Your thoughts on Dwarf and SD retics?

Hello! So, I have 2 ball pythons, a BCI, and two cresties. I love love LOVE retics (Thanks Sauzo :rage::rofl:)! I don't think I have space now for one though. But... dwarf and SDs. What do you think? I've heard people say they are insane, but some say they are just like normals. See, I was considering a retic as a next step in the future. Future. Future. Future. Future. Future. Future. Got it? One more time: Future. I wanted to start saving up now, as they are EXPENSIVE and all I have rn is $3 lol. I've heard of people getting big big vision cages and putting them under their twin bed, which I think is a really good idea. So, I might be able to get a normal retic thing now (not now, you know what I mean) as a baby, and put him in a tub/20 gallon until he's big enough to go into the 50/60 gal vision tank I'll have by then. BUT! The main reason I love reticulated pythons is for the personality, so if dwarf/SDs are like that, that would be a game changer. Sorry this is all over the place. Thanks!

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Originally Posted by GpBp

Hello! So, I have 2 ball pythons, a BCI, and two cresties. I love love LOVE retics (Thanks Sauzo :rage::rofl:)! I don't think I have space now for one though. But... dwarf and SDs. What do you think? I've heard people say they are insane, but some say they are just like normals. See, I was considering a retic as a next step in the future. Future. Future. Future. Future. Future. Future. Got it? One more time: Future. I wanted to start saving up now, as they are EXPENSIVE and all I have rn is $3 lol. I've heard of people getting big big vision cages and putting them under their twin bed, which I think is a really good idea. So, I might be able to get a normal retic thing now (not now, you know what I mean) as a baby, and put him in a tub/20 gallon until he's big enough to go into the 50/60 gal vision tank I'll have by then. BUT! The main reason I love reticulated pythons is for the personality, so if dwarf/SDs are like that, that would be a game changer. Sorry this is all over the place. Thanks!

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Loads of info below.

The last 3 are videos and really worth a look.

The first links are 3 different keepers (I have Wallace) and different experiences.

$3 LOL! Yep, future plan, I get it. Keep in mind the caging and feeding costs.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...n-(Pic-heavy-)
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ic-Progression

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ce-Progression!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ression-thread


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2UF4WGzDFw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhxMtNIOWqE


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmYCnUzAJAc


I can't forget about Gene.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...y-has-a-thread!

Gio and Sauzo seem like the main retic guys here so thats who you want to listen to without a doubt.

I know you said "future"....and that's definately the right move. I wanted a giant for years before I got my Burm (today actually lol) and had to wait a LONG time because I knew better. Things to consider:

Food costs....rabbits get expensive and retics can eat a lot of them if big enough.
Caging costs....expensive
Your living situation....this is big in my opinion. If you rent, or ever plan on it I would absolutely hold off. 99% of landlords arent cool with a 10+ foot snake in their building and its easy grounds to evict you.

I waited to buy my Burm until I had a good job and my own house.....but boy was there ever temptation along the way lol.

I refuse to own anything I can't handle alone. A retic, burmese, and anaconda make that something I will never own. I have nothing against large snake keepers and admire them for taking on the challenge but it is not for me. My view is if you can offer a retic the proper habitat and handling through its entire life then get one. If not then don't. Anyone who plans to ditch a snake once it gets full grown is bad in my book (happens far too often with large snakes/reptiles and people who think they are cool but have no idea the commitment).

That being said a SD retic is in my future one day as a sub 10 foot snake is right up my alley and I am still holding out hope for titanium morphs to enter into SD land.

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Originally Posted by Gio

Loads of info below.

The last 3 are videos and really worth a look.

The first links are 3 different keepers (I have Wallace) and different experiences.

$3 LOL! Yep, future plan, I get it. Keep in mind the caging and feeding costs.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...n-(Pic-heavy-)
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ic-Progression

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ce-Progression!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ression-thread


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2UF4WGzDFw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhxMtNIOWqE


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmYCnUzAJAc


I can't forget about Gene.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...y-has-a-thread!

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Those are all awesome links with a wealth of information. I've watched his Youtube videos you shared about 100 times a piece while I was deciding to get my SD Retics!

Can't forget this link with a ton of great information that he shared here on the forum, either:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ze-origination

I just received my first pair of SD Retics today, so I haven't had any real first hand experience of my own yet to share with you other than they are beautiful and majestic beyond words! But, i've done A LOT of research, as anyone who is considering traveling down this road should...

KevinK,

I'm flattered you feel Sauzo and I are the "go to" retic guys. We are far from it.

ReptileExperts is the biology major, and experienced keeper on this board and a host of others. I only have 1 retic, a costal carpet, a locality BCI and my son's royal.


My retic, Wallace is far from a giant. He will be 2 years old the 1st of June and is roughly 7 feet long and pretty lean.

I DO NOT feed frequently, yet he's perfectly healthy. Usually every 3 to 4 weeks he eats. I frequent some of the UK. retic boards and many of them think we over feed our animals here in the states. That's another topic, but I have NEVER had a pushing issue with Wallace.

Also keep in mind a lean, healthy 7 foot SD/Dwarf retic is not nearly as large as you may think.

http://i.imgur.com/g48JVmi.jpg

My boa is much larger yet not as long.

Anyhow, my SD/Dwarf with a little % mainland is pretty nice. A little twitchy getting out of the cage but once out he's great.

He will enter a brand new cage in the next month or 2 and removal will be much easier with 2 feet of ceiling space.

My retic fantasies are also in the “future, future, future” for obvious reasons, as it is a big responsibility to own one. When I do finally have everything I need to properly keep a fantastic retic, I am going to get a big mainland type. Retics are (imo) the most beautiful serpent species in the world, but also something magical about being the longest serpents in the world. I haven’t spent time with one, but I hear from keepers about their intelligence and personality.
itbis one of those “someday” goals of mine.

I want a 18 footer type morph. Lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gio

KevinK,

I'm flattered you feel Sauzo and I are the "go to" retic guys. We are far from it.

ReptileExperts is the biology major, and experienced keeper on this board and a host of others. I only have 1 retic, a costal carpet, a locality BCI and my son's royal.


.

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Well, if we're going by the amount of Retic knowledge shared and transmitted on this forum recently I think its a safe to say you guys take the cake.....Im willing to make a poll if needed :rofl: I practically live on the giant section and you guys control it lol. BP's are awesome....but Retics and Burms are the Bee's Knees.

I have seen Reptileexperts before on here, he keeps hots , correct?

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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

I want a 18 footer type morph. Lol

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When I think if a morph that is capable of that concerning mainland retics, I think of the Tiger gene for sure....look up "Fluffy" from Bob Clark if you havent already.

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Originally Posted by KevinK

When I think if a morph that is capable of that concerning mainland retics, I think of the Tiger gene for sure....look up "Fluffy" from Bob Clark if you havent already.

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This video made me re-think things.? Lol
a giant female tiger retic:
https://youtu.be/ABBDGQKDRYE
I would have to be rich enough to dedicate a whole room to such a beast.

All animals have their own personalities. I jumped right from corns to my SD. Retics are smart and will easily pick up on your habits (good and bad) and are very food motivated. A full size one might be cheaper to start out with but in the long run will be more a more expensive commitment to house and feed.

On top of my SD I also help someone once a week with their snakes. One of the snakes is a super tiger probably in the 8' range right now and about a year old. This past week I had to deal with a stuck eye cap. I had no problem handling the snake alone. As gio said a lean snake under 10' isn't really all that big.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

This video made me re-think things.? Lol
a giant female tiger retic:
https://youtu.be/ABBDGQKDRYE
I would have to be rich enough to dedicate a whole room to such a beast.

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I have seen that video in the past and its the reason why I dont say anything when people say "Burms are heavier-bodied than Retics"....in general that statement is true, especially when youre talking about dwarf line retics, but mainland retics can get ENORMOUS.

I would still argue that a properly (not overly) fed male Burm is handleable by an able-bodied, strong person alone. Female? Thats pushing it.

I had a 9ft BCC female years ago that weighed 85lbs and I had no problems with her alone, a male Burm isnt very far from that.

That 8.5 year old female tiger retic they could only estimate was 175-200 pounds! Definitely in the 18+foot long category.

If you think that snake is big take a look at this video. It will make you think twice before getting a full blooded Mainland retic. It's one of the reasons I've decided to stick with Dwarf and Super Dwarf retics, my 50% dwarf may get as big as 100 pounds at the end of her life but no where near the size of this beast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFhDhVaGbsY

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

If you think that snake is big take a look at this video. It will make you think twice before getting a full blooded Mainland retic. It's one of the reasons I've decided to stick with Dwarf and Super Dwarf retics, my 50% dwarf may get as big as 100 pounds at the end of her life but no where near the size of this beast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFhDhVaGbsY

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I'll stick with my female BCI! That's going to be enough snake for me when she's full grown!

Thank you for this thread though, very interesting.

Hey! So I got this notification on my phone and thought I might as well elaborate on my experiences as I own a SUPER TINY super dwarf retic (picture below for seeing super tiny).

So, first things first, I have an adult corn, a juvenile Russian rat snake, and then I went on to a snake exposition and met two cool dudes from the UK, their company was named Ridgeway Exotics.
The reason I met them is because of all the snakes I saw (or should I say ball pythons, that was 90% of the show) I found the ONLY orange and purple snake. What!? I have never seen that before!
I started gathering information. She was a super dwarf they said, and I was skeptical about it. So he showed me pictures of the mother and wow was she tiny, I couldn't believe to be so lucky! They actually let me hold her for a bit because I was so curious how a reticulated python would behave.

She was sweet, a true sight to behold. I wasn't planning on getting a snake at all.. But this, I imagined, when was I ever going to see such a beauty like her again? I'll tell you, never, all the shows I went to after I haven't found a single one!

So I pondered and took a walk, actually hoping someone else would take her before I could because I was nervous as hell about their behaviour as some point in the future, I've seen some nasty videos..

My girlfriend convinced me to get her, so I walked back, got her, got all the required things at that show too, and I couldn't be happier I tell you! How I love this snake!

So, her behaviour.. She had a time where she was pissed off at everything. Striked the glass continously as someone walked by. I went on a forum to see how I could correct this and they advised tap training her. I've been doing so for half a year now and it's working out great. She calmed down because the hook tells her what's going to happen, very intelligent snakes I tell you!
She's super chill now and even my mother of 64 will hold her!

So now about her size right? I have high expectations that she's going to stay really, really small. She's almost a year old now and she's still really tiny, and I mean really tiny. She's about 60cm, or 2 feet. I've seen year old 81.5% super dwarfs that are bigger than my adult corn snake.... Her diet exists out of a fuzzy rat right now, every 1.5 to 2 weeks. (and that leaves a HUGE bulge! Sometimes I think she might burst but snakes can stretch so far!) I want to keep her small, as I'm not looking forward to feeding rabbits [emoji195].

I thought about this and discussed about it as well, in the wild they don't find food for maybe weeks, snakes can go on for a really long time without feeding and they survive. Snakes will manage a lot!
Above all she's super healthy, all over the place (I put a wooden perch against the glass so she can climb, and sometimes actually sits like a morelia viridis lol) and just very well behaved. I can read her very well I'd like to think.

So that's about it. A lot more text than I imagined I would write but I hope this was helpful to see a sort of new owner talk about these kind of snakes.

I'll post a few pictures now, of her pattern, her size, and just some nice ones. (hope it's not too huge of size, I'm posting from my phone lol)

Meet Juno, the 75% super dwarf retic purple morph het for snow! :) https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...65f334c7b5.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c82a07a70e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9bd54c62b8.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xShevi

Hey! So I got this notification on my phone and thought I might as well elaborate on my experiences as I own a SUPER TINY super dwarf retic (picture below for seeing super tiny).

So, first things first, I have an adult corn, a juvenile Russian rat snake, and then I went on to a snake exposition and met two cool dudes from the UK, their company was named Ridgeway Exotics.
The reason I met them is because of all the snakes I saw (or should I say ball pythons, that was 90% of the show) I found the ONLY orange and purple snake. What!? I have never seen that before!
I started gathering information. She was a super dwarf they said, and I was skeptical about it. So he showed me pictures of the mother and wow was she tiny, I couldn't believe to be so lucky! They actually let me hold her for a bit because I was so curious how a reticulated python would behave.

She was sweet, a true sight to behold. I wasn't planning on getting a snake at all.. But this, I imagined, when was I ever going to see such a beauty like her again? I'll tell you, never, all the shows I went to after I haven't found a single one!

So I pondered and took a walk, actually hoping someone else would take her before I could because I was nervous as hell about their behaviour as some point in the future, I've seen some nasty videos..

My girlfriend convinced me to get her, so I walked back, got her, got all the required things at that show too, and I couldn't be happier I tell you! How I love this snake!

So, her behaviour.. She had a time where she was pissed off at everything. Striked the glass continously as someone walked by. I went on a forum to see how I could correct this and they advised tap training her. I've been doing so for half a year now and it's working out great. She calmed down because the hook tells her what's going to happen, very intelligent snakes I tell you!
She's super chill now and even my mother of 64 will hold her!

So now about her size right? I have high expectations that she's going to stay really, really small. She's almost a year old now and she's still really tiny, and I mean really tiny. She's about 60cm, or 2 feet. I've seen year old 81.5% super dwarfs that are bigger than my adult corn snake.... Her diet exists out of a fuzzy rat right now, every 1.5 to 2 weeks. (and that leaves a HUGE bulge! Sometimes I think she might burst but snakes can stretch so far!) I want to keep her small, as I'm not looking forward to feeding rabbits [emoji195].

