Reticulated Python

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Originally Posted by mumps

Yup.. should be closer to 10 feet.

Chris

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Yes with powerfeeding butt thanks that's not my way :confused:

I agree with mumps, especially since she is a female. Males normally top out at 6 feet when they are a year old, and females should be significantly bigger. She is gorgeous, though. Also, ANY wood at all will soak up the humidity from the cage, this is why people generally use plastic or melamine cages.

this whitephase female was mine and has always eaten very very good!
not every retic is the same when it comes to growth, i also had retics the same age passing the 10+ft, this female just doesnt, no nead to say that this female is too small for her age, she isnt!, she has eaten my ass off when she lived here, maybe some dwarf influences in her background?, dont know
but so simply saying that this female is to small for her age is wrong in my eyes, and i also feel the need to say that a lot of very big retics i see from a year old and abnormal sizes are heavily powerfed, and never had a moment that they wherent digesting food, i like my retics to become old, so i feed on a normal base, and thats also a lot, but not to much!!.....

for example: big betty from germany, maybe a upcoming record length holder to beat fluffy, but she gets a adult sheep, every month!, on this schedule she wont get old, this is heavily exaggerated in my eyes!!, she's one big to fat female in my eyes, its not all about getting them very big as soon as possible

Not trying to make anyone angry, but all snakes do grow differently. My male '06 Burm is just edging towards 10' Yet he very rarely misses a meal and is completely healthy. Same with people, some are small, some are tall. I'm 17, 5'1" tall and 100 pounds. While other people my age may weigh two to three times as much.

Your snake is beautiful.

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Originally Posted by tbowman

Not trying to make anyone angry, but all snakes do grow differently.

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I don't think anyone disagrees with this statement.

While I'd agree a 1 year old 6 foot female retic is smaller than your average yearling, no one except the owner and people who have seen the snake in person know for sure how well she is taken care of. I often see so many obese and overfed snakes that when I see an aparently healthy-looking snake that might be undersized compared to the average, I'm not generally too worried.

The snake in the thread looks to be in top physical condition, has good body shape and tone. If she was hungry enough to be stunted, her face would show signs of pushing and rubbing. A hungry retic will mangle it's face over only missing a few meals. This snake is obviously in great health.

I have to agree with tbowman that snakes have different growth rates, basically due to genetic variations. Some snakes are smaller-than-average the first 2-3 years of their lives, but prove out to be slow-growing giants over time. And then others -on the same feeding schedule- that are massive at 1 year, and practically stop growing by year 2. And there are plenty that are just simply smaller than the accepted average.

I personally witness my 1.5 yr old male retic's growth cycles, where on a steady diet, he'll suddenly put on 6-8 inches in a 4-5 week span, and then not grow much, if at all (still steadily eating) for 2 months or so, and then wham, all of a sudden, 6 inches in a month again. I think genetics has just as much, if not even more to do with growth rates than simply feeding schedules.

Thanks all:cool:

I give her all the care she needed so don't be affraid for that! I take care snakes for almost 20 years now i know what to do believe me.

She eats each week 1 big adult rat so i think thats ok.

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Originally Posted by tbowman
Not trying to make anyone angry, but all snakes do grow differently.

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I agree with that to :gj:

Sorry, didn't mean to say you were doing anything wrong.

I started my post with "Beautiful white phase", and commented that, on average, a female would be bigger than 6 feet at one year.

I am of the belief that baby animals of all kinds grow phenomenally in their first year of life. Dogs, cats, geese, elephants, gorillas, monitors, pythons. It's called "grow up and survive". I certainly don't "power feed" my animals, as who knows better about when they are hungry than the snakes themselves? My year old Ornate monitor is over 4 feet long, and no one says I "power fed" him - it's just accepted that monitors (and tegus for that matter) grow like weeds in their early years. I feel the same way about snakes. In the wild they will eat whenever they can, and there's a LOT of food out there...

Chris

I'm not mad at all now that's for sure:D I understand your story, so no hard feelings to you :gj: