Super Dwarf Reticulated Python Care and Information

[reptileexperts]

Alright guys, I get a lot of messages regarding Super Dwarf Reticulated Pythons (SD Retics) so I wanted to make a culmulative thread that covers the basics as well as many of the genetics involved with these snakes (Mutation %s, locality translations, etc). This is not meant to be a catch all, but it is meant to be a generic resource for those seeking information on these amazing creatures. I’m pulling much of this from an article I’m writing for Reptilian Magazine (German based) so in the future, those who speak German can grab the article, or check it out online . . . bis dan (till then) . . .
Reticulated pythons are known as one of the largest growing python species in the world (length, not weight – that title still remains with the Burmese and potentially Anaconda – a boa sp.) this makes them a challenge for captivity for many keepers. Not everyone is prepared to feed an 18’ snake, or much less house it, or even care for it when cleanings are needed. While growing these giants can be highly rewarding, there is still something to be said for their smaller counterparts, something just as rewarding watching their growth rates and the variation between individuals, and even just between collections (different breeders use different feeding strategies). Of course, if we compare a dwarf boa (3’) to a Super Dwarf Retic (7’) we are still dealing with a pretty large species that is quick, always hungry, and seemingly highly intelligent when compared to other python species.

Bob Clark imported a small batch of reticulated pythons that came from a smaller island off of the main islands of Indonesia. These females were gravid, and barely over 6’! From these eggs, produced incredibly small hatchlings when compared to “mainland” retics (30-45g vs 110+grams) Bob was fortunate enough to be wise in marketing and named these smaller reticulated pythons “Super Dwarfs” (Bob Clark, Reptiles Magazine 2002). The problem was these were slightly more flighty, sometimes bity, and more problematic, there were no mutations. This is when we came to the crossings of SD and mainland retics.

When people sell, advertise, SD retics, they will generally have a % in front of the term SD, this is calculated based on how much of the original SD bloodline is left in the cross. Many people have begin crossing up to 3 generations back into SD after getting the mutation transferred creating smaller and smaller Tigers, Albinos, and more! Let’s take a look at an example of creating 75% SD Tiger het albino:

We start with an Albino Super tiger male, and we cross him with a pure SD retic . . . All the young are born and we have all offspring as 50% SD Tiger het Albinos. If we then took these offspring and bred them together – we would hit F2 50% SD Super Tiger Albinos. . . Ok, now we’re going to take one of these and cross it back to mom, the original SD retic (pure). Again, all offspring will be Tiger het Albino, but in this case they will be 75% SD blood (25% from dad, 50% from mom). Of course, getting to this point already took a GOOD bit of time with 3 years minimum for the first females to get up to size, and then another 18 months for the male to get up to size to breed back to mom. Nearly 5 years vested JUST for Tiger Hets that are 75% SD. . .
Whenever you start getting interested into SD retics, it is very important that you understand that only Anery came from an SD locale originally, so the only pure morph you can get is Anery (for example, my adult breedable Anery SD Male is just under 5’). Any other morph (Tiger, Albino, Platinum, Sunfire, Motley, Pied, Blonde, etc) came from mainland blood, and thus the offspring WILL have mainland blood in them (larger growing). There are a few mutations that were known to originate from dwarf blood (Cow(Phantom + Orange Ghost Stripe), GC, Genetic Stripe) but these are still potentially larger growing females (12-16’).
Alright, you have an idea of the % SD blood, but what do you need to know now? Perhaps it’s a good idea to look into a couple questions: 1) How large were the parents? 2) What were their known localities. One of the issues with the term SD is it’s quite ambiguous. People use it to refer to 3-4 different locales that are known to achieve different sizes (ranging from 5-10’):

Kalatoa: 5-7’ with some pure females still attaining 9’
Kayuadi: 7-10’ (Questionable as a Dwarf Locale with some females getting larger)
Madu: 6-10’
Honey Island: 7-9’ (Least available it seems)

