Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know some of you guys have been in this situation. I'm 14 and have a male green anaconda. I want to get a retic but I do not know if it is worth it considering that I have to save up for other things like college and a car. I know that taking care of reptiles, especially large snakes isn't exactly cheap. Do you guys think that its worth it?

-Brad

Well at least you are thinking ahead. Being a college student myself I know the problems with owning reptiles in general. Currently I have over 25 reptiles, and a dorm is NOT a option. You will need to have a pretty penny saved to get an apartment if you do not want to work. I go to school fulltime and work fulltime, and have to care for animals etc.... You need to decide what you want to do. Owning a 20ft snake with roomies will be a tough task. Not to mention most landlords don't want something living there that could kill them. I would recommend sticking with smaller species until you have at least moved to a place for college. Once you get settled in the swing of things you can go all out. Just be patient......plenty of year left to own anything you want!!
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Chris
Contact
Captive Bred Herps

0.0.2 Gila Monsters
1.2 KSB "Normal"
1.2 KSB "Albino Het/snow"
1.1 KSB "Anery"
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1.0 Leopard Gecko
1.0 Pacman Frog

it matters how much money you have to spend and if you have enough time to handle both because it is mean to not hold a snake a lot plus it will come aggressive if you dont hold it. Im 13 and i have 2 jungle carpet pythons and a albino burmese python but my brother is 16 and he helps with holding them considering my baseball team is in several tournaments
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1.1 Morelia Spilota Cheyni - Jungle Carpet Pythons
1.0 Albino Burmese Python

Ok, before you get a bunch of sarcastic comments on your post I will try and respond and help you rework it. It is certaily not mean to not hold snakes. In fact, they do not usually gain any benefit from it. I will say usually because some people say they do like peoples body heat and this can sometimes be correct. But you can and certainly should be giving proper heat in the enclosure. What you might have meant was...it would be a big mean to keep a snake in too small of an enclosure and you should try and allow them to have an area to roam at times until you can get a more appropriate cage. This is not usually a problem with snakes but I could defintely see times it would be a benefit.

Keeping the snake from being mean is not exactly what you are doing either. Snakes are not "mean" but it is their natural tendancy to defend themselves. When snakes are worked with regularly and can become accustomed to having you work with and around them...the threat is minimized and they snake is less likely to feel like it has to defend itself.

There are many snakes which are not capable of holding. It is just too dangerous and they must be housed securely and working with them by use of tools is the only way this is possible. These snakes are not any worse off than snakes you can hold and in fact they are usually better. They are kept by people who take extreme care and dedication to make the best housing for the animals to minimize the stress for both the snake and the person working with the snake.

I'll try not to sound like I'm "preaching" at you but here's my thoughts.

I generally don't think that someone of your age should consider the large boids. You're life at 14 is going to change dramatically in these coming years and it would be impossible to predict what your life will be like after highschool, college, etc. A large snake is a lot harder to find another home for then a cat or dog. It is my belief that if you cant afford a place of your own then you are not ready to financialy take care of a large snake. When I was your age my parents told me that "when you get a place of your own you can keep whatever you want" and so I do. ALthough that sounds like the normal parent speech it's not a bad rule to use.

Large boids are awesome creatures and I know entirely why you are interested in them but at your age I wouldn't discount colubrids. I still have a passion for indigos that will probably never fade. (although I'm about to start hating texas indigos unless one lets me find him soon lol)

Anyway I guess my opinion boils down to "get your own place, get a large snake"

Hope this helps and good luck whatever you decide.
Oldfriend

Has anyone who responded considered the fact that both snakes will require the cage space equal to that of 1 large room? Not sure how big your anaconda is at the time but it will require a huge enclosure and when full grown.... very messy! Now consider the fact that you wish to add a longer species of boid, the little 2 ft. snake will get over 20 ft. In the end you could end up with 500 pounds in 2 snakes! I definitely think this is too much for any novice keeper... adult or young. Keep in mind that a snake this size can overpower 2 to 3 adults. It's good that you have a passion for boids but why not get a boa which has many more morphs, is more valuable, and does not reach the size of the other 2 and is LESS AGRESSIVE. You can easily keep six adults boas much easier than 1 reticulated python.

Maybe in the future you can build a custom room in your home to accomodate large species.

So we are saying retics are going to get around 420 lbs? Big boas = 70 lbs X 6 = 1 420 lb retic? I would hardly consider most Boa constrictors an acceptable snake for a novice either. I worked with a boa today that was 9 ft and 70 lbs. The biggest boa I have seen was over 13 ft. Aggressive? (insert individual speech here)

Trying to find homes for three rescued and confiscated burmese pythons right now, I can completely agree you should give a lot of thought in deciding whether you can and want to care for these animals their entire life.

I have 10 boas and none of them are 70 lbs, if you are talking about Guyanan or Surinams that is a different story. But with the common boa (Columbian) females usually tap out at 7.5 and males usually tap out at six. You can even go with Central American boas which are even smaller then the common redtail. So no please don't say they are of the similar size because they are not! Have you ever heard of a boa reaching over 150 pounds.... NEVER. And yes Anacondas and Reticulated pythons ARE more aggressive then your average boa. It's the equivalent of comparing a savannah monitor to a Nile monitor, both can be trained but there is more of a chance of getting bit by a Nile. I have owned boas for 12 years and have been bitten only 4 times, never to aggressive nature but by keeper mistakes. I have never owned a retic but have been bitten twice by them. Anyways, the point of this is that owning a large boid is a huge responsibility, will require a large amount of space and should only be kept by someone that has the available resources.

There is nothing wrong with being into the "morph circus" as you call it. Many people make a living with it and make as much as 100k and more doing it with a small group of boas and understand the genetics behind their morphs much better than someone that downs it. If you check out Peter Kahls website, all his animals available for sale at the moment come out to almost 1 million dollars. Both anacondas and boas are cool but only boas have given me a return on my investment. I guess a young person such as the one that originally posted this can't change his mind and look at other alternatives. Here is a pic of one of the boas in my circus.

Well I was going to stay out of this one but now it's too good to pass up, LOL. First off I DO think the boy should wait until he is older to get another large constrictor. His life is going to change alot over the next 8 yrs or so. Nothing personal against the boy but if he does decide to go to college after highschool and he has no one to look after his conda there's a good chance he will have to try and find another home for it. And that will not be easy to do. Second, depending on the sex of his conda will determine the weight. Males would reach 100 lbs maybe a little more on a good day. Females can exceed 400 lbs. Compare those to retics, males would probably be close. But a green female to a female retic? That's a no contest- green wins. Third, boa morphs, to me, is THE same plain jane redtail just a different color. And you(and others) want to put a high price sticker on them so you can "make a living"? PLEASE!! To me that sounds no different than someone who runs a puppy mill. There not in it because they "love" their hobby. Their in it to make as much money possible so they can buy material things and what not. When "making a living" and money is involved it no longer is a hobby, it becomes a job! Let's say for instance you beef up your girls for breeding, have sucessful mating and everything is going as plan. Then when it's time for them to give birth, by chance(i know it is very, very rare but it can happen)not one of your "investment" girls had LIVE young they're all dead. There goes your income for the year. Now what? Now your under stress cause now you don't have money for that year for, let's say, a new car, house payment, utilities, groceries, and anything else that may be important to you. And "investment herps" you got to be kidding. I'd say in 10 yrs you or anyone else probably couldn't give these morphs away. Why would I pay big money for a albino boa constrictor that is for one inbred and second has a compromised immune system making them even more prone to illness. Anything albino whether it be a snake, rat, ferret, tiger or human has a lower immune system to fight off disease, infections and other life threatening ailments. And are highly suceptable to cancer. How would I know? Because I had an albino ferret that died from cancer of the liver. And last, a large boid does not require its own room. Sure it would make for a nice, emaculate enclosure but is NOT at all necessary. My female yellow conda will never have her own room. She can live comfortably in a 8'Lx3'Dx2'H enclosure. I don't have to go all out with decorations to make it look appealing to myself or others. It just needs to be simple and accomodating to her. She will get to roam around and get her exercise. There that's my 5 cents on the subject M**********

