Retic kills owner

[andyjs]

Is this story even true? Just wondering because of the inconsistancies throughout the story. A lot of things look out of place with it... maybe just the poorest of poor journalism.

I would hope not, but based on the general public and news media's views on large constrictors (well, snakes in general), I wouldn't be that shocked if this were grossly exaggerated to make the snake look evil for no reason.

That's why I love reptile shows-almost everyone there shares the same views on the animals. I was kind of surprised at the show yesterday at a show to see a "preppy" teenage girl there with her mom and friends picking up a 7-8' female boa and talking about getting it to breed with her male. Seeing her on the street, I probably would have pegged her as the stereotypical girl that's terrified of snakes.

 

[Jfitz]

I would hope not, but based on the general public and news media's views on large constrictors (well, snakes in general), I wouldn't be that shocked if this were grossly exaggerated to make the snake look evil for no reason.

That's why I love reptile shows-almost everyone there shares the same views on the animals. I was kind of surprised at the show yesterday at a show to see a "preppy" teenage girl there with her mom and friends picking up a 7-8' female boa and talking about getting it to breed with her male. Seeing her on the street, I probably would have pegged her as the stereotypical girl that's terrified of snakes.

or the type that thinks snakes are always slimy and wet lol

 

[dde1878]

Very sad indeed. I guess I feel a little different then the rest of you about the keeping of large boids, I feel as though either tougher restrictions OR permits should be made a mandatory part of keeping these animals.
These things would happen way less if a possible owner had to go through some red tape and maybe even a class as well as an evauluation to see whether or not the animal should even be allowed in thier home. Too many of these animals are bought by "impulse" buyers that really have no idea what they are getting into.

I have been keeping/breeding large boids for well over 20 years, and I for one would have NO problem doing what was needed to aquire the proper permits, if it would make something like this incident less likely to happen.

DDE, you have great looking snakes but I wonder what will come of them when they hit the 25' mark and weigh in over 200lbs? Of all of the people I know with retics and burms I know of only ONE that is TRULY capable of caring for them as adults, and he had to bring his collection down to just one animal because of the space needed for an adult specimen.

Just my $0.02

i don't think this is off the topic so here goes, and it answers a question that i think alot of people have.

as you see i do have a snake pushing 100lbs and a cage custom built for him. this cage will only house him till he is about 18', at which point i will build bigger. i have as well been dealing with snakes for many many years and do agree with the redtape idea to a point. i do not see how you could classify a snake owner capable of handling an animal that is stronger than any other and as long a a large vehicle ex: gun permits. people have permits to carry and own guns and most are to scared to even handle the thing. another problem with large snake owners is handling, you can have the tamest snake in the world and get to busy with everyday life to keep up on the handling part. when you go to get your little 12' puppy dog snake he tries to choke the life out of ya and in this case the snake did. you can make people pass a test handle some big thing in front of ya and pass all your little test (notice i said little) but when it comes down to it you the pro can not be there at 10:30 p.m. on a friday night when the snake guy wants to show the party his snake that has never bitten but hasn't been handled in a month.
and please do not take this the wrong way but if all these people that you know with the big snakes had to get rid of them, they should have never got them in the first place. this is a huge problem. people say yes i can care for a snake that gets 20' but then get rid of it when it gets 23'. that being said i understand having to adopt out animals because of financial problems and other stuff. but getting rid of a snake because of size is stupid. these people knew that it was going to get that big and bailed on the animal when it grew up. both me and my wife have not had it easy and have lost our collection once due to financial problems, we now know that is a possibility and plan ahead. our current collection is OURS in part because of people bailing on their animals and it really irritates us. we hate to hear "hey can you take in another retic, the guy just can't take care of it any more. he is getting nervous of the size already, and know it is only going to get bigger."
This is just me and my wife's biggest nightmare, to hear of a animal taking the life of it's owner.

 

[dde1878]

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