I thought about this and discussed about it as well, in the wild they don't find food for maybe weeks, snakes can go on for a really long time without feeding and they survive. Snakes will manage a lot!
Above all she's super healthy, all over the place (I put a wooden perch against the glass so she can climb, and sometimes actually sits like a morelia viridis lol) and just very well behaved. I can read her very well I'd like to think.

So that's about it. A lot more text than I imagined I would write but I hope this was helpful to see a sort of new owner talk about these kind of snakes.

I'll post a few pictures now, of her pattern, her size, and just some nice ones. (hope it's not too huge of size, I'm posting from my phone lol)

Meet Juno, the 75% super dwarf retic purple morph het for snow! :) https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...65f334c7b5.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c82a07a70e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9bd54c62b8.jpg

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Yours looks very similar to my SD Purple Albino Retic ... mine's nearly three years old I'd say and only around 3' long - perfect health ..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Yours looks very similar to my SD Purple Albino Retic ... mine's nearly three years old I'd say and only around 3' long - perfect health ..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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That gives a lot of good hope. Quite exceptional I must say, having a 3' retic right? Haha! We'll see what the future brings, I don't mind a huge snake, but python baby heads just look so great, as they get bigger their heads expand and they look like Tyrannosaurus Rex heads as their eyes stay the same size of course! Lol!

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Originally Posted by xShevi

That gives a lot of good hope. Quite exceptional I must say, having a 3' retic right? Haha! We'll see what the future brings, I don't mind a huge snake, but python baby heads just look so great, as they get bigger their heads expand and they look like Tyrannosaurus Rex heads as their eyes stay the same size of course! Lol!

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Guess it could be 3'6 , maybe 3' 9" but very slender and manageable...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Woah! Lots of replies! I'll do my best;
I watched those videos, very great! Though, idk what he means by some of the stuff he said. I know what mainland means, but the like "kalatoa" or something like that (lol) just lost me! Very helpful though. That G-Stripe was SMOKING!!!

I don't think I'd get a mainland, although they are beautiful and amazing, just a bit too big for me! So, from my understanding, some SDs will get larger than others. I want small as possible, so it just depends on the parents? Though apparently, you want something mixed with a mainland so the temperament isn't too crazy? I'm okay with hook training and stuff, but I want the snake to be relatively calm when I have them out.

Also, will an SD ever get big enough to eat a rabbit..? I'd really prefer not too! It's expensive and sad :( (I'd feed F/T) Can I not feed them as much as a yearling and maybe they won't grow as large?

DANG! Some of those mainlands are H U G E! Again, sticking with an SD or an SD cross.

xShevi, that little thing is precious! Love those purples! And so tiny! What do you mean by "tap training"? And, is Juno a pure SD or a cross (Sorry if you already mentioned it)? And you expect her to stay small because of the size of the parents, correct?

Sorry if I forgot something, thanks for all your help everyone!

I love this morph! Those purples on the head are incredible! I love the muted tent.

http://www.bobclark.com/available/reticulated_pythons/

(9th down, on the right)

There's a lot that goes into the potential size of dwarf and super dwarf retics. As far as I know there are no 'morphs' that are pure super dwarf or dwarf, so if you get an albino or tiger or anything else besides a normal they had to cross it with mainland to get the final result. And then it comes down to percentages. My super dwarf purple albino is 37.5% super dwarf, 50% dwarf (Jampea) and only 12.5% mainland. It gets a bit confusing as it goes on, now I'm crossing this male with a female 50% dwarf / 50% mainland so the super dwarf percentage gets cut in half for the offspring. If you buy a super dwarf or dwarf that is other than normal in color and pattern you should find out what percentages make up the genetics, that's the only way to determine size potential.

With all these percentages at play it's hard to know how big the babies will get. The higher the percentage of super dwarf the smaller the snake. The locality also comes into play, there are some lines that are much bigger than others. A lot of it also depends on feeding amount and frequency.

I actually bought a retic because I wanted a 'gentle giant', a snake that was really big and impressive. I wasn't out to get the smallest retic that I could get, I suppose it comes down to personal preference. But for me a substantial size is important, I was looking for something big and impressive but not so big that it would outgrow my house LOL.

Also, for younger snakes that are super aggressive I started picking up and handling them every time they show any sign of aggression, especially when they are hatchling size. I have a black and white King snake that will coil up and snap at me like a rattlesnake and as soon as I see that I'll pull the tub and slowly spin it around 180 degrees to disorient him a bit and then pick him up and handle him for a few minutes. You need to build as much trust as possible, especially with a snake that can get as big as a retic. The last thing you want is a monster snake that you don't trust, that could potentially be extremely dangerous.

