SD experience

I thought to show another 50% SD so readers have another data point to decide if they want one. The tiger is a 2012 male from Bob Clark. I’ve had him for about a 1 1/2years at this point. Originally he was 5 lb and 6 feet long. He is now about 8 feet long at this time and last weighed 12 lb’s. (This seems to be what I have seen written for mainland strains, but maybe Biji is related to Fluffy.) He is hands down the coolest snake that I have ever owned. But also moody. Sometimes he is begging to come out and play. Sometimes he is twitchy and looks ornery; sometimes he is pushing me off so I leave him alone.

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...352_372171.jpg

Very nice looking critter Hill.

Gorgeous tiger! I'd like a SD tiger or albino at some point but I'm holding out for a higher % SD bloodline. My 100% Kalatoa is definitely the most interesting snake I've owned and she's got me wanting more now


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jm. what is your Kalatoa like?

I thought that I would add a little more about this guy’s personality. He can be a little freaky when he is rammy over food expectations. And he takes five times more cleaning than my other two snakes.

What makes it all worthwhile is that hH-e is by far the most interactive snake that i ever had. The image is of him supervising housekeeping . Of all the places he could have gone than morning, he chose come into the bathroom and see what I was doing. What ever room I am in, he just happens to show up. If I am on the computer he will sit by me. He is also very expressive between eyes, posture and movements.


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I'm going to go ahead and sub into this super interesting thread if y'all don't mind. I'm planning my next snake, i have a central american boa now, a male so he's a little guy. Although i adore him, i also really want to get into some size; basically i keep yo-yo'ing between a big boa (preferably BCC) and a small retic (high% SD). I've read a lot of comments on the subject, but i feel like its so subjective and varied that you can just never have too much info from experienced keepers. Physically, as long as the breeder's %'s were accurate i'm comfortable with an SD a few feet longer than a typical boa, i feel like a little extra length sort of comes out in the wash since they have nowhere near the girth of the boa. But behavior! Thats what i need to get a feel for - o.r hill, you're comment above really got me thinking. My boa is very friendly, but often times he really wants nothing more than to perch on the back of my chair, and i'm like, "C'mon, man, you've been locked in a plastic tub for 48 hours, lets play!" But at he same time, i don't want a 9 ft corn snake; i appreciate my dude's calm demeanor when we're just watching tv or on the computer, is that kind of thing even possible with retics or are they too active?

Sorry for rambling - i've been obsessing for a few weeks now, anyway, i really appreciate all the knowledge that is so generously shared on this forum so thank you all.

I have a 100% kalatoa female and just recently acquired a 75% dwarf velvet female. I haven't posted about the velvet on here yet because she's only been here 4 days. Shes still settling in. I think anyone who likes snakes should have a retic. The ones I've interacted with have been great. I have 1 albino ball python female and it will be my last. I don't have patients for the food stikes. I feel if smaller retics were more readily available, less people would have ball pythons. Mine are active, good eaters (kalatoa At least, velvets still new), personable, predictable, and all around more interesting to own. A healthy weight 10 foot retic is really not huge. My super dwarf is in the 600g range, and 5 feet long. My ball is 1400g and 3ish feet long. Don't let the size scare you.

Here's the velvet.

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/...sihw5cabf.jpeg

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Originally Posted by o.r hill

I thought to show another 50% SD so readers have another data point to decide if they want one. The tiger is a 2012 male from Bob Clark. I’ve had him for about a 1 1/2years at this point. Originally he was 5 lb and 6 feet long. He is now about 8 feet long at this time and last weighed 12 lb’s. (This seems to be what I have seen written for mainland strains, but maybe Biji is related to Fluffy.) He is hands down the coolest snake that I have ever owned. But also moody. Sometimes he is begging to come out and play. Sometimes he is twitchy and looks ornery; sometimes he is pushing me off so I leave him alone.

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...352_372171.jpg

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The tiger pattern is possibly my favorite pattern of all snakes.

Nice animal you have. I'm strongly considering a dwarf/SD male tiger but I'm also a huge carpet fan and love Bridlel's and Brisbane locality coastals.

The only other animals I'd consider would be Peru or Surinam locality BCs.

OK,,,, and the rare shot at a Papuan Olive python or the right Scrubby.

The size of your snake is perfect IMO!

