Quote Originally Posted by 4theSNAKElady View Post
he probably had a burm and got the species confused. Surprisingly enough, many ingorant snake owners group many pythons together into one group they label as "regular pythons" , and commonly get them mixed up, regardless of the size each species reaches. Some also may automatically assume ALL pythons get big. And since burms do have similar colors to balls, he might have assumed he had a ball. When I worked for a retail pet store it happened quite often, that owners mistakenly identified their snakes...even ones they'd had for over 15 years! It's just plain ignorance is all. We must educate people who are willing to listen, instead of criticize them. It helps out all parties involved in the long run..
I probably would be inclined to agree, under certain circumstances. If for example, he had simply said he used to own a BP, but once it got to a certain size, he was forced to give it up, then when I asked how big it was, he had said 8' long and 100 pounds, I probably would have asked if he was sure it was a BP, since they don't get that big. I would have been polite and asked if perhaps it was actually a Burmese or some other type of python and he had just thought it was a Ball.

BUT, when he gets all upity and superior towards me, and kind of sneers contemptuously at my "huge" 3 foot Ball, and then proceeds to inform me that HIS Ball was more than twice the size of mine, and how his was so big the Zoo wanted it, I knew for a fact he was just being a jerk, and had no such snake. He thought he'd impress me with how much bigger his snake was, and therefore how much superior to me he was for handling a snake that big.

If I had been prepared, I would have shown him the picture of myself holding a 15 foot Yellowhead Retic at the last show, but I don't make it a habit to carry my camera everywhere.

Gale