New Addition - Reticulated Python

Hello everyone! Long time lurker, first time poster here.

We welcomed a new little guy in today, and he's just amazing! He came from Justin Studner over at Stud Reptiles (Side note: I cannot say enough about my interaction with Justin - He was PHENOMENAL to work with from the first time I contacted him, and has been nothing less than stellar since then. This includes both prior to and after payment and receiving the animal. He truly has some amazing animals, and they are all very well cared for! I implore you to check him out if you are interested in mainland and/or jamp retics). He is a mainland Orange Glow - Dad was an Indo Caramel and mom was a Lavender Motley. Dad was over 4 years old and 7 feet (possibly some dwarf to him, but it has not yet been proven) and mom was 4+ years old and 13 feet. I just wanted to share him with everyone and say "hello" to the community here for the first time officially. =) My apologies in advance for the quality, or lack thereof, in regards to my photos. I have not had time to break out the camera and get some proper pictures. I am letting him settle for a couple of days before I will get anything better than these.

Without further ado, here is the gorgeous little guy!http://i.imgur.com/AaGYdDL.jpg

And here is his new digs (Temporarily, of course - He is in a 24x24x16 PMherps cage, heated by a 40w Pro Products RHP and controlled by a Herpstat 2)http://i.imgur.com/2mOEQeM.jpg


We are currently awaiting a new AP cage for him, so he will be in a much larger cage in the coming months. The more space, the better - Once he is settled in, of course. Thank you to everyone for stopping by to check my little guy out, and I look forward to posting up some more pictures as he grows!



Jameson

Nice looking retic and my advice is get a BIG cage to start out with. They grow so fast. My super dwarf white tiger het snow male went from 2' at 5 months old to 7' at 1.3 years old. And stock up on paper towels as you will cleaning poop and pee a lot lol. My boa eats a guinea pig and 3 days later drops a huge deuce and bangs around on the front of his cage until i clean it. And pray you dont have a foody retic lol.

Anyways, i love the look of the orange glow but i would need at least a 37% super dwarf one if i got another retic as the biggest I'll be able to fit is about a T65. I got Caesar in a T25 right now as well as my 2 bigger boas and it's going to be a bear to find space for a bigger cage.

Grats on the snake and you are in for an exciting ride with a retic :D

Oh and I forgot to add, be sure to get a shelf for your AP cage. My retic LOVES his shelf and it adds floor space to cage for a very cheap cost. Here are a couple pics of Caesar using his shelf to its ability lol.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4377/3...db525e4c_h.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4293/3...2465db22_h.jpg

That is one stunning looking Retic !!!


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What a beauty, congrats!

Thank you for the advice! Fortunately for me, this isn't my first venture into Retics. I have a T8 on order, that will eventually be used by my sons snake - when my boy outgrows the T8, he'll get a 6'x30"x18" (likely the AP T30), dependent on his size of course. I too am hoping mine isn't food driven more than your "average" retic haha. I have read through a lot of the Retic progression threads here, and I've seen a few have had their fair share of issues with the excessive rubbing.

I actually opted not to get the shelf, as I am going to do actual bamboo perches instead - I prefer a more "natural" look. The only issue I have thus far, is that the cypress mulch adds so much humidity - I had the dreaded condensation, so something had to be done. It actually cracked over 80 yesterday, so I drilled some holes into the cage to keep it in the 70's. I'm sure it will slowly dip down some more once the mulch continues to dry out. At least I know I won't have to mist much if at all with his current cage.

Haha yeah if you read the retic progression threads then you know JMCrook and I are the two with the foody retics that destroy their faces if not fed within 10 days lol. Gio and Stern have more well behaved retics haha.

You will get along with Gio good then as he likes the more natural look to his cages too. I personally go with more of a minimalist set up for ease of cleaning. I can just run my hand through the Reptichips every couple days and find any poopies or pisses since my snakes seem to love to bury their stuff. Or the bigger ones let me know by pacing the front of the cages instead of just cruising all over haha.

And I too get the humidity build up usually for about a week after I change substrate but it dissipates quickly if I slide a door open and just leave it open a few. The snakes also like to poke their head out sit on the litter dam hanging out. I got weirdo snakes haha. Here is some older pics of Caesar relaxing on the litter dam in his old cage as well as him using the cage stack and Herpstat 6 next to him as a lounger lol.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4315/3...e4595897_h.jpghttps://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4301/3...d02cce00_h.jpg

Oh and forgot to add, yeah JMCrook and my retic have rubbed themselves pretty bad a few times. JMs has swollen her lip a couple times and mine has flattened half his face and split his lip as well as put about 4 scrapes on the bottom of his chin and messed up a couple belly scales from an experiment I tried with going to a 2 week feeding schedule. I figured he would quit pushing after a few days....yeah he didn't and he destroyed himself. He healed up fine and I learned Caesar has to have food every 10 days haha.

