Riverrun

I picked up this little girl at the local expo today, been wanting one since I got Cloud, and finally decided to take the plunge. So far I'm debating on naming her Riverrun, but name suggestions are welcome!

She's a female poss het purple albino reticulated python. Her breeder wasn't at the expo, so I wasn't able to get her exact hatch date, but one of the vendors thought that she was probably born sometime in October. She's 3'-3.5' and weighs 150 grams. She was extremely laid back, and showed no signs of any stress or any irritability while I had her out looking at her at the expo, so hopefully that trend will continue once she's settled in. She spent most of the time sleeping on my arm or crawling onto my head, which may have been an hour or two while we waited for my mom to show up. Once we left the expo, she stayed in her plastic container, except for a few quick photos in the sun.

She's got some dry scales and a slight bit of nose rub, but I'm hoping that will clear up after a few days in a decent-sized tub and some humidity. Other than the slight discrepancies, she looks to be well-hydrated and healthy. No sign of mites or RI, so the quarantine may go well.

I've got her in her temporary set up while I wait for some more heat tape to ship in, and she's settling in. Other than to bask a bit, she's been pretty much non-stop exploring. When I went to go see what she was doing, she immediately locked onto me and started crawling in my direction, so she's perked up quite a bit now that she's got some warmth to her.

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All snakes look huge in my hands.
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So I had some help!
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Showing off her sides.
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Looks awesome! I just picked up a tiger dwarf male myself.

There were some nice dwarfs at the booth where I got her, I'd say about 5', but these guys can be misleading in their length. Haha. There was a surprising number of retics and a variety of snakes for such a small expo, it was a great experience.


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Super lovely girl! I can't get over how pretty :bow:

lovely retic you got there! her pattern and coloration reminded me of my first retic (also my first snake) during college years :)

I've been after a dwarf myself. Beautiful animal man, keep us updated.

Thanks everyone. I'll definitely be updating this thread. :)


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I went ahead and fed her today. I figured if she refused, I'd just offer next week, and it's been about a week since she was last fed. She took two of Sanji's small fuzzy mice, but I plan on buying her some small adult mice in the shipment next week.


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Nice looking animal!
I wish I could get a regular retic... I just don't have the muscle strength to handle one and my husband isn't exactly cool with helping me out with a 10+ foot snake lol. Cudos to you for taking the plunge! She has great coloration for a normal.. Very nice orange tones and almost purplish grey areas.

I hope she does well for you!

Well it looks like she's going into shed. Her belly has turned pink and she's hanging out in her humid hide rather than out in the open or in her plant. I've suspected this for a couple of days now, but her colors have just now started dulling and her eyes are getting a milky hue.


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She's turning blue!

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She finally shed today! Then decided her humid hide was no longer worthy of being inside of.

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Wooooo! I can't get over how gorgeous she is, honestly... Man my local breeder has super dwarf eggs in incubation right now... I want...

Me neither, she's got some lovely oranges.

Here are some photos in natural light. It was overcast due to rain, though, so her colors don't look as good as they could have.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by CloudtheBoa

She finally shed today! Then decided her humid hide was no longer worthy of being inside of.

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Just wondering what substrate you're using for your tic?
Is it coco peat or potting soil or..?
How does it compare to newspaper or aspen?

Thanks!

I'm using coco husk. The EcoEarth brand. I use it for all my humidity loving snakes except the BRB.

I am in love with it though. It releases moisture really well and really slowly so it doesn't really dry out very quickly. I've noticed my snakes have soft skin like baby snakes and awesome iridescence. It can be messy if you aren't careful but if you keep it contained it should be fine. It also smells really nice, and absorbs odor better than anything I've seen. At least in my experience. I've had poo that steeped in the dish and was enough to make you heave but until you took it out it didn't smell at all, or just barely.

I've never used newspaper, but I prefer it over paper because it promotes muscle development by providing an uneven surface. As far as aspen goes it doesn't even compare with humidity.


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Well my order from Big Cheese finally arrived earlier today, and Riverrun finally got her rat. She was pretty overexcited about it and apparently she required a hot spot to eat, but after a few tries we got it done. Haha


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glad you're retic is eating well :)
i'm still waiting for my local petstore to bring in eco earth at the moment :D

I took her out earlier today, and she sure was bright!

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I missed your OP Cloud, congratulations on your Gorgeous little girl!

I'm really happy for ya for making the move! I love it!!

