Retic Feeding

Hello, I'm about to become a new owner to a baby male mainland retic. I've done plenty of research but would like some more explanation on the feeding. Should I feed a small meal more often or a larger meal less often? I'm looking to raise a relatively small retic, but definitely not trying to starve my snake.

Start with an appropriate-size meal (width of the snake at its widest point) weekly. The feeder should leave a small lump in the snake's belly.

Your retic will get long very fast over its first year and then it will start to thicken up. That's when I like to back feedings off to every 10-14 days.

I would also suggest introducing rabbits as soon as possible. See if you can find a local source for rabbit kits and fuzzies that you alternate with rat feeders, as you don't want an older retic that's stuck on eating 2-3 jumbo rats every feeding instead of one rabbit. Your wallet will thank you.

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Originally Posted by gl1tterg0re

Hello, I'm about to become a new owner to a baby male mainland retic. I've done plenty of research but would like some more explanation on the feeding. Should I feed a small meal more often or a larger meal less often? I'm looking to raise a relatively small retic, but definitely not trying to starve my snake.

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If you want to raise a relatively small refit, then you need to get a sd, not a mainland.

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Originally Posted by Waterman

If you want to raise a relatively small refit, then you need to get a sd, not a mainland.

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While true, I would much rather have to deal with my 16' mainland females than my 8' pure SD male, because he's a ***censored***.

What most don't realize is that in the wild, male retics are a combat species when it comes to breeding. I've had in depth discussions with Nick Mutton, one of the authors of THE COMPLETE CARPET PYTHON about sexual size dimorphism.

He mentions that while captive females are typically larger, it isn't necessarily due to true sexual size dimorphism. There are a great many male retics that will equal the size of females if not exceed their size in the wild. Males that combat in the wild tend to be the larger of the sexes.

Most breeders keep their males intentionally small, however that doesn't mean an older male won't get large. There is really no value to a breeder to have a big male. Feeding and cage space add to the cost of keeping a larger male.

I could not have fed my Dwarf x SD x mainland male any less without starving him. He was still 9 feet long at just 3 years old. He was also the most aggressive snake I've ever owned. His antics included facing off with me at every chance he got attacking snake hooks, striking at me and wrapping and coiling snake hooks.. Hook training did nothing after 3 years of age. I spent additional months trying to create a bond and ultimately lost the battle even with kevlar gloves and a 5 foot Gaboona snake hook.

I was bitten 3 times by that snake and the last bite was a 10 minute fight leaving me with temporary nerve damage in my right hand. I'm good to go now however I'm not on board with the "feed them less" mentality. They will get where they are supposed to be eventually, unless you starve them and destroy their health. I was ready to up the feeding but Garrett Hartell (Reach Out Reptiles) advised me not to "throw food at him" to solve an issue.

I fed my male monthly and nothing larger than a large rat of quail and he grew like a weed. Garett seemed to think that schedule was perfect.

I'm not overly convinced feeding is the biggest factor. I have a female carpet that is a terrible eater and she's now checking in at over 8 feet. Between 6 and 7 years old she grew without any real reason.

Most retic keepers pump their females up and feed their males less. I want to see some long, long lived males and see where they are at. I know the reptile store that I frequent in my area has a 19 foot male albino that is I believe 250 pounds. That's a huge animal and is every bit as large as many females.

I'm not trying to discourage you here, but you do need to be very prepared to own a large, and potentially aggressive animal.

Myself and 2 others here jumped into the species and after some time it was 1, 2, 3 out. Not one of us stayed in the game.

SD snakes are smaller, yet they seem to have a lot more attitude.

You may end up with a chill mainland, but I'm doubting it will be very smalll after 5-6 years.

Make sure you have some help and be ready for some possible aggression.

They are fantastic animals, but not for everybody.

Check for livestock auctions near you. Check them out a few times before he gets bigger. Plus it's good knowing the players an animal flippers before buying.

Bit of a drive from Charlotte but Chadbourn has livestock auctions. An does a monthly small livestock auction (rabbits, fowl, goats...).
https://www.southeasternauctionco.com/poultry

Could be worth going an getting a cheap bred bunny. Gas an freeze the kits an your good to go. An when he gets bigger, auctions are great for $2 piglets.

Ok, normal piglets are running $40-80 now. But ones with a deformed leg or umbilical hernia is $2 or free from a farmer.

Now, if your really smart/cheap check your animal shelters. Rabbits near me are free an they always have a ton the month after Easter.

