How did retics get so popular?

[Bogertophis]

It's not strictly about your strength in lifting, etc.- have you ever been "hand-cuffed" by a constrictor? They're quite creative. And you wouldn't be the first to under-estimate one.

[YungRasputin]

It's not strictly about your strength in lifting, etc.- have you ever been "hand-cuffed" by a constrictor? They're quite creative. And you wouldn't be the first to under-estimate one.

i mentioned lifting/strength capabilities also because they do have physical limits and are not some supernatural creature - there is a limit to what a 50 lb animal can do - i have not nor do i feel i am under-estimating them or is it being suggested that this handcuffing is fatal?

[Bogertophis]

i mentioned lifting/strength capabilities also because they do have physical limits and are not some supernatural creature - there is a limit to what a 50 lb animal can do - i have not nor do i feel i am under-estimating them or is it being suggested that this handcuffing is fatal?

No one's calling them supernatural. And handcuffing can be very awkward- not fatal by itself, just something to consider if working alone.

[YungRasputin]

re: avoiding situations

i think this goes beyond simply avoiding silly or careless mistakes and flows into being strategic in what you do and tailoring your care/actions to the individual and generalized behavior patterns of the animal you’re working with - all sort of things can happen, like, for example, i have a friend who keeps African arboreal tarantulas (arguably the most venomous tarantulas in the world and stand head to head with the Poecilotheria genus) who had an Heteroscoda maculata/Togo Starburst Baboon teleport (moving faster than the human eye can register) up his tongs and tagged him in the thumb during routine tank maintenance which subsequently put them in the hospital and they experience negative symptoms (severe muscle cramps and spasms) for several weeks after the bites and upon asking them questions i found out that they didn’t “prep” the cage i.e. shifting it back and forth, drumming the side of the enclosure, having the lights on, visually spotting the specimen in its den and examining the entire enclosure, etc prior to opening the enclosure’s doors

simple things like this could completely change the game - my whole routine with my arachnids has been through prepping the cage and doing other things that have prevented a whole host of horror stories from happening that have happened to other keepers - which is why i am now experimenting with how to do this with my snakes so we can develop a similar routine per their demonstrated behavior overtime - i just think it’s different because it’s possible to tame snakes whereas it’s not possible to tame arachnids; not that this should lead one to be lax in what they do but still - if you have a docile snake that seems grumpy this would be a good time to be cautious and do things differently than the normal routine, i wouldn’t just ignore the body language messages that my snakes give off or force a situation because just like with arachnids i don’t think you ever *have* to do a lot of things people think you have to do at specific times, like, you could wait an extra hour or so to clean or give water and so on, pick your battles sort of thing - pick the most opportune times to engage them and know when to back away

note: not saying I am special or better than anyone but I am definitely one that consumes a lot of data and information and anecdotes when doing research and I would rather learn from other people’s mistakes than making them on my own lol

[YungRasputin]

No one's calling them supernatural. And handcuffing can be very awkward- not fatal by itself, just something to consider if working alone.

that’s a situation - if i understand what you mean correctly (snake coiling in a handcuff like position immobilizing or limiting the mobility of said appendages) - where i would be more concerned about me harming my baby than it harming me because i have noticed from what keepers and academic stuff have said that snakes can be surprisingly fragile in several respects, particularly slimmer ones - but to that end that’s why i think it’s important to seek out techniques used by professionals eg: nibbling or stimulating on the tail of a coiled snake can trigger it to release - may not always be possible but I am sure there are a whole variety of techniques like this that can be learned which is my goal

[YungRasputin]

specific to this thread - yes i think mainland retics are a 2 person animal or more and should only be kept by people/teams capable of keeping them as they so deserve - i however do think D/SD retics are a different story - i say this because i feel i may have derailed the thread and got tangential

[bcr229]

specific to this thread - yes i think mainland retics are a 2 person animal or more and should only be kept by people/teams capable of keeping them as they so deserve - i however do think D/SD retics are a different story - i say this because i feel i may have derailed the thread and got tangential

I have a 100% SD male retic. He is a two person critter despite his size because he's... well we're not allowed to use that kind of language here. I'll just say it's not the size of the snake in the fight... This snake literally chased (threat charged) a friend of mine who was helping me when my husband was on a business trip right of the snake room, and friend has boas of his own. He had no idea a snake would act like that, a threat charge is just not something boas do.

[Bogertophis]

... i just think it’s different because it’s possible to tame snakes...

Many actually disagree with that- I do agree that snakes can be reliably tamed, but at the same time I will also say that even with experience & careful observation (etc) that while many of our snakes may be "tame", that still doesn't preclude some unpredictable behavior- and while that may be rare, if you're talking about a dangerous snake (very large or hot), that's something you should always keep in mind. There's no guarantee. There is some percentage of snakes that will refuse to tame down, or do so with great reluctance, & it depends on the species, obviously, how common that is, but at least with them, you know what to expect.

Even with a reliably tame snake, once in a blue moon they can catch you off-guard, & even if they mean nothing by it, it might not be "in your best interest". Just keep in mind that when any accidents occur with snakes, so many people already hate & fear them, that any incident will get blown out of proportion & used to promote bans. Thus, we promote safety protocols both for each person but also for the sake of our "community" of keepers that want to keep doing so. I hope you'll keep that in mind, even if your comfort level is different from others- we want the best for every keeper.

I couldn't agree more that I'd rather learn from the mistakes of others than to make the same ones myself, lol.

And I would totally believe what bcr229 is saying ^ ^ ^ btw.

[Snagrio]

It's not strictly about your strength in lifting, etc.- have you ever been "hand-cuffed" by a constrictor? They're quite creative. And you wouldn't be the first to under-estimate one.

Heck, even a ball python. Mine has done that to me a couple times and even with his size his strength is deceptive. Granted I probably could easily pry my hands free and it's more of a matter of carefully encouraging him to move off so I don't hurt him, but the point is any snake that relies on constriction (and even those that don't) shouldn't be underestimated regardless of size. That tube of a body is all MUSCLE, and they know how to use it.

On a different unrelated note, even the danger factor aside, I genuinely don't believe most people have the facilities and resources to house a full sized retic. These are massive animals that nonetheless deserve the same amount of space and enrichment that any other snake does, and unfortunately their equivalence would be akin to that of half a single bedroom apartment to be adequate. The number of retics and burms I see shoved into prisons so small they can do little but coil and sit in a corner is embarrassing (the 4x2 my yearling corn snake is in used to house the previous owner's burm for example and the pic I saw had it taking up half the space just from being coiled into a mound).

[YungRasputin]

I have a 100% SD male retic. He is a two person critter despite his size because he's... well we're not allowed to use that kind of language here. I'll just say it's not the size of the snake in the fight... This snake literally chased (threat charged) a friend of mine who was helping me when my husband was on a business trip right of the snake room, and friend has boas of his own. He had no idea a snake would act like that, a threat charge is just not something boas do.

am curious as to what were the antecedent behaviors which lead to the primary behavior which prompted 2 adults to run out of a room 🧐