Reptile & Amphibian Forums

so i visited my "local" reptile saler/enthusiast/oner/collector on Sunday - he's got a small store in madison, tn. - the night before some lady had brought in and sold back to him a pair that she had bought from him several years previously - are you ready for this - - - - hogg island boa and an irian jaya carpet python that she had housed together in a 40 gallon breeder ( i bought the tank and lid for 40 bucks, cleaned up like new - to breed my dums) - anyway he slung them in an empty bay in his exoterra display setup - when i questioned him about the odd pairing he said "yeah, i know, they shouldn't be together but she said they have always been together so he left them for now" - anyways Sunday must be feeding day cause he had mice/rats slinging everywhere - i mean baby monitors chewing pinks like a komodo on a deer - it was crazy - so much for some of the feeding plans on these forums - just kidding, but his feeding etiquette was out the window - anyway, the irian jaya took his rat right away but the boa seemed disinterested so in a few he gave it to a different boa - well, i'm just watching them interact - thinking about how i'd like to take the carpet home when i noticed the boa basically attack and wad up on thepython trying to choke her out - i told dude he's better take a look at it but he was on the phone/watching tv - so i just watched that boa working over the python until i finally said, "you better come take alook at this and he did - he was stunned - that boa - argue about it if you want but i saw it (or share opinions if you want) - that boa was trying to choke out that python and force a regurge for a feed for herself - i'm almost sure of it - they were not cuddling - so he slung the boa in a rack bin and the carpet took therat on down - it was incredible to see - - wow - - - i also passed on a fantastic 7 ft scrub python for 135 bucks and a baby coatal for 75 bucks and some other fantastic stuff i would love to have had - thought you might enjoy this story

The boa was NOT trying to squeeze a regurged meal out of the Carpet to eat it himself. It merely smelled the rodent scent all over the Carpet python after it just ate it, so the boa thought it was actually smelling and constricting a rat!. Whatever they "Jocobson's organ on the roof of their mouth tells their brain what it is after the tongue picks up the scent particles from the air, THAT is what it is to the snake. Snake's aren't real bright, and neither was "dude" for being such an idiot. Bad crap like that can ALWAYS happen when you house and feed snakes together. The one that gets done sooner wanders over to the one still in the process of eating his, and the other starts eating from the other end, and whatever else is still connected to the rat(meaning the other snake).

Please feel free to tell "dude" that I said he is a jerk for feeding them in the same enclosure anyway, and then go prancing-off oblivious as to what is going on to watch his favorite cartoons while the snakes are eating. No, not real bright on his part at all.

They don't even HAVE to be eating for stupid "accidents" to happen.

I was in a pet store many years ago, and while I was there, I just happened to see a Colombian Boa crawling towards the top of the cage, and then saw it fall and land right on top of another boa there just underneath it. Well, as SOON as the one crawling landed on the other one's head, the bottom one that it landed on figured it was a prey item landing on it's head and it was immediately constricting the living CRAP out of the other Boa to kill and eat it!. If I did not go and open the cage immediately to separate them myself, and just sat there watching as most others would, the stupid store owners would have had a definite DEAD Boa Constrictor because of this. I am ALSO quite sure they were not fed very often at all either, which played a huge part in all this.

Anyway, bad things happen when people don't make absolutely SURE that they do NOT happen, is the moral of this story. This happens when people just hope and assume things will probably be okay, when in fact, they should make damn sure they CANNOT happen in the first place!

regards, ~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

When I was younger the neighborhood petstore housed a blackrat snake with ball pythons. I came in one day and the rat snake was dead, the owner assumed aggression, however the moral of story was don't house rat snakes with ball pythons and have only one basking site! The ball pythons and rat snakes simply tried to occupy the same warm spot, kind of like sharing a sleeping bag with a sumo wrestler. Most mixes end up with some unfortunate accident. The funniest I have seen was a petstore that thought their baby clawed frogs were small enough to mix with their African dwarf frogs the end result was a tank full of six legged nightmares!

"the end result was a tank full of six legged nightmares!"

I hear ya man!,....

Another pet store I sold hatchlings to years ago was always having stupid escapee "accidents" there. And one morning as she got there to open up the store, she saw a crowd of people gathered at her front store front window. Apparently a big albino Cal. king that escaped earlier found one of the small Ball pythons that ALSO escaped sometime afterwards, and the people were watching in amazement the Cal. king consuming said Ball python!

These same pet store morons lost an anery Honduran hatchling I just sold them the day after I sold it to them.

Pretty lame track record for keeping their snakes contained..LOL!

I guess these people figure if the lid is good enough to keep a guinea pig from escaping, it is "probably" good enough for snakes too..HAHAA!........SUUUURE!!

Such as this nice-fitting lid for example.LOL!!

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com