Well, I see people responding to something they have no idea about. Puppy Mills? Since when have boas been kept in custom made, well heated enclosures, been given quality rodents and given the cleanest water to drink? You probably made yourself look dumb and I can surely tell you that my "puppy mill" boas are kept in way better condition then you will ever keep your anaconda. When someone invests $3,000 and up in an animal, I doubt they want to take it home and treat it like crap.... think for a minute. Now let me take you to school for a minute. All my boas are kept in Vision 432 (54"x36"x18" enclosures which are more than enough for my 7 ft. adult females. They have both flex watt heat tape and heat lights with 2 thermometer readers in each side of each enclosure, my heat systems are controlled by a Boaphile double thermostat and my temperatures are ALWAYS within 3 degrees of where I want them (lower in the breeding season). I use DCL cage liners which are completely free of ink and dyes and is one of the best substrates available. These liners also allow me to easily clean my enclosures upon them getting dirty. My enclosures and cage furniture are cleaned with Virosan once a month. My boas or Anaconda are only fed frozen thawed rodents from RodentPro which are of the best rodents available to anybody! Everyone that I do business with keeps both their anacondas and boas in these conditions...... you must feel sorry for my puppy mill boas. Like I said, I did not spend thousands of dollars to treat them like crap.

Now, in regards to the breeders, please don't say ANYTHING. Like I said people open their mouths and respond to questions without actually doing research first! The big breeders like Peter Kahl, Jeremy Stone and Rich Ihle have animals valued at over $25,000! Now with 20 or so many boas of this value in their collection..... you would only need ONE pair to breed to make money in the 100Ks. Now these are the high dollar morphs, these guys also produce boas valued at $500 and up. If you did your research you would find out that these guys spend millions of dollars to accommodate their animals.... when have you done this? If you check out salmonboa.com you could even see construction of Rich Ihle's custom made building with special heating installed. If you did your research you would find out that Jeremy Stone just took out a 1 million dollar loan just to invest back into his boas. And oh, I forgot to mention, these guys are the ones that write the books on genetics, proper care and healthy breeding. You can’t down someone that knows EVERYTHING about boids. And yes, I mean everything, from being able to tell you the complete anatomy of a boid, to how the specific genes of the boid work. I have never seen anyone create a Punnet square for an anaconda? You only down the extra hard work these people have done by your comments.

Now, if you look at the smaller breeders like myself you would find that we all work full time and who would not want to make some money from their hobby? I don't depend on the $30,000 extra a year to support me. If I don't feel my female is ready to breed then she does not go! I even give my boas an extra year before I attempt any breeding. Both my wife and I work and make a good living and when my boas produce it is just a bonus for us. And this is only me; many other people will add $50.000 or more to their normal income.

Last, you stated that a large boid would not require a large room. If you read my post correctly I stated that TWO large boids such as the one the original poster stated..... would! You contradict what you said. You have a yellow anaconda which is smaller than a green and a reticulated python and you already use the equivalent of 1/3 the area of a regular sized room.

Oh and please don't tell people that albino animals are bad and should not be kept when you had one. An albino boa does not have to worry about "diseases, infections and other life threatening ailments" when kept in a clean captive environment. I guess the people that produce colorful, vibrant and healthy animals are all doing something wrong. I have yet seen any boa die from cancer.

Don’t assume you know how people keep their animals and do their business without doing proper research. There, that’s my 10 cents on the subject....

