Reptile & Amphibian Forums

>I have an 8 year old ball python that is ready for adoption. My wife and I are going be having a baby soon and we do not feel a snake is going to be a good pet to have around the home. I am including a 30 gallon tank with stand, heaters, lights, and a few small extras. The snake is mild mannered and used to human contact. The snake has been raised to eat live rats (small size)and has had no difficulties with feedings. Photo upon request.

Normaly I would not take notice to something like this but I noticed he cited his reason for getting rid of his ball python was because it was not a good pet to have around the house with a baby. Is this a forcast for the future that a ball python is considered a danger to a baby or is it just the wifes excuse to get ride of the python she wanted gone anyway and he caved?
Rob

That is just one of the reasons I cited for people getting rid of their pets (dump/surrender/adopt out).

It is also an example of the pervasive misconceptions in our society regarding these animals.

jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

>>Normaly I would not take notice to something like this but I noticed he cited his reason for getting rid of his ball python was because it was not a good pet to have around the house with a baby. Is this a forcast for the future that a ball python is considered a danger to a baby or is it just the wifes excuse to get ride of the python she wanted gone anyway and he caved?
>>Rob

It is a bit of the family, public and doctors telling the folks to rid themselves of the animal. It doesnt matter the species. It is something VERY common that occurs and has been happening for all 15 years I have been in rescue. My own doctor at one point mentioned I would need to get rid of all my reptiles if I choose to get pregnant so I wouldnt get the baby sick. Of course Drs are still suggesting dumping the pet cat for the same reason.

The most common animal dump stories are Getting Divorced/Getting Married (Odd that these two are the same deal), having a baby and loosing the house. This goes for all species.
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
Visit kingsnake on Facebook!
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>>The most common animal dump stories are Getting Divorced/Getting Married (Odd that these two are the same deal), having a baby and loosing the house. This goes for all species.

And moving!
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

>>>>The most common animal dump stories are Getting Divorced/Getting Married (Odd that these two are the same deal), having a baby and loosing the house. This goes for all species.
>>
>>And moving!
>>-----

Moving is more in dogs and cats. I see the married/divorced and the kids thing more often than anything else. Usually it is kids going to college with the moving excuse.
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
Visit kingsnake on Facebook!
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I also see all of the above mentioned along with don't have the room and don't have the time. I always mention that if you have a 3x2 area you have enough room for a pair to live comfortably as well as a hour or two a week of supervised exploration will keep them happy as a clam. feeding and cage cleaning take what, a whole half hour a week tops. During winter mine go at least a few months off food, what other pet gives the pocketbook a break like that.I see most reasons as tap dancing around the point of the love is gone and they just don't want to sound like a jerk by sawing the true reason.Call me narrow minded but half of my dozen came to me this way as well as a friends 80 or so.

>>Moving is more in dogs and cats. I see the married/divorced and the kids thing more often than anything else. Usually it is kids going to college with the moving excuse.

There's a pair of albino burms on the Nashville Craigslist right now, supposedly being sold because of a move. There was a ball with the same excuse just a coupla weeks ago. Not quite rescue, of course, just examples of the excuse being used for getting rid of em. And of course they didn't mention whether they were in college or not...but in both cases they did mention moving to new houses.....

In any case, most of the excuses usually sound pretty lame to me!
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

depends on where you are moving with the burms. If hell froze over and the sun fell from the sky and after a bad acid trip I choose to move back to N.Y. state (can you tell I love the place.) I would be a criminal if I chose to take some of my animals with me. Most people would not chance the risk. In many other cases life happens. given the current economy people lose jobs and as a result lose homes and have no choice but to give up pets. Giving their pets up for adoption is certainly better than just dumping them in the streets.

Until a few years ago I used to be one of those guys who used to yell at the homeless guys on the street corners in Orlando to "get a job". Then the economy got tight. I'm a landscaper by trade I watched houses on our routes get foreclosed on the point that a lot of our work dried up. Landscapers in this area have it pretty good compared to the construction trades. As bad as things have been for me I am very fortunate compared to others. I still have my house and I have not had to give up any of my pets and I know where my next meal is coming from. But it was a rough ride for a while and it still is. I no longer make fun of homeless people and I occasional hand a few bucks in the direction of some of them if I have it to give. I now have a new understanding of that saying about the grace of god.

