Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am not new to the big snake world my biggest boa was a 10 foot 47 pound girl. The problem I have is I lost her and need to get a new big impressive snake for snake demonstrations I do at the local schools and for local groups. I am debateing between a Burm or Retic.........any variant make a more impressive adult?????? are albinos of either species more skidish around children or large groups??? am I more likely to tame down an adult rescue which our society takes in all the time or is it better to get a baby and handle them often to keep them tame and handleable??? anyone with info please let me know any info is appreciated. BTW cage space is not an issue here i have a few bigguns left from cleaning out my adult boa collection to make room for my Demo snakes.

I would definetly reccomend a burm rather than a Retic. Burms, on average, have a better demeanor and temperment, espescially when they grow bigger and get lazy and fat.

I would say try and get one from a rescue group. There are so many burms out there needing good homes. If you work with the snake enough, it should calm down and be a good animal. But, there are always cases in which the snake never calms down. So really, it's up to you. Taming a burm can be a lot of work, but can be done.

Good luck, I hope this helps
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Randilyn -;,-
Nyxie.com

definately agree with the use of burmese for educational shows, although retics can make great pets they also can be much more unpredictable. Retics seem to be very aware of whats going on around them and if there is something there uncomfortable with they'll let you know, so being around agroup of people is not the place to be when they decide to let you know. we take in on average one rescue burm every 2 months, these animals with the right care and love turn out to make great ed. show snakes. not to mention the fact by getting a rescue your helping good snakes out of bad situations! if you would like any info about our adotion program feel free to e-mail "kolleenj@hotmail.com"

We use burms for many of our wildlife education outreach programs at the wildlife center that I direct. I personally prefer the normal morphs as it allows you to actually teach kids about this species' natural history (the advantage to this type of coloration, etc.). But, we also have a very large albino and a beautiful labyrinth who are both loved equally well by my staff and the public who comes to see them daily. Retics are much more challenging for public education because they are always on the move...stick with a burm!