Thanks! She's a dream come true and is already really docile. I'm hoping to keep it that way. :D


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I took River and Sanji out today before work. I would have taken Demigod out but he just ate yesterday and Draco's gone into shed. So has Cloud. -.- In only a month's time, all 6 of of my snakes have gone into shed cycles. Wat do?

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River recently took a big poop, 3 days after eating, so I weighed her again. She came out to 191 grams, and when I weighed her again today she was 194 grams! She sure is growing fast. Thats ~44 grams (if none of it is poop weight) since April 4, that's less than 6 weeks.

Some more recent outdoor photos.

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All she wanted to do that day was hide, so I took her in shortly.
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Just saw this thread today. Nice NICE NICE!

Good for you I think that will be a fun snake for you.

Yeah, I think she will just keep getting prettier too!

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Originally Posted by Gio

Just saw this thread today. Nice NICE NICE!

Good for you I think that will be a fun snake for you.

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Thanks! She's a lot different than my other boids, her awareness of things around her seems on par with my garters. She's just not as spazzy. Haha. She's also a fast little thing. She looks like she's moving slow, but can be 10' away from you in seconds. Luckily she doesn't spook too easily once out of her tub so she barely reacts when I go to grab her, just keeps slithering.

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Originally Posted by Reinz

Yeah, I think she will just keep getting prettier too!

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I bet she will, too. She's so orange, all over her body, I wonder if she'll keep that orange coloration.


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River now actually weighs 194 grams!

She had some fun on our new bunk bed today, and I had to keep her down off the ceiling fan, all she wanted to do was go up, up, up. Typical retic. ^.^

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Popping her head up out of her plant.
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great looking retic! his colors remind me of my first retic
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his colors will just get better and better as he grows too :)

Mine should be a female.

Your's is gorgeous, do you still have him?


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by CloudtheBoa

Mine should be a female.

Your's is gorgeous, do you still have him?


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thanks, no i dont have him anymore sadly, had to sell him a couple years ago due to financial problems, i wish i still had him though, he was awesome

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Originally Posted by Alexiel03

thanks, no i dont have him anymore sadly, had to sell him a couple years ago due to financial problems, i wish i still had him though, he was awesome

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Ah. Sorry to hear that. :(

Here are some new photos of my girl.

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When I went to give her water like 8 hours after she ate, she was still hopefully looking for another rat despite the giant bulge in her belly. -.-

Her feeding response usually lasts 2-3 days, so I had a hook to tell her no food was coming. It got her to stop zoning in on my hand, but didn't stop her from staring out the top of the tub for a rat. *shakes head*

Snakes, they're like cats sometimes. Always wanting food, getting in the way when you have them out, and using things for their unintended purposes.

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:rofl:"Please mom is time for foods now plez?" They are indeed like cats is some ways

So she didn't exactly cooperate but I sorta got a measurement on her. She's definitely 3.5'+ now and 220 grams. Her, and basically everyone else shed recently, and she ate two days ago, already leaving a huge pile in her tub.

She was being extra spastic and twitchy today, which I expect was because of her recent poo. She's calm atm though, resting on my hand.

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Here are some recent outdoor photos.

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She now weighs 237 grams and is eating weaned rats. I'm hoping to buy her a 4'x2' PVC enclosure once I get back from going to the Atlanta Repticon in a few weeks. It should free up some room and give her some more space. Then it will go to Sanji when she outgrows it.

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She looks great! I can't believe how fast she's growing! Before long she'll be sliding down Jumbos and rabbits.

Oh yeah she's growing fast and had a food upgrade after only 2 months, I'm probably going to keep her on weaned rats for awhile and drop her a small rat, when she's big enough, every once in awhile when my ball python refuses his twice before throwing them away. That way she should be fine until I need to order my next shipment, even if she has to move up a size again.

Here's today's feeding day, she got a little confused. Lol
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shes looking great! its insane how fast they grow too! when i had my old normal male he grew to be 11ft in about a year and a half! glad to hear you're hook training her too its best to start when they are little worms lol just remember to do it routinely, i made the mistake of forgetting to hook my old male when i was putting his water bowl back in his cage after filling it, he tagged my arm, without any warning what so ever, and held on for a good 5 mins and got his new news paper dirty again cuz i bled alot lol i was shocked but it didnt hurt, he was about 8ft too and of course i got pics of the bite before i thought to clean it up lol xD

Yeah I've been using it since I got her, and I almost shut off her feeding response using it to keep her back, but I didn't feel like getting tagged so...

