Tiger Python

My cousin has just become an owner of a tiger python. Its her first snake, and was given to her by a friend. The snake is about a year and a half and aprox. 7 ft long. I was wondering if anyone had any information on the best way to care for the snake.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...72106_1839.jpg

this is a photo i was sent by my cousin of the snake.

Um, that looks like a Reticulated Python to me (maybe of the tiger morph). These snakes get up to HUGE lengths.

Check this out:
http://ball-pythons.net/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&id=9

Ummmmm...wow. First off, welcome to BP.net! :handshake: I think you've found the right place to get the help needed...but it may not be exactly what you want to hear.


Second...is there a reason why your cousin doesn't sign up and get the information first hand?

Third....if I'm not mistaken, that is a reticulated python (tigerstriped morph) and it will get HUGE! It is not a snake for first-time snake owners! Before we can help much, we really need to know what's going on. Does she have any idea what she has? What kind of enclosure does she have set up for it? What plans does she have for it to grow to monumental proportions??

She does not have internet where she is living. She is planning on buying a 100 gallon tank, and is currently taking the snake to a vet because it has been weezing.

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Originally Posted by CampTweekerKid

The person who gave it to her didnt know what type of snake it was and it took her about a week to figure it out, when she did she was amazed about how big the snake would be gettting.

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Tell her to get ready or get rid. That is not a first time snake.. AT ALL..

She might want to try and find it a good home by puting it up for adoption.

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Originally Posted by CampTweekerKid

She does not have internet where she is living. She is planning on buying a 100 gallon tank, and is currently taking the snake to a vet because it has been weezing.

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Check out the video linked in this thread I just started:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...603#post388603

That will give you a VERY good idea just how big, powerful, and dangerous a retic can be.

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Originally Posted by CampTweekerKid

She does not have internet where she is living. She is planning on buying a 100 gallon tank, and is currently taking the snake to a vet because it has been weezing.

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Weezing is often a sign of a respitory infection, whoever gave your friend that snake either didn't know it was ill or didn't care. A responsible seller wouldn't have let your friend have that snake as they must know how huge and dangerous they can be.

Wow; I love snakes; adore my BPs and my BCI, but I admit I would never want to own one of those big guys. They don't scare me so much as, I think it'd be very demanding.
Where you should go from here... I think those snakes belong only in the care of an experienced pair or people (never a snake I wuold handle alone!!!)

Never a snake you should handle alone!

the local pet shop where i live has a tiger morph Reticulated Python just like the one your cousin has, there beautifull snakes and I am fasinated by them however I am a long way if ever from being able to care for one. The one at out local pet shop is 5 years old and 22 feet long this snake is huge.

I have been reading alot about reticulated and burmese pythons as i find them intresting and from what i have read they grow Fast.

Not to mention every year there are horible incidents where these large snakes turn on there owners, and even some experinced owners have had close calls, I Just watched a video on animal planet about a retic that attacked his owner and killed him, if not for a maintence person he would have stayed dead. This incident was the onwers fault he entered the encloser alone with a large snake to change a lightbulb when he knew he should have had 3 other peoples help.

If i where you I would sugesst you do some reasearch on these snakes to show your cousin how dangerous they can be and try to convince her that what is best for her and the animal is to find some one with experince that is willing to care for it.

to give you an idea of how powerfull these snakes are that perticuler retic coiled around the man and he was dead with in a minute. These snakes are wonderfull creatures but should be respected, and only some one with experince should attempt to handle these snakes.

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Originally Posted by CampTweekerKid

She does not have internet where she is living. She is planning on buying a 100 gallon tank, and is currently taking the snake to a vet because it has been weezing.

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A 100 gallon isn't going to be good for these snakes. She's going to have to build a HUGE!! enclosure if she wants to keep it.

at this point in time she is going to keep the snake. she took it to the vet, and had her checked out. the vet told her that the snake would soon be heavier then her and i know she has done research about how to care for the snake best.

I just typed in "Tiger Python" on Wikipedia and it redirected me to Burmese Pythons. Is it possible that it is a burm? If it is then it's nearly as bad.

Nope, its a reticulated python.

it is a reticulated. she thought it was a tiger and then found out otherwise

If I were her I would get rid of it. Think about a large 17 foot snake that is hungry. Does she know where to get large rabbits - pigs to feed once a month ? Also it isn't a smart idea to handle a snake more than 7 feet long by yourself.

It's really cool that your cousin has an interest in snakes.

If I were to guess, I'd say she thinks she is comfortable handling a snake that is the current size of her Retic. But she really needs to understand that it is no where near full grown, and the snake probably isn't going to be as fun to take care of as it gets bigger and bigger.

My advice would be this, find that snake a home with someone experienced with large snakes, and switch to a snake that has an adult size around the size that the Retic is now, if that's what she likes. One of the smaller Boa constrictors would probably be ideal.

She should not be keeping this snake just because it was given to her.

Agreed.

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Originally Posted by Rapture

It's really cool that your cousin has an interest in snakes.

