I somewhat understand what you are saying and I respect your opinion. I truely do. You seem to be a very knowledgable person and I respect all that are able to contribute to the successfull appearance of this hobby and lifestyle.

Now my two quick disagreements are first that most of the bad reputations that most of the boids have(chondros, ETB, rocks and retics) were labeled in the 70's and 80's when the mast majority of all the specimens in the USA were WC. There is a large difference between a captive born specimen and a wc one. I owned a wc retic as well as a wc amazon tree boa. These were not suitable pets, but I learned much from them. Todays snakes are so different from what they were in the past. A few generations of captive breeding and given the right husbandry and care then yes Rocks can be good pets. I have an associate in town where I live that keeps five or six rocks and all but one of them are incredibly docile creatures. I would say that they are relatively comparable to retics in the fact that once they are out of their cage they are fine snakes. They are just defensive when in their cages.

As far as exotics making good pets, I honastly think that any animal, if raised from a newborn and given the right amount of love and affection and kept in the right conditions can be a wonderful pet. I have seen 7' gators that were as friendly as any dog. I will not say it was "dog tame" becase I don't like that term, but I did trust it. I have known several people that had large water monitors that would greet its owner everyday when he came home. So yes I do think that all creatures can be good "pets" as long as it is given the proper care and treated properly, whether it be a rock python or a bengal tiger. Just my opinion, Todd

[ Show Entire Thread ]