Critters That Go Bump In The Night

[metaldad904]

Here's some pics of my scary critter collection of the past

This is Eris, a goliath birdeater tarantula....around 11 inches in diameter

almost 2 inch long fangs

Blue Cobalt

King Baboon

Red Baboon

Usambra Baboon (AKA Orange Bitey Thing)

Haitian Brown

Indian Ornamental

Asian Forest Scorpion

Red thicktail scorpion

Serenity-Redtail boa

Epi-male reticulate python

Mitch-male albino burmese python

Mary Jane-Female Green Anaconda

Scrub Python

Hognose Snake

Carpet Python

Pandora-Female Reticulated python, at one point was almost 12 feet long

There are more but i'm tired of finding pics, hope you enjoyed and maybe cringed a little lol

 

[bonesnsasha]

I love the way tarantulas feel when they crawl on ya it's like really light tickley feeling idk I just think it's kewl. Please tell me you don't own all of those!? If those are all your not gunna lie I'm a little jealous!

 

[Aplatitsin]

That's one big ass tarantula

 

[BlackShadowCaneCorso]

Sweet Jesus! I don't mind the snakes but don't know that I can do spiders. Even then I might change my mind if I ever had the chance to meet one.

 

[metaldad904]

Yep, several years ago i owned them all. In my high point it was something like 17 tarantulas, 8 snakes, a bunch of lizards, 3 scorpions, 2 giant centipedes, 1 frog, and probly some other stuff i'm forgetting lol. The vast majority of the tarantulas were extremely defensive and would fang you if you got anywhere near them, a few were cool enough to let them hold'em though. All the snakes I was able to handle, minus a few bites here and there

Hehe she was enormous, like holding a crab. Shockingly enough she was fairly tame, would let me hold her on occasion when in less nervous moods. Most wouldn't think of it b/c that particular kind has really bad uriticating hairs (evolutionary defense mechanism of kicking hairs with barbs on them that would cause allergic reactions, i just happened to be immune).

I got rid of my exotic collection awhile back, it was just too much to handle on a daily basis. Sometimes i think getting back into it but if i ever do it'll be on a much smaller scale. If you think dogs are a handful, imagine having an army of animals that would rather attack you then show you any sort of affection lol. If i do return it will only be for a few species that i have dubbed my favorites, mostly snakes....thats always been a big passion of mine.

---------- Post added at 08:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:43 PM ----------

Sweet Jesus! I don't mind the snakes but don't know that I can do spiders. Even then I might change my mind if I ever had the chance to meet one.

At first even I was extremely nervous around them, i would shake anytime if was cage cleaning time or anything involved with moving them but over time you get used to their habits and what they will/won't tolerate. Needless to say i would NEVER recommend the majority of what i owned for a novice keeper....a lot are quite dangerous, not necessarily deadly but will ruin your month if you get fanged!

Some of the best for dealing with are rose hairs, sold in any pet store. Very tame for the most part, also several tree climbing species were pretty docile. It also depends on how comfortable you are with them, if you are freaking out odds are they are gonna be pretty freaked as well. Shockingly, i was never tagged by a tarantula, ever...always very mindful of what they were trying to tell me. Snake on the other hand i cant even count the bites. Epi probly hit me a good hundred times, he was my loveable little jerk haha. Pandora got me the worst once, it was feeding time and i was an idiot and didn't wash my hands between handling a rat and grabbing her. The second she smelled it she dug into my arm and wrapped. My whole arm turned purple within a half second and blood went everywhere. I got her off fairly quickly by dunking her in some water (she didn't seem to like that) and she was totally cool afterwards. Not her fault, all mine...they are very instinctual animals and as long as you abide by that they are usually a breeze.

 

[metaldad904]

Sweet Jesus! I don't mind the snakes but don't know that I can do spiders. Even then I might change my mind if I ever had the chance to meet one.

At first even I was extremely nervous around them, i would shake anytime if was cage cleaning time or anything involved with moving them but over time you get used to their habits and what they will/won't tolerate. Needless to say i would NEVER recommend the majority of what i owned for a novice keeper....a lot are quite dangerous, not necessarily deadly but will ruin your month if you get fanged!

Some of the best for dealing with are rose hairs, sold in any pet store. Very tame for the most part, also several tree climbing species were pretty docile. It also depends on how comfortable you are with them, if you are freaking out odds are they are gonna be pretty freaked as well. Shockingly, i was never tagged by a tarantula, ever...always very mindful of what they were trying to tell me. Snake on the other hand i cant even count the bites. Epi probly hit me a good hundred times, he was my loveable little jerk haha. Pandora got me the worst once, it was feeding time and i was an idiot and didn't wash my hands between handling a rat and grabbing her. The second she smelled it she dug into my arm and wrapped. My whole arm turned purple within a half second and blood went everywhere. I got her off fairly quickly by dunking her in some water (she didn't seem to like that) and she was totally cool afterwards. Not her fault, all mine...they are very instinctual animals and as long as you abide by that they are usually a breeze.

