yes, i didn’t mean to derail the thread so much however there are several things here that i would say in response - first, i am not saying people should do thing which they are uncomfortable with or would otherwise be actively taking exceptional risks, etc - what i have been saying is i think SD/D retics -9 ft can be 1 person snakes, and, i also think the “1 person” range of care can be species specific because i don’t think a 10-11 foot scrub python is a “2 person” animal since body wise they’re basically large black snakes with python heads, some males can only 10-15 lbs, the weight of a chunky house cat *BUT* ultimately, if i ever felt 1 of my snakes was too much to handle i would simply just have my bf (6’7, v huge) spot me

the point about dogs is both comparable and v significant here because out of all the retics, mainland and otherwise, that have been produced and sold in the US, only 1 death has ever been recorded and attributed to retics compared to the dozens and dozens of fatal dog attacks that happen each and every year - from *domesticated* dogs too - my neighbor’s security cam caught on tape 5 unruly, and big dogs chasing her down and actively hunting/attacking her like a wolf pack - had her husband not shot out of the house with a large metal pipe and chased them away it could’ve been fatal, easily - yet we perceive 1 animal one way, and the other a different way

despite pop culture, dogs are significantly dangerous and if i were to pluck a juvenile wild wolf pup out of the forest it would absolutely be unpredictable and would have the potential to critically and/or fatally attack another animal or human being - i don’t see how it *wouldn’t* be comparable to retics, mainland or otherwise - particularly given that actual wolves are way bigger than a lot of people realize

is all that to say that we should hang the rules and throw caution to the wind? no, that would be silly but i am saying that i think, given locality and size, some retics can be a 1 person animal, some need teams and a lot of resources and basically a whole basement or facility to keep and that bloodlines matter and have an impact on generalized behavior patterns