Can you see how much suffering my snow and albino are in?

Wow. Defensive. One thing I noticed about your posts is that you care an aweful lot about how much a snake costs. The people you mention and all the millions of dollars of reptiles they have leads me to believe that money is a motivating factor for you and your snakes. All I was saying is that money is not the motivating factor in my love of green anacondas.

Too say that how much money a person spends to purchase reptiles determines how well they are cared for is really assumptive of you and just plane wrong.

Your idols in herpetology are Peter Kahl and a bunch of others, well thats perfectly fine but mine are Jesus Rivera and Renee who are actually doing field research on wild anacondas. They have been doing this research for many years and a TON of information has been gained from their work. Knowledge from research like that is actually useful for wild populations and has more benefit to me. The difference is my idols aren't determined by how much I can add a their price list up to. This is not meant to say that the breeders you mentioned aren't dedicated hobbyists. You also stated that so and so knew EVERYTHING about some snake but I think you might want to rethink that statement because no one living knows EVERYTHING about any animal.

Columbian red tails can get over 50 lbs and well over 12' long. So no they do not exactly match they size of a male green but they are COMPARABLE which is what I stated.

Very nice looking snakes in your pictures.

My dollars worth, lol
Arik

Look back in the thread and please tell me where I said anything about morphs... I do not believe anyone even said a thing about morphs until you mentioned "morph circus."

I did not read all of the posts below as I am not going to be a part of the silly debate you two worked yourselves into. Neither one of you are going to convince the other on anything.

I will say I have morphs and anaconda morphs in fact. So I have no clue where you had the nerve to come at me with your !!! and your " ". Chill out.

70 lb boa I was working with...not a surinam and not a guyana. Go figure. Believe it or not...even centrals can get very large. Peruvians get large as well. But thats not the point here. They can be more than a hand full for a beginner.

Aggressive...I have delt with many many deffensive boas. Maybe you get your boas from sunshine land and you have not come across deffensive ones...but they are out there. On the other side...I have delt with many calm retics and anacondas and I have kept all three animals in question. The point is each animal has in individual temperment.

Pete Kahl? I dont care about pete kahl unless he gives me a good price on a piebald bp. End of topic there and there was no need to drag that stuff in here.

100 lb male anaconda? NEVER happened. 70 lb male green anaconda is a HUGE male green. With male greens we would usually expect under 50 lbs.

400 lb female condas...they happen but not often. Leave it at that.

How about everyone kisses and makes up because we are not going to bring the harsh debates and bitterness in this forum. We manage to keep things cool and collective so how about we check attitudes before clicking on the sub forums. Go to the ball python room for debates and yelling matches...they like that stuff.

Oh yes, ALL bites are your fault. If they are a feeding error its your fault and if it was a hand misplacement it was your fault.

Leave it to eunectes to try to stop a debate by adding more fuel to the fire. lol.

How about some updated pics of the granites? That would be a good post.

Still waiting on you to make it down here to do some field herping with me. If you came down this weekend you could hit the hot show in San Antonio.

Oldfriend

Pay attention son. Morph Circus was mentioned by another person not you, so my response was aimed at that person. And I'm not sure what world you come from but to say that boas, anacondas and reticulated pythons all have the same temperment is complete ignorance. Every species of snake has different levels of temperment. Now both species will bite but there is more of a chance of getting bit by a retic then there is a boa. Now if you want to get technical there is more of a chance of getting bit by an Argentine Boa than a Columbian. I will go ahead and post this on the Retic. forum and Boa forum.... lets see what type of responses we get. Why don't we just say that there is just as much chance of getting bit by a leopard gecko as there is of getting bit by a Nile Monitor. Your sunshine land remark is just plain ignorance. And no.... not all bites are of owner mistakes, some snakes are more nervous then others and are more prone to bite.... that is why you are more likely to get bit by a retic then a Columbian. It’s not made up information… it’s a fact! And yes, many snakes can get large but the average or majorities are of a fairly manageable size. Compare male boas to male anacondas and compare female boas to female anacondas and there is no comparison. If you want to compare a boa of above average size then compare it to an anaconda of above average size. You will have animals of both species that will grow above the norm. but don’t compare a large boa to a normal size anaconda.