Auction rabbits run .10-$100. Don't get into a bidding war. One of my kids bought 25 rabbits with five bucks. Auctioneer said, I could leave them somebody will take them. I told him the kids will bring them back the week before Easter. Easter prices go crazy, $20 for .50 rabbits.

Oh, the fun of feeding large snakes:snake:

My apologies as some of that didn’t come out properly. I used my phone.

BCR gave good feeding advice.

And for the record, I loved my retic. He was beautiful and by far the most active and interesting snake I’ve ever owned.

We just weren’t the right fit and I had a backup plan in place the day I got him.

I wish you the best.

They are like nothing else.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

While true, I would much rather have to deal with my 16' mainland females than my 8' pure SD male, because he's a ***censored***.

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I fully believe that. I don’t have any experience with sd retics. But underfeeding any snake with intention to keep them small because you don’t want or feel you can’t handle it at full size, is just as bad as power feeding to attain a big snake fast. I always look at it like this. When I got my female green anaconda for example, I researched the maximums in captivity and found, and the average. With that knowledge I assume the largest size mine will likely reach is 18’ and it extremely doubtful she will get that. But, I went into it planning on having an 18’ snake. Anything under is just a bonus that makes it a little easier. I’m not feeding her to grow her faster. I’m not feeding her to grow her slower. I’m feeding her to attain and maintain a healthy life. What’s easier for me should not and will
not trump what’s best/healthier for her.

Dont worry, I've done my fair share of research and I'm aware of the possible aggression and the dedication that comes with caring for these gorgeous animals 🤗

While not all will be combative/defensive/etc the experiences endured by 3-4 of us on here tell a different story. Best of luck and please have a sound strategy in place and a well prepared, extra set of hands for when/if things get out of hand and dangerous.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...n-Semi-graphic


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FWIW I do have two mainland males. They're both 8 & 10 years old and about 13-14 feet long, so they're pretty much done growing. They're not any more difficult to handle than my females. I was more addressing the "if you want a small retic get an SD" comment, because they're often trickier to handle than their larger cousins.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

FWIW I do have two mainland males. They're both 8 & 10 years old and about 13-14 feet long, so they're pretty much done growing. They're not any more difficult to handle than my females. I was more addressing the "if you want a small retic get an SD" comment, because they're often trickier to handle than their larger cousins.

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only reason I recommended a sd is because the op said he was looking to
raise a smaller retic and looking at feeding advice on doing so. Just as power feeding is an issue, there’s a new thought process going around of “I’ll just feed less so it doesn’t get as big”. Not saying that’s what op is planning on doing. Just pointing out that “slow growing” can be harmful to
the snake as well, and if a smaller retic is what he’s looking for, the a mainland might not be the choice for him. What you want should not come before the snakes needs.

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Originally Posted by jmcrook

While not all will be combative/defensive/etc the experiences endured by 3-4 of us on here tell a different story. Best of luck and please have a sound strategy in place and a well prepared, extra set of hands for when/if things get out of hand and dangerous.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...n-Semi-graphic


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The sweet memories LOL!

I didn't know retics were known to be a**holes, is it just the dwarfs that are like that? I follow this instagram account with two 15+ foot mainland retics that seem very very chill.

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Originally Posted by Deanna

I didn't know retics were known to be a**holes, is it just the dwarfs that are like that? I follow this instagram account with two 15+ foot mainland retics that seem very very chill.

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I started to get one. Then decided to go the boa route. Most seem to be :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:s. I’m sure not all are :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:s. Let me be more politically correct “reactive”. It just personally wasn’t worth the hassle to me. Plus the enclosure thing. I’ve seen some YouTube vids we’re some seem to be docile. It might just be a matter of how much you are willing to work with them and how thoughtful you are about your cage approach.

let us know how it goes. I’ve never owned one. Oh and I want to know how big those poops get!!

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Originally Posted by Deanna

I didn't know retics were known to be a**holes, is it just the dwarfs that are like that? I follow this instagram account with two 15+ foot mainland retics that seem very very chill.

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Males can be, especially when they're more interested in finding a girlfriend than in letting you fool with them. The SD's just take it to an extreme.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Males can be, especially when they're more interested in finding a girlfriend than in letting you fool with them. The SD's just take it to an extreme.

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The males aren't always bad but I agree with this.

And when you have a male, in my case Dwarf x SD x mainland, that comes of age and wants to challenge everything, working with it won't necessarily yield positive results.

I did everything in my power to try to curb the aggression and modify his behavior.

