hey guys today i want to talk a little bit about a issue that i feel like has been popping up a lot
in the last few weeks months even years and that's do snakes make good pets and the answer that is
yes asterisk it's they make as good of pets as really any other animal that we keep as a pet
with me today is just our little fairs female her cage was a little dirty so i pulled her out and i
said hey why not take the opportunity since she's being cooperative and we'll see what she wants to
do so the reason why i say yes kind of asterisk is that keeping a snake or reptile or really any type
of animal requires a lot of forethought research and responsibility the thing is that i think what
happens a lot with snakes and stuff like that is this is that people as a whole seem to not
think as or have as much forethought about keeping an animal like this like a snake like this or a
ball python or even a large reticulated python or burmese python or iguana or something like that
as they would a cat or a dog and by that i mean you know i think a lot of has to do a little
bit with a cost too a lot of people when they very first get snakes they're very inexpensive
even for larger even for larger reptiles so you know a small king snake corn snake ball python
usually the first ones they get they're under eighty dollars you can even get you know water
monitors and and regular burmese pythons and stuff like that for under two hundred dollars
so compare that to the price of you know some dog breeds out there that is a significantly smaller
thing and i think a lot of times what happens is that they consider them almost disposable
but which is a horrible thing to think about but they they're living breathing animals that you
know we're going to take into our care just like we would a cat or a dog and that's something that
needs to be taught that needs to be thought about before you know you decide to get one and when you
do decide to get one once you've done the research where you know what it takes to responsibly care
for these things like you would a cat or a dog or a hamster or a horse if that's something that you
have the ability to do then there's nothing wrong with keeping these guys they can make amazing pets
that being said there are some species of snakes that probably don't make the
best pets for a lot of people just like there's probably a lot of other breeds of animals that
don't make good pets for a lot of people so you know a large dog you know something that can very
easily overpower you something that is natural a little bit more territorial and protective
isn't necessarily the best idea for a person who's never had a dog before comes in close contact with
a lot of other people and dogs and doesn't take the time to sit there and socialize them same
thing with you know a large reticulated python or you know all the burmese pythons and stuff like
that you know it's really easy to get a baby snake when you know burmese python when they're still a
few months old they're only about this long little maybe a little bit more thick but you know they're
very small you don't think too much about it but then in the first year they can get over six feet
long and that's something that for a lot of people even reptile people that's not something that they
can really take responsibly and so you know that's something that needs to be talked about
just like with anything else you know we can talk a little bit about you know i brought it up before
or something people kind of think of them as somewhat disposable pets and i think that's
very much the case that we can see with a lot of the releases that we see reported all the time
i'm not talking just about you know the burmese pythons down in the everglades i will never take
away from the fact that that is a big issue they shouldn't be there but there are also a lot of
other animals there that have been released that cause as much or more detriment to the environment
as them wild boar these lionfish that have been introduced even domestic cats domestic cats cause
more harm and death of native species than any other animal with the exception of human beings
on the planet and that's something that we don't like to talk about we can't ban cats because
they're cute and fluffy but everyone tries to ban snakes and reptiles and things like that
once again not saying that taking away from anything that it is an issue there it
absolutely is a problem with a lot of invasive and non-native species in habitats and environments
and that's something that because of you know there is the hurricane andrew issue and
and things out of people's control but i think it's a thing where people just don't consider
them like it's something that i want to keep forever it's a disposable animal a ball python
they stop taking care of it a corn snake they don't really consider it a thing even goldfish
that grow a little large they just throw them in ponds and that's not okay it doesn't matter
what type of animal it is it's something that you should take on responsibly that's something that
you need to you know think about have the fourth thought for thought and do research about i know
a lot of people have the you know unfortunately the connotation of the only snake is is a debt
the only good snake is a dead snake and that's imagine saying that to someone who keeps these
things i know a lot of you guys out there who have had reptiles and snakes and stuff like that
someone has said something like that to you can you imagine if you said that to someone
about like their cat or dog you know that's that's horrible why would you ever say that to them and
why would anyone think that's okay to see you you know these are amazing animals and amazing pets
that we can have and you know just a little bit of forethought when it comes to not only keeping them