And the reason I mentioned people like Peter Kahl is because someone previous called the hobby of morphs a “morph circus” pretty much downing the hard work down by breeders like Peter. You don’t have to get into the debate but read all information before you respond.

Now Arik, you are completely right when you say that finances should not determine if you should keep ANY animal. That is why I only keep boas and one anaconda… because I love the species. If I was in it for the money then I would probably own ball pythons too and I really would not invest so much money, time and care into my animals. I’m glad that you appreciate the work done by field herpers. But you also need to consider that the work of the people I mentioned has only helped increase the study of both boas and anacondas. Without the intensive studies such as the one Peter Kahl did on Inclusion Body Disease then both you and I would be left in the dark if either of our boids came up with it. What pushed the study of respiratory infections, mites, stargazing, etc… Without people like the ones mentioned, keeping a boid in captivity would be difficult. Anyways…. I think we are way out of subject but hopefully someone will find this information helpful.

I apologize if I seem aggressive but by taking the hard work people have put into morphs and calling it a "morph circus" just seems plain ignorant. And to say that anacondas, reticulated pythons and boas are the same when it comes to size and temperament makes no sense. Each is beautiful in its own way but not the same. I’ll let the experts in these specific forums say how it is. Check them out and see what they say.

I did not mean to sound like the hobby of morphs din't require a huge amount of time and effort by their respective breeders. I called it a morph circus because people think that a snake is more important or valuable because its got a new spot or slightly brighter tail or whatever. You have to realize that not everyone is as into morphs as you are and your comments about your snakes costing $3K so therefore are better taken care of offended me.

Dragging this into other forums isn't needed in my opinion.

I'll bet you're about as likely to get bit by a tokay gecko as a nile. lol. I've owned both. Tokays can be nasty little buggers.

I'll have to agree with eunectes that all snake bites are the owners fault. You can't blame a snake for being a snake. If some snakes are more nervous then others it's the owners responsibility to recognize that and take precautions.

Anyway, I wish you all the luck in the world with your boas and hope this helps squash any animosity you feel towards me.

Oldfriend

never said your animals were in deplorable conditions. And no i do not make $60,000 or more a year to blow on my animals but they ARE NOT in horrible conditions!!!! I could care less about your "idols" or their work. I don't care about the dna make up of an animal or genetics or locale stuff. I'm not up in higher plateau in this hobby and don't care to be. I'm a down to earth herp enthusiast that is just fascinated with reptiles and amphibians. And honestly snakes are not on the top of my list of favs. But I am intrigued by the conda species. I'd love to have a female green but I automaticly knew I could not support such a huge snake. So I look at the other end of the conda spectrum, the yellow. Now even before that I was looking into Brazilian Rainbows and doing research. Then I got to talking to those in here who keep greens and/or yellows. And also doing research before I made a decision. And out of all the snakes I've had(N.A. species) this is my first exotic and first large snake. Also she has been THE best snake I've ever had. Yea, she's tagged me few times but they are from my mistakes and it's her way of telling me that are things she does not like. For example: she does not like being put in a pillow case. I did this so I could clean her cage. The last time I did as I pulled my hand out she bit. So then I thought, well that would explain why she would get so "ansey" about not wanting to go in the pillow case. So now I just put her around my neck where she seems more at ease.Want another example. This past winter our furnace went out so for 3 weeks we had no heat until the old one was removed and a new one put in. During those 3 weeks I never got her out as it was way too cold to do so. Next to my fish tank her cage was the warmest place in the house. Well, after heat was restored I got her out. She was all calm and just as sweet as can be. She wrapped around my hand(cause she was still small) and then gently opened her mouth and bit me on the wrist. My conclusion- she was telling me that she did not like being couped up for 3 weeks without me getting her out. And I don't blame her. But in all I DO CARE for my animals very much and try to provide them with the best care my low income can give them. Even if it means I go without money, food, and other things to make sure they have what they need. I love my animals for what they are not what they can produce for me.

