Super mean super dwarf!!!

[cchardwick]

So I found this deal on Craig's list for a snake that I want to breed, it's a purple albino super dwarf / dwarf reticulated python. The problem is that this snake is as mean as a whip! They had it in a large cage with sliding glass, I'm thinking it didn't feel secure in there. And the hide had two open ends, not real secure, and I'm pretty sure the hide temp was way too hot, I could tell right away when I picked it up. They were also using aspen bedding and couldn't get the humidity high enough because it was stuck in a bad shed. And they bought rats that were too big, so it wasn't eating, he probably should be on adult mice. And the owners were trying to tame him down by trying to pick him up and they were terrified of him because he would just sit in his hide and snap at them. All of this caused the snake to be severely stressed out, probably why he is so aggressive.

I brought him home the other day and put him in a 80 series tub with damp Reptichip with a hot spot of 88F. Within a couple hours I offered a fresh killed mouse and he ate it right away! Then last night I offered another one, he struck at it about a dozen times, obviously defensive and not a feeding response. Then I picked him up briefly and put him back down thinking short handling sessions may be helpful, maybe it was too soon... I'm thinking I should leave him alone now for about a week or so, then try to offer food again.

Any suggestions on how to tame him down? He is about 1.5 years old, not very big compared to my 50% Jampea dwarf retic, so I'm not afraid of him at all, just don't want to get bit if I can help it LOL. Maybe he is aggressive too because he is pretty young still, maybe he will grow out of it? I'm tempted to let him sit a week or two then just pick him up and carry him around the house for a few hours LOL. Right now he is my meanest snake by far, when we got him out of the cage he was going wild like a wild caught snake snapping and musking and peeing, it was so crazy! At one point he even bit himself LOL. It made me wonder if this snake was ever really handled much.

[jmcrook]

Definitely let it settle in for a week or so before handling it at all. It's not that it's mean, it's nervous and scared and defensive. Only interact with it to feed, clean or change water. Also should have let it settle at least a few days before feeding at all. The trick to handling and taming is to keep handling sessions short and to end on a positive note. If the snake starts getting flighty or defensive and then you put it away, it will learn that by acting that way it gets to go to its safe place. Just handle it until it calms down and then put it back in its tub. Having said that, some SD stuff is just flighty and bitey. My SD girl is a tad flighty and cage defensive but calms down as soon as I tap her with a hook and get her out of the cage. Definitely want to hook/tap train it as well, as their feeding response is pretty incredible.
Did you get information on who the breeder was, parent snake sizes, genetics, etc? Anyone can list a 5 month old mainland and say it's a year and a half old SD. Got any pictures?


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[bcr229]

In addition to the advice above, one trick I used with my snappy BRB babies - all 25 of them - was I made a fist, put it in their tub, and then I let them wear themselves out on the back of my hand. I didn't remove my hand until they quit striking and settled down.

Obviously they were really small when I did this but it only took a few days before I could put my hand in and they wouldn't strike at me, because they'd learned that striking out didn't make me go away.

[cchardwick]

The retic was originally purchased from Andrew Dietz at adreptiles.com for nearly $1,000.

[cchardwick]

I just found out that this guy is 37.5% SD, 50% Jampea Dwarf, and 12.5% mainland. No wonder he is so small!!

[Sauzo]

Being put in a big cage with sliding doors isn't going to make it defensive. I put my little guy in a AP T10 with sliding glass doors when he was 5 months old. He did fine. Also not sure how small he is but when I got Caesar from Vital Exotics, he was about 2 ft and Kris told me he was eating small rats. He's now around 4 ft and I'm going to try a small medium rat for him this week since 2 smalls don't really dent him anymore.

Also like mentioned, you need to let him settle in. Some retics just aren't into people too. Every animal will have its personality. Heck Caesar is probably one of my most mellow snakes up there with Rosey and Luna. Heck he's more mellow than my sunglow boa, Vicky.

Also $1000 for a lavender albino!!?? Dang that guy saw them coming lol.

Also 37.5% SD 50% dwarf and 12.5% mainland doesn't mean it will be small. Remember dwarfs aren't all that small really. I mean they can still get to 12 ft. I bet the snake was just underfed its first year to keep it small. Caesar is 37.5% SD 31.5% and 31% mainland and he is 4 ft or slightly longer at 8 months old. I just don't stunt his growth by underfeeding him. He gets a meal every 5-7 days. His dad was 5' and his mom was 8'.

As to how to tame him, just takes time. My JCP was a terror. She stuck at anything that was within 2-3 ft of her. I did the same thing bcr did, just balled my fist up and let her tag the back of my hand. She finally got down to just head butting but was still tense. I pretty much just gave up trying to force myself onto her. I just cleaned her cage, changed water, fed her. let her get used to my smell and sight not being a threat. Well it's been about 4 months now and she still is kind of defensive but for the most part she doesn't bite. She still does though every once in a while and she will strike at stuff outside the cage if I'm holding her or she is sitting on me. She tried to bite TV, tried to bite a pop can when I was taking a drink. Some snakes just will always be a little high strung. Just got to learn to deal with it and work it. That's why I don't usually play with Allie as much as I do say Rosey, Caesar or Luna. I mean I interact with her and will pick her up once or twice a week but the other 3 couch potatoes, I mess with them usually 3-4 times a week.

And you can also try training him with something. A lot of people use hooks but when I tried that with Caesar, he got pissed and opened his mouth and hissed at the hook haha. I just use a twisted up paper towel for times when he is really worked up for food when the door slides open but for the most part, if he doesn't smell food, he will sulk within about 10 secs and then wander off like when I change his water. He gets all excited, comes out, looks at the water bowl and my hand, realizes its not dinner, and then turns around or back pedals into a hide and lays back down with his head stick out lol. he is the ultimate couch potato lol.

[cchardwick]

From what I've seen usually if it has super dwarf and dwarf the price shoots up, $1,000 - $1,500 is pretty typical for a purple albino, it's also het for Anery. If it was pure mainland with no SD it would probably be about $350, I think mainland is a harder sell since they get much bigger.

I have a Woma python that was a terror, he just snapped out of it when I put him in a tub in a rack and became super mellow almost overnight. Previously he was in a glass tank under a hide.

[cchardwick]

Here's a photo of the snake from the previous owner, this photo doesn't do it justice, it's a beautiful snake! See how small he is!

OK, so if I breed this snake to my 50% Jampea 50% mainland white phase albino retic female the offspring will be:
18.75% SD / 50% Jampea Dwarf / 31.25 mainland. Correct? Personally I think that's a better ratio than either parent, should be a big snake but not overwhelming.

And if I breed a purple albino to a white albino I'll get all lavender albinos, is that correct?

And all will be 50% het for Anery?

And if I want white, lavender and purple albino offspring I can hold back a pair of lavender babies and breed them, correct?

[Sauzo]

From what I've seen usually if it has super dwarf and dwarf the price shoots up, $1,000 - $1,500 is pretty typical for a purple albino, it's also het for Anery. If it was pure mainland with no SD it would probably be about $350, I think mainland is a harder sell since they get much bigger.

I have a Woma python that was a terror, he just snapped out of it when I put him in a tub in a rack and became super mellow almost overnight. Previously he was in a glass tank under a hide.

Well there is lavender and purple albinos as well as white albinos. Purples tend to cost a little more. I don't know who you are buying from but $1500 for a SD/D purple is pretty high. And is it 100% het anery? That would make it 100% het snow. That would cost more. Caesar is SD/D White albino Tiger 50% het snow which means 50% het anery as visual albinos are going to obviously be 100% het for albino lol. Anyways, I got him from Kris over at Vital Exotics and he was $750 but Kris sold him to me for $500.

And I agree, super dwarfs are more expensive. Dwarf is a little more but not a whole lot from what I've seen. And of course the more genes in it the more expensive. An albino is going to be cheaper than an albino tiger which is going to be cheaper than an albino suntiger.

Most SD/D I've been seeing are under $1000. Check with Daniel Solis or Kris at Vital Exotics and Erik Alvarado. He has a 2016 50% anery motley tiger right now for $1500 which is pretty nice. I'm not really a huge fan of motley though. He also has a platinum motley tiger 50% anery for $550 which I really like. I love platinum tigers and the motley there looks good. But for $1500, you should definitely be getting a 3 gene animal.

Oh and forgot, if you got the cash, Daniel Solis has an ultra ivory SD/D for sale now for $550 that might be suntiger het anery. If I had the caging, I would hop on that like a fat kid on a snickers. I'm kind of junky for light colored snakes haha.

[Sauzo]

Here's a photo of the snake from the previous owner, this photo doesn't do it justice, it's a beautiful snake! See how small he is!

OK, so if I breed this snake to my 50% Jampea 50% mainland white phase albino retic female the offspring will be:
18.75% SD / 50% Jampea Dwarf / 31.25 mainland. Correct? Personally I think that's a better ratio than either parent, should be a big snake but not overwhelming.

And if I breed a purple albino to a white albino I'll get all lavender albinos, is that correct?

And all will be 50% het for Anery?

And if I want white, lavender and purple albino offspring I can hold back a pair of lavender babies and breed them, correct?

Yes. As for lavender, purple or white, all 3 can come from white albino aka clark strain if I am correct. Its just a roll of the dice.

To figure out the %, just add up the total of both parents and divide by 2. That will give you the % of the offsprings.

As for anery, well if the parents are anery then yes I would imagine but what % you don't know unless you know the parents. I'm not really up on the genetics of retics though with SD and dwarf. I believe the only morph for a pure SD can be anery so depending what the other parent is....

And honestly, 18% SD is pretty much nothing. I imagine it will be as hard to sell the babies as it would be to sell any dwarf or mainland. I mean a dwarf can still reach like 12-14' I believe and the mainland can get even bigger so that 18% isn't going to shrink that snake by much. Most people seem to want 50% SD or at least a fairly high % of SD along with dwarf.