Rub a dub dub...........

Think I may have handled him a while back in a belfast store ???.....if so he was a real softy and I couldn't believe just how calm he was

yea mate tis the only one i have seen kickin about so i would say the odds are good.

near threw a deposit down on that a few times like but never bothered, good luck with it mate and i hope it stays calm for ya, wouldnt fancy takin one off that!

Buddy wrote:Think I may have handled him a while back in a belfast store ???.....if so he was a real softy and I couldn't believe just how calm he was

That's the same one Buddy, he is a real big softy, that's what made me go for him, I had previously been put off by the fact that they are usually nuts.

RolandRatSnake wrote:yea mate tis the only one i have seen kickin about so i would say the odds are good.

near threw a deposit down on that a few times like but never bothered, good luck with it mate and i hope it stays calm for ya, wouldnt fancy takin one off that!

Cheers mate, the only other one I know off I think Dutchology owns. I've had my eye on him for ages too, but I just thought bugger it and went for it last week, glad I did now though.

great scrub marty...

eyes are stunnin!!

Cheers Tom

Nice Scrub Marty, still finding it crazy that you got one that is puppy tame, that certainly goes against all stories i have heard about these snakes lol.

The scales on the head are class looking, sweet pickup alright!

Thanks Matt

from what i can gather captive bred ones aren't too bad, it's the wild caught ones that are the real nut jobs, if you handle them plenty i think they can get pretty tame or perhaps i've just got the exception to the rule here lol

I'm still debating how far I will come into your house now that he is there. Tea in the front garden sounds fine to me Hows he doing now?

Hahahahahaha he's not that bad Tan, honest he's a big puppy dog, a wee bit hissy but that's it.

He's doing grand though, he's settling in really well, I'll try to get some better photo's of him over the next couple of days.

Congrats on the new addition Marty, you can't go far wrong with these guys, absolute stunners, especially when you've got one that's settled!

We had our guy out yesterday for a bulb change and a viv cleanout - he's all flight with a hint of bite.

When we got him he was demented, he was a wild caught snake and a pair of fools had tried to 'tap train' him by, and I quote 'beating him around the head with a stick' (I'm sure it wasn't that severe, but you get the picture). When we convinced him we weren't a threat, he was reasonably well settled, but with lack of time or need for handling with him, he's gone back to his old ways. It's plain to be seen that he's simply terrified. He's not full blown aggressive, just afraid of what might happen if we come near him.

He's about 10 foot now, also male... Would love to have a female for him and get the opportunity to raise up some of the young... All in good time I suppose!

Once again, congrats! He's a real beauty.

Dutchology wrote:'beating him around the head with a stick'

I'm not sure why that didn't work or even cause a sever case of deadness Sounds like a fantastic training method to me

Thanks Milca, I think I have been really lucky getting a nice tame one. I wouldn't mind picking up a female myself, I'll wait 'til next year though, I need to get a load of new viv's sorted.

As far as tap training goes I think I'll stick with more conventional methods, as tame as this guy is I think whacking on the head with a stick might change that

We don't call what we do 'tap training', it's more 'letting the snake know we're there and it's not feeding time', but it certainly doesn't consist of doing anything more than touching/stroking the snake on the neck/body or head just as an advance warning of what's to come.... It works and it's 100 times safer than not doing it. At least the snake learns that it's not feeding time and doesn't assume that what's entering the viv is fair game... Most of them get it, some don't care.... lol

ive heard bout it, some guy trained his retics this its on youtube i think...
seemed to be effective with the snake, simple touch on the head be for feed i think it was....

The idea of 'tap training' is to touch them with the hook/stick to let them know it's NOT feeding time. It's used commonly by a lot of keepers and is a method that I think that ALL large constrictor keepers could do with employing as it can form part of a decent safety protocol.

This method has helped result in 0 bites by retics in this household from any of the smaller (the smallest one we ended up with was 5 foot at the time, now around 9) or larger retics :)

could very well of been!...been ages since i seen the video....
any way wat ever he was doin it was working