Here is a great thread about super dwarf care. It also explains things about size and local like the "kalatoa"

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...nd-Information

My Super Dwarf Purple Albino had a 5' dad and a 6' mum and he's still under 4' - just under 3 years old ...


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by GpBp

Woah! Lots of replies! I'll do my best;
I watched those videos, very great! Though, idk what he means by some of the stuff he said. I know what mainland means, but the like "kalatoa" or something like that (lol) just lost me! Very helpful though. That G-Stripe was SMOKING!!!

I don't think I'd get a mainland, although they are beautiful and amazing, just a bit too big for me! So, from my understanding, some SDs will get larger than others. I want small as possible, so it just depends on the parents? Though apparently, you want something mixed with a mainland so the temperament isn't too crazy? I'm okay with hook training and stuff, but I want the snake to be relatively calm when I have them out.

Also, will an SD ever get big enough to eat a rabbit..? I'd really prefer not too! It's expensive and sad :( (I'd feed F/T) Can I not feed them as much as a yearling and maybe they won't grow as large?

DANG! Some of those mainlands are H U G E! Again, sticking with an SD or an SD cross.

xShevi, that little thing is precious! Love those purples! And so tiny! What do you mean by "tap training"? And, is Juno a pure SD or a cross (Sorry if you already mentioned it)? And you expect her to stay small because of the size of the parents, correct?

Sorry if I forgot something, thanks for all your help everyone!

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What cchardwick said is about right.

I'll try and explain it easier, I hope I do this right as the breeder once told me about the process.

When you want a morph super dwarf, you take a mainland that carries the morph, let's say it's an albino, and the super dwarf, this creates a line of super dwarfs that are F1. (Generation 1 of two parents)

The F1 offspring that are visibly albino are (I think 25%) and you breed these back to a different but, this only needs to happen once, pure lineage of super dwarf, this starts to increase the percentage of super dwarf in the offspring that will be F2 50% super dwarf.

Now, this is when it gets weird. Because you breed that F2 offspring back to the original super dwarf you had, of course the albino offspring, to increase the super dwarf percentage more and more.

This creates your F3 offspring that is 75%. You can produce more litters than that but it will never get higher in percentage UNLESS you're breeding super dwarfs together and not for the morph.
There's different ways to do this, and there's a guy called Tom's Retics on Instagram that claims to have 81.5% super dwarfs in morphs..

It's extremely difficult to understand how this works, but this about simplifies the process. Genetics in reptiles work differently than any other species. It takes years on years to get these kind of small retics, and even more so to get with a certain morph. Some day, platinum will be a possibility. Or even goldenchild albino's (Omg)

Now for Juno, she's an F1 litter from two Madu morphed super dwarfs. They were both 75%, and so is Juno. Her parents were small, but not as tiny as Juno will be I think. There's a certain pattern to feeding her, that makes a retic small. Because, what the hell is a super dwarf anyway?

A super dwarf is a retic from a region or island like Madu, or Kalatoa, where their feeding pattern is incredibly different. They only get one season of feeding the whole year round and feed on birds. They only come there for a season and then the birds leave again. So this is why the retics remain small. There is no "real super dwarf" and people say that when you feed a super dwarf like a normal retic, it will grow just as big.

I am not one to try this out, as I said beforehand I just hate feeding a rabbit that will bleed all over the place. Then again, Juno is picky and will only eat rats. People said retics are garbage cans and eat anything, so birds and mice as well. I tried this out with a mouse but she wouldn't have it, only eats rats.


Tap training is when you get a hook, and train her into the pattern that every time you touch her head(top, under, nose, tip of nose, sides) with the hook, you pick her up.
When you do this the first few weeks or months she will flip the heck out, mine actually started crawling up walls and it looked kinda sad to do it now but you can not break this habit. Retics are known to be the most intelligent of snakes and they will read you and learn from you as well as you learn from them. Therefore it's important to stick through the process and get her out whatever the cost, yes even if it means to get a bite. She will learn in time that you won't harm her as this process ensues into a light touch of the hook, then your hand enters the viv, and then you get her out. Always supported by that hook because you don't know what she'll do during the training.

This worked excellent for me, and I've never been striked at using this method. I will do this with all my "dangerous" snakes, because it makes them so much calmer with picking them up.

Lots of text, sorry guys. Some of it could be wrong, but this is about as much as I understood when I was gathering information on retics and sd's. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 67temp

Here is a great thread about super dwarf care. It also explains things about size and local like the "kalatoa"

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...nd-Information

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Thank you!! Super helpful!! I think I should look at kalatoa crosses (if that's a thing...). Might be the biggest thing though, will all SD's grow to eat rabbits? They are pricey! Would it be possible to do like 3 jumbo rats..? Thank you! I'm understanding a bit more ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xShevi

Hey! So I got this notification on my phone and thought I might as well elaborate on my experiences as I own a SUPER TINY super dwarf retic (picture below for seeing super tiny).

