Are you sure it is a feeding response when your burms come forward? Mine do that too, but I think it is just out of curiosity. Just a few thoughts on their respective intelligences - The retics "alertness" could be seen as nervousness of not being certain about their surroundings. I think a burm's brain has more of a capacity to process and remember what is and is not a threat, which would lead to their docile and amiable personality, being displayed in the form of greater interaction in their environment as a result of their certainty in their environment. With my retics, you sometimes have to tap them with the snake hook before they even move, which to me indicates a mental level that does not show interest in their surroundings unless it confronts them first. When I let my burms out, they explore the whole room, but my retics just try and find a hiding spot and remain there until I move them. Even my nicer retics sometimes try to evade being taken out of their cage, but my burms come up toward me and embrace getting to come out. They just seem more intelligent to me. I would put a burms feeding response against a retics any day though. My little ones (3 feet) will strike at their 7th mouse as forociously as their 1st, even after an overstuffed belly, whereas my retics often leave prey when they are just full. My 4 foot burm eats 3 jumbo rats when my 6 foot retic only eats 2. Of the few rocks I have seen, "moody" is an understatement. They continually bit the glove, thrashed their body around and crapped all over the place. They were juvi's though, so that could explain it. I could just see that attitude remaining over time if not expertly tamed out. I would recommend a burm and a retic before a rock, definitely. These are just my experiences though and every snake has it's own personality and quirks. I would agree with others here that respect, caution and slow and deliberate movements should ALWAYS be employed when handling these snakes, even if they are small, because a bad handling incident could affect an animals attitude for years to come.

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