I am a one man show here with no real support from the other family members so the writing was on the wall. Risk VS. Reward was not in the favor of the household.

Not ALL are like that, but having placed my guy with a well know and very experienced retic breeder and still getting reports that the snake is a jerk takes a load off my shoulders. It wasn't what I did wrong, the animal is just the way he is.

This is a mainland male.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKnBVWZ8hA4


This guy also supports the idea that males can get every bit as large as females.

He has a couple of big males that are not the most friendly.

He also has some more mellow males.


Anyhow, as BCR stated earlier, 1 large rat weekly is probably just fine and after some growth you can up it to rabbits and space it out.

You will end up with a snake probably the size of the parents.

Keep in mind males are often bred at maturity and that doesn't equate to a FULL grown male. It just means it's mature enough to breed.

I was told the father of my retic was 6 feet. What I didn't ask was what age was that and how big is that male now?

You will want to discuss the age and sizes of the parents prior to purchasing.

At 3 years old, my animal was growing rapidly with a very conservative feeding plan. I'd guess he'll wind up near 10.5 - 11 feet before he really slows.

I'm hoping you hit the jackpot and get a smaller and more mellow male.

I have a female, so I cant attest to male aggression. But I can say they're all food aggressive, so practice tap training. But once she's out of food mode, she's sweet.

On a healthy diet, they dont grow THAT fast. You're not going to wake up one day with a 10 ft snake, but you should be prepared for that possibility in the future.

This is what I do based on my research and also, like you, not wanting to push its size any more than necessary.
My female mainland tiger is almost 1 year old, 54" long and 500g.
I've fed her 10% of her body weight, once a week so at the moment she's currently eating small rats (50g).
As she approaches the year mark I'm cutting down to 10% every 10 days and I'll probably keep to this until she hits 2.
Whilst less than the typical 'American' Retic schedule it certainly isn't starvation. She has good body tone, no saggy skin and has grown 2 inches each month and gains approx 50g a month.
Everyone's talking about aggression so... mine hasn't shown any signs of aggression apart from when I bought her and she bit the shop clerk twice haha. I was just really calm and gentle in the beginning and I handle her everyday. Her food response was crazy at the start, but I disassociated 'opening the cage' with 'food' by opening the doors A LOT at first and even now I probably open the cage 5 times a day to stroke her/move a branch/change water, just to keep up the training.
Please keep in mind I'm not a seasoned Retic owner so take what I say with a pinch of salt.
You can see pictures on grimslyandbedbug on IG if you want to check out her general size.

As others said, you're not going to be able to raise a small retic on a modified feeding schedule. The animal will get to whatever size it will get, which may be small, or may be large.

I have a female, who is roughly 11.5'-12' at 6 years old. She's closing in on 40 lbs, but I don't have an exact length recording. About 10 lbs ago, I had her in the hallway and she was definitely over 11' and under 12' so I've been going with the 11.5' estimation. But she's also nearly put on 10 lbs now, so I guess it's time for another attempt. lol

When I first got her, she was 6 months old, 150 grams and 3'. She was half the weight of a 3' male I bought a few years ago and then rehomed due to issues outside of the snake. The breeders were feeding her a single fuzzy mouse every 2 weeks. I believe I tried her on mice for her first meal just to make sure she'd eat, and then quickly moved to rat pups. Then, up to weaned rats and then smalls soon after. I was trying to keep to a 10-20% of body weight rule at the time. I stuck to her 14 day schedule for a bit at first, and she still gained 1.5' in 6 months. Then, I went to weekly for a short time until I got her onto rabbits/Guinea pigs. From there, I moved her onto a 3-4 week schedule. She's been eating 3-5 lb rabbits or chickens for awhile now, on a once a month schedule. 5 lb meals still leave a huge lump, but it's hard to get proper-sized chickens and rabbits without raising my own. Rodent Pro doesn't seem to keep to their sizing very well, and I haven't had much luck getting any kind of feeder from people on CL. But even at 6 years old, she is still gaining noticeable length and girth. She's getting close to filling up the holding tub I keep her in while I clean her cage, and at the beginning of this year she just barely covered the floor of it with some gaps all curled up. Now she goes up beyond the halfway point and has no visible gaps to the floor when at rest.

I’ve had my Retic for 6 months, and she’s almost 6 feet now (she was just a few weeks old when I got her). I agree with the previous statement about the girls being food aggressive. My girl is super sweet once she’s out of food mode.

That said, maybe I got unlucky in one regard. She pisses on me quite frequently when I get her out [emoji28].


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