Meet "Sixx" - The 25% Kalatoa SD Lavender Motley Albino Retic (Pic Heavy!)

Here he is... The newly crowned king of my snake room - "Sixx"! His name derives from Nikki Sixx of "Motley" Crue... lol Sixx is a 2017 25% Kalatoa Lavender Motley Albino. He will be 1 year old on May 19th, one day after my birthday. I'm still in amazement about how tiny him and his girlfriend are at almost 1 year old for only being 25% SD! She is even smaller than him (pics coming soon!)! So far, Sixx and his girlfriend have been total sweethearts for the most part. He took a pop at me on like day 3 of having him when I reached in his tub, but that was the only incident so far. He isn't flighty at all, but very active and curious when I first take him out then he chills out and seems to like hanging out. I just love this guy to death! His girlfriend has never struck at me yet, but she is extremely flighty when I take her out. She never stops trying to run! Hopefully she will chill out at some point...

Anyway, without further adieu, here's my boy... :)

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He’s a great looking boy!

Dude, that snake is totally witching!:gj::cool:
Congratulations, hope you have long life together.

Thanks man! I have to agree... lol He really is something... :) The babies that him and his girlfriend will (hopefully) produce someday will be out of this world!

Gorgeous ! What awesome colors and patterns!!

Thanks. :)

WOW mind blowingly FABULOUS, (grumbles under breath) :P what jelly me , never, who I am I fooling greener then sweet peas over here :D Congratulations and only the best luck for you and your splendid family it's been a lot of anticipation and a little concern but looks like it will work it self out

Looking really nice.
Enjoy.

Stunning new addition!

Thanks a lot you guys! He is just sooo freakin' cute! The way his eyes are it makes it look like he's cross-eyed sometimes and it just makes him look all the more adorable! lol You can sorta see him doing it in the first photo...

he does indeed look sssinister! his eyes say "dude don't let your guard down."

do u think he's at that size b/c of his bloodline, a maintenance diet or something else? anyway awesome looking snake.

Edit: also is the other one gonna be named Nikki?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ax01

he does indeed look sssinister! his eyes say "dude don't let your guard down."

do u think he's at that size b/c of his bloodline, a maintenance diet or something else? anyway awesome looking snake.

Edit: also is the other one gonna be named Nikki?

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Yesss... Sssinister Sssixxx indeed! LOL! My daughter also suggested "Nikki" for the female's name. I've been thinking about "Von D" (ie; Kat Von D), since her and Nikki were a thing for awhile. I can't decide on a name for her yet, though...

As far as this pair's SD percentages, feeding schedules and sizes (current and future) go, I have discussed all of that at pretty good length with both of the breeders. The first factor is that neither of either of these snake's parents were larger than 10'. Another factor would be that the eggs they hatched from were exceptionally small, supposedly. So, being that both of these animals derived from smaller parents and they hatched from small eggs, they have those factors working in their favor. I'm still a bit confused on where each of these animal's SD parents fall on the Filial generations scale, but if I understand their history correctly, each of their parents on the SD side are either 2 or 3 generations out from the original SD x mainland breedings. So, I believe their SD parents are probably either F2's or F3's. I will be talking with the breeders more about that, because I think that's pretty important information we should always know about these dwarfs and super dwarfs when it comes to breeding and selling. Regardless of their parent's, since these guys derived from 50% Kalatoa x mainland parents, they would still just be F1's, right? Then since both of these guys are SDs, once I breed them together, I believe their offspring would be F2's, is that correct? But, I would presume that if Sixx and his girlfriend's SD parents were F2's or F3's, that would also play a huge role in their smaller sizes even though they are only 25% SD. Wouldn't you guys think so? Either way, It's a pretty safe bet that their offspring will be even significantly smaller that these guys.

With regards to their feeding schedules, the breeders have had them on a 14 day feeding schedule (rat pups currently), so yes... I would consider that a maintenance feeding schedule to some degree. BUT, how much more than that would they be eating out in the wild on the Kalatoa Island or even on the mainland, right? The breeders recommend that I keep them on a 14 day feeding schedule for their first 2 years then switch them to a monthly feeding schedule at that point if I want to have them top out around 5 - 7 pounds. They claim that I would have to really power feed them and actually TRY to get them to reach monster sizes. When breeding time comes down the road it was recommended that I take the female off of food completely for a couple of months leading up to breeding season then when they actually start breeding start putting the food to her, so all of her energy will be put towards breeding instead of growing. I have heard Jay Brewer say the same thing, essentially. Basically, if you don't time their feeding schedules properly during the breeding seasons you can end up with monster size Retics, because all of that food and energy will be spent on growth, etc...

