Python Reticulatus Wallace Progression!

Well from what I was told by some of the retic guys was they really don't have a set schedule. They just feed them something that leave a huge lump and then let the snake go on that until he/she gets hungry again which one guy told me is about every 2 weeks. You will know when they are hungry and need more food. Or at least that's what I was told. So far it seems pretty accurate as like I said, Caesar is the quietest after I fed him the large rat since when I got him. So I'll probably go off what those guys told me and just feed Caesar a large rat whenever he starts pacing around and looking hungry.

I wouldn't call that powerfeeding. I would call that just normal retic feeding. They digest and have a much faster metabolism than boas which is why those guys told me to throw out the mindset of keeping boas. Retics are a whole different beast. Now if you fed him a large rat every 2-3 days, so he had a lump 24/7 365 days a year, yeah you are powerfeeding but it's perfectly normal for them to eat a big meal and then go lazy until they are hungry again which is when they would go looking.

And like Cloud said, I would do 1 large rat over 2 medium rats. Whenever possible, I prefer to feed 1 appropriate sized item than 2 smaller items. At 5', your guy could easily take a large rat. Caesar did it no problem and it was like a 250g rat. The same size rats I feed Rosey who is 7'

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Originally Posted by jmcrook

Yeah, Phyllis turns 1 year old in a couple days and is a solid 6'.
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Damn brother you are both looking great!

She has one of those Mother Nature patterns that is unbeatable!

Well done sir!

Yeah guess it just depends on how you feed them, perhaps the smaller ones I've seen the owners have just been feeding them less from the get-go and that's why they're so much smaller.

River is actually currently in another thin gangly teenager phase as she recently hit another growth spurt. She'll go months of building nothing but weight and girth and then explode in length and look like a piece of rope for awhile. I'm feeding her heavier than I do my boas but she still doesn't need all that much food herself. She doesn't get antsy and grows just fine the way I've been feeding her. I didn't put her on larges until she was 6'+ but she did quickly make the jump to colossals. Now, I know she doesn't have a whole lot of girth right now because she's 8' and the colossals leave a gigantic lump for 3-4 days, when they'd probably leave little to no bulge under normal circumstances. Luckily the rats don't seem to drag her down as much as the rabbits. A rabbit that size and she starts looking at food with disdain after a couple meals. Lol

She has a truly low feeding response for a retic.


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Originally Posted by CloudtheBoa

Yeah guess it just depends on how you feed them, perhaps the smaller ones I've seen the owners have just been feeding them less from the get-go and that's why they're so much smaller.

River is actually currently in another thin gangly teenager phase as she recently hit another growth spurt. She'll go months of building nothing but weight and girth and then explode in length and look like a piece of rope for awhile. I'm feeding her heavier than I do my boas but she still doesn't need all that much food herself. She doesn't get antsy and grows just fine the way I've been feeding her. I didn't put her on larges until she was 6'+ but she did quickly make the jump to colossals. Now, I know she doesn't have a whole lot of girth right now because she's 8' and the colossals leave a gigantic lump for 3-4 days, when they'd probably leave little to no bulge under normal circumstances. Luckily the rats don't seem to drag her down as much as the rabbits. A rabbit that size and she starts looking at food with disdain after a couple meals. Lol

She has a truly low feeding response for a retic.


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Yeah rabbits are much more dense so that's to be expected. I'd like to get Caesar on rabbits as that might lower his food drive for longer and maybe I can go a solid 2 weeks for him on rabbits.

And heck, i'd be happy to give River some of Caesar's food drive lol although like I said, I might have been underfeeding him this whole time.

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Originally Posted by CloudtheBoa

Yeah guess it just depends on how you feed them, perhaps the smaller ones I've seen the owners have just been feeding them less from the get-go and that's why they're so much smaller.

River is actually currently in another thin gangly teenager phase as she recently hit another growth spurt. She'll go months of building nothing but weight and girth and then explode in length and look like a piece of rope for awhile. I'm feeding her heavier than I do my boas but she still doesn't need all that much food herself. She doesn't get antsy and grows just fine the way I've been feeding her. I didn't put her on larges until she was 6'+ but she did quickly make the jump to colossals. Now, I know she doesn't have a whole lot of girth right now because she's 8' and the colossals leave a gigantic lump for 3-4 days, when they'd probably leave little to no bulge under normal circumstances. Luckily the rats don't seem to drag her down as much as the rabbits. A rabbit that size and she starts looking at food with disdain after a couple meals. Lol

She has a truly low feeding response for a retic.


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I really dig Cloud because she came here slightly over feeding and then completely went for the Russo, Rentfro approach to feeding snakes.

