Why are African rock pythons uncommon in the hobby?

[Snagrio]

necroing this thread just to say that i think a lot of it is endemic to the mountain of misinformation which exists about large constrictor snakes in general - like i had to search and search and search to find out the average size of an adult female is 12-13 feet - so i think that’s a factor, particularly, when combined with the reputation of their attitudes/temperaments which all sort of culminated into this stereotyped image of “18+ foot, super thicc, super mean beastie”

it’s truly sad because it’s honestly so so far from the truth - temperament wise, in the wild, they’re naturally cryptic, shy, timid, etc (much like Burms) and that’s been my experience in captivity - it’s truly been incredible - i barely even needed to work with ARP to get him tame compared to some of my Burms which have taken several weeks/months to get to the same level - mine is F4-F5 so maybe that has something to do with it but still! no one but my BCIs have been that way right off the bat which i think really speaks to the species

Even David Attenborough works have sensationalized big constrictor sizes. I remember a scene in a series called Life in Cold Blood with an ARP and it being claimed they get 20 feet long. And again in the very same documentary they showcased an anaconda, once again denoting it as one of the biggest of all snakes. Except all the footage was of a yellow anaconda.