Myself, I would be perfectly happy if they topped out around 10' and perhaps 20 pounds with a healthy, yet manageable size girth and I don't want it to take 4 whole more years to be able to breed them and i'm definitely not going to power feed them. So, I am shooting for a happy medium. I am going to put them on a 10 day feeding schedule for the first 2 years instead of 14 and i'll go from there after the 2 year mark. Perhaps a 3 or 4 week feeding schedule at that point... My goal will be to have them up to a healthy, manageable breeding size by fall 2020... Does that sound reasonable to you guys?

^ i think i notice a different approach to feeding and size maintenance between an SD Retic pet vs. SD Retic breeder. the Retic gang will chime in but i've noticed they can reach "full size" by 2years. jcrook's 100% pure SD is already 9ft but i'm not sure he's breeding that one but i think i read he had planned to breed his boy SD Ultra Ivory which is smaller.

anyway how about naming the girl Needle b/c u know Nikki's history and he is the author of The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star. just a different suggestion. ;)

He looks great, please keep the pictures coming. It will be nice to see how they grow.

I will be trying to take some pictures of his girlfriend soon. No clue how i'll get her to sit still for long enough, though! lol

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

I will be trying to take some pictures of his girlfriend soon. No clue how i'll get her to sit still for long enough, though! lol

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Just posted this elsewhere but ...


Just use the old photographer's trick ...

You pick the background spot on the table -ideally dark or black card / plastic / glass .... or whatever ..

Have a suitably sized box / food mixing bowl ready and place it over the top of your snake ... you can put the bowl / box down and carefully feed the snake underneath .You or someone may have to hold the cover down ...

Leave it be for 5 minutes maybe less but don't take your eyes off the snake / bowl .

Have your camera all set up - ideally on a tripod ..

Take the cover off and the snake will usually be curled up nicely ( especially if you use a bowl ) . They generally stay still for a minute or so for some peculiar reason ...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ax01

^ i think i notice a different approach to feeding and size maintenance between an SD Retic pet vs. SD Retic breeder. the Retic gang will chime in but i've noticed they can reach "full size" by 2years. jcrook's 100% pure SD is already 9ft but i'm not sure he's breeding that one but i think i read he had planned to breed his boy SD Ultra Ivory which is smaller.

anyway how about naming the girl Needle b/c u know Nikki's history and he is the author of The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star. just a different suggestion. ;)

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Yes, Phyllis is a solid 9' and ~16-17lbs and 100% F1 kalaotoa SD. Sure her parents were small (dad and mom 5' & 7' respectively) but they were WC imports. Had feast and famine on that tiny island. Phyllis is spoiled rotten in captivity by comparison. Sometimes they just grow...
I've actually been considering breeding her and my SD ultra in the next year or two. We'll see though. Only if I have the time to devote to it.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Just posted this elsewhere but ...


Just use the old photographer's trick ...

You pick the background spot on the table -ideally dark or black card / plastic / glass .... or whatever ..

Have a suitably sized box / food mixing bowl ready and place it over the top of your snake ... you can put the bowl / box down and carefully feed the snake underneath .You or someone may have to hold the cover down ...

Leave it be for 5 minutes maybe less but don't take your eyes off the snake / bowl .

Have your camera all set up - ideally on a tripod ..

Take the cover off and the snake will usually be curled up nicely ( especially if you use a bowl ) . They generally stay still for a minute or so for some peculiar reason ...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

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Thanks, Zincubus. That will definitely work for taking some photos of her laying down. The problem will be getting her to sit still long enough to take some photos of me holding her to have for good size comparisons in the future. She's definitely a little scaredy cat! lol Do Retics that are this flighty usually settle down eventually with a lot of handling?