My Kalatoa is an absolute joy. Definitely keeps me on my toes when she thinks she's being fed, but hook training from day one has kept that under control so far. Turns right off as soon as a hook is on her. Her metabolism is something to be contended with for sure. Gotta clean up after her numerous times a week but she's still awesome in spite of that. Incredibly curious, active, growing like a weed. Haven't weighed her in a couple weeks but I'd imagine she's around 550grams at least now and close to 4 ish feet. She really took off as soon as she was switched from mice to rats.


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That velvet is gorgeous yodawagon! Also can't believe your Kalatoa is already 5'. Haven't measured my girl in a little while so she may be over 4' at this point. Still amazingly tiny for a "giant" species
Dkatz4 yeah there's no real calmly chilling out when the Retic is out. She's constantly on the go, not in an annoying way, but you'll definitely not be just hanging out and doing other things when handling her. Like I said earlier, keeps me on my toes for sure but in the most engaged and enjoyable way possible.


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Eight feet and 12 pounds, that thing is a monster for a super dwarf! I think the tiger pattern is my favorite too. I have a 50% Jampea dwarf albino and I've had her for about four weeks now. I'm power feeding her twice a week, seems like the first rat is a huge aggressive strike, then I follow up with a few adult mice. Every mouse seems to get a bit mellow and the last mouse is hardly even a strike at all. Seems like giving them a lot of food keeps them fat and happy and a bit lazy too, really mellows them out. How much do you feed this guy? I'm thinking that a hungry retic could be a lot more aggressive and more unpredictable. I'll probably slow down the feeding once she gets to a good size. I may breed my retic some day to a super dwarf albino, maybe a male SD albino tiger sunfire goldenchild (if I can even find such a snake LOL). That would make some really cool babies.

As far as feeding a ball python and having patience, most balls want live food and will take it within 20 seconds. I try frozen thawed for about 30 seconds and give up, then give a live rat pup and they always eat the live rat pup almost immediately. I'm convinced that some balls just need live.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

Eight feet and 12 pounds, that thing is a monster for a super dwarf! I think the tiger pattern is my favorite too. I have a 50% Jampea dwarf albino and I've had her for about four weeks now. I'm power feeding her twice a week, seems like the first rat is a huge aggressive strike, then I follow up with a few adult mice. Every mouse seems to get a bit mellow and the last mouse is hardly even a strike at all. Seems like giving them a lot of food keeps them fat and happy and a bit lazy too, really mellows them out. How much do you feed this guy? I'm thinking that a hungry retic could be a lot more aggressive and more unpredictable. I'll probably slow down the feeding once she gets to a good size. I may breed my retic some day to a super dwarf albino, maybe a male SD albino tiger sunfire goldenchild (if I can even find such a snake LOL). That would make some really cool babies.

As far as feeding a ball python and having patience, most balls want live food and will take it within 20 seconds. I try frozen thawed for about 30 seconds and give up, then give a live rat pup and they always eat the live rat pup almost immediately. I'm convinced that some balls just need live.

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Don't power feed her. You will end up killing her with fatty liver disease. These snakes eat very sparsely in the wild, and still get big. All you're doing is slowly killing it. 1 feeding every 5 or 6 days of an appropriate sized rat is plenty.

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Originally Posted by jmcrook

That velvet is gorgeous yodawagon! Also can't believe your Kalatoa is already 5'. Haven't measured my girl in a little while so she may be over 4' at this point. Still amazingly tiny for a "giant" species
Dkatz4 yeah there's no real calmly chilling out when the Retic is out. She's constantly on the go, not in an annoying way, but you'll definitely not be just hanging out and doing other things when handling her. Like I said earlier, keeps me on my toes for sure but in the most engaged and enjoyable way possible.


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She went through a growth spurt. Every time I take her out, she seems a little bigger.

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Originally Posted by Yodawagon

She went through a growth spurt. Every time I take her out, she seems a little bigger.

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Likewise. Can't believe that snake was 50ish grams and 22" when I got her. She looks like a totally different animal now but with the same personality


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I feel the need to add something here

For those thinking a 10' snake is nothing major... you really need to reweigh that thought process and work with a 10' snake first hand to see exactly what you're getting into. Ball pythons have a strike range that is minimal, boas - have a strike range that is minimal, a 10' retic can strike 4' out of its cage in the blink of an eye if it wants to. One of my males that recently dropped his skin and turned calico has turned into the devil of retics. Worst attitude in any snake I have. Even doing something as simple as changing his water last night kept me on my toes and ended up dodging a few strikes. This male was the most laid back snake when I got him almost 5 years ago, and now...

