Oh yes, I am very familiar with the rock territoriality traits. One of my large males is very territorial and will even wrap on and try to kill a female if she is not ready to be bred yet (giving off a mature, receptive scent), so I have to be very careful with him when attempting to breed. I have also had in the past two male retics fight and the smaller of the two almost killed the larger one. The smaller one was maybe 13 feet and the other was a very huge male about 18 feet or so that I'm ashamed to say was purchased from Michael Jackson in 1988. The big male was very docile and easy going and I don't think he even fought back as there were no marks on the smaller male. I had thought due to the size that the big retic was a female and I got it unsexed. It had no visable spurs. So I put them together to breed and later that night found the huge male all bitten up and sliced very deep. I got him to a vet and had him stapled up. He recovered and due to the fact that he was too big to use practically for breeding I sold him to someone that wanted him for a pet.



As to the second part of your post here,.. it's a little odd and I'm reluctant to get into such a debate,.. but to compare protecting the genetic purity of a threatened species of python with a Hitler-like ideal for purity in human races just seems to be way off the deep end and without reason. First of all,. human races are not different species or subspecies. We're all the same species, just different races. But like, when the bald eagle was threatened with extinction in the late 70's they didn't cross it with the brown eagle or a hawk to make it have a comeback. No, that would defeat the purpose. There would be no more bald eagles if that were the case. They pulled together all known captive bald eagles in zoos and took eggs from wild nests to hatch artificially and breed the offspring with unrelated birds to generate more bald eagles. To imply that this is similar to the racial purity extremists' idea of not interbreeding human races is absurd. No offense, but it is.



But let's keep talking rock pythons, k?





>>Rock talk: a friend of mine who has been working with snakes for many years had(still has, i believe) a medium to big rock, about 13 feet or so, and a much bigger retic(maybe close to 19'). He got them in the same cage one day and guess what happened? the rock python wrapped the retic hard breaking it's spine and killing her. The poor retic stood no chance. Do you sense any territory protection from rocks when another species is introduced in the cage?

>>Another thing: the indian/burm hybrids. Let's just say that i'm on your side there, but it's a tricky issue and i rather keep out. You are right to say that we don't have the right to mess with a species genetic purity, but since we ain't gods and can't account for any divine intentions, we also have no right to protect such purity. Often we speak of animals as outsiders and forget that Homo Sapiens is an animal species as well...get the point!?? abruptly it brings a new light into the subject, a scary one, right? What would you call someone who believes that the different human localities should be keept pure and never crossbreed? A new Hitler, perhaps...

>>So i just keep out of that tricky subject.

>>Anyway, keep on with the rock talk...
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"If I had 365 enemies it would only take a year out of my life to settle all scores." Mia Miselfani

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