And taking a look at some of the dwarf locales in comparison: Yellowheads (10-14’), Selayar (Where Genetic Stripe originated) (8-13’), and Jampea (8-16’)
When we start crossing these bloodlines with mainland blood, it’s not always cut and dry how large a snake will get. Many 50% SD blood lines are breeding around 7-9’ in length, with a few very strongly fed females breeding at 12’ in length. Once you get to the 75% SD mark its arguable that the influence from mainland is not there. My standpoint, and again JUST my standpoint, is that 25% of mainland blood does still effect the size, and if fed heavily, these females will still maintain a length up to 10’ even with 75% being in the Kalatoa locality. Let’s examine the evolution of super dwarf / dwarf and how our husbandry might effect this.
Smaller retic locales are located on smaller island chains off of the main cost of Indonesia. Resource availability is not always as abundant as other islands, thus creating a demand for animals to either evolve to use less food (smaller animals, slower metabolism) or die. Over time through environmental pressures, smaller and smaller reticulated pythons were selected, where the larger individuals would continue to die and not be able to pass on their genes. A look at the island of Jampea. This is an island that contains a very large breeding colony of seabirds. During the breeding season, these snakes have an abundance of food with bird hatchlings as their prey. After this peak, however, they will go back into a slower period where food is scarce. . . These are one of the most variable dwarf species. Many females have bred at 9’, while other females are breeding at 16’. Feeding amount seems to have an influence!

Husbandry basics:

SD Retic crosses are still one of the best kept pets in a growing market, where legislation is fighting us. They retain the personality of the mainlands, but are variable enough to be found in a small package. Pure SDs are flighty as mentioned before. They are smaller, and males almost feel like handling a very fast and aggressive corn snake. But, when you cross them into mainland, the blood seems to have an influence on their attitudes. Not only do they get bigger, but they also seems to be much calmer, and now you have morphs, and variation to availability. Housing SD retics is nearly identical to their mainland counterparts, just smaller in cage requirements. A basking spot of 92 degrees should be offered, and a background ambient around 80-82. A cool side can range from 76-80. And Humidity should be kept around 65% with a large water area offered as many retics will enjoy a soak. A hide can be offered, but do not be surprised if it is rarely used. Young SD retics (6-12 months) will use a hide if given, but once they are past the year mark, it will vary based on individuals. Males can be housed in a 3x2x2 cage for pure SD, and 50% SD crosses and greater can be housed in a 4’x2’x2’ enclosure. Pure females likewise can be kept in a 4’x2’x2’ enclosure, where 50% SD may do better in a larger enclosure like a Vision 432 or 600 series (4’x3’x2’ or 6’x2’x1.3’). When you get into the bigger crosses with Dwarf Blood being the major contributor, you can consider the same requirements as 50% SD crosses with SOME larger females needing a minimum 6’x2’x1.3’ (vision 600) cage.

How to feed:

Feeding schedules kind of vary with keepers and even with snakes. Pure SD will come out of the egg and be ready to feed on adult mice right off the bat, 50% SD crosses, will come out and be taking Rat pups readily, and Dwarfs may come out ready to take on Weanling rats. For myself this is the feeding schedule that I used, and it worked VERY well, but it did have varying results across individuals. . . For the first 6-12 months, they were fed once every 4 days until they made it to Medium rats. Once they hit medium rats they were dropped to every 7 days. Once they hit rabbits males were dropped to every 14 days and females every 7-10 days. Many keepers will only feed SD retics mice for the first few months, and try and keep them as small, but as healthy, as they can for extended periods. After all, you are getting an SD retic to be amazed at how small it is. This is fine, and its arguable that this is “healthier” than a 4 day feeding schedule. But my 20 month old who was raised on this schedule did absolutely perfect, and is trim, and now growing very slowly at 8-9’ and eating 1.5lb rabbits every week. Likewise, my two Dwarf Girls, 4 months age difference, had very different results. Both were started on the same feeding schedule and method, but the Purple Albino took off and is sitting around 12-13’ currently, and feeding on 4lb rabbits weekly. Meanwhile, the genetic stripe het purple is still under 5’ and pounding a single Large rat a week and putting on weight slowly. Whatever fits your retic (keeps them trim, not pushing, and giving you regular feces) go with that. Some times you have to test the waters, try feeding every 4 days, try feeding weekly, weigh the pros and cons, and the way your snake will behave. Keep in mind these are not Ball Pythons, they WILL and DO eat always. Most retics are vicious feeders, and will eat any and every time food enters the cage. Most will never need to see live food, but a few will and can be picky eaters.