I am a strong supporter that anyone can and should own a retic, but I'm also a strong supporter of know what you're getting into. While it's good to see what other snakes are reaching in length, its not always the extremes that need to be considered (short or long) but the potential. And that potential is potentially shorter or longer than you expected. I highly recommend carpet pythons as a transitional species. They are addicting and have great attitudes if raised with frequent handing from a young age, even a grumpy adult is not impossible to settle down. Reticulated Pythons are an advanced species. We need to keep that tidbit in mind.

Agreed .

Folks, as always, your insights have proven invaluable. Now i'm going to go ahead and pat myself on the back because (unlike so many people i've known) i'm going to listen to the parts that i didn't want to hear and not get a retic at this time. I think they are so beautiful and exciting and, god help me, someday i'll have one, but not now.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/image...quote_icon.png Originally Posted by jmcrook http://ball-pythons.net/forums/image...post-right.png
Dkatz4 yeah there's no real calmly chilling out when the Retic is out. She's constantly on the go, not in an annoying way, but you'll definitely not be just hanging out and doing other things when handling her. Like I said earlier, keeps me on my toes for sure but in the most engaged and enjoyable way possible.

At this point I almost always have to multitask, even if one task is watching a movie (i teach film), but more often one task involves tending to a kid - so right now a snake that requires 100% of my attention is not a good match.

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Originally Posted by reptileexperts

Ball pythons have a strike range that is minimal, boas - have a strike range that is minimal, a 10' retic can strike 4' out of its cage in the blink of an eye if it wants to.

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Again, back to the kids. My 4 year old loves snakes in no small part b/c our boa is so placid and tame and tolerates my boy's "exuberant" handling with aplomb (of course i always supervise and correct him if he's getting too rough with the snake). I know i can keep him out of the snake's range if he (the snake) is acting agitated, and he's pretty easy to read with his slow steady boa manners. The relative unpredictability and speed of the retic would, i fear, prohibit my kids from handling, which would be upsetting for all of us since i really want snake keeping to be a family experience.

Oh yeah, and the poop. I already have 2 cats who think of all the world as their litter box, a newly potty trained kid (read: accidents happen), and a baby in diapers - do i need another poop machine? And besides the yuck factor, the whole salmonella thing must be acknowledged with a baby in the house, and the more feces, the more risk. The boa, of course, eliminates only twice a month and combined with his ability to shed at even greater intervals and all in one piece makes him my most sanitary pet by far.


So please, keep posting pictures and stories of the awesomeness of retic ownership so i can try to experience it vicariously until i can have one of my own!

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

Eight feet and 12 pounds, that thing is a monster for a super dwarf! I think the tiger pattern is my favorite too. I have a 50% Jampea dwarf albino and I've had her for about four weeks now. I'm power feeding her twice a week, seems like the first rat is a huge aggressive strike, then I follow up with a few adult mice. Every mouse seems to get a bit mellow and the last mouse is hardly even a strike at all. Seems like giving them a lot of food keeps them fat and happy and a bit lazy too, really mellows them out. How much do you feed this guy? I'm thinking that a hungry retic could be a lot more aggressive and more unpredictable. I'll probably slow down the feeding once she gets to a good size. I may breed my retic some day to a super dwarf albino, maybe a male SD albino tiger sunfire goldenchild (if I can even find such a snake LOL). That would make some really cool babies.

As far as feeding a ball python and having patience, most balls want live food and will take it within 20 seconds. I try frozen thawed for about 30 seconds and give up, then give a live rat pup and they always eat the live rat pup almost immediately. I'm convinced that some balls just need live.

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He has managed to grow on a rat or equivalent in poultry per week. Now he is taking large size. I would like to get him onto fewer bigger meals but he knows if I feed the other snakes and I am afraid he would get himself in state if he did not get fed too. After that he is twitchy for a day or so. A few days after that he will either mess his enclosure and want to get away from it or just want to get out and he shows his sweet side and he is fine to handle. He likes to roam so much I can use it as behavioral reinforcement.