 

[mkj878]

Wow...Scrubs are definitely a handful...I used to keep green tree pythons, carpets, emerald tree boas, boa constrictors, retics and a few hoggies...but I can't do T's.

 

[bonesnsasha]

I'd love to get some snakes my brothers got some I don't know that I could take care of them though. Not a huge fan of mice/rats dead or alive...

 

[metaldad904]

Wow...Scrubs are definitely a handful...I used to keep green tree pythons, carpets, emerald tree boas, boa constrictors, retics and a few hoggies...but I can't do T's.

Scrubs are a whole different kind of snake imo. I've never had a more alert and attentive snake in my life. They watch EVERYTHING you do and you can rarely get anything by them. Kinda similar to a retic in some ways but hypersensitive to visual cues. She was pretty tame after a couple months of handling (and tons of band-aids lol).

I always wanted an emerald tree boa but the humidity requirements and everything are such a pain i just didn't feel like dealing with them. A lot of the more arboreal snakes are much more defensive and fragile so i've always tended to stay away from them.

---------- Post added at 08:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:55 PM ----------

I'd love to get some snakes my brothers got some I don't know that I could take care of them though. Not a huge fan of mice/rats dead or alive...

Mice and rats are gross and carry so many diseases i felt like i was doing a service to the world taking them down one rodent at a time lol

 

[metaldad904]

I'd love to get some snakes my brothers got some I don't know that I could take care of them though. Not a huge fan of mice/rats dead or alive...

Mice and rats are gross and carry so many diseases i felt like i was doing a service to the world taking them down one rodent at a time lol

 

[mkj878]

Scrubs are a whole different kind of snake imo. I've never had a more alert and attentive snake in my life. They watch EVERYTHING you do and you can rarely get anything by them. Kinda similar to a retic in some ways but hypersensitive to visual cues. She was pretty tame after a couple months of handling (and tons of band-aids lol).

I always wanted an emerald tree boa but the humidity requirements and everything are such a pain i just didn't feel like dealing with them. A lot of the more arboreal snakes are much more defensive and fragile so i've always tended to stay away from them.

---------- Post added at 08:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:55 PM ----------



Mice and rats are gross and carry so many diseases i felt like i was doing a service to the world taking them down one rodent at a time lol

The arboreals were my favorite! I had 6 green trees, had to downsize my beautiful collection to move and that was the worst mistake of my life. I miss them, and most are nearly as unhandleable as they're said to be if you know how to treat them correctly. Retics were, IMO, the dogs of the snake world though, they knew who was coming in to their cage and why...my two did anyway. I had an albino male and a jampea/mainland cross female

 

[AKBull]

Oh hells no on the spiders! Daddy long legs are about as vicious as I can go.

 

[metaldad904]

The arboreals were my favorite! I had 6 green trees, had to downsize my beautiful collection to move and that was the worst mistake of my life. I miss them, and most are nearly as unhandleable as they're said to be if you know how to treat them correctly. Retics were, IMO, the dogs of the snake world though, they knew who was coming in to their cage and why...my two did anyway. I had an albino male and a jampea/mainland cross female

I'm in the same boat, i regret a lot about getting rid of my collections...it is what it is. You're totally right about retics, so incredibly bright. Mine knew exactly when feeding day was and would get so excited when i broke out the "rat plate" for them. My big girl would raise up and watch from inside her cage as i prepared everything. Damn the feeding response was strong, although she never hit me other than that one time unlike the dumb burmese. He would miss his target half the time and hit me instead, stupid fat snake lol.

---------- Post added at 09:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:03 PM ----------

Oh hells no on the spiders! Daddy long legs are about as vicious as I can go.

They are incredibly intimidating, i won't deny that but i couldn't deny the fascination. Even today i try my best to save any 8 legged freak i come across.

 

[metaldad904]

Oh hells no on the spiders! Daddy long legs are about as vicious as I can go.

They are incredibly intimidating, i won't deny that but i couldn't deny the fascination. Even today i try my best to save any 8 legged freak i come across.

 

[mkj878]

Burms were never in the same class as retics to me, "stupid fat snake" about sums them up hahaha

 

[metaldad904]

Burms were never in the same class as retics to me, "stupid fat snake" about sums them up hahaha

Totally agree! Cool snakes no matter what but they are basically just bottomless pits to feed rats and rabbits to.