So, first things first, I have an adult corn, a juvenile Russian rat snake, and then I went on to a snake exposition and met two cool dudes from the UK, their company was named Ridgeway Exotics.
The reason I met them is because of all the snakes I saw (or should I say ball pythons, that was 90% of the show) I found the ONLY orange and purple snake. What!? I have never seen that before!
I started gathering information. She was a super dwarf they said, and I was skeptical about it. So he showed me pictures of the mother and wow was she tiny, I couldn't believe to be so lucky! They actually let me hold her for a bit because I was so curious how a reticulated python would behave.

She was sweet, a true sight to behold. I wasn't planning on getting a snake at all.. But this, I imagined, when was I ever going to see such a beauty like her again? I'll tell you, never, all the shows I went to after I haven't found a single one!

So I pondered and took a walk, actually hoping someone else would take her before I could because I was nervous as hell about their behaviour as some point in the future, I've seen some nasty videos..

My girlfriend convinced me to get her, so I walked back, got her, got all the required things at that show too, and I couldn't be happier I tell you! How I love this snake!

So, her behaviour.. She had a time where she was pissed off at everything. Striked the glass continously as someone walked by. I went on a forum to see how I could correct this and they advised tap training her. I've been doing so for half a year now and it's working out great. She calmed down because the hook tells her what's going to happen, very intelligent snakes I tell you!
She's super chill now and even my mother of 64 will hold her!

So now about her size right? I have high expectations that she's going to stay really, really small. She's almost a year old now and she's still really tiny, and I mean really tiny. She's about 60cm, or 2 feet. I've seen year old 81.5% super dwarfs that are bigger than my adult corn snake.... Her diet exists out of a fuzzy rat right now, every 1.5 to 2 weeks. (and that leaves a HUGE bulge! Sometimes I think she might burst but snakes can stretch so far!) I want to keep her small, as I'm not looking forward to feeding rabbits [emoji195].

I thought about this and discussed about it as well, in the wild they don't find food for maybe weeks, snakes can go on for a really long time without feeding and they survive. Snakes will manage a lot!
Above all she's super healthy, all over the place (I put a wooden perch against the glass so she can climb, and sometimes actually sits like a morelia viridis lol) and just very well behaved. I can read her very well I'd like to think.

So that's about it. A lot more text than I imagined I would write but I hope this was helpful to see a sort of new owner talk about these kind of snakes.

I'll post a few pictures now, of her pattern, her size, and just some nice ones. (hope it's not too huge of size, I'm posting from my phone lol)

Meet Juno, the 75% super dwarf retic purple morph het for snow! :) https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...65f334c7b5.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...c82a07a70e.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...9bd54c62b8.jpg

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Thanks for sharing your story, Shevi. She really is a stunner! You never mentioned her locale and percentages. As I already mentioned, I received my first pair of 25% Kalatoas just yesterday. They will be 1 year old in April and May and are only eating rat pups. I am totally blown away by how tiny they are for 1 year old Retics! From what I can tell, my girl is probably even a tad smaller than yours! My male is probably about the same size. These creatures are just sooo insanely beautiful, beautiful, though! There is no doubt, who the new king and queen are in my snake room!

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

Thanks for sharing your story, Shevi. She really is a stunner! You never mentioned her locale and percentages. As I already mentioned, I received my first pair of 25% Kalatoas just yesterday. They will be 1 year old in April and May and are only eating rat pups. I am totally blown away by how tiny they are for 1 year old Retics! From what I can tell, my girl is probably even a tad smaller than yours! My male is probably about the same size. These creatures are just sooo insanely beautiful, beautiful, though! There is no doubt, who the new king and queen are in my snake room!

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She's a 75% madu super dwarf het for snow too!

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Originally Posted by GpBp

Thank you!! Super helpful!! I think I should look at kalatoa crosses (if that's a thing...). Might be the biggest thing though, will all SD's grow to eat rabbits? They are pricey! Would it be possible to do like 3 jumbo rats..? Thank you! I'm understanding a bit more ;)

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Yeah, they could eat jumbo rats no problem! Just don't overfeed when they're young and then you're gucci :)

On a side note I saw a thread that said the size of the snake is about which was originally used as the male and female and %SD doesn't matter as much. For example, take a pure SD male and mate it with a monster Mainland female. You will get lots of big eggs with big hatchlings that turn into big snakes. But if you did it the other way around, use a mature SD female and a young Mainland male. Now your eggs will come from the SD female and will be much smaller and you'll have smaller hatchlings and smaller snakes overall. I never tried this myself or have seen a direct comparison side by side but it makes sense to me.

