Time to move on. Semi graphic.

[Gio]

The hobby for me has always been about observation, relaxation and in frequent, but quality handling.
I've enjoyed building naturalistic caging and studying the biology of each species I have chosen to work with.

I have several real, scientific field studies of various snake species saved to my computer and I have purchased literature that goes far beyond the "pet care" format that most snake related publications tend to lean toward. Knowing my pets real world behaviors and biology is very important to me.

I purchased a SD X Dwarf X Mainland, male retic back in 2016 and I was thrilled at the idea of having a small, but active apex predator in my collection.

Sadly, he grew larger than I was expecting, and even worse his aggression levels were completely the opposite of what I'd planned for.

Wallace was re-homed today, and though I'm somewhat saddened that I was not able to continue my relationship with him, There is a sense of relief that he is going to a great home. He's already lined up as a breeding male with his new keeper who specializes in the species.

I made a valiant effort to work through the issues that I had with this animal. But after 3 bites, with each of them getting worse, I had to put ego aside and admit that the species is more than I could handle without any help and also more involved than I wanted to be with one single animal.

The other three snakes took a backseat to Wallace because he required much more from me.

This photo was taken last summer when he went wild and attacked and coiled around a snake hook. I tried getting him off the hook by using a rag soaked in Listerine. He attacked it and actually started to try to eat it.


Bite number one was nothing but a scared, defensive bite and nothing I hadn't experienced from my other animals.


Bite number two occurred in January of 2019 and was a bit more concerning but still didn't sway my from keeping the species.



After the second bite however, his attitude changed as did his size. Every day I was challenged by him and hook training seemed to fuel the fire. He'd attack the five foot hook I purchased and I eventually had to rub hand sanitizer on the hook to prevent him from biting it.

Once I was able to get him to retreat, he'd always come back around and face off. I worked through some of that and usually was able to get some level of compliance when I'd fully lift him out of the cage. He'd typically settle and seemed to do better when I would not wear the kevlar bite gloves.

But I had now come to the point where I was feeling the effort and risk VS reward were starting to make the experience more stressful than enjoyable.

The last straw came at the end of last week.

This was a pretty good bite and a 10 minute fight. Although I remained relaxed and didn't pull back, it was painful and I was not happy.

He came out fine, then started to tense up, he constricted and came back on me and nailed my right hand.




That's my left index. I'm not even sure how that hand was involved.

This is where he got me good.


There is damage to the palm that I didn't photo but you get the gist.

I have a lot more to add to this but I have to leave the house now.

Folks, have a plan for critters that may give you a run for the money.

I never once thought about putting this guy down for being what he is. I simply was not the keeper for him so I found somebody with years and years of experience and gave him away, No money, no trades, nothing except the promise that he'd have a good home.

I'll miss him a little but there is a reason the reticulated python forum isn''t packed with posts.

These guys are demanding and most are not ready.