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Originally Posted by dkatz4

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Again, back to the kids. My 4 year old loves snakes in no small part b/c our boa is so placid and tame and tolerates my boy's "exuberant" handling with aplomb (of course i always supervise and correct him if he's getting too rough with the snake). I know i can keep him out of the snake's range if he (the snake) is acting agitated, and he's pretty easy to read with his slow steady boa manners. The relative unpredictability and speed of the retic would, i fear, prohibit my kids from handling, which would be upsetting for all of us since i really want snake keeping to be a family experience. ....

Oh yeah, and the poop. I already have 2 cats who think of all the world as their litter box, a newly potty trained kid (read: accidents happen), and a baby in diapers - do i need another poop machine? And besides the yuck factor, the whole salmonella thing must be acknowledged with a baby in the house, and the more feces, the more risk. The boa, of course, eliminates only twice a month and combined with his ability to shed at even greater intervals and all in one piece makes him my most sanitary pet by far...


So please, keep posting pictures and stories of the awesomeness of retic ownership so i can try to experience it vicariously until i can have one of my own!

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I totally on board with this. I would never just let a kid carry a retic round the house. A four year old with their erratic movements would be even more nerve wracking. I am really thankful for Happy the ball python for putting up with handled by elementary school kids (one of whom liked him so much that she became a snake owner) and assorted relatives. Like your boa, too big and slow to disappear immediately from the grasp of little hands but not so big that they can really do serious damage.

I feed my retics once a week and one food item. No one is food aggressive from not eating enough. I really don't see the need to stuff them silly. At only 50% Dwarf and that much food you are going to get a pretty big retic most likely. So hopefully you aren't expecting something tiny.

My newest female has been very grumpy since arriving. The first time I opened her cage to drag her out she came flying out at me. She got the hook and not me but she came out at least 2-3 feet and barely gave it any effort. She's Not quite 10ft yet so the strike range is impressive for sure!

These images are him getting going in this morning. If he is the “thinking zone”, I offer him roam time twice a day. He was sound asleep this AM and normally I would let him be. But I would be late getting in this PM so wanted to make sure he had enough stretch time so, I tapped him awake. It took him awhile to get going but here he comes....



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The kitchenette is 8.5 feet long. He is a polite boy who will stop and say Hi on his meanderings.

Oh my how time flies!. It’s been about a year since I shared any follow up about my SD’s. Here is Biji about 1 year after his last set of pics. He has not grown much in length. He weighs 25 lb’s though. Who needs a gym.... Interested in the female but is still docile. Knock wood he will stay that way; that is one of the concerns that I had getting a male. The tiles are 13 inches wide.


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He's looking great o.r! Must be around 10-11' based on the size of the tiles. Glad he's still being well mannered. How old is he?


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I was told that he was hatched sometime in 2012. This is the first year that I noticed him arching. But he is was even friendlier while feeling frisky. Now he has settled down again. :)

I was in the BP Net conveying important news about a ball python ban in Spain.

While here, I figure I'd give an update on my critters. At 12 feet and 25+ lb my "SD-not" is still a cooperative beasty. When he does tells me off, he leaves it at a shrug and a tail wag, never a bite. He is less active at 7 years old.

I also still have my contrary beasty a true SD cross. She is 10 feet and maybe 10 lb's. Still doesn't enjoy being handled. Not bity just wiggly and never really settles into "thinking mode" when out - except how to escape. So that is the chink in the SD retic dream. The look you in the eye, "thinking" retics tend to be the big ones. Still she is a beautiful animal and not really hard to handle.

And I still have one old wild type BP.

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Here is the latest image of Wisdom on the tile floor. I couldn't figure out how to edit it to keep his head in the picture. So sadly as wonderful as he is, I've decided to rehome him. He handles very easily now. Last week I had a health scare and thinking on it, and I was ever really laide up, none my circle of friends would be able to help me with him. I want to do it now before I get in a jam so I can get him a good situation.



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Good plan, but sad to hear it.

I hope your health stays on the good side.

I find it admirable that you are setting the animals up for the long haul if something should happen to you.

Best of luck!

Thanks Glo.

It was just a scare. But it got me thinking that one day it won't be a scare. If he is at the edge of what I can handle now, sizewise, what then?

They like Happy, the ball python, and holding their nose could probably feed him a f/t rat He is safe for neophytes to handle. No way would I expect them to deal with a hungry retic or try to move one to clean the cage.