Why do reptile people seem to prefer retics over burms? From my understanding retics are rather defensive. Why would people flock to a massive, bitey snake?
Sorry I missed this! I apparently missed a whole bunch of asks, aiee.
I don’t think all retics are defensive, nor are all Burms all that passive. They are both species that can be defensive. Retics do have a bit more of a reputation. But they’re not, in my opinion, anywhere near the level of reactivity as say, rock pythons.
That said I don’t see people flocking to them, personally. I have a large number of burm keepers that I know online, and I have a large number of retic keepers i know. On tumblr I have an auto-tag for Burmese but don’t come across retics often enough to program that in. Locally I know waaaay more Burm keepers. So that might be regional.
I think a big part of the appeal of retics is the large number of morphs available.
Some people like snakes with the personality retics have. If they’re handling them safely and taking proper care of them, then there’s no problem with having that kind of preference. Neither Burms nor retics are snakes for a beginner snake keeper, or solo handler once they get big.