Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, Its time for something new to my say 'collection' of Reptiles. I have been keeping herps for a mere 2 years, learning and reading as much as I can that is possible for someone like me. I am seriously concidering a CB yearling male African Rock Python. Thats why I am here

So many of you out there are soooo good at convincing people not to get something that has potential to exceed 8 meters, so I'm summoning them to do just that. Or, if there are people out there which belive that I should go ahead and do it, Id like to hear from them too. I have accomadations for the animal, I am familiar with the disposition and expected longevity of this serpent, and I think I am ready, however there is a dabate out there that I am willing to listen to.

The Largest Snake Species I own right now is a Blood Python, however she is a yearling, aquired as a hatchling. But in terms of current size, it would have to be a 5ft cornsnake... I know i know, no way am I to compare the A R P to a cornsnake..

Anyways, is there anyone out there who is going to speak there mind? I do not want to become one of these statistics that place an add in the paper.

Thanks I guess. And Im ready for what you have to say.
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~Lizards~
1.0 Savannah Monitor
1.0 Peach Throat Monitor
2.2 Green Water Dragons
0.1 Veiled Chameleon
1.0 Panther Chameleon
1.1 Brown Basilisks
~Snakes~
0.1 Sumatran Blood Python
1.1 Spotted Pythons
0.1 Hi-Yellow Ball Python
0.1 Amazon Tree Boa
0.1 Mexican Rosy Boa
1.1 Sinaloan Milksnakes
0.1 Pueblan Milksnake
0.1 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snake
1.1.1 Cornsnakes (Sunglow, Anerythistic, Hypomelanistic Okeetee)
Yea, I know I've gotta work on my spelling, thats my next goal.
~Josh

Get what you want. You could always "learn as it grows". They are known to be very aggressive although contact prehistoric pets as they have plenty of calm ones.

John Light
Pristine Pythons

like a hippo, or saltwater crocodile.. I hear Bob Clark has Nile croc's available from time to time

But on a serious note, I've always been intrigued by rocks. I personally find their pattern and "look" to be very unusual and attractive. Although I've tried with hatchlings, and subadults, none ever wound up being trustworthy animals. Not even close to retics, or heck even my scrubs. If you don't mind getting randomly struck at, for no apperant reason and defecated on sporadically buy an african rock farm.. but I doubt you do. I know Jay @ Prehistoric, and i've watched Todd deal with the adults, you're talking about a HUGE frickin' snake. And although most of the adults were not aggresive, they were not "tame" snakes. They were not snakes I would want to have to deal with on a weekly cage cleaning basis, and I tend to enjoy a challenge. The cost alone of feeding them is ridiculous. Then the massive defecation... Also if you don't have enough room to deal with one, you could find yourself in a world of trouble. They have LARGE rooms for their snakes, to get away from or get to them if need be.

I say get a baby if you get one, by the time it's 6-8' you should know if you want to keep it at 16-18'. There may be worse choices out there for a pet, but there's a heck of alot more that are better choices.

...and doesn't find you having already purchased a Rock. I can understand the desire to work with a challenging animal. However, as one other poster recommended, Rocks can never be trusted and unless you're running a full-blown zoo I can't see where any private individual has any business owning one. I could say the same about Retics and Burms as well, but Rocks are in a class all their own. Retics have been known on a few occasions to kill people and the odd Burm has strangled it's owner, however, next to Nile Crocs, Rocks are one of the top five reptilian people-killers in Africa - the others are venomous snakes.

So, that all being said, if you want something largish and challenging why not try something like a Timor Macklot's Python - as babies they're nasty as all get out, and the females routinely get up to 10 or 11 feet long. Or if a Macklot's is not interesting enough why not something like a Tiger Ratsnake or perhaps a Amethystine [Scrub] Python - although I have reservations about this last suggestion as they get quite large and can be dangerously unpredictable as well. My advice, be smart and stay away from Rocks.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois