Pushing

[jagolden]

So I got my sd Retic for Christmas. He has been great! No aggression except when he smells food. But I woke up this morning and noticed he was pushing hard on the lid of tub. His face is smushed in and just gross looking. This really concerns me. I covered his tub with a towel and put some fake foliage in his tub to hopefully make him more secure. My question is how long till his face goes back to normal? I know Retics are notorious for pushing but sense this is my first Retic I'm freaking out.

[reptileexperts]

My Tiger SD are horrible pushers, as was my Purple Dwarf. In order to get my female tiger to stop pushing I increased her food size and it made her settle down a ton. Pushing is quite typical in Super Dwarf Retics so it comes with the territory but here are some things to consider:

More height in the enclosure - sometimes a tub is just too low for some retic liking and they will push because they are looking for a higher setup - consider moving them to something like a 36x18x13" PVC enclosure for males and a 48x24x14 for females.

Increase food - sometimes they push because they have such rapid metabolsim they are constantly looking for food. Increasing their food size will help them settle for longer periods decreasing pushing times - this worked for my girl.

Mites - sometimes they push because they have mites in their eyes. Check the enclosure thoroughly and make sure there are no mites.

As far as the face going back to normal - after a couple of meals and a shed it will bounce back. Sometimes they will end up with a cleft front lip but its only cosmetic. My adult Tiger has a cleft lip from its previous owner but it has never effected him. My girls face was completely deformed 2 weeks ago, but she shed a few days back and her face is settled back to its normal mode.

What size tub is your tic in? What size food is she on? And how many grams is she?

[jagolden]

I just moved him into a 32qt tub, I haven't weighed him since I got him but he's around 2 feet and looks healthy. He ate today and has calmed down and is hiding. I have him on large mice at the moment. I think I'll just bump up his feedings and see if he'll calm down. How bad does the cleft pallet look? pics? Also he doesn't have mites. I kept him on white paper when I first got him and no mites were on the paper.

[reptileexperts]

Moving her To a larger enclosure can cause pushing. Give her a larger meal and shell settle. It should leave a tremendous lump. Ill post some shots very shortly.

[reptileexperts]

Big male SD 50%, Tiger. He's just under 9 foot. This is his lip after pushing too much as a younger snake.

[jagolden]

I'll start giving her bigger meals then. Thanks for all your help and your tiger is beautiful!

[reptileexperts]

Thanks I love my tigers! And yep rule of thumb is twice their girth is what you want to feed prey size