African Rock Pythons

[Ace]

I was wondering if anyone owns an ARP. Are they really as mean as they are made out to be? And what is there growth rate. I have been reading about them and I know they get very large. I was wondering if anyone had any first hand experience with them.

[BWSmith]

I have enough holes in me from them that I dokn't want to own one

[faze]

i agree with bw on this one the wau o could think of comparing is a burm with a retic attitude(even though burms are part of the afrock family)

[Burm-Bomb]

i've never owened one, but i've been told that they are much more tame if CBB, rather that W/C but most will calm down(not tame) and be handleable( is that a word?) with lots of TLC

[BWSmith]

with lots of TLC

and blood

[Bry]

Faze, retics are said to be as docile as burms now that they are being bred in captivity with increasing frequency. The wild-caught ones are supposedly fairly difficult to deal with, but CBBs are quite docile.

Bry

[LdyDrgn]

Originally Posted by Ace

I was wondering if anyone owns an ARP. Are they really as mean as they are made out to be?

YES!!

Originally Posted by Ace

And what is there growth rate. I have been reading about them and I know they get very large.

They grow about the same rate as any other giant boid. Depending, of course, on feeding schedule and prey items offered.

Originally Posted by Ace

I was wondering if anyone had any first hand experience with them.

I do my best to stay clear of these. Our friends Gib and Amiechann had one and the thing got out of its tub and chased her to the bathroom! They gave it up for adoption immediately. Jason Brennan is the one he went to and he named the ARP 'Diablo'. He says that it's his calmest one...go figure, LOL. Our friend Kevin3 has one he got recently and she is pure evil. He was gone for a weekend when the snake dumped its water bowl. Should have seen me and Patricia trying to bag the snake so we could clean the tub in peace She struck at us a few times, but we managed to bag her without getting bitten. *whew*

[Kevin3]

That Rock you are speaking about is "Cranky" she has her moments and I haven't had her very long. I have been tagged a couple of decent times. She is 8 ft long and only eleven pounds I bought her at a show for $30 and took her to the vet two days latter. She is very skinny (think fish) and is slowly coming around to eating reasonable sized prey. Supposedly she is about three years old.
I have held her for up to 30 minutes with no problems (unfortunately minutes 31-34 got really rough)

[Ace]

Thanks guys for the info. It looks like ARP don't make good pets, I guess I will stick with a burmese, thanks again.