Do Retics deserve their bad rep?

Pig I sadly have enough evidence to do a bad guy report on bob for the pure fact the snake arrived in Terrible condition. But he has an outstanding rep so it would do nothing. I am just giving my experience with them. My bob Clark albino is het stripe which I hear can make them more aggressive. But I have since started calming him down quite a bit after taking my first and only retic bite lol

My husband and I have several Retics. They are definitely smarter than other snakes and they are always watching what you are doing. We hook train all of our retics because they do have a strong feed response. When we open their cage to either clean or give them water, we use the hook and give them a light tap on the nose. They know the hook means they're not getting fed and lose interest in us making it safer to handle them. We also never handle,feed,clean or do anything with the snakes unless there is a second person in the room. They are big animals and deserve a lot of respect when keeping them. I hope some of this helps with your decision.:)

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Originally Posted by Bayleaf

My husband and I have several Retics. They are definitely smarter than other snakes and they are always watching what you are doing. We hook train all of our retics because they do have a strong feed response. When we open their cage to either clean or give them water, we use the hook and give them a light tap on the nose. They know the hook means they're not getting fed and lose interest in us making it safer to handle them. We also never handle,feed,clean or do anything with the snakes unless there is a second person in the room. They are big animals and deserve a lot of respect when keeping them. I hope some of this helps with your decision.:)

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Out of curiosity, at what age do you start hook training them? And what is the general process?

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Originally Posted by thedarkwolf25

Out of curiosity, at what age do you start hook training them? And what is the general process?

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<--husband of Bayleaf

We have done it at several ages, most are pretty quick to catch on.

Most we have though have been started as hatchlings(although we do have a burm that we started a lot later).

Our dwarfs especially have VERY strong feed responses and as soon as the tote is open, they are out looking for food stuffs.

We have a small hook(easier to control in my opinion) that we use for hook training. We start by just lightly placing it on the top of their head as soon as the tote/cage is opened and go from there. As they get used to it, some will break the feed response as soon as they see the hook, others will need more contact. For the ones that need more contact, we will just push their heads lightly toward the bottom of the cage and most times they get the point. It works very well in my opinion.

One thing to remember is all species respond inside species parameters. Retics are a fast active animal their higher metabolism requires more food. They are serious hunters. Keepers whom expect an animal to respond outside the average range of response will pay. Do they deserve the rep, no they are doing exactly what they evolved to do. The people keeping them became complacent and forgot what they were dealing with. It is simple bites from snakes are not usually the snakes fault but the person keeping it. Sadly some whom own retics have no idea of what they are dealing with and end up having snake related issues. No different from people keeping any animal forgetting that the cute kitty cat has really sharp claws and teeth get scratched. That moment of forgetfulness or simple mistake can carry a big penalty. They are awesome animals but never forget what it is and what is can do. I have friends whom have had retics for years with no issues. One day in a hurry unloading frozen rodent shipment he looked over at the retic whom just made a mess and reached in to clean it... retics fault? No, a moment where forgetfulness, rodent smell, warm hand, and hungry animal = bite.

Expecting an animal to not be what it is spells disaster, it is rarely the animals fault.

SFE. Stupid feeding errors.

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Originally Posted by the_yellow_pony

<--husband of Bayleaf

We have done it at several ages, most are pretty quick to catch on.

Most we have though have been started as hatchlings(although we do have a burm that we started a lot later).

Our dwarfs especially have VERY strong feed responses and as soon as the tote is open, they are out looking for food stuffs.

We have a small hook(easier to control in my opinion) that we use for hook training. We start by just lightly placing it on the top of their head as soon as the tote/cage is opened and go from there. As they get used to it, some will break the feed response as soon as they see the hook, others will need more contact. For the ones that need more contact, we will just push their heads lightly toward the bottom of the cage and most times they get the point. It works very well in my opinion.

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My girl does the same thing, soon as the tub opens she is out and looking for a rat. I'll start her hook training tonight, thanks for the help!