Amazondoc I see a lot of your posts on here where you come of with this air of superiority towards people who give up their pets. Because apparently their reasons don't seem to meet your high standards of why people should give up their animals.
from my own experience that type of attitude can come around and really bite you in the butt. It did me, and people warned me about it too. Don't make the same mistake I did.

>>depends on where you are moving with the burms. If hell froze over and the sun fell from the sky and after a bad acid trip I choose to move back to N.Y. state (can you tell I love the place.) I would be a criminal if I chose to take some of my animals with me.

In the case of the Craigslist burms I mentioned, the ad says they're moving into a new house and there isn't room for the snakes' tank in the new place....
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

What about the mother being concerned about the fact that it eats live rats? Snakes are hypo-allergenic (as far as I know) but rats aren't. Rats and cats can both can give babies TP infections (supposedly) along with other horror stories and just basic issues. When we were having our baby the spouse and I considered giving up our cats, but decided it was probably balogna.

Add to this the fact that you really shouldn't stress a pregnant woman. They're the most vicious captive animal there is, if she says no snakes around the baby then no snakes around the baby is a good rule to go by. At least he got on here to find a snake-parent instead of anywhere else

Yes but just as you suggested and corrected me and others you didn't address his last sentence or the gist of his message. You just answered one sentence taken out of context when you read the entire post...I'm not attacking you just suggesting you practice what you preach...
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

>>Yes but just as you suggested and corrected me and others you didn't address his last sentence or the gist of his message. You just answered one sentence taken out of context when you read the entire post...I'm not attacking you just suggesting you practice what you preach...

Sorry, Tom, but I do not "preach" anything about addressing the individual rather than the issue. I am not here in order to make friends, so I don't feel much need to answer claims made against me as a person -- as opposed to claims of fact that are actually relevant to the discussion at hand, which I am happy to answer.
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

This is what you said, amazondoc.
"Sorry, Tom, but I do not "preach" anything about addressing the individual rather than the issue. I am not here in order to make friends, so I don't feel much need to answer claims made against me as a person -- as opposed to claims of fact that are actually relevant to the discussion at hand, which I am happy to answer.
"

It is very clear to everyone here that you are not interested in being friends with anyone. You have a different agenda. Most of us can see what it is, and from a herpers perspective, your agenda is not positive. You are fooling no one.

"It is very clear to everyone here that you are not interested in being friends with anyone. You have a different agenda. Most of us can see what it is, and from a herpers perspective, your agenda is not positive. You are fooling no one."

I agree

A-doc?
"I did'nt come here to make friends."
Then you came to the right place.(Hawkeye Pierce)
Actually in our thread you did attack the individual. You felt the need, quite correctly, to tell me I should have used subjective instead of objective.
On these forums you could spend 12 hours a day correctly vocabulary and grammar.
Yet when I pointed out to you your mistake when you questioned why the size of the released burm would make any difference.
You never responded.
Here you are a degreed,supposedly, an expert in animals, supposedly, and I am having to explain to you why a hatchling or juvenile Burm would have a harder time making it in the wild compared to a larger more established adult.
You should have said," you're right, I knew that what was I thinking".
You are argumentative and can't admit when you are wrong. D.C.

>>Actually in our thread you did attack the individual. You felt the need, quite correctly, to tell me I should have used subjective instead of objective.

Jeez, how sensitive can you get? That wasn't an attack at all, simply an attempt to clarify a possible misunderstanding.

>>Yet when I pointed out to you your mistake when you questioned why the size of the released burm would make any difference.
>>You never responded.

Sorry, I'm sure I've missed responding to quite a few posts in this maze of threads. If there's something important that you really want answered, please repeat it and I'll give it a try.

>>Here you are a degreed,supposedly, an expert in animals, supposedly, and I am having to explain to you why a hatchling or juvenile Burm would have a harder time making it in the wild compared to a larger more established adult.

You don't "have" to explain anything of the sort to me. I never claimed anything different.

>>You are argumentative and can't admit when you are wrong. D.C.

Phhht. I've admitted to being wrong in at least two or three instances in this forum alone. I'm not surprised if you haven't seen those posts, though -- refer back to my comment about it being easy to miss posts in this maze.
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

Maybe you better reread your March 9th post. The third one.
You say it does'nt matter what size you dump a burm at.
As far as clarifiation what you do best is muddy and misconstrue.
It's your gift. D.C.

