A snake that size should never be handled by one person solo, especially when they're hungry. We don't even handle our 6-foot boas solo when they're hungry, but always with someone else present.
Which typically means she handles the food, while I'm the one who gets my hand bit trying to get a hungry boa out of its enclosure.
Fortunately, a few drops of vodka around the mouth will get them to let go fairly quickly.
With a big retic, I'd expect to have 2-3 people hands-on, not just standing by. They aren't one of the calmer sorts.
Agreed. Reticulated pythons and Anacondas are not to be trusted.
I'd qualify that somewhat. Anacondas can be trusted; they can be trusted to always be aggressive and short-tempered, especially when feeding. But that actually makes them fairly predictable, and therefore easier to handle if you're experienced and know how to deal with a very large, heavy, aggressive snakes.
Reticulated pythons, however, cannot be trusted. They are highly unpredictable. A Retic can be as docile and easy to manage as a Burmese python 9 times out of 10, so that it's easy to forget how mercurial they can be, and be taken off guard when they suddenly decide to get aggressive for no apparent reason. Of course, that's true enough for most snakes, but Retics in particular.
If you want outright mean, and lightning fast, you can't beat a Green Tree Python. Those are definitely not snakes that are amenable to being handled, and have very, very long teeth for their size.
Personally, as much as I tend to want to avoid too much government intervention in people's lives, I'm all for prohibition or heavy regulation of giant snakes (any heavy-bodied snake that consistently gets over about 6-7 feet). They're simply too dangerous, and very few people have the resources or training to deal with them once they get that big. Herp societies and rescue agencies are commonly overloaded with Burmese pythons who simply got too big for their owners to handle, or even find sufficient space for. And the most common reason people keep Burmese pythons is because "snakes are cool", and the bigger the snake, the "cooler" it is. The normally docile nature of Burms doesn't hurt, and serves to disguise just how difficult they can be to handle once they get to their full adult weight and size. Further, too many people have the misconception that if you feed it less, it grows less; and what they end up with is a malnourished, perpetually hungry, and thereby more aggressive animal that they quickly find themselves unable to manage.
