Handling

[Gerardo]

For those of you who have adult animals that are huge, do you always handle with a second person? Also an acquaintance of mine recently got divorced And his wife was the one that helped with with his retic. He had to sell her because he had nobody to help him with the snake. I think he said she was like 160 lbs. Anybody else experience something like that?

[SCWood]

For those of you who have adult animals that are huge, do you always handle with a second person? Also an acquaintance of mine recently got divorced And his wife was the one that helped with with his retic. He had to sell her because he had nobody to help him with the snake. I think he said she was like 160 lbs. Anybody else experience something like that?

I mean, if this counts, I handle the 8-9ft RTB by myself and I'm only 5'1 lol if we are unsure of the animal we will wait until there is someone else home to help if needed

1.2 Normal
1.1 Red-tail
0.1 Albino corn

[Alexiel03]

well a lot of people say its not a good idea to handle any snake over 6ft alone. im comfortable handling snakes up to 8ft alone (im 5'5") but i still make sure there is someone else home and within earshot, even if the animal is "tame" they can still be unpredictable. my 12 foot female burm has never shown aggression and never even attempted to bite me or other people but if no one else is home and i need to clean her cage or give her water, etc. i wait untill someone comes home and stays in the room with me while i take her out just in case anything ever did happen. and its definatly a good idea to have someone nearby when handling a large retic, ive been bitten by my retic when he was only 8ft and it happened without any warning what so ever and he wasnt an aggressive snake either, all it takes is one mistake on your end.

[tbowman]

I have a Burm that's about 50lbs. I don't handle at all unless there is somebody else in the house. Having had to restrain him once before at the vets office, I think a lot of people seriously underestimate how strong these guys really are.

I think the 6ft rule that was mentioned is a bit extreme. 8-10ft is when you want to consider having someone else around.

[Gerardo]

So a large boa can be safely handled by a grown man?

[tbowman]

I believe in 2010 a Nebraska man was killed by a 9' 25lb Boa. Perhaps the only documented death by a pet Boa Constrictor.

[Gerardo]

Well that sucks. But that was a freak accident or what?

[tbowman]

I'm not sure about the details of that incident. But like I said earlier I think a lot of people underestimate how powerful the larger constrictors are. It's pretty hard to grasp until you've experienced it. In my case with my Burm it was when we had to restrain him to do a tracheal wash. It took around four people to restrain him. This snake is around 10' 45-50lbs (not a massive animal) and it was extremely difficult. I think that once a snake reaches a certain size, There really isn't much that you're able to do by yourself if you're caught in the wrong situation.

I think it'd be very highly unlikely to be killed by a Boa Constrictor, having said that, you can essentially eliminate all risk by having another person around with larger animals.

[reptileexperts]

The answer is truly, it depends.

I handle my 13' 8" Purple Albino solo a lot. I usually have my wife home, but I use to do it with no one home all the time. Is it the safest way? No. But if she urinates everywhere and needs a clean cage do I wait till someone is able to be there, again no. But when I'm doing cleaning its not about handling an animal and just letting her run around. I only do that with other people around due to the nature of the situation. But as far as cleaning / feeding goes, I get a giant tub, and move her into the tub while I clean her cage. Then grab her and move her back in - again its my personal preference in this matter.

Rule of thumb is a second person is needed at 12 ft (you need 1 person per 6 ft - but many wait till you're at the max spectrum to mandate the second person.

If you read death reports from giant constrictors, usually a few things are common.

1) Alcohol was involved
2) Live feeding was involved
3) Cages were left open

Bites happen, its part of the game, but most if not all fatalities occur due to one of the three reasons above or a combination of all.

Cheers

[Gerardo]

I want to find somebody with a large constrictor to handle. Ive held a big burm at NARBC but there wasnt too much handling. Just a picture.