Random Photo shoot last night, retics and carpets

Having my first evening off last night, I decided to do a little bit of work with some snake photography and photograph a little bit of the collection. Many were just coming out of recent sheds and looking exceptional! So here are roughly 8 images that I think you guys will enjoy.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3788/9...462babb0_c.jpg
Starting off right, Superdwarf Super Tiger 66% het albino, don't think she'll prove het, but you never know.

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Pure Irian Jaya, het Granite, female bred by Nick Mutton, 2012

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Another look at her, love this girls head!

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Coastal Carpet adult profile shot (Jaguar)

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Similar profile, Dwarf Purple Retic female after her rabbit a few minutes prior, resting behind some cypress in her hide.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7453/9...62f2753a_c.jpg
Favorite thing ever, as retics mature they just get this beefy heads and their eyes shrink. Near adult SD Tiger Retic, 66% het albino - she will prove out.

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Another look a the girl

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7332/9...cfc493ac_c.jpg
And lastly, caught coming out of shed, Dwarf Goldenchild het albino 50% het snow! Love his eyes!

Cheers,

Hey Cody,

How large is the dwarf purple girl now? Shes your largest right? Is she pos het for anything?

The Dwarf Purple is almost my largest, sitting somewhere between 9-10 ft, my 6 year old male Tiger 50% SD still has a little length to her, but probably not for long. He's sitting right above 10' long right now, but the purple destroys rabbits weekly like they are hoppers.

Beautiful snakes...how big do the SDs get?

Pure SD 5-7 ft (male vs female) 75% SD 6-8 ft. 50% 7-10 ft


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So with a Pure (5-7ft) SD do they get thicker than a ball, what snake (size) could they be compared to? I have never seen one in person so I have no idea...thanks!

Think little fatter than corn snake. Not as fat as a ball for a pure male. A pure female will be more weighty especially if raised for breeding. They will before around the thickness of a tennis ball to softball


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Wow ok, thats actually encouraging. I love the Retics, but reality set in when I found out how big they get, but is sounds the the SD would actually be a managable animal...temperment wise how are they. My son is 5 so I base my reptiles purchases off of him being able to handle them (with supervision of course)

They handle fine. The pures can be very flighty. Never wanting to sit still. But when you cross some of the other mutations into the mix it really seems to calm them down. As long as you purchase a young one or a proven tame and manageable sized adult - young adult, they will be absolutely fine. Feeding time is the only time caution should be extremely warranted with your kid as they are highly aggressive feeders and most accidents occur during feeding (hence the term " stupid feeding error")


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Are the pure SD C.B. animals flighty as well from your experience or is it just the wild caught stuff?

I am really enjoying the retic experience with my hatchling. He is taking to hook training very well. Retics really are unique due to their intelligence.

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 ;-)

I love the last picture. Beautiful snakes. I've been eyeballing carpets lately thinking about getting one; these pictures don't make it any easier. Also, I'm unfamiliar with Retics- is there any difference at all between dwarf and regular retics besides the size?

Yeah, it's mainly about size for what the general public is interested in. But they are actually different subspecies with different scale counts, and over all different appearances / behavior even metabolism. But the main thing to know about them is that they are speciations from the mainland retics on smaller islands that, due to less food availability, they evolved into these smaller version of the mainland counterparts. They are still breedable between the different islands, as the species hasn't changed, just the sub-species level. And even that is up for debate, but its quite arguable that it needs to be official.

The other take home is that certain morphs come from certain locales only, so lots of crosses out there.

And to drive the morelia thing home here is my Caramel pure Coastal young adult male at about 5'-6' from a couple days ago . . .

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3834/9...bd50faf7_c.jpg

Cheers

Beautiful snakes