but everything else one that too i mean i don't understand why people have such a horrible problem
with these guys when every other animal that we keep is just as bad if not worse i mean a
lot of people talk about you know the the large constrictor snakes attacking and killing people
and i'm not going to say that that's not something that doesn't happen or that these animals aren't
potentially dangerous but more people are you know killed in fatal dog attacks every year than have
ever been killed by a large constrictor snake more people have received medically significant cat
scratches and bites that require you know medical professional care that have ever been harmed by a
snake like this you know excluding you know wild venomous reptiles and things like that and very
heavy populated areas like africa and india and things like that but from captive animals more
people are harmed by cats and dogs than any reptile species that has ever been
and that's just something that you know a lot of people don't like to think about just because
they're a little bit different and so i'm sorry i got a little bit of ranting a little bit preachy
with this at the end but the main reason why i keep bringing this stuff up is that it's not
really great to say that one animal is a better pet than another when we have so many biases or
things like that with other animals to begin with so if if you think a snake is going to be a good
pet for you which it certainly can be these guys are great pets one of the biggest selling points
for like a pet snake that i tell people is if you only feed it once a week it only poops once a week
that makes a lot easier to deal with like if i sat there and had business card made i'm executive
poop cleaner of jay-z's reptiles but i have quite a few animals just like what happened if you had
a lot of dogs you're going to be cleaning poop a lot if you have a lot of cats you're going to be
cleaning poop a lot at least usually if you're doing that responsibly and things like that so
the biggest thing i want to take away is do snakes make good pets they absolutely make
wonderful amazing pets just do your research just like you would with any other animal
you want a cat then you have to know like okay what type of breeda cat what am i getting into
they need a litter box they need food they need water they need uh places to scratch otherwise
they're gonna tear up the furniture they need socialization they need stuff to stimulate just
like you would with these guys they need a habitat they need shelter they need water they need food
they need stuff to interact with throughout their day we're going through process and learning new
things about snakes and reptiles every day for a longest time it turns out these guys
are a lot more intelligent and cognitive than we thought for decades and everyone from the leading
professionals all the way down to little guys like me or people just keeping one ball python
are taking the next steps and furthering their lives just like we do with dogs and stuff that
we didn't know 200 years ago that we now know now and so that's what again all i want to talk about
all i want to say is that these guys do make amazing pets just because they don't have legs
doesn't take away from the fact that they're great animals that they can be amazing pets and
be a great part of anybody's lives hope this gave you a little bit of food for thought i'm sorry i
was so ranty and i keep moving this guy around but hopefully it's a little bit entertaining instead
of just watching me who let's be honest this is a little monosyllabic uh just yakking at the way of
the camera at you guys but you know a little food for thought for you guys that's all i want to say
that's all a lot of this channel is is just you know something to make people think a little bit
to give you a little bit more varied opinion a more balanced opinion not just swinging one
way or the other snakes are the best if you don't think they're the best or the worst and that's not
something i want to do that one person's better than another one you know we can take steps to
better balance to to to take the further next step in our keeping in our community as a whole
especially with times like things that are going on right now you know with our country that you
know potentially there's a lot of legislation that could end the reptile community as a whole
where potentially it could be to the point where we're not even allowed to have exotic animals
at all from any type of reptile even to like hamsters and guinea pigs and things like that so
coming together is something that i really want to bring across and i'm going to wrap this video up
really quick i promise guys i'm really sorry this one's going to be a little bit longer
but i really want people to kind of come together and say we need to stop tearing each other apart
let's take the next step when people are out there attacking everyone else it's just like
anything else when everybody else attacks one sect or one one group or one idea you know you
don't need to retaliate you know you can you can take it we need to unite we need to come together
we need to take the next best step forward and promote this hobby this community these animals
in the best way possible so that way we are allowed to continue to have the right to keep them
sorry again for the ranting videos you guys i do end up doing a lot of those things but i am kind
of a randy person general if you haven't figured that out quite yet hope you guys got something
from this video i don't know if you necessarily enjoyed it but at least gave you something to
think about please like and subscribe if you can i'll do more just specific reptile centered
videos in the future hope you guys at least got something from it and i'll catch you next time