I get my feeders from RodentPro too. I know Kevin And Kelli I used to live not too far from them and we used to be in a herp club.

"never said your animals were in deplorable conditions".
I'm sorry... I guess you were thinking positive when you said people like Peter Kahl "sounds no different than someone who runs a puppy mill". I don't think you are stupid, just your remarks. I don't think your Puppy Mill comparison was a correct one. Did you expect a compliment by degrading the person that was the first successful person to breed an albino boa or the person that created the snow boa? Both breeders like Peter and persons studying anacondas in their natural habitats should be commended for their work, not belittled.

I thought it was Brian Sharp that first bred albino boas. I'm not saying that's so it's just thats what I always thought. See you learn something new everyday.

Oldfriend

Peter Kahl was the first person to ever produce albinos. Brian Sharp ended up producing what we now refer to as the Sharp strain which is a different strain then the Kahl, both strains are incompatable.

Well I should have been more specific on the puppy mill and specified that it is the same on the money making part. And degrading? When someone produces a snake by freak accident then tries to genetically produce more and slaps a outrageous price on them that's not degrading-to the animal? I respect Jesus and Renee just like Arik. They are trying to save anacondas not breed them into morphs and get rich off of them. If more ppl like them spent their time and money trying to conserve a species instead of trying to get the next "fashion" out on the market then there would be no need for exporting wild caught specimens and causing major destruction in the chain of life.

You must not know too much, that is why you keep responding. If you take time to look in the classifieds you will find that 95% of the boas sold are captive bred. Although you have morphs that were found, just like the hypo green anaconda, many are also "created" in captivity, some purposely and some by accident. I guess anacondas were never exported, I did not know they were native to the United States. Can you think of ANY albino boa that was exported, I don't think so and snow boas in the wild DO NOT EXSIST. I did not know we had a shortage of albino boas in the wild, get real. Also, do the math, when an animal that is not found in the wild and created in captive bred animals, then of course they will be worth more since the population is limited. I guess if you produced a freak litter of black and white anacondas you would sell the offspring for the same price of a regular, again.... get real. Don't get upset because people have found a way to make money doing something they love and you haven't. Do you know the word "hater"?

LMAO, you crack me up!! You're right I do not know jack squat about Bc's and don't care to. To me, Bc are what I call "penny herps" everybody has at least one. The normal ones anyway. You want to call me a hater, go ahead. I don't hate those who are making money off their animals if that's something they love. Making money off of mine by putting $1,000 or 10 times more on them, NO is not something I love to do. Drawing, photography of reptiles is what I love to do. So go ahead daddie call me whatever your little heart desires. Call me a hater, stupid, irrational, incompetent, unintelligent, and every cuss word in the book. You're not the first one and darn sure won't be the last. And the black and white conda remark not one would ever leave me because I'll be damn if someone is going to make money off of my "freaks" LOL. I won't waste anymore of your time as you HATE stupid ppl.

I don't hate you, I don't even know you. I just think you need to think a little and put some reasoning behind what you post. You see, the difference between me and you is that you only focus on anacondas, I focus "herpetology" or the study of reptiles, whatever you want to call it. Also, anacondas can have HUGE litters, I'm sure if you had 30 or so freak anacondas, you would have to part with some.... your only other option would be to destroy them. I understand your passion for them but lets be realistic. You need to understand that reptiles, anacondas included are in the market for a reason, to make someone money. Value of the animals is not based on morph but is based on availability. If your green anaconda was a rare animal then IT WOULD fall into the category of snakes sold in the thousand dollar range. Please, please tell me I'm wrong. I am correct as it gets.