If I were to guess, I'd say she thinks she is comfortable handling a snake that is the current size of her Retic. But she really needs to understand that it is no where near full grown, and the snake probably isn't going to be as fun to take care of as it gets bigger and bigger.

My advice would be this, find that snake a home with someone experienced with large snakes, and switch to a snake that has an adult size around the size that the Retic is now, if that's what she likes. One of the smaller Boa constrictors would probably be ideal.

She should not be keeping this snake just because it was given to her.

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Ditto

she seems pretty attached. thankfuly she lives with a bunch of guys so i think they are going to be taking care of the snake as a group effort. she is ordering frozen rats ect of the itnernet to feed. i think she should find it a home myself, but im not the decideding factor.

She's going to need more than just rats in a few years......

Retics grow and they grow big FAST!

It's not a good starter snake.

1. A retic can easily kill you due to its size and strength once it gets past the 10ft stage. IMO

2. If they have other pets, dogs, cats or birds etc. If that smell is on your clothes, when its a bigger animal... ALL of those guys won't be able to get it off her if it decides she smells like dinner! That retic will be stronger then all of them put together.

3. People who become emotionaly attached to predators like these don't have their guard up.... they think because it never did anything when little, why would it do anything now? And apply way too many human mannerizms and habits that just don't apply to reptiles.

4. Reaching in to change the water dish is one of the most dangerous times for an inexperienced person. While that retic may just be curled up at one end, looking like it isn't doing squat, it can actually be in an ambush postion waiting for prey to walk by.... in changing the water dish. She may think that she doesn't need help with that (Home alone), but when she reaches in... BANG... her arm suddenly has a retic attached to it. And her life is in serious danger.

I don't think she understands the danger associated with keeping large pythons. I would recommend getting a few other pythons that don't get that big, carpet pythons, womas, water pythons etc to gain experience before stepping into the deep end of large pythons.

hold on ppl let her find out if you like some thing soooo munch then she will tack good care of it but yea like thay are saying that s.o.b get,s big its not good 4 a 1st snake

If it's already 7', rats aren't going to be enough meal, and as it gets hungry, I'm sure it's feeding response / behavior is going to get stronger/more agressive.


I can understand how she'd want to take care of it, but it would be easier for her to find it a home now, while it's still "small" (small being a relative term right here) rather than waiting another year or so and it's even bigger. There are a lot of the giants that need homes b/c ppl don't realize the snake's eventual size and care issues involved as the snakes get so large, and then they can't care for them.

Be VERY, VERY careful!!!!! And NEVER handle, feed, clean, water it by yourself!

Are they even legal in your state?
Yikes; how do these things happen?

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

Are they even legal in your state?
Yikes; how do these things happen?

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It's not so much the state, small towns and cities have some stupid laws regarding keeping snakes. Some places have laws banning snakes that grow over 6ft... which is stupid to say the least.

She may of just seen something she liked and a small tiger retic is a beautiful animal. And she may or may not of been misled about it's adult size etc.

I hope she has a spare room in her house then! :)
I have heard of people keeping them in spare rooms, only to have them escape out a window.. please at least make sure something like this couldn't happen. Big snakes escaping and eating neighborhood dogs give us all a bad name..

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Originally Posted by FATAL_SNAKE

hold on ppl let her find out if you like some thing soooo munch then she will tack good care of it but yea like thay are saying that s.o.b get,s big its not good 4 a 1st snake

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Like it as much as she does, no amount of like will stop that snake from hurting her if it smells food or feels threatened.

Well guy's my thought's on this are the following , reading this thread make's me love my bp's more. Retic's and burm's are amazing animal's , but they are not for everyone. I can't even picture myself owning such a dangerou's animal. I do respect and admire those who take this challenge and treat's these pythons with respect. I also believe irresponsible owner's will cost us all big problem's in the future.If the people who are purchasing them don't read up on what they are getting themselve's into this hobby of our's will keep being attacked by everybody. I see it alot on the new's and I live 10 mile's from the everglade's.

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Originally Posted by emilio

Well guy's my thought's on this are the following , reading this thread make's me love my bp's more. Retic's and burm's are amazing animal's , but they are not for everyone. I can't even picture myself owning such a dangerou's animal. I do respect and admire those who take this challenge and treat's these pythons with respect. I also believe irresponsible owner's will cost us all big problem's in the future.If the people who are purchasing them don't read up on what they are getting themselve's into this hobby of our's will keep being attacked by everybody.

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I could not agree with you more.

i am positive that she realizes the size of the snake as we talked a few days ago and she was telling me about the reticulated python named fluffy who is 22+ feet and 310 pounds. I know that these sankes are large and potentialy deadly, as i am sure she knows. I am guessing that after a year or so she will have to find the snake a new home, if not sooner.

You might want to let her know to start looking now... and expect not to get much for him. It takes a special person to care for a snake that gets that large, and there are few that want to take on the responsibility---very, very few who want the responsibility and actually know what they're getting into.

Like she said, you are probably going to want to find a new owner now. Who's going to take the snake when it is ten feet next year? She's probably going to get stuck with it because shelters don't want it, neither do zoos or rescues.

Any updates?