So bottom line, you could have two 50% SD snakes coming from the same line of SD and Mainland and end up with two completely different size offspring (having different size potentials as adults) depending on which was originally the male and female.

Also, feeding has little to do with the final size of the snake. You can feed a corn snake as much as you want all day long and it will never get to the size of a boa, it's all about genetics at that point.

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Originally Posted by GpBp

Hello! So, I have 2 ball pythons, a BCI, and two cresties. I love love LOVE retics (Thanks Sauzo :rage::rofl:)! I don't think I have space now for one though. But... dwarf and SDs. What do you think? I've heard people say they are insane, but some say they are just like normals. See, I was considering a retic as a next step in the future. Future. Future. Future. Future. Future. Future. Got it? One more time: Future. I wanted to start saving up now, as they are EXPENSIVE and all I have rn is $3 lol. I've heard of people getting big big vision cages and putting them under their twin bed, which I think is a really good idea. So, I might be able to get a normal retic thing now (not now, you know what I mean) as a baby, and put him in a tub/20 gallon until he's big enough to go into the 50/60 gal vision tank I'll have by then. BUT! The main reason I love reticulated pythons is for the personality, so if dwarf/SDs are like that, that would be a game changer. Sorry this is all over the place. Thanks!

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Well, I personally wouldnt want a mainland as i dont want anything over 10 feet. That might be something you want to keep in mind. That is why i went with a SD although Caesar isnt so SD really lol. He is between 7-8 feet or maybe even a little longer. i havent bothered to measure him.

I also would start him off in a big cage, at least a 4x2 but more like a 6x3. Retics arent too shy and just give him a few hides as a baby and he will be fine. They grow insanely fast, so a 20 gallon tank will last you maybe 6 months if you are lucky. Caesar was about 2 feet at 5 months old.

As for food, each retic will be different. Some will push if not fed, some are mellow. Caesar will be 2 years old this May and he eats either a jumbo rat or XL guinea pig every 10 days or so.

Also retics seem to need a lot more maintenance as they seem to love to piss and poop. Also they seem to get in a lot more trouble lol. I just had to slide Caesar's upper lip off a tooth as he somehow bit through his upper lip while grabbing his rat. It was not fun for either of us.

Retics are awesome but they take much more dedication on your part than with something like a ball python. They are also a lot more expensive in care.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

If you think that snake is big take a look at this video. It will make you think twice before getting a full blooded Mainland retic. It's one of the reasons I've decided to stick with Dwarf and Super Dwarf retics, my 50% dwarf may get as big as 100 pounds at the end of her life but no where near the size of this beast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFhDhVaGbsY

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That snake, Twinkie, is freakin morbidly obese. Look at how the tail looks so thin while the rest of him looks like a stuffed sausage. It's like the tail was cut off a smaller snake and glued onto that huge snake. A snakes tail should be in proportion to its body.

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Originally Posted by GpBp

Thank you!! Super helpful!! I think I should look at kalatoa crosses (if that's a thing...). Might be the biggest thing though, will all SD's grow to eat rabbits? They are pricey! Would it be possible to do like 3 jumbo rats..? Thank you! I'm understanding a bit more ;)

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Most SD morphs you find out there will be some kalatoa. You want to make sure you know how much percent the snake is and how big the parents are.

Like i said, Caesar will be 2 years old this May and while i bet he could eat a small rabbit, that would be pretty much it. He could east 3 jumbo rats but there is no way he would need it. He gets 1 jumbo rat or 1 XL guinea pig every 10 days or so. And this is based on the fact that like i said, Caesar is easily pushing 8 feet from when i see him stretching out in his cage and i kind of use the cage walls as measuring tape lol. When we had the bonding of trying to unhook his lip from his tooth, he wrapped around my whole waist as well as down one leg and still had snake to spare.....and I'm not a thin guy lol. To give you an idea, the end vent is the halfway make on a 6 foot cage and that shelf is 10 inches wide. Caesar is a good size but not overly big. He is easily longer than Rosey my 5 year old BCI but not as thick.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...691351bc_h.jpg

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Originally Posted by GpBp

I love this morph! Those purples on the head are incredible! I love the muted tent.

http://www.bobclark.com/available/reticulated_pythons/

(9th down, on the right)

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Go for a pied!!! That is my list but right now there is no SD pieds so it would have to be a male mainland and pray it stays smaller lol.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

That snake, Twinkie, is freakin morbidly obese. Look at how the tail looks so thin while the rest of him looks like a stuffed sausage. It's like the tail was cut off a smaller snake and glued onto that huge snake. A snakes tail should be in proportion to its body.

