[Rain]

Just an honest question. Everyone always hears how Afrocks are known for being massive agressive horrid animals only a phycopath would go near. Now, retics were known for similar when they first came into the hobby as WCs, and now CBs are prooving to be much more managable.
So, what's the truth about Afrocks?

 

[essexchondro]

Just an honest question. Everyone always hears how Afrocks are known for being massive agressive horrid animals only a phycopath would go near. Now, retics were known for similar when they first came into the hobby as WCs, and now CBs are prooving to be much more managable.
So, what's the truth about Afrocks?

I have no eperience with the species at all, but my guess would be that working with them would go through a similar process that we've seen with GTP's, ETB's, an the retics that you've already mentioned. The more that people start working with CB's, the less the species seems to live up to its nasty reputation.

 

[matt83]

If you type afrocks in to the search engine you'l find loads of posts containing mine and others thoughts on them. This is starting to become a weekly question :lol2:. I never would have dreamt that they were so popular. : victory:

 

[pam b]

Our Afrock used to be quite a calm girl, huff and puff yes but all bluff.
An aquired taste though for handeling, stronger than a Burmese but wizzy like a corn is how i explain it.:lol2:

 

[paulds]

I helped out for 2 weeks at a shop near where I was living at the time, they had a 12ft WC one. When I first saw it I nearly pooped, it was hissing loudly and gaping.

It was in a large walk in enclosure and the guy running the shop asked me to come in with him with a dust pan for the usual. He took the precaution of bring a long handled broom to pin the snake is needed but when I got in there the hissing stopped near enough straight away and when the snake did take lunges they were often pretty predictable.

As I say I was only there two weeks but in that time I found enough confidence to face the business end of it myself.

My opinion would be Yes they can be agressive but they are not an impossible snake to work with.

This is obviously only experience of one snake, others may be more agressive and others may be total dream. I do have a hell of an appreciation for these guys though :2thumb:

 

[rickpellen]

Wow, i swear this came up last week, see sig!!​

 

[xSophiex]

i've only ever met one afrock but she was a sweetie :flrt:

 

[loxocemus]

ask bluejen she has a few and just hatched a clutch too, a rarity in these days of captive farming.

rgds
edward

Just an honest question. Everyone always hears how Afrocks are known for being massive agressive horrid animals only a phycopath would go near. Now, retics were known for similar when they first came into the hobby as WCs, and now CBs are prooving to be much more managable.
So, what's the truth about Afrocks?

 

[steve d]

i've only ever met one afrock but she was a sweetie :flrt:

its very much down to the individual ive only owned 14 large adults and quite a few young but i can say from experience that more of mine were handlable than not but that said when you own an aggressive rock you will certainly see what they are capable of they can be very confrontational also i love the warning hiss of adult rocks it almost sounds like an alligator bellowing ive not known another giant snake to be so vocal i think they are one of the most stunning snakes their face is pretty its a real shame theres not many big adults around anymore

 

[Kat91]

its very much down to the individual ive only owned 14 large adults and quite a few young but i can say from experience that more of mine were handlable than not but that said when you own an aggressive rock you will certainly see what they are capable of they can be very confrontational also i love the warning hiss of adult rocks it almost sounds like an alligator bellowing ive not known another giant snake to be so vocal i think they are one of the most stunning snakes their face is pretty its a real shame theres not many big adults around anymore

I have seen first hand what they are capable of! poor Ryan had his finger broken by his big female when she struck him and constricted - it was nasty, lots of blood and a deep open cut too.

and their hiss is very loud and intimidating! the first time I heard one hiss I thought it was something else!

 

[ryanr1987]

Afrock where one of the first snakes i ever worked with when i got into snakes and have since then been around over 60 afrocks and also have had the experience raising them from babys to adults and i can say from experience they are the most unpredictable of the big snakes. I have always had the attitude that they are not that bad if raised right whikle this can be correct they should never ever be trusted even if you think they are docile! with constant handling and interaction of any sort from a young age they can become docile to the point they can be handled fine but what io have noticed from afrocks is they are very smart and any mistake i.e has a bad day to the point where you have to grab there head and restrain them they seem to really remember this for a long time it's like you have to start from square one and all your progress has gone out the window..now this doesn't happen to all afrocks but i have noticed it with most. A pissed off afrock will almost certainly :censor: your world up if given the chance out of the big snakes they are certainly among the most powerful on a par with green anacondas imo maybe even the most powerful at full size. I had the pleasure of my 10-11ft female attack me in full feeding response and she certainly done me some damage i ended up at the hospital with a broken finger and wounds on my leg and my finger and the power of her was amazing for such a young female i have had bites from adult giants before and by far i came off worse with the younger smaller afrock! now think what a 14-15ft 200+ lb female can do i don't care how big you are you are not going to stop a full grown afrock from taking you down! it's something to think about really when owning these..now how bad are they really? it depends who you ask and there experience on them really. hope this helps

 

[steve d]

Afrock where one of the first snakes i ever worked with when i got into snakes and have since then been around over 60 afrocks and also have had the experience raising them from babys to adults and i can say from experience they are the most unpredictable of the big snakes. I have always had the attitude that they are not that bad if raised right whikle this can be correct they should never ever be trusted even if you think they are docile! with constant handling and interaction of any sort from a young age they can become docile to the point they can be handled fine but what io have noticed from afrocks is they are very smart and any mistake i.e has a bad day to the point where you have to grab there head and restrain them they seem to really remember this for a long time it's like you have to start from square one and all your progress has gone out the window..now this doesn't happen to all afrocks but i have noticed it with most. A pissed off afrock will almost certainly :censor: your world up if given the chance out of the big snakes they are certainly among the most powerful on a par with green anacondas imo maybe even the most powerful at full size. I had the pleasure of my 10-11ft female attack me in full feeding response and she certainly done me some damage i ended up at the hospital with a broken finger and wounds on my leg and my finger and the power of her was amazing for such a young female i have had bites from adult giants before and by far i came off worse with the younger smaller afrock! now think what a 14-15ft 200+ lb female can do i don't care how big you are you are not going to stop a full grown afrock from taking you down! it's something to think about really when owning these..now how bad are they really? it depends who you ask and there experience on them really. hope this helps

sounds like you had fun with your little rock girl there mate i have to say a 14 to 15ft rock at 200lb would be very fat indeed it would need to have a 28in girth+ to get near 200lb.ive also raised many from hatchling to full grown adults i have to say despite popular belief they dont hit 10ft then become outright psychos like ive heard many claim in shops etc recently.ive been constricted by a 14ft+ very aggressive rock they are an extremely powerful constrictor to say the least they dont take prisoners put it that way but they are no more dangerous than any of the other giant snakes having felt the full on squeeze of a 18ft+ wild caught retic for myself i can vouch for that its just there is a higher percentage of rock pythons which are prepared to have a good go so they keep you on your toes

 

[118-118]

Mine is still young and she does hiss alot on certain days sometimes just cos im in the room but she has never struck or even had an agro hiss its all defensive but is fine when shes out except shes as wriggly as my pueblan milk. Im confident she will be an ok adult but im also positive my first ever tag will be off her.

My female boa hisses and once struck but this was a day after giving birth n was super food agro. No matter how loudly she hisses i just grab her n get her out without any caution. Im very aware that i will never do this with my rock. But thats part of the fhallenge. I doubt i would ever breed cos i can imagine getting aload of ten foot aggressive snakes returned a few years down the line.