So... Sssinister Sssixx claimed his first victim today and i'm happy to say it wasn't me! lol One of my local breeder friends (and member of the forum here) came over to see my snakes today and he wanted to see Sixx. I pulled his tub out of the rack and as I was reaching for my hook I said, "I don't trust these guys yet" and my friend was like, "Ehhh... Ef that" and proceeded to reach right in to pick him up and he got nailed... LOL! :rofl:

Please see exhibit A:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach.../sixx-bite.jpg

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] only funny cause it wasn't me ... [emoji15][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji216]


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I thought I would share a photo of Sixx's first shed he had with me for future comparisons. This shed was on 2/25/18 and measured 41" when stretched out. Sixx will be 1 year old on 5/19, so he was exactly 9 months and 6 days old for this shed. I would love to see some size comparison photos. If any of you guys happen to have any 9 month to 1 year old SD or mainland photos, please feel free to post them in this thread if you'd like.

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Welp... I woke up today to discover that I had my first escapee and it had to be my favorite... Like any other day, I began my day of slaving to snakes by going into the snake room as soon as my feet hit the floor to check the room temperature and fill up the humidifier. As soon as I turned the light on I noticed that everything was all knocked over and turned around on the little desk I keep in there with some stuff on the floor and I slipped into full panic mode! After realizing that Sixx was missing and quickly looking behind and under a few things (half in tears and panicking by now), I glanced back up on the desk and to my relief this is what I see...

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Fortunately, my boy - Sixx must be just as lazy as he is good at escaping and climbing, so he didn't go very far! I had a bad feeling that him and Xanthess might be able to squeeze out the top of these tubs, because I leave a larger gap between the top of the tubs and the shelves when I build my adult racks, so I don't have to drill holes in the tubs. I'm REALLY surprised that it took the little turd this long to do it! The problem has been rectified, so he won't be doing it again!

On a side note, Sixx is doing GREAT! I handle him every day and he is sweet as can be and loves hanging out on his human tree. I love this guy sooo much!

Oh geez!! I expected the worst !!!

soooo glad you found him quick !!

Lol i had Caesar push so hard on the lid of a locking tub that he popped the lock off and squeezed out during the night a long time ago. It was when i was resealing his cage so i had to wait 24 hours. I found him about 10 feet away curled up under a swivel chair. He was all relaxed when i found him while i was half way to a heart attack. i know the feeling haha. Retics are pretty darn smart and even more determined. Caesar and Dot both know how to slide the doors open on their AP cages. So glad i order all my cages with locks.

Glad that escape had a quick resolution!

Awesome animal, and I love the name. Nikki Sixx is one of my favorite rock stars of all time.

I pulled sonny out yesterday and did the best I could to get a picture showing his length. He’s 7 months old (I’ve owned him for 6) and 5 feet long. 100% mainland, and not the biggest appetite either. He won’t eat once he starts his shed, completely refuses. When he’s not in shed he dictates his feeding schedule, sometimes we go as little as 4 days between meals but usually he is fine with weekly

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/KMpgwRh.jpg

Juno is 9 months as well! Born in May last year and she's a 75% madu super dwarf purple morph. The size is such a difference between Sixx and Juno! https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a61ef96f2d.jpg

She's actually had her first birthday already on the 14th, was confused with my manchurian racer haha

My little guy is coming up on roughly a year old soon. He's 40 inches and 310g. I need to get some updated pics of him.

Holy crap, DXW! That's a BIIIG difference in size! lol

@xShevi - She looks very similar in size to Sixx from what I can tell. Do you have any other photos with her outstretched? What kind of feeding schedule and prey size have you had her on? Prior to Sixx coming into my possession he had been eating every 14 days. I've been feeding him one hopper every 10 days over the past couple of months since i've had him. If you haven't seen his girlfriend - "Xanthess" yet, you should check her out. She's one month older than Sixx and she is sooo tiny!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...light=xanthess

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

Holy crap, DXW! That's a BIIIG difference in size! lol

@xShevi - She looks very similar in size to Sixx from what I can tell. Do you have any other photos with her outstretched? What kind of feeding schedule and prey size have you had her on? Prior to Sixx coming into my possession he had been eating every 14 days. I've been feeding him one hopper every 10 days over the past couple of months since i've had him. If you haven't seen his girlfriend - "Xanthess" yet, you should check her out. She's one month older than Sixx and she is sooo tiny!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...light=xanthess

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I think Sixx is a bit bigger and thicker, looking from her coil on you in comparison to your arm.

I have her on a 14 day schedule as well, but I feed her rat fluffs which are reaaaaalllyy big for her still. But she eats it and keeps it in :). Try and get her on rats!
Somewhat of a comparison could be this picture. Don't have one in full length actually haha. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...48b10c0a18.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0cf9c8af21.jpg