Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just don't understand how you guys can keep these animals. What do you do you keep them in when they are full grown. It amazes me that they are legal to keep as pets. They are beautiful though. Just a thought.

Well they don't need a 1000 square ft. or nothing to be housed. Bob Clark actuly recomends a 6x3x3' cage wich is not that large. Although if you have an exceptionaly large specimen I am sure you would need a bit larger cage. If you are an not an amature and have some basic knowledge there is not much risk all though there is always a risk even when crossing the street. As far as legality goes it would be completly stupid in my opinion for them to be out lawed. Hardly ever does any one get hurt, and if you think they should then maby you should look at cars. A far higher percentage of people get hurt driving than percentage of retic owners who get hurt. Should we take everyones cars away???

6X3X3 is much smaller than I have for my iguana... amazing. One top of the size they are also pretty powerful so that has to be taken into consideration too.
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Rescued Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Rescued Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-1-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-0-1 Rescued Dieting Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
0-1-0 Rescued Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

Hmmmm, why do you think that Bob Clark recommends a 6x3x3' cage? Or most breeders/dealers for that matter? Because they want to sell their snakes!!!!! If each potential customer was told that they needed to house these snakes in much larger enclosures, you'd have a dramatic drop off in sales.

Regardless, your right, while these snakes don't need nearly as much room as their size indicates, they still need as much space as to stretch out to their full size and at least a width of an enclose that is at least 2/3's their full size. (my opinion). So while a giant may be able to survive in a smaller enclosure, it certainly doesn't mean that their "happy" in them.

And please, your analogy to cars is absolutely absurd. Transportation and cars are a necessity in out society and abolishing them would cripple any society. Nobody "needs" to own a retic (even me, though I love them to death) and if they were one hundred percent abolished from private ownership, we'll all survive.

Should dogs be outlawed? How many people and not to mention children get attacked or even killed by dogs? most keepers of large snakes are responsible and have the knowledge.They dont just let anyone handle there retics unlike dog owners.I think many snake owners are more responsible then some dog owners.If us keepers have the room knowledge and respect for these animals why not have them.

"most keepers of large snakes are responsible and have the knowledge."

Can you please point me to the publication or whatever source, that you got the above statement from? I'd love to know how you got to the conclusion that most keepers of large snakes are responsible. I wonder why then we have so many of them being abandoned????

And please, don't equate dogs with giant snakes. Dogs are domesticated and been for hundreds of years. Retic's, burms, anaconda's can never be domesticated. Period.

Yes dogs are domesticated thats why I stated responsible keepers of large snakes dont jest let anyone handle them.Can you honestly say dogs cant be dangerous??? As for those people that let large snakes go thay are as irrsponsible as the people that abandon any outher animal.Yes domesticated animals do get abandon.RESPONSIBLE keepers should not have to suffer for stupid peoples mistakes.... AND DONT GET ME WRONG I LIKE DOGS

How can you consider yourself a snake lover when you state any snake should be completely banned? Educating potential buyers should be the norm not the exception and that is the problem. If people were informed before the purchase that this cute baby will be 10 ft in less than 2 years then 70% of the uninformed people would not buy and would not let these animals loose in the wild. And now to the dogs and cats are domesticated theory you have. Any animal left feral for a generation or more reverts to it's NATURAL instincts and with dogs that's the wolf. Look how many free roaming packs of dogs there are in this country that cause more damage to the ecosystem and puplic than any group of snakes could. Also look at the dingo in australia. It was brought there as a domesticated dog close to a thousand years ago and has devistated the australian ecosystems. I live in south florida and withing 100 miles of me there are breeding populations of burms, retics, savanah monitors, nile monitors, green iguana's, and several other reptile species. To date there has been no evidence of dmg to the ecosystems where they inhabit. However us people have nearly brought several distict florida predators to extiction, so what's more devistating us or them? People need to get a grip and understand that responsible keepers are the only ones going to be hurt by banning the animals, those that have no regard for the snakes themselves will still own the animals and release them no matter what.
Josh Hutto..........JKReptiles

PS and no I don't own any retics, burms or anaconda's
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2.3 het pied (RDR, alan bosch x 2, BHB x 2)
1.1 het albino (ben siegel, gulf coast)
1.2 het citrus ghost(gulf coast line)
1.0 citrus ghost (gulf coast line)
0.1 graz pastel female
1.6 05 normal bp's
0.6 04 normal bp's
2.5 adult normal bp's (some need breeding to see if norm)
4 various corns
0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (alan bosch)
1.0 american pit bull terrior
1.1 taco dogs (ankle biters)
1.0 grey cat
1.1 bearded dragons

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrior as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

This is basically what it comes down to, I think that there are some responsible herp owners out there but they are overweighed by the number of irresponsible owners out there.