Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So here's the scenario: my little lady and I are moving to the Bronx from Manhattan into a really spacious two bedroom. Because of the great space we will soon have, she now is insisting on getting a dog.

Here is my concern: that my retic (normal) will constantly scent out the dog and therefore constantly be in feed response mode, rarely allowing me to take him out because he will just want to bite my head off. Is this a realistic concern? I've never owned a warm blooded creature (barely even knew that they existed outside of prey items such as rats, pigs and chickens).

If anyone out there owns a dog (or cat I guess) with a giant, please inform me of any and all risks I may encounter.

Ultimately, I make all the decisions, so if I don't think it is reasonable, then no dog.

Thanks in advance for your input.

I'm actually from the bronx originally & I don't know about the dog thing I would be more worried about the rats & roaches..lol in my first crib I was held up by 3 roaches & then I got beat down by a rat in my backyard..lol what part of the bronx? i'm from northeast area near the vernon around white plains road

Don't wprry about it, T've got cats in the house and they leave fur all over my clothing, and I've never had trouble holding my pythons. The dog isn't going to get him in constant feed mode, so I wouldn't worry at all.

Ok, for all you people not familiar with the da bronx, you got the good parts and then you got the bad parts. It's just like any of the other boroughs or any other major city in the US.

In response to the gentleman from the Bronx, I will be moving to North Riverdale (which he would probably attest, is a very nice, affluent, and even somewhat suburban part of the Bronx).

Anyway, BMX, thanks for your response. It's encouraging, since you also have a retic, but it's still pretty young, right? I'm more curious to see what might happen with a full grown normal retic, so I'm still a little weary. I'm curious as to what others might have to say, if any.

I don't want to get in a situation where my girlfriend would have to abandon the dog. Cause I'm certainly not abandoning Laszlo.

ok, well I can't tell you about dogs for sure, but I can tell you about cats. I have three, which I hold all the time, that love being in my snake room, perching on the cages, and watching the snakes... who completely ignore them. Now the snake that is big enough to easily consume cats (and regularly eats prey as large as my smaller two) is a burmese, but I'm pretty sure you'd get the same response from a retic. (my retic and smaller burm don't pay attention to the cats either) I DO however know of a guy that has a very large retic who has a deal with a guy at a local animal shelter who gives him small dogs that are scheduled to be put down anyway, and the retic lives on them. I'm sure if you conditioned a retic to associate dogs with food, the story might be a little different. But you wouldn't feed fido or spot to your snake would you?
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1.0 8' albino burmese
1.0 14' normal burmese
1.0 4' normal retic
0.1 5' bcc
0.0.1 nile monitor
3.0 cats
and a breeder rat colony

You've got a friend that feeds dogs to his retics? This is just plain stupid on so many levels its absurd. Mainly the fact that if the public found out (OR SOMEONE POSTED IT ONTO A FORUM THE PUBLIC COULD READ) "normal" folks would freak out.

Please try to be responsible reptile owners and don't do things that make all herpers look like heartless maniacs. And for christs sake, if you are going to do stuff like that DON'T make it public knowledge.

Ok, first, I didn't say "I have a friend that feeds dogs to his retic." I said I know of a guy that feeds dogs to his retic. I've never met him, and I don't condone his actions, but I brought up the story because it brings up a relevant point about dogs and retics: Although most don't seem to show much interest in them, I know of at least one that does. And where as I don't advocate what he does, and I'm not defending him, and I would never feed a dog to my snakes, I would like to bring up a point: Why is it ok to feed a snake a pig, and not a dog? Because dogs are more common pets in this country? Pigs are very inteligent animals that are probably capable of the same level of thought and emotion a dog is. And the dog was going to be put down anyway. It could either end up getting incinerated, or the meat would be used to make DOG FOOD. Yes, animals that are put down at shelters are often used to make commercial animal foods. It's a big problem recently because when vets need to put down animals, standard doses are starting to become ineffective because the pets have been consuming trace ammounts of the injections in their food and building tolerances to it. Not that it justifies anything, but if that dog doesn't get fed to a snake, it gets fed to the person who's going to read this post's own dog or cat. That's something to think about. I'm not trying to start fights, and I'm sure I'll get flamed for this post, but it's a place to discuss retics, and everything we know regarding them, and that's exactly what I did.
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1.0 8' albino burmese
1.0 14' normal burmese
1.0 4' normal retic
0.1 5' bcc
0.0.1 nile monitor
3.0 cats
and a breeder rat colony

I don't think that it would be a problem....atleast it isn't a problem at my house. I have a 10.5 ' retic and 7 Tosas (Japanese fighting mastiffs). The whole house is scented by dogs but my retic doesn't pay any attention. Maybe it doesn't associate the smell of dog with food as it has been raised with the dogs since it was young. I even keep my whelping box in the snakeroom because it is nice and warm. I routinely sit on the couch watching the bigscreen with the retic while a couple (1 male and 1 female) of my Tosas are on their futon (about 3 feet away).

Should be fine...my mom has a Maltese,poodle, and I have a cat. My African Rock doesnt seem to go into feeding mode.

Actually one retic is close to 10feet, and then my super is 14ft and FAT! But when my yellowhead was younger, he didn't mind either.

I have retics as well as a dog(dalmation. We as humans are prone to understand things only on our pathetic sensory skill level.. The snakes sense of smell is much more refined than ours. If you have had the dog in your life for any amount of time than the snake is already familiar with the scent, and most likely the dog is familiar with the smell of the snake. Your clothes, skin, hair all pick up the dander off the dog when your around it, even more so if you pet it, play with it, or it sits on the couch with you. Even if it has not lived with you.
The only type of issue I could see is if the cage sits on a level where the dogs movement past the cage is noticable to the retic.
Even being the eating machines that retics are, the dog does not smell like food, and short of leaving them in a room together alone I doubt the retic will take much notice.
Interesting is the fact of how my dog will leave the room depending on which specimens in my collection I have out. My big WC Sulawesi cause the dog to leave, with my other female breeders he will sit across the room on the steps. The small males and other members he doesn't care about and maintains his position laying on the floor of the room. If I put the snakes on the ground he gets up a leaves but when Im holding them he doesn't care. He has never been bitten or struck but developed this behavior simply from my telling him to leave or lay down when I had certain specimens out. Now he just does it on his own.
I wouldn't worry to much, just use common sense and you should be okay. So long as you respect both of the animals in their own right you should be fine.
Good luck, Notah

Guys, thanks for all the well informed responses (and emails I received). Given that it is overwhelmingly positive, I’ve decided to let her get a dog. Now the challenge is to get her to get one from a shelter. She wants a pure bred Jack Russell, (which you will never find at a kill-shelter or even at the ASPCA for that matter) where as I would lean more towards a Husky mix or German Shepherd mix.

Thanks again for your help.