Largest snake that you can safely handle alone

[anatess]

im sorry ima have to disagree with alot of what you said, simply because i dont see it the same way.. a lab has the potential to kill you or a small child.. if it pulls its tail wrong or sticks a finger where its not suppose to .. yet we all love and cherish and tell people how well behaved our dogs are

Dogs are domesticated, the snakes are not. My doberman is a pack animal with my husband as his pack leader. By instinct, he will follow my husband's commands or risk (in the dog's mind) getting "voted off the island". I am a higher rank than the dog in the pack as well (when we open the door to go out, my husband goes out first, I go next, the dog goes after me). With proper training in place, we can control the dog's behavior.

This is not true with any snake - whether a teeny western hognose or a giant burmese.

and to be honest im so sick of hearing about people hurting the hobby... what hurts the hobby is the attitude alot of people in the hobby have tword new comers if they want anything bigger then a corn snake or bp to start off with.. ill admit i get annoyed with constant posts but there from diffrent people who im educating so i answer kindly and respectfully.. alot of people do not and that is what hurts us the most scaring new people away.. you didnt just jump into a forum u trolled it for awhile read posts and gained a general idea of the people.. i have two forums i frequent which shall remain nameless.. but one is all for giant snakes for example and the other hangs anyone who even askes questions with comments such as (your sig show me your not ready) and (these are a huge responsabilty make sure you can afford it). thats what kills a hobby.. when it cant grow and attract new hobbiest then it will eventually die because like it or not there are only so many people who will fight for the right to keep the species we all love so much

Actually, there are A LOT MORE people who do not own snakes, have no intention of owning snakes, and may even have snake phobia than there are people who are interested in entering the hobby.

These people who do not see snakes as "pets" are the deciding vote on whether our hobby can live on in peace or not (refer to Ohio and even Florida as a "case in point"). They have preconceived notions of what a snake is and anything on the news that validates that notion makes it much harder for them to get educated on the hobby. And let's face it - anytime somebody gets killed by their pet python, it is national news, and more often than not, mis-reported.

These guys then support legislation that limits our hobby. Democracy is a double-edged sword - in a group of 5 wolves and a sheep, democracy is great, unless you're the sheep.