I think I want a BIG snake...

I posted this over on Fauna, but their python forum is REALLY slow, and I'd like as much feedback as possible...

So I love all snakes, am mostly into ball pythons, but am truly fascinated by HUGE snakes. I have a 9 foot female red tail and she's a good 40+ pounds, but I am more and more wanting to get a bigger snake. Of course I'll pick one up as a baby and raise it on my own.

I guess I'm looking for advice on how to prepare for this...feeding, upgrades in caging, suitable habitat, etc...aren't an issue. Would it be a good idea for me to try to hook up with someone local with BIG snakes to get a feel for the handling of them?

Also, what are the pros and cons of owning such a large animal? And what are the pros and cons of particular species...retics, burms, rocks, amethystines?

Big snakes are wonderful if you are prepared for what your getting into. Caging and feeding wont really feel any different from your ball pythons at first when its young but as it grows the cost of caging and prey items will also grow higher. Its always a great idea to meet people with giants and get some first hand experience with them find someone that will let you come clean cages for a month or two and then see if thats something you will really want to do every week. They are very powerful animals and over time you learn how to coax them into doing what you want but its still a handful and a workout. As far as pros and cons go there great animals to keep but there not meant for everyone. The higher cost of caging and food and also I dont know if you have ever seen what a 5 or 6 pound digested rabbit looks like but its not pleasant. And most large snakes do get feeding responses and that can be kind of scary to people new to giant snakes. Retics are fast and agile and tend to move around alot more then rocks and burms. There all very powerful but I personally think retics are more of a handful just because of how much they like to move and explore everything.

There great to keep but like I said there not meant for everyone so just be sure its something your really up to.

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[QUOTE=Denial;1732287]Big snakes are wonderful if you are prepared for what your getting into. Caging and feeding wont really feel any different from your ball pythons at first when its young but as it grows the cost of caging and prey items will also grow higher. Its always a great idea to meet people with giants and get some first hand experience with them find someone that will let you come clean cages for a month or two and then see if thats something you will really want to do every week. They are very powerful animals and over time you learn how to coax them into doing what you want but its still a handful and a workout. As far as pros and cons go there great animals to keep but there not meant for everyone. The higher cost of caging and food and also I dont know if you have ever seen what a 5 or 6 pound digested rabbit looks like but its not pleasant. And most large snakes do get feeding responses and that can be kind of scary to people new to giant snakes. Retics are fast and agile and tend to move around alot more then rocks and burms. There all very powerful but I personally think retics are more of a handful just because of how much they like to move and explore everything.

There great to keep but like I said there not meant for everyone so just be sure its something your really up to.

Denial hit it pretty much, not much i can add...

I will add to the feeding response. I have a underweight (almost) 6 foot burmese. I wear gloves as he only eats live right now... And today he struck and hit the top of them. To be honest it was scary :tears: (little much? lol)

But if you're going to get a large constrictor I suggest you meet with a few breeders if you have any close, or try contacting a zoo to see if you can see a FULL size adult. I'll also suggest you get a male. Now some people jump right in on there first with a female and get overwhelmed, not only that IMO males are more docile.

Make sure you do A LOT of research and are sure you really want a "Giant" job. :P

I'm not sure if there are any legit big snake breeders local to me, but there is an animal farm about a half hour away that has a 23 foot retic...as well as so many other cool animals. I may try contacting them and see if I can do some volunteer work in exchange for handling time.

Wow, thats such a cool snake (retic?):oops:

I think one of the more important things that hasn't been mentioned (forgive me if I just missed it somewhere), is that if you decide to add a giant snake to your collection, you will eventually need help handling it. That may go without saying...but I thought it was important to put that out there. So you will need to be sure you have at least a couple of people who can help you once it's full grown. Even with the most basic tasks...just in case anything goes wrong. You can never be too careful with such a large animal. :)

Also be prepared for them to get big FAST: boas generally grow pretty slow but I've read of some burms and retics reaching 8+ feet in their first year. Also some cages that are fine for boas arn't build for the giants: they need really strong enclosures.