Reptile & Amphibian Forums

np

Why do something like that? Totally different animals. You want a retic get a retic...I've never kept burms only retics.

John

np

I still think its a bad idea for alot of the smae reasons.....
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-echo-

Once again I am strongly encouraging you to stay away from all the giant snakes(retics, rocks, burms, scrubs, and anacondas) untill you have far more experience. Any snake that is over 10 feet is stronger then you and can overpower you and kill you if it has the desire. You have to seriously learn more about them before getting such a demanding animal. So to answer your question, no I would not suggest a burmese as a first snake, they get huge and heavy, are jsut as expensive to house and feed as a retic and they are equally as dangerous. They can kill you so gain some experience first. Todd

How can you sit there and tell a complete novice that has never owned a garter snake to go ahead and get a retic. And a 15 year old at that. He obviously has done no research on them and knows absolutely nothing about them except for the fact that they get big. I do not know who is more foolish, this kid for jumping into retics with no knowledge what so ever or you for telling him to go ahead and do it. Todd

Hey bballfan

Do you know of anyone around you that has a big snake? If you can find someone around there that does, see if they would be willing to let you hang around and handle their snakes. See if you can be there to spectate during a feeding session or two. Find out how heavy these snakes really do get and how many people it can take to handle them. Doing research is great, and very necessary. But if you have to reach in and grab a 10 foot snake for feeding time, and it starts smellin the food and gets its feeding response going, thats intimidating. If you can gain some experience with someone that already has big snakes and has learned from some bite marks, it will probably help. I know if someone was lookin into getting a large snake i would be happy to have them come carry mine around for a few days.

I jumped right in and adopted a 9 ft male burmese. This snake only weighed 25 lbs and was difficult to handle alone if he didnt want to be. And im not a small guy. The snake was as docile as could be, even getting him out of his cage. But as soon as there was a rat in the house, he would start tearing his enclosure apart literally. I never imagined that the transition he made into feeding mode would happen so fast or be so extreme, no matter what research I had done.

If you want to get a retic, dont bother with a burm first. Some will tell u burms are more easily tamed than retics, but the fact is they are both big snakes that if you make a mistake, its gonna hurt.

I know your gonna do what you want no matter what anyone tells you. But i would recommend starting out with a baby, and growing with the snake. If you slow grow them, you will probably be able to handle the snake yourself until its about 2 yrs old. But after that you will most likely need someone around to help you. And make sure you get them from a reputable breeder as well. And with breeders, bigger isnt necessarily better. I got a burm from Bob Clark about a month and a half ago that is 9 mo old. He is a beautiful specimen, and is very healthy, but is extremely aggressive and even with regular handling is taking forever to adjust to being handled.

There was a 14 yr old boy that was killed by an 8 ft burm in colorado a few years ago. The boy was just taking a nap. Just remember that you always must respect these animals, and they are true escape artists. No matter how secure you think they are.

But if you want a burm, im gonna have some babies in about a month.