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Posted by Dr. Phil on May 20, 2002 at 22:42:52:
In Reply to: Re: my 2 cents too... posted by dan felice on May 20, 2002 at 16:59:04:
Well of course the bigger the numbers you have, the more reliable your resulting stats are. All too often that means in this case that relatively small numbers (i.e. below a hundred) of specimens of any species being experimented with will tend to give one an impression of a scewered ratio of tame /non-tame animals in the general population of that species compared to what the true ratio is.
Case in point, the absolute worst tempered Drymarchons I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with were 2 WC black tail males, one of which was involved in the most spectacular public blood-letting this herper has ever been party to! (That would be MY blood, not the snake's) The other, picture here (I hope) in full defensive (pre blood-letting) display, is in turn the author of the only visible scar ever left on my body by a snake, and I was lucky to keep the nail on my right pinky that time. In this picture it's easy to see the head down, puffed neck pose, looking sideways, just before the full frontal "lunge". Even the female I used to breed nailed two other hapless victims other than myself during the course of her stay. Only she didn't warn you, she'd just start chomping on your arm while you were handling her, usually after at least 5 minutes of handling so you wouldn't see it coming.
On the other hand, the 3 yellow tails I've owned over the last few years have never bitten (yet), although they are way more nervous than Easterns in general. They have snapped at the front of the enclosures a few times, but I am never as weary of them when I handle them as I will always be of black tails in general, even if the last WC B/T I just purchased is relatively very tame looking so far.
So you see, not every one gets the same stats when dealing with small numbers. But from what I know of my own and others' experiences, at this point I would say at least around 30% of black tails are untrustworthy, while it could be 50/50 for yellow tails, but it's still too early for a good approximation because of the low numbers of that species in the hobby as of yet.
Dr. Phil