Conclusion:

With more breeders hitting the market, consumers are receiving more and more choices, with new and upcoming dwarf and super dwarf projects every year. However, be careful if a breeder can not answer the few and important questions: How big were the parents, what were their localities if known. Do not be led to believe that pure albino SD’s exist, and never trust craig’s list for that too good to be true “dwarf” retic that is 4 years old and only 2 ft long! (anyone can say a 5 month old hatchling is 4 years and actually an SD).
Even though these snakes are in a smaller package, always show them great respect as their teeth are still very much a threat to your skin and future blood donations. These snakes are fast, intelligent, and very strong. A 12’ 50% SD female, will be just as strong as a 12’ mainland, and can still pose a real threat to your life, should you make a stupid feeding error (SFE). Always check local and state laws regarding keeping Python reticulatus, even though these snakes are distinct from the mainland counter parts that may be banned specifically in your county, they are still under the same species name and will be considered illegal. For states or cities with size limits, ensure you buy from a trusted breeder, and KNOW parental size. Ask their feeding schedule if they raised the adults from young, and follow it the T. With retics, even 25% mainland blood can have a dramatic effect on their final size if fed heavily.

Cheers,

Cody Conway

Reptile Experts – www.reptileexperts.com

[reptileexperts]

Hatch Date 04/2012 - F2 50% Kalatoa SD Tiger 66% Het Albino


Hatch Date 03/2012 - 50% Kayuadi SD Platinum het Anery


Hatchdate 03/2012 - 25% Kalatoa, 12.5% Jampea Tiger Motley het Purple Albino


Hatch Date 02/2012 - 62.5% Jampea Purple Albino

All four of these girls were raised on my same feeding schedule proposed here, all were given the same rates, same food items, same sized enclosures as they progressed. The Platinum is currently feeding on 2-3lb Rabbits, the tiger is onl 1-2lb Rabbits, the Tiger Motley is on 2-3 lb rabbits, and the Purple is on 4lb rabbits, all weekly.

This is just a nice comparison I put together tonight while I did some cleaning before work. The tub in the image is a 41 qt rubbermaid to give you an idea of size reference.

[reptileexperts]

Platinum in a 6qt tub back in december 2012


Tiger girl in a 6qt Tub in december of last year as well

Again just additional growth comparisons.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[reptileexperts]

And last image comparison for tonight. This is a 2013 of the same parents as the tiger from 2012. Super Tiger 66% het white phase Albino. This was from middle of last week.

Hatch was April 2013


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Physician&Snakes]

Thanks for the information, I am not much for SDs or even dwarfs but still a good read.

[V2 HeX]

Thank you for this resource on SDs. There is far too many misconceptions on these blood lines, and far too many scams. I look forward to moving into these projects once i move to a new location and have the space for them. On that note, do you have any breeder recommendations other then Bob Clark himself?

[Physician&Snakes]

Thank you for this resource on SDs. There is far too many misconceptions on these blood lines, and far too many scams. I look forward to moving into these projects once i move to a new location and have the space for them. On that note, do you have any breeder recommendations other then Bob Clark himself?

I have a friend who bought some SDs from Vital Exotics and he is quite satisfied so far.

[reptileexperts]

Travis Kubes - he works with very small adults, and has an outstanding reputation. His prices are much more advantages than the likes of the big boys (Prehistoric pets, bob clark, and even Vital exotics at this point). Jason Reed over at Reed's Retics, is also a great place to invest in for confidence. . .

If you are interested in amel (type 3 albino) then check out Stephanie Laumeyer at, The Snake Pusher. She has some excellent blood lines of 50-75% SD Amels and hets, while the price for a visual will be steep, the quality of temperment is best I've ever seen. She breeds for calmer snakes it seems.

Again, I have a few snakes from Travis Kubes, and I have been more than happy working with him and talking with him at shows and on the phone. Just add his facebook business page into your feed (Travis kubes reptiles) and wait for the new clutches to go up.

[reptileexperts]

** correction **

Madu vs Honey island is the same locale - hence why it's hard to find the Honey Island, people are more prone to go under the Madu locale information.

Cheers

[KSTAR86]

This thread is great!