NPR

Life was plain and simple for my wife and I: just her, me and 1 dog. Then we adopted our son, 14 years old and big into exotic pets. Within 3 years we now have:

4 dogs (admittedly 1 is my mother-in-law's who is now staying with us - the MIIL and her dog)

2 Ball Pythons. This quantity will increase dramatically soon.
1 Kenyan Sand Boa
2 Tenrecs
2 Porcupines
1 Leopard Gecko
1 Bearded Dragon - qty will also increase soon
11 Tarantulas (I'm not ecstatic over this)

Planning on getting at least two Red-tail Boas soon.

Considering an Iguana and a Reticulated Python. Both are rather dangerous so not 100% sure yet.


Only the spiders are my son's exclusively, the rest are family pets.

Dang, that must be a mammoth food bill.

Oh, wait...

I also have a 2 ball Python

Gumboot wrote: Sun Jan 07, 2024 10:18 am Dang, that must be a mammoth food bill.

The exotics are extremely cheap to feed. The Ball Pythons are young adults so 1 small mouse each. The Sand Boa is still a baby so one pinky per week.

The rest are small meals of worms, crickets, fruits and veggies.

I would estimate it's more expensive to feed one dog than the exotics combined.

The Red-tail Boas and Reticulated Pythons can be used to take care of any cat problem.

Most of the animals are rescues which I got for free, complete with cages so input costs were also minimal.

troglodiet wrote: Sun Jan 07, 2024 10:42 am

Gumboot wrote: Sun Jan 07, 2024 10:18 am Dang, that must be a mammoth food bill.

The exotics are extremely cheap to feed. The Ball Pythons are young adults so 1 small mouse each. The Sand Boa is still a baby so one pinky per week.

The rest are small meals of worms, crickets, fruits and veggies.

I would estimate it's more expensive to feed one dog than the exotics combined.

The Red-tail Boas and Reticulated Pythons can be used to take care of any cat problem.

Most of the animals are rescues which I got for free, complete with cages so input costs were also minimal.

good man, we've always had rescues

Yeeb wrote: Sun Jan 07, 2024 10:34 am I also have a 2 ball Python

See what you did there.

troglodiet wrote: Sun Jan 07, 2024 9:46 am Life was plain and simple for my wife and I: just her, me and 1 dog. Then we adopted our son, 14 years old and big into exotic pets. Within 3 years we now have:

4 dogs (admittedly 1 is my mother-in-law's who is now staying with us - the MIIL and her dog)

2 Ball Pythons. This quantity will increase dramatically soon.
1 Kenyan Sand Boa
2 Tenrecs
2 Porcupines
1 Leopard Gecko
1 Bearded Dragon - qty will also increase soon
11 Tarantulas (I'm not ecstatic over this)

Planning on getting at least two Red-tail Boas soon.

Considering an Iguana and a Reticulated Python. Both are rather dangerous so not 100% sure yet.


Only the spiders are my son's exclusively, the rest are family pets.

Really? How so?

First time I've ever seen Tenrecs and Porcupines listed as pets!

sockwithaticket wrote: Sun Jan 07, 2024 1:23 pm

troglodiet wrote: Sun Jan 07, 2024 9:46 am Life was plain and simple for my wife and I: just her, me and 1 dog. Then we adopted our son, 14 years old and big into exotic pets. Within 3 years we now have:

4 dogs (admittedly 1 is my mother-in-law's who is now staying with us - the MIIL and her dog)

2 Ball Pythons. This quantity will increase dramatically soon.
1 Kenyan Sand Boa
2 Tenrecs
2 Porcupines
1 Leopard Gecko
1 Bearded Dragon - qty will also increase soon
11 Tarantulas (I'm not ecstatic over this)

Planning on getting at least two Red-tail Boas soon.

Considering an Iguana and a Reticulated Python. Both are rather dangerous so not 100% sure yet.


Only the spiders are my son's exclusively, the rest are family pets.

Really? How so?

First time I've ever seen Tenrecs and Porcupines listed as pets!

Tenrecs make wonderful pets. Intelligent little bastards too (closest relative of elephants). Both of our Tenrecs respond to their names when we call them, then come running towards us to pick them up, and they end up snuggling on our shoulder/neck area. Just don't piss them off, they do have a rather painful bite, but nothing serious.

Porcupines have always been kept as pets in the old days in South Africa, more so in the days when more people stayed on farms. Bite is the same as Tenrecs, but they have a lot more teeth, so this is "pretend it's not sore" territory. Hilarious when they bite a family member though.

As for the two "dangerous animals": they are successfully kept as pets, but you need to be careful. Retics is the only species of snake confirmed to have swallowed a human (2 instances recorded). Not that big of a chance if you stick to basics, but they have the nastiest bite of all the big snakes. Anacondas is a much safer bet, they're very chilled, despite being the same length as retics, but 3-4 time the weight (100kg is not uncommon).

Iguanas are a bit of a gamble. About 30% of them end up more docile than a Chihuahua and if you get this you will have the best pet available. But if you end up with a really aggro one, be prepared for bites which WILL cause you to end up in hospital, with possible chunks of meat gone. Fortunately they're not that prone to biting humans, but they tail whip, which can break your arm or leg. And they're not shy of using this little strategy - even the tame ones do it when they're having an off day.

Both Iguanas and Retics seem to become tamer the more generations are born in captivity though.

Very interesting. I've only ever really seen non-EU reptiles in zoo tanks or on TV/the internet and random wiki searches have only ever taken me down rabbit holes for stuff like the boomslang and black mamba, so very much an area of ignorance. Guess I never really considered constrictor snakes as biters and certainly had no idea an iguana's tail whip could be that forceful.

Rentokil will sort you out in one, maybe two visits mate.

sockwithaticket wrote: Tue Jan 09, 2024 3:20 pm Very interesting. I've only ever really seen non-EU reptiles in zoo tanks or on TV/the internet and random wiki searches have only ever taken me down rabbit holes for stuff like the boomslang and black mamba, so very much an area of ignorance. Guess I never really considered constrictor snakes as biters and certainly had no idea an iguana's tail whip could be that forceful.

Yeah, me neither, but I'm quite ignorant on iguanas in general.

Knew that about monitor lizards though. We used to live in a house close to a large game reserve when I was a kid. Lots of snakes, tortoises and monitor lizards ended up in our yard. Also ran into a couple of big ones on my grandfather's farm. That tail is a weapon!