Do you guys have any cats and dogs in your house? Have you ever worried about something happening?

I no longer keep big snakes but at one time I did. And I did have a medium size dog in the house. The snakes may not have been large enough to eat the dog, but they certainly could have killed the dog.

My solution was good, solid, locked cages and a secure locked room.

MHO if you keep giant snakes they should be in a room they cant escape from even if they get out of the cage. In 8 years with big snakes I had one escape. And he didnt make it out of the room. Just went to my supply shelf, knocked everything off and caught some Zzzs.

I have Retics, and I also have 2 pitbulls and my daughters, 6 months, 2 years, and 10 years. My Retics are in my snake room which is a finished basement behind a locked door. Also with proper enclosures (these aren't animals you're going to keep in a glass aquarium with a screen top) I haven't had any problems with one escaping except for babies that were in sterilite totes.

I would consider big animals almost like hots, you MUST take the proper safety measures when it comes to housing your animal. If you do, then you shouldn't have any problems.

:lol:Do you guys have any cats and dogs in your house? Have you ever worried about something happening?
i only have boas now as a big snake but when i did have burms and retics i always keep the dog and cats out of the snake room now i have a yorkie and the boas alway look at her and i think they are thinking looking good doggy come on over and let me give you a hug

To chime in, I have had my retic for almost 20 years now.
I have in that time, had 3 cats - still have one.
4 dogs - still have 2.
one son, who is now 10 years old.
Correct cages are a must. That simple.
My retic never was interested in the cats or dogs. Even with cats sleeping on top of the cage or in plain sight.
The dogs were either afraid of the snake or intrigued by it.
If you do not have a dedicated room with door, your caging must be "custom" of sorts. I would NEVER keep a large boid in a vision (or any other slider setup) for example in an "open" environment.

I've got 2 pits and just put them in their kennels when I take any of my big snakes out...when they have been out around them the snakes don't seem bothered by them anyway but would much rather be safe than sorry.

Dogs make good eating, do you know how many rabbits it takes to get a big retic full...
THE B

I have a couple of Big guys that would make a meal of my dogs of they had the chance, i have also had a very recent escape (male got out by breaking through the glass front of his 10ft cage...he didn’t get hurt, but there was one hell of a mess....can’t get out of the facility though.
Keep in and the dogs outside..simple as that.
THE B

My dog freezes at the door to my herp room. I dont keep big stuff but used to keep HOTS. I trained my dog from day one, stay outta the herp room. My kids were never allowed in if any of the HOT cages were even unlocked.

Take the right precautions, and use the right equipment.

Damon i just realized you said 20 Years....DAM!!!!
How big is that guy?
THE B

Our dog is 60lbs, but she's not allowed in the reptile room, she doesn't go in there unless invited. But our cat just LOVES to sneak in the room when the door is open, she's only 6 lbs and some of my adult female ball pythons would love nothing more than to make a snack of her, I know this by the thwacking at the front of their tubs. Our retic is only a baby right now, he's kept in a 32qt tub, but to prevent any issue we installed a lock on the door to keep her out.

Damon you got to go into more detail and tell the rabbit and cat story...that is to funny.:rockon:

Correct cages are a must no matter what your keeping....accidents will happen but you have to do everything you can to avoid them

I've got a couple cats along with 9 retics. Never had a problem with them going after the cats. My bengal does try to get them irritated at times, though. He will stand up with his front paws against the plexi and stare at one of them for awhile. I've only seen her strike the glass once from him trying to piss her off. I don't allow the cats in the herp room when I have the big ones out, though. I wouldn't want to chance having to pry a retic off of a little kitty.

Cats make good eeting too...
THE B

Dogs and cats are what real pets eat.

Dogs and cats are what real pets eat.

Dave Quote of the week....:cheers:

Ok, JC... I dug up some old stuff for you.
The story on the cat is that we had this silver cat that ALWAYS slept on top of the retic cage. And I mean EVERY cage the retic was ever in. That was the cat's spot. Nice and warm... Anyhow, this cat and the retic were "buddies" of sorts. They new each other very well. They were together for 11 years before the cat died. The retic was about 6 years old I guess when we got the cat. The retic is now 18. Cat died of some sort of liver disease. I digress...
My retic eats live prey. Many years ago, we got a batch of rabbits and one of them looked exactly like the cat. I mean the color was dead on.
I tried to feed that rabbit to the retic on 3 different occaisions. No dice. took it out and put in a different color and gone... Wierdest thing, but it's the truth. The retic would not eat that rabbit that looked like the cat.
So, here's some really crappy and really old footage/pics.
The avi's probably won't stream, so you may need save target to view.

http://www.eyehit.com/~damon/SNAKE6.avi
http://www.eyehit.com/~damon/SNAKE5.avi
http://www.eyehit.com/~damon/sabdrake.jpg
http://www.eyehit.com/~damon/sabkai.jpg
http://www.eyehit.com/~damon/sabzoey.jpg

The moral of the story is... I don't know, Jeff and I were talking about it so I just figured i'd go into the wayback machine. I was probably heating that fish tank with a heating pad from Walgreens on no control back then.

One last one for ya Jeff... This was taken in Jan. 1991...

http://www.eyehit.com/images/temp/s1.jpg

http://www.eyehit.com/images/temp/s1.jpg

Good story man, and that pic is just to funny to think of her that size....:lol:

Dave Quote of the week....:cheers:

Thanks J! My ex(back in high school) had two cats and five dogs in her house and about twelve cats outside. Whenever she went out to feed them, all you could see was a six foot circle of cat hair. So I hate furry pets, a lot! As far as warm blooded creatures go, I like white rhinos, but they're out of my price range for now.

Hi Damon.
Dam 18 year old retic, respect man, what size is that snake on by now?
Must be a monster!
THE B

She is not huge. 16-17 foot range. Most likely WC, I suppose due to age/time and always been a somewhat picky eater that goes through annual fasts.

Dave Quote of the week....:cheers:

Ask and you shall receive. :yessir: