km crowd. I don't think that's just for him to say "Uhmmm this one has been tasted already, let's try this other one...".

ps: they can eat an adult human for sure, plenty of space for it...