never breeding causing early death?

[5teve]

Jay from the reptile zoo/ prehistoric pets states that his large retic twinkie died at an early age possibly due to never breeding her early on. He claims in the breeding season she would go off food, swell, etc. and would go back to normal. Also that when her swell would come down her follicles possibly would not go back to normal size and kept growing each year causing problems in the long run and premature death. I was wondering your takes on it and if true, could this carry over in theory to all pythons in the pet trade? would you think everyones "pet" ball python would suffer a shorter lifespan?

[redshepherd]

Not regarding breeding, but Prehistoric Pets (they're local to me) has some questionable and notorious reptile keeping practices, mainly with their larger species (snakes, alligators, tortoises).

I wouldn't be surprised if the early death is simply caused by sick animals and overall unhealthy practices.

[distaff]

I was under the impression Twinkie was a Burm? Could be mistaken. I saw those videos of/about her several months ago, when I first became interested in snakes.

Personally, I think Twinkie was overfed, and I dislike how they physically man-handle the snakes there anyway. (IIRC, in one video, they basically drop her.) Don't know about the follicles. He is the only source I have heard from about that, and since I have little regard for him, its not that creditable IMHO.

[JAK Pythons]

I was under the impression Twinkie was a Burm? Could be mistaken. I saw those videos of/about her several months ago, when I first became interested in snakes.

Personally, I think Twinkie was overfed, and I dislike how they physically man-handle the snakes there anyway. (IIRC, in one video, they basically drop her.) Don't know about the follicles. He is the only source I have heard from about that, and since I have little regard for him, its not that creditable IMHO.

In the wild pythons only live about half as long as captive. I feel that any length of time after their normal life span is a blessing

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

[distaff]

In the wild pythons only live about half as long as captive. I feel that any length of time after their normal life span is a blessing

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

I'd say, it depends on the life lived.
At least she was always filmed in a large enclosure, and it doesn't look like she ever went hungry.

[JAK Pythons]

I'd say, it depends on the life lived.
At least she was always filmed in a large enclosure, and it doesn't look like she ever went hungry.

True. I didn't think about the kind of like it maybe. I forget some are not treated the way mine are. I asumed everyone that loves them would take good care of them.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

[Alicia]

Jay from the reptile zoo/ prehistoric pets states that his large retic twinkie died at an early age possibly due to never breeding her early on. He claims in the breeding season she would go off food, swell, etc. and would go back to normal. Also that when her swell would come down her follicles possibly would not go back to normal size and kept growing each year causing problems in the long run and premature death. I was wondering your takes on it and if true, could this carry over in theory to all pythons in the pet trade? would you think everyones "pet" ball python would suffer a shorter lifespan?

Yeah . . . I don't believe that even for a second. Maybe I'm being waaay too skeptical. There are enough very long-lived pythons (and other types of snake) that have never been bred or only bred late in life for me to discount the generalities of that idea on anecdote alone. It's vaguely possible for an individual snake to have a weird ovarian defect. It's more likely for a captive snake to become obese and die of complications. . . . And obesity does, of course, also have the potential to lead to reproductive complications.

[Yodawagon]

That place has a pretty bad reputation. He's notorious for pulling hatchlings out of eggs. I don't believe anything he says.

[tacticalveterinarian]

Some of the longest living individuals of several reptile species in captivity were housed alone and never bred- this has been documented in zoos or other similar facilities. Obesity is considered a low grade inflammatory disease and can drastically shorten any animal's lifespan, as well as increasing the likelihood of a variety of different diseases (think about obesity in humans, dogs, etc).

[Mada]

if a snake in the wild doesn't come across a mate with in a certain time frame it just doesn't mate that year, it doesn't go into organ failure, if that was true 90% of species that have to have sexual reproduction would of died off including humans. being that like most parents or owners or what ever he view's him self as tend to come up with an idea as to why their animal died and stick with it and typically fail to look any deeper at the animal, i doubt we or even he will ever know what killed or shortened the life span of his snake.

that said for some one who is in that emotional state to go and make statements as if proven fact should be nodded at and then just let the comments float on by. unless he has documented evidence to prove any of it there is no resion to give it a second thought. just let the man grieve and try to not grief him in his time of mourning.