She ended up gently opening her mouth around it, after some decision-making. She's really good at telling when food is or isn't there, but the hook is definitely still a good precaution. The poor girl thinks every movement by her tub is food, and when she comes to investigate and sees it's just a human...she gets this disappointed look and pulls her head into her coils again.

I don't think she'll reach 11' by then, but maybe between 1.5-2 years, we'll have to see.


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She now weighs 247 grams and just got through with a shed cycle.

She also got a bit of nose rub because I wasn't paying attention after I fed her and didn't latch the tub in time. I heard some weird noises and she'd pushed out from under the lid and was crawling out. After that, she was hellbent on getting out and rubbed her head a bit raw. It's not bad though so maybe a few more sheds and it will clear up again.

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Here she is in the middle of a shed, not happy with her disturbance. She only displayed shed behaviors (hiding away in her humid hide) for 4-5 days before she shed.
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I don't have a current weight on her but if I had to guess she's between 260 and 280 grams. She just ate 2 days ago, so I'm going to give her a few more days so she can poo before I weigh her. As far as her length, I'm fairly sure she's closing in on 4' by now....

It's hard to get her show more of her length so her true size can be shown but I managed it in one photo at least. Haha

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Well I underestimated her weight. She was 293 grams. Here she is in the container I brought her home in, she's quickly becoming too big for it.

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I love these threads were you get to watch the snakes progress, it's almost like having one of your own. Very cool.

Last time I weighed her she was 315 grams, after a big poo. She's the coolest snake to watch grow, I can almost see her grow without the pictures.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by CloudtheBoa

Last time I weighed her she was 315 grams, after a big poo. She's the coolest snake to watch grow, I can almost see her grow without the pictures.

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My number 1 favorite snake love their bright orange eyes

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Looks like she's finally shedding! Her rub wound is getting that cloudy look to it on the edges, and she's super dark. Since her belly is off-white it's hard to tell if her belly is pink but in person it appears pinkish.

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River now weighs 355 grams, and her head rub looks a lot better, it's pretty much closed up, now I just have to wait for the discoloration to go away. I think it should happen with the next shed, or the one after.

Unfortunately no pictures because it didn't get warm enough to take her outside today.


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I measured River with SerpWidgets, and she came to 4'1".

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Her rub looks better, just gotta wait for that little piece to fall off and the discoloration to go away.
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Showing off her white chin.
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Well she dumped her water dish again, which she does from time to time, and I had her in the little tub I brought her home in to keep her in line. She's slowly becoming too large to fit in it. Haha

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Today was also an eventful day for her, as I accidentally startled her while I had her outside. At first I took a few pictures of her on my arm before letting her crawl through the grass.

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She went around exploring like usual, and eventually stopped at a spot under one of the trees and sat there slightly periscoping, inspecting a scent or sight that caught her interest. I decided to leave her be since I bother her so much outside (she can cross a 20'+ distance in seconds so I kinda have to).

I think I left her alone for too long without letting her know I was there, because when I finally decided to go over and move her to take a few more pictures and bring her back in, I saw a dip appear just behind her head on her neck.

I tried crouching and approaching her slowly so she could see it was just me and maybe relax, but I'd already startled her too much. She struck out at me and I jumped back and dodged her, and her next 3-4 strikes weren't intent on contacting at all. No hissing, just a flattened head, puffed up body, and s-curve. She crawled around me while maintaining her s-curve and keeping her head lifted of the ground, facing towards me as she did so until she saw I wasn't making any more moves toward her.

Instead of reaching out and grabbing her before she could get away like my instincts demanded, I let her do as she wished and she moved slowly and deliberately past me (for her). Once I saw her muscles relaxing and her beginning to deflate I gently picked up her tail and back end. Then I lifted her whole body when she didn't flinch or stiffen at my touch, and let her thread through my fingers until her muscles completely relaxed and she sighed out all the air in her before returning her to her tub.

I think I'm going to start bringing a hook outside with me to warn her of my presence in the future, and it won't be long before I'll need to start having someone come outside with me to help me "wrangle" her.

Her defense triggers are way different than all my other snakes, so it may take a bit more trial and error before I get it right. I'm glad she's still young. Lol

She generally doesn't get defensive when she's active and moving around, but is easier to spook when she's still and intent on one or a few things. Most likely because she's not paying as much attention to me, and I'm not having to constantly interact with her.


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Going outside can definitely be intimidating for smaller snakes. The change from a confined enclosure space to wide open land, with all the sights and smells can absolutely induce some defensive behavior. Having a hook handy is definitely a great idea. Retics are so quick at that age