These are my more minimalist set ups lol. Not the most beautiful but the snakes seem happy as they don't attack me, eat anytime offered food and seem content to let me throw them around on myself and take them wherever lol.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4311/3...3db3ab9a_h.jpghttps://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4331/3...8b6bcd3c_h.jpg

I think as my boy grows, I may be forced into a more minimalist setup myself to be honest. For me, it's the space - I can only go so large on a cage, and with a big boy, I'd almost have to have an 8x3 or 10x3 to really make it look the way is like it and still give him good floor space.

He may need an 8 footer in general once he is fully grown, we shall see. But if I take over the house completely my wife would have my head! Haha

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Oh and forgot to add, yeah JMCrook and my retic have rubbed themselves pretty bad a few times. JMs has swollen her lip a couple times and mine has flattened half his face and split his lip as well as put about 4 scrapes on the bottom of his chin and messed up a couple belly scales from an experiment I tried with going to a 2 week feeding schedule. I figured he would quit pushing after a few days....yeah he didn't and he destroyed himself. He healed up fine and I learned Caesar has to have food every 10 days haha.

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Yep, Phyllis currently has a big ole fat lip on the right side of her face. She's gotta be on a 6 day schedule with these xl rats at the moment...
OP- that's a great looking critter! Congrats!


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Addiction

I think as my boy grows, I may be forced into a more minimalist setup myself to be honest. For me, it's the space - I can only go so large on a cage, and with a big boy, I'd almost have to have an 8x3 or 10x3 to really make it look the way is like it and still give him good floor space.

He may need an 8 footer in general once he is fully grown, we shall see. But if I take over the house completely my wife would have my head! Haha

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Haha yeah about the biggest I can get away with is an 8x3 T65 if needed. I'm just praying I don't as when I have empty cages laying around, I get the itch to fill it. I'll become this...
https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...94&oe=5A2E093E

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jmcrook

Yep, Phyllis currently has a big ole fat lip on the right side of her face. She's gotta be on a 6 day schedule with these xl rats at the moment...
OP- that's a great looking critter! Congrats!


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Lol. Caesar's destroyed face and scales are all better. I've got a little break from his antics for now :rolleye2:

And sorry for stealing the thread OP. We kind of do it to all of us and more or less just turn them into a chat channel until we move on to another one of our threads lol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Haha yeah about the biggest I can get away with is an 8x3 T65 if needed. I'm just praying I don't as when I have empty cages laying around, I get the itch to fill it. I'll become this...
https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...94&oe=5A2E093E

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That is about 100% accurate haha. And trust me, I am absolutely alright with this thread being an open discussion regardless if it is about my "topic" or not; i saw the other threads were similar, and fully expected this to be the same. Honestly, what is the point of a forum/community if you can't chat back and forth regardless of the topic/thread anyways?!?!

Pretty baby!

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Originally Posted by Prognathodon

Pretty baby!

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Thank you!

That's a amazing retic! Grats. Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful baby. Give him a boop for me if/when you can.....lol

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Sorry in advance for the really cruddy cell phone picture - it's his first meal here, and I really didn't want to bother him with light or moving him at all.

He got himself his first f/t small rat, and it's left a nice ole lump in his belly!
http://i.imgur.com/ZF5tauE.jpg


Side note: The humidity in his cage (after drilling quite a few more vent holes and removing some of the cypress mulch) is hovering between 72 and 78. The very front of the cage reads up to 85 at times, but it's literally right up on the acrylic door that it reads that. The rest is between 72 and 78 percent. There isn't really any condensation buildup, and the substrate is dry on the top. The water bowl is commensurate to his size, and furthest away from the RHP. I have read a LOT of conflicting information about humidity for retics - the following questions are for those who keep retics:

1. What do you keep your humidity at?
2. Do you think the levels I have are too high?

With that said, he seems to have a slight "wheeze" when I had him out for the first time, but it was only while he was out. It was very faint, and I could only hear it when I put my ear near him. Once back in his cage, it ceased after a few moments.

I didn't want to open his mouth this early into having him - that being said, there are no noticeable bubbles or mucous coming from his nose or mouth, no head lifting, his temps are 78 to 90 on a gradient, and it's not actually "wet" in his cage. I think he may also be around shed, as his last shed was 1 month ago according to the breeders records that came with him. Any of you ever notice your retic breathing odd or heavily like that when they're out and being active, or approaching a shed? Thanks everyone!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Addiction

Sorry in advance for the really cruddy cell phone picture - it's his first meal here, and I really didn't want to bother him with light or moving him at all.

He got himself his first f/t small rat, and it's left a nice ole lump in his belly!
http://i.imgur.com/ZF5tauE.jpg


Side note: The humidity in his cage (after drilling quite a few more vent holes and removing some of the cypress mulch) is hovering between 72 and 78. The very front of the cage reads up to 85 at times, but it's literally right up on the acrylic door that it reads that. The rest is between 72 and 78 percent. There isn't really any condensation buildup, and the substrate is dry on the top. The water bowl is commensurate to his size, and furthest away from the RHP. I have read a LOT of conflicting information about humidity for retics - the following questions are for those who keep retics:

1. What do you keep your humidity at?
2. Do you think the levels I have are too high?

With that said, he seems to have a slight "wheeze" when I had him out for the first time, but it was only while he was out. It was very faint, and I could only hear it when I put my ear near him. Once back in his cage, it ceased after a few moments.

I didn't want to open his mouth this early into having him - that being said, there are no noticeable bubbles or mucous coming from his nose or mouth, no head lifting, his temps are 78 to 90 on a gradient, and it's not actually "wet" in his cage. I think he may also be around shed, as his last shed was 1 month ago according to the breeders records that came with him. Any of you ever notice your retic breathing odd or heavily like that when they're out and being active, or approaching a shed? Thanks everyone!

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I keep my boas and retics humidity around 70-90% depending what the gauge reads. It's not constant as it changes during the day. When i change substrate i always get condensation for a few days. All my snakes have a dry place to get to though as i get all my AP cages with shelves.

I dont think its too high.

Retics seem to be kind of vocal when out and about. Some days i have Caesar out, he snorts at me a lot. Other days he is quiet and in his cage, he is always quiet. If your retic only does the sneezing/quick exhale noise when you are holding him and is quiet inside the cage and doesnt have any signs of RI, i wouldnt worry. Like i said, Caesar has done it since i got him at 5 months old and he's now almost 1.4 years old and he did it when i got him and still does it sometimes. And wait until he gets bigger. Sometimes when i'm petting Caesar on the head or he puts his head under my arm while i'm petting his body, you can really feel his breathing on your arm. Kind interesting how with large constrictors, you notice everything about them as everything is done 'big'.....even their poops :O

Thanks Sauzo, you just reinforced what I was pretty sure of to begin with - sometimes I get overly worried/nervous, and seem to need some sort of reaffirmation when it is something new to me species wise. I appreciate it! :sweeet:

Well, we had our first real handling session, 3 days after his meal and he seemed quite content to explore everything! He did quite well. I've noticed that his "wheezing" I mentioned in prior post is when he is breathing heavy/overly active, likely he is just still nervous and settling in. It comes and goes while he's out, and disappears once in his cage. Either way, I have a vet appointment for Wednesday, as I always take a new herp in for a general checkup to be as safe as possible! Plus, it allows me to check this vet out that was listed on this site as herp friendly and experienced.

Now it's time for some photos of him outside so you can really see his colors. He's one pretty boy!

http://i.imgur.com/KwyjZqg.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/7OWvbMT.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/oORCpBl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/6fhbikG.jpg

I swear, the sun really brings out his beauty! You can tell in the last picture it wasn't right on him, and it shows that way in person, too. I can't wait to see him fresh out of a shed and fired up (which should be coming up soon I imagine)!

Had the vet appointment today - Dr. Adam was great, and little man has a clean bill of health! I had him probed just to be sure he is a male, and he is haha. Although, that put little man in a tiffy, and he's been lashing out since the probing, to include non stop at me when I was putting him back into his enclosure. He didn't settle until I was able to close it up and walk away. Time to give him a few days to relax and calm down.

Dr. Adam did find some loose skin/substrate deep in his nostrils that was the likely culprit of the whistling/wheezing noise. That, and him coming up on shed time (at least it looks that way).

Bonus: He decided the perfect time to take his first real bathroom break was all over the vet - I felt bad, but at least I didn't have to clean it out of his enclosure! Haha.

Congrats on the clean bill of health. I'm sure he will forgive you for being probed... eventually....lol.

P.s. I love it too when they go on someone else so you don't have to clean it up. Am I wrong for being that way? Lol

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