Should you get a burm?
Recently I was in communication with JS about the idea of aquiring and keeping a burmese python.
It always appealed to me (ok not always but--). A huge, gorgeous snake that had a reptutation of being very tamable and great to interact with. At the same time, the thought of having a giant snake in my herproom had me apprehensive the way no large lizard would.
All that length---and that heavy weight with no help. I see Amanda's (my little girl's) Hogg Island Boa at feeding time and try to imagine a huge snake with that type of feeding response.
Man.
Obviously JS talked me out of it and I'm glad he did.
When I researched some Kaplan files about IGS I came across this and thought it might be worth posting.
Enjoy.
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Burmese Pythons
Part One
(by M Kaplan)
THINK!!!
Do you really want a snake that may grow more than 20 feet long or weigh 200 pounds, urinate and defecate like a horse, will live more than 25 years and for whom you will have to kill mice, rats and, eventually, rabbits? Many people think that when they decide they don't want their Burmese any more--when it gets to be 8 or 10 or 15 feet long--it will be easy to find someone who does. Take a look at the animal classifieds - they always have sale ads for big pythons. The zoo doesn't want any more. The local herpetology societies and reptile veterinarians always have big pythons for whom they are trying to find homes. Burmese are increasingly being abandoned at vets and animal shelters and are being euthanized for lack of proper homes for them. Breeders keep breeding them, however, because so many people are willing to buy these 'cool' giants, knowing full well they'll be dumped when they're 'too' big.
At 10 feet and 40+ pounds, a 3-year old Burmese is already eating rabbits a couple of times a month and is very difficult to handle alone. You have to interact with them constantly to keep them tame - do you want a hungry, cranky 100-pound, 12-foot snake mistaking your face for prey? Who is going to help you clean its enclosure? Take it to the vet when it's sick? Take care of it when you go away to school or on vacation? No matter how much they love you, there are some things a mother or friends will not do!
Owning a giant snake is not cool - it is a major, long-term, frequently very expensive responsibility. Not only that, but even the nicest, gentlest of Burmese can become killers, even when not very large...as one Colorado family found out when they came home and found their 14-year old son dead after being constricted by their 8-ft free-roaming Burmese.
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