>>Maybe you better reread your March 9th post. The third one.
>>You say it does'nt matter what size you dump a burm at.

Well jeez, Danny, way to take a comment out of context.

We weren't talking about survivability of hatchlings at the time -- we were talking about whether burms get dumped at 8-10 feet or at 15-20 feet!
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

Don't you worry amazondoc, I believe you. lol

You know this is Orlando that guy doesn't need beg for money. There are plenty of jobs here. The only people begging for money here in Orlando are people who just don't want to work.

I probably could have fed one of those guys for a couple of months if I had a dollar for every time I said those exact words.

>>You know this is Orlando that guy doesn't need beg for money. There are plenty of jobs here. The only people begging for money here in Orlando are people who just don't want to work.
>>
>> I probably could have fed one of those guys for a couple of months if I had a dollar for every time I said those exact words.

?? Sorry, you lost me. The burms I'm talking about are in Nashville.
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

You are lost. On a path very familiar to me. It is sad you don't see what I am trying to point out to you. I pity you.

>>You are lost. On a path very familiar to me. It is sad you don't see what I am trying to point out to you. I pity you.

You pity me for knowing the difference between Nashville and Orlando?

Seriously, though -- pity me all you like. Doesn't make any difference to me. But what were you talking about in relation to Orlando?
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

>>In the case of the Craigslist burms I mentioned, the ad says they're moving into a new house and there isn't room for the snakes' tank in the new place....
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Quite honestly this is something that very well could be valid. I recently had a russian tortoise in perfect condition surrendered because the person was moving. She was moving into a much smaller home and her huge cage would not fit. She was losing her house and renting something that was 500 sq feet. The rubbermaid pond set up (sans water) she had for her russian will not fit in my home, let alone hers.

In this economy MANY people are in fact loosing homes and downsizing. I have three members of my family that have either been foreclosed on or sold before they lost the house. I am getting far more understanding on the moving deal.

And in the dog world I deal with something again far more disposable than you and even harder to move with. I deal with pit bulls. I understand the moving issue.,
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
Visit kingsnake on Facebook!
Follow Kingsnake on Twitter!

Oh, I'm not particularly making a judgment one way or another in this case. They are placing the burms themselves, in which cases I don't get nearly as "het up" about excuses as when people dump the animal into rescue. What really frosts me is when people use these excuses and can't even be bothered to take responsibility for placing the animals in new homes. I kinda think it's dumb to get animals like burms without considering how much room they'll take up as adults, but as long as the owners make sure they stay out of rescue I'm not gonna obsess about it.

As for pits, right now I've got two pit mixes myself. One is the pup I mentioned recently, that I found on the road. The other is an adult mix I found on the side of a state highway. Both are great dogs, of course.

>>>>In the case of the Craigslist burms I mentioned, the ad says they're moving into a new house and there isn't room for the snakes' tank in the new place....
>>>>-----
>>
>>Quite honestly this is something that very well could be valid. I recently had a russian tortoise in perfect condition surrendered because the person was moving. She was moving into a much smaller home and her huge cage would not fit. She was losing her house and renting something that was 500 sq feet. The rubbermaid pond set up (sans water) she had for her russian will not fit in my home, let alone hers.
>>
>>In this economy MANY people are in fact loosing homes and downsizing. I have three members of my family that have either been foreclosed on or sold before they lost the house. I am getting far more understanding on the moving deal.
>>
>>And in the dog world I deal with something again far more disposable than you and even harder to move with. I deal with pit bulls. I understand the moving issue.,
>>-----
>>Cindy Steinle
>>PHFaust
>>Visit kingsnake on Facebook!
>> Follow Kingsnake on Twitter!
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

"Amazondoc I see a lot of your posts on here where you come of with this air of superiority towards people who give up their pets. Because apparently their reasons don't seem to meet your high standards of why people should give up their animals.
from my own experience that type of attitude can come around and really bite you in the butt. It did me, and people warned me about it too. Don't make the same mistake I did."

If the bans, federal or state, go through then a lot of people who lurk around on these boards may have to turn over animals. You won't be able to sell them, or place them, because the market will be flooded. We may not be able to move across state borders with them, or be able to afford the permit fees and other punitive regulations. We have a looming crisis on the horizon and a lot of families and business are going to have to make some very painful decisions.