Oh, I think that your drawing and photography is an excellent addition to your hobby. and you are not wasting my time, I'm just hoping you may have a wider perspective of boas now and reptiles in general. Like I said I love both boas, anacondas and enjoy herps in general. We can learn alot if we chose not to be narrow minded. Learning about other herps makes you much more knowledgeable and will help you better understand what you are keeping.

My only focus is not solely condas. Here's my list of herp orders: My #1 and first love is Chelonians. #2 is the Tuatara, the only surviving member of Rhyncosaurs. It's not a lizard. #3 is all amphibians. #4 is lizards. #5 is snakes and last crocodylians. I have all except for the Tuatara(which me or anyone else will never own) and a crocodylian. The majority of my animals is amphibians. I like Herpetology also but I like Paleontology alot more but you will not see me go into that as it doesn't pay. Herpetology may. Yes I know condas can have huge litters. And no I wouldn't part with any freak ones as their is not a sustainable market for them. And I wouldn't destroy them either. I do not have a green, I have a yellow. And to me she is rare and priceless. She's not unique just a plain dijon brown color more than yellow(she took her mothers colors). Her father is more yellow. So you weren't 100% right but you were 99% right, LOL. I am taking this all in good humor. At least I can say because of my narrow mindedness I got this forum jumping, LOL. This forum has been dead for too long. Enjoy your boas as I will enjoy my menagerie.
1.0 Florida softshell
0.1 3-toed Amphiuma
2.2 Eastern Red-spotted newts
2.1 paddletail newts
2.0 firebelly newts
0.1 albino green tree frog
0.0.2 texas barred tiger salamanders(1 is a high yellow)
1.0 pigmy leaf cham(Rhampholeon sp)
0.1 yellow anaconda
and enough tropical freshwater fish to start my own fish store

We how much of the page this took up? Next time we have to go looking through for some good pictures or a productive thread, we have to scroll half a page of this junk...just like the ball python forums. Come on, we can do better than that.

Tuataras lol funny you mentioned them. I had a dream last night there was this very nice lady who was out herping with me and she was spotting snakes so much better than I could and I did not know why. Turned out she had a third eye that never covered up lol. Sound familiar?

or a speciesist or a subspeciesist : )

"And I'm not sure what world you come from but to say that boas, anacondas and reticulated pythons all have the same temperment is complete ignorance. Every species of snake has different levels of temperment"

What world do I live in? Surely not the 1950's...I look at the snake inside, not the skin they're in : )

Yes it is ALWAYS the humans fault when bitten by the snake. If a snake is more likely to bite...treat it like it is more likely to bite and work with it that way. If you treat any snake like it isn't going to bite and it does bite you...your fault for taking the silly risk. Any way you look at it, its your fault. NOT the snakes.

Since I have not made any photo updates...you get a little pic from way back when lol...

I agree with the main topic of your post. Trying to talk the person out of another large boid.
One thing I would like to add is that a male green will remain comparable to a red tail as far as size goes. Also the 'value' of a snake is determined by the passion the keeper has for that species not what the newest fad is in the morph circus. I wouldn't trade my boas (anacondas) for a half dozen red tails no matter how crazy looking a morph they might be. The reason is because I have a lot more interest in murinus then I do red tails. So too me murinus is more valuable.
If he has a passion for a retic when he has a mortgage or a long term lease somewhere in the future then I would encourage him to get one. I just don't think he's at the right point in life to get one now.

My 2 cents
Oldfriend

NO way. You are very young and that anaconda is going to get real big, real fast. To go out and spend 300 on another snake that will get even bigger than your anaconda would be stupid in your situation. Wait a few years at least til you got your own place, then do whatever you want. Good luck.