Random Photo shoot last night, retics and carpets

I guess I need to start researching pure SDs then

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Yes. Because pure SD have not been captive bred over a long period of time they are still quite wild. They are not as flighty as a fresh off boat snake from indo but they are still quite jumpy! My adult Avery SD male is like handling a possessed king snake some days ;)


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But over time will they calm down a little with handling...everyone keeps telling me retics are on the more intelligent side of the snake world

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Sure, retics are definitely up there when it comes to intelligence vs other snakes, this I'm sure of! Keep it in perspective though, they are no more intelligent than many creatures out there, they are just wiser and more keen than other serpents, more cunning as well!

Even the superdwarfs will tame down just fine. But I have not known many keepers who say that their pure SD's ever out grow their typical skittish behaviors. Then again, I don't know everyone who's bought the pure SD's! SO I'm sure there are some non flighty / jumpy / skittish ones.

Another retic shot from tonight, my absolute favorite girl, Motley Tiger Het purple Albino, 25% SD, 12.5% Jampea, 62.5% Mainland:

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2825/9...1cb7c5ff_c.jpg

Her eyes are amazing

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That pure IJ shoots some jungles out of the water! It looks like a jungle carpet with a smokin' hot tan! Lol
Size aside, how do the carpets differ than retics in behavior?
And what (smaller spectrum) snakes have that amazing beefy head that everyone loves?

The beefy head is pretty much attributed to the Morelia outside of the giants (Burmese, afrocks, retics). You also get them in Vipers (venom glands). But with the morelia, it takes large meals to get those large heads (Carpets that have been fed consistently large meals over their life span generally have nicer larger heads).

Carpets have in cage aggression, and are almost always expecting food. This is not 100% of the case, but it IS 100% of the case for all of my Morelia, you have to use a hook to approach the snake, and once the snake feels the hook you can get them out with the hook or your hand without issues. On the retic side of things, once I tap the retic on the head with a hook, I can generally do whatever I want to with them and they are fine, unless they bite at the hook, then I know to back up slowly ;-).

Side bar: I had some guest come over last weekend to see the retics and handle some larger snakes, and we went to get my adult male superdwarf retic out, and I used a piece of tripod covering to rub his head and wake him up before grabbing him, and as soon as he woke he grabbed the covering and wrapped it in the split of an eye. Needless to say it took me 2-3 days till I could get it out of the tank from his feeding mode. I waited till I had a nice large rat thawed for him. And yes, I love that IJ female, she is insanely impressive, and keeps getting worlds better. She's been in my collection 13 months now, and while her growth is very typical carpet growth (slow and steady), she's continuing to impress.

Dude, that one coming out of shed is awesome.

Do you know if Boas ever have beefy heads? And how does their behaviour and movement differ from certain pythons?

I dont see boa as large headed snakes. Their heads almost always appear tiny compared to their very wide and muscular body as an adult. I put my hand up comparatively to my 7' BCI last night just to see and ponder, but no, its still quite a small head in relationship to the body.

As far as the attitudes go, they are very docile (boas) and make great pets in comparison to some python species that may be more flighty. There are plenty of boa keepers here that would reccommend them. I love my boas, as they are a beautiful and unique part of my collection. They have their grumpy days, and even though they re fed well more than base line, they still have their food moments where they lunge at the glass door when I walk by with food for the retics ;-)