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Absolutely correct!

That snake is in terrible condition, and has been pushed for growth. There is nothing impressive or healthy about that animal.

Seeing it is actually sad and if it isn't dead already it will be soon.

I mentioned in my initial post that a lot of the keepers in the UK. feel we tend to over feed here.

I think generally most snakes in captivity are fed rather generously, which isn't necessarily good or bad, but it can waiver toward bad quickly.

There are some wild type retics that are huge but look nothing like that Twinkie.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ew-record.html

A reticulated python should be lean, very muscular, and agile. It should be able to move gracefully through ground cover and have the ability to climb about anything.

They are said to be the "KINGS" of the constrictors. I don't believe that title is given just based on length alone.

This is pretty telling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Aze5pRETgM

Back to topic.
A male, pure SD or even a male SD X D with a touch of mainland, in most cases will be a very good keep.

Some mainland animals are not huge at all. Not every BCC boa constrictor is 10-12 feet. Some may get that big but most don't . Not every retic be it male or female is a sure thing to be giant.

Find the right breeder, ask the right questions and buy what's right for you.

As Sauzo stated, and I'll echo it; "I didn't want a snake that was going to be 10 feet long." I think 9-10" is doable if the snake stays on the lean side which is a characteristic of SDs and dwarves.

JMcrook's perfect SD beauty.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...heavy-)/page49

Well raised animal IMO. No fat, lean and long. Not too long though. Female SD!

Good luck!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

If you think that snake is big take a look at this video. It will make you think twice before getting a full blooded Mainland retic. It's one of the reasons I've decided to stick with Dwarf and Super Dwarf retics, my 50% dwarf may get as big as 100 pounds at the end of her life but no where near the size of this beast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFhDhVaGbsY

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That is just fatter. Ugh! I like the Tiger I posted much better. It is just as long as this snake, and very massive, but this one looks just obese.

Yeah, Twinkie died like 4 years ago and I think was only 8 years old. Faaaaaaaaaaaat


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Your purple/orange python is just awesome, Xshevi. Very good story, makes me want a retic even more.

Haha Jacob beat me to it. Yeah Twinkie died and he wasnt that old, didnt know he was only 8 years old though...or i just dont remember, dang old age :P

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Haha Jacob beat me to it. Yeah Twinkie died and he wasnt that old, didnt know he was only 8 years old though...or i just dont remember, dang old age :P

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I was wrong. Died at one month past her 11th bday. Still grossly obese regardless of age


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Originally Posted by jmcrook

I was wrong. Died at one month past her 11th bday. Still grossly obese regardless of age


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Well regardless considering most pythons and boas should live 20-30 years. So 8 or 11, it was pretty short.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Well regardless considering most pythons and boas should live 20-30 years. So 8 or 11, it was pretty short.

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Wonder what their expected age would be in the wild ??


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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Wonder what their expected age would be in the wild ??


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Quick google search says 20 years :0.

i'm so glad this thread exists. reading threads from those that keep giants makes me want a retic (their personalities sound incredible), but as a 5'2" female it's just not possible. SDs sound amazing, so it's awesome to be able to absorb all this information from one place and continue to daydream.

thank you to everyone who shared info!!!

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

i'm so glad this thread exists. reading threads from those that keep giants makes me want a retic (their personalities sound incredible), but as a 5'2" female it's just not possible. SDs sound amazing, so it's awesome to be able to absorb all this information from one place and continue to daydream.

thank you to everyone who shared info!!!

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Well as you have seen it's possible to get a 5' Retic ( or less) and even a 7' Burm ..

I'm lucky enough to have one of each ...https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...19e618c7d0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...cc1e6720dc.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...044ff50df4.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2fa9bbab57.jpg

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Well regardless considering most pythons and boas should live 20-30 years. So 8 or 11, it was pretty short.

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Thats Prehistoric for ya......look up their reviews on Google, it doesnt surprise me.

I understand the need to keep Retics small for the pet trade but for me their size is a major part of the attraction. Smaller snakes just don't interest me personally.

I vote for Mainland.

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Originally Posted by Valaryan

I understand the need to keep Retics small for the pet trade but for me their size is a major part of the attraction. Smaller snakes just don't interest me personally.

I vote for Mainland.

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You wouldn't like my Anery Sand Boa then :)
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3dc11c1402.jpg


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Originally Posted by Zincubus

You wouldn't like my Anery Sand Boa then :)
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3dc11c1402.jpg


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Looks like a cool snake but not for me lol

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Originally Posted by Valaryan

Looks like a cool snake but not for me lol

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Cool is what I was aiming for :)


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