Got screamed at by the neighbors..

[picklespickles]

this is the best story all day. especially about the xlyophone and the shopping cart. you are most excellent.

sorry about your neighbor. lol that she wants the kids to see the wildness, but not that wildness.

my neighbors hit and run dogs and leave them in the street. seriously. even though they all have dogs themselves. still, when i say dinner time for chickens, i mean pickles, i do it in a shed so no kiddies see for exactly that reason. i'm sure one day i'll hear how horrible i am.

there is something about conciously making a decision to kill something, even humanely and purpose filled as possible, that just upsets some people.

 

[crocodile girl]

there is something about conciously making a decision to kill something, even humanely and purpose filled as possible, that just upsets some people.

I know. And I just don't understand it...It's the food chain. In the wild, my alligator's prey would never have it this good. On my ranch, the chickens get a shed to themselves, they eat well, they are protected from hawks by my terrier (He's been around chickens his whole life, so he doesn't touch them, but if a bird of prey comes near, he springs into attack mode), etc. And there are very few chickens that are consumed live (the extremely picky eaters are few and far between on my ranch), those that are fed alive are stunned or fed off while asleep.​

 

[picklespickles]

i hope that you will continue talking about this more either on this thread or under the other animal section. i think you have a lot to teach. any gal with a xylophone, a crocodile AND a shopping cart at the ready is gotta be a gal i wanna know.

 

[crocodile girl]

i hope that you will continue talking about this more either on this thread or under the other animal section. i think you have a lot to teach. any gal with a xylophone, a crocodile AND a shopping cart at the ready is gotta be a gal i wanna know.

Thanks! I will. Hmmm...I haven't mentioned how I feed my reticulated python have I? I'll do that in the other animal section..​

 

[Buster]

Retics are so cool! I don't want one (mostly because my children are very small), but my uncle used to have one and it was beautiful! I wish I could own large snakes again, but I gave away the boas when my boys were old enough to be curious!

 

[crocodile girl]

Retics are so cool! I don't want one (mostly because my children are very small), but my uncle used to have one and it was beautiful! I wish I could own large snakes again, but I gave away the boas when my boys were old enough to be curious!

You know, I'd bet you would do great with a smaller constricter, like carpet python. They are kinda big, depending on the locality, but nowhere near as dangerous. In fact carpet pythons are incredibly gentle!

There are only 5 species of constrictor snakes that are big enough and strong enough pose a serious threat to humans.

Those species are:

Reticulated Python (Python reticulatus)

Amethystine Python (Morelia amethistina)

Green Anaconda (Eunectes murinus)

Indian Python (Python molurus--remember that the Burmese python P. m. bivittata is actually a subspecies of the Indian)

African Rock Python (Python sebae)​

 

[Buster]

Thanks for the info. The main problem I had with my boas is that when I brought my premature son home from the hospital, he was smaller than some of the rabbits I had fed the largest one. We actually donated the snakes to a herpatology center at a university. We felt good about that. When my sons get older, we'll probably do snakes again. By the way, I have heard that carpet pythons are grouchy- have I been misinformed?

 

[dbjay417]

alligator kibble!! LoL

If this thread was a portrait, I'd frame it and hang it.

 

[crocodile girl]

By the way, I have heard that carpet pythons are grouchy- have I been misinformed?

Grouchy carpets? hmmm.. that doesn't sound right. Most of the ones I've worked with have been captive bred, however.
You know, a ball python might be good too. I know a lot of people think they're boring, but they are great for kids.

Here are some snakes you shouldn't get:

Any arboreal boa or python (stay away from all tree-dwellers! they have nasty temperments!)

Any of the "big 5 constrictors" I mentioned

Anything with venom

If you're really worried about your snakes getting to your kids, try a big colubrid, like a bull snake. I love bull snakes myself, they get big but don't have the power of a python or a boa. They're basically overgrown shoelaces. They'll never be able to eat your kids. Not even if they tried.

Most colubrids tame rather easily, but stay away from coachwhips and racers. I use coachwhips to train people to handle venomous snakes. They're non-venomous, but a challenge to handle. In fact, I train the students for a year on these species. Rule of thumb: If you can't go a year without getting bitten by a coachwhip or a racer, you aren't ready to keep venomous snakes.​

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

Crocodilegirl, you are one cool chick!

When I was 10, my little brothers and I started a snake-removal service called "Fang Finders". For 50 cents (later raised to $1 because we bought a catching stick, and had to recoup the cost), we'd remove a snake from your property within 5 minutes of your call. We printed up business cards and gave them to everyone within bike-ride distance.
My favorites were hog-nosed snakes; everyone thought they were rattlers, but we didn't have to worry about venom. Copperheads were scariest; on warm fall days, if the homeowner had lost sight of it, they could be hard to find again.

We also removed scorpions and "tarantulas" as a courtesy.

We got shut down more than a year later when my mom found out we'd handled rattlers; one of our clients was complimenting her on how professionally we had removed a 4' rattler from her property, and my mom almost fainted! As I recall, we made more than $100; most times, people tipped us pretty well.