Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I have a strange question. I have a burmese python and a reticulted python at home. Both never ate birds in their life (only rabbit, guinea pig, rats and mouse).

I would like to have a parrot. Do you believe that these 2 snakes will associate the scent of the bird on me (on my t-shirt for exemple)and bite me when I will handle them ?

Do you have some experience with this ?

Thank you

MarilyN

First,I'd like to commend you for planning ahead,and for not being afraid to ask questions. Second,you could keep birds,but it might be more of a hassle than it's worth. Both Burms and Retics will deffinately eat birds!In 13 years,I haven't owned one that refused a chicken.Burms are notorious for making mistakes when scenting prey.I have personally seen Burms go after shoes(had some rat blood on it),heat lights,and even people(a friend of mine almost found out what curiousity did to the cat!LOL!),when the "need to feed" set in! I did know someone who kept parrots and a Burm,but he kept them in seperate buildings,and changed his clothes after handling the birds.This of course,was because he learned his lesson the hard way: with a frantic call at 1am,to have me come over and unattach his 10' Burm from his arm!
I'm not trying to scare you.As long as you take the neccesary precautions,and remember what kind of animals you're dealing with,you should be fine.Hope this helps,
CHAINSAW

Good call on asking first, man! You should be fine, I have an African Grey that stays in my home, just nowhere near the snakes. I always make sure to use hand sanitizer after handling the bird, and Ive never had a problem. Just take necessary precaustions and you should be fine!
Good luck,
Adam

0.1 wife
2.2 Siberian Huskies
2.1 Redtail Boas
0.2 Burmese Pythons
1.1 Tiger Retics
0.2 Sulawesi Yellow Head Retics
1.1 Het Albino Retics
1.0 Het Axanthic retic
1.0 Sulcata Tortoise
0.1 American Alligatot
0.1 African Grey

Thank you very much for those answers.

My burm is 7-8 feet long and my retic is about 9 feet. Both are 3-4 years old.

Both are smaller than the average because my retic is a golden selayar (semi-dwarf) and the parents of my burm is genetically small (it is for this reason that I bought him)

My reptiles will be in a reptile room and the parrot will not be near it.

Thank youuu again and I'll take all of the precautions!

MarilyN