I don't care what the species is, if you listen to the radio show that Nick Mutton does, you can hear both Nick and Vin say almost ALL snakes in captivity are overfed.

That doesn't mean we are all over feeding. Wild VS captive is a very different ball game for sure, but River seems to have a healthy FEMALE retic that is growing well and slow.

Reptile Experts (Cody) is an actual schooled biologist/herpetologist if I'm not mistaken and he seems to feed on the conservative side unless he is pushing some growth on purpose.

With all snakes, and for that matter most wild animals, feeding is feast or famine. Their bodies are designed for it and after millions of years, a couple hundred years (if that) of captive breeding and feeding, won't change their habits and genetic patterns.

Thanks to all for the great comments and additions to this thread. I'll keep the Wallace photos coming here like Sauzo does with his Caesar thread.

Well I think Cody was feeding some of his retics every 4 days too and some he fed on a longer schedule and they both grew the same. I believe it was on his post about SD retics on this forum. I do agree a lot of people do overfeed but I also think one schedule is not something that should be set in stone as each animal is different and will carry the weight different just like people. Some people have a much faster metabolism and can eat anything and not gain an ounce while others eat a donut and balloon out.

Heck even Kris at Vital said a good starting point is 4-6 days. And again each snake is different. Like River doesn't have a strong feeding response yet Caesar has struck the glass 2 or 3 times now after 4 days with medium rats if I walk by fast or a shadow was cast. He only strikes when he is hungry and the one time I tried to hook train him where he hissed, reared up and opened his mouth at the hook lol.

And again, like I said before and was told by retic people, you cant compare a boa to a retic. They have way different metabolisms and abilities for food. Something a retic can eat easily would cause an instant regurgitation in a boa. Feeding schedule for snakes cant be a blanket time frame. Its like boas eat once every 3-6 weeks. A retic would slowly starve on that kind of a schedule.

Here we go, I found Cody's how to feed section on SD retics. This copy pasted from him exactly on this thread https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...nd-Information

Feeding schedules kind of vary with keepers and even with snakes. Pure SD will come out of the egg and be ready to feed on adult mice right off the bat, 50% SD crosses, will come out and be taking Rat pups readily, and Dwarfs may come out ready to take on Weanling rats. For myself this is the feeding schedule that I used, and it worked VERY well, but it did have varying results across individuals. . . For the first 6-12 months, they were fed once every 4 days until they made it to Medium rats. Once they hit medium rats they were dropped to every 7 days. Once they hit rabbits males were dropped to every 14 days and females every 7-10 days. Many keepers will only feed SD retics mice for the first few months, and try and keep them as small, but as healthy, as they can for extended periods. After all, you are getting an SD retic to be amazed at how small it is. This is fine, and its arguable that this is “healthier” than a 4 day feeding schedule. But my 20 month old who was raised on this schedule did absolutely perfect, and is trim, and now growing very slowly at 8-9’ and eating 1.5lb rabbits every week. Likewise, my two Dwarf Girls, 4 months age difference, had very different results. Both were started on the same feeding schedule and method, but the Purple Albino took off and is sitting around 12-13’ currently, and feeding on 4lb rabbits weekly. Meanwhile, the genetic stripe het purple is still under 5’ and pounding a single Large rat a week and putting on weight slowly. Whatever fits your retic (keeps them trim, not pushing, and giving you regular feces) go with that. Some times you have to test the waters, try feeding every 4 days, try feeding weekly, weigh the pros and cons, and the way your snake will behave. Keep in mind these are not Ball Pythons, they WILL and DO eat always. Most retics are vicious feeders, and will eat any and every time food enters the cage. Most will never need to see live food, but a few will and can be picky eaters.

Now Gio and my retic fall kind into a grey area as neither of ours are 50% SD. I believe his is the same as mine at 37.5% SD while his is 43% dwarf and mine is 31.5% dwarf but I consider that a wash as dwarf and mainland seem to be pretty close overall in size potential.

I never started this out properly since I titled it "Progression".

These are going to be repeat pictures, but I feel the need to post them to actually show the progression of Wallace.

Sauzo, Jmcrook and others have 1 solid thread for their retics and I have multiple threads and photos.

I want to package this into a solo thread although other photos are available in different threads.

This is the real progression of Wallace. Not all of his photos, but a nice steady progression.

Before shipping. (Photo by Kristopher Brown, Vital Exotics)
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...a/IMG_3537.jpg


Arrival:
27, September, 2016.
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...a/IMG_3559.jpg

First introduction: Complete with the "Acclimation Branch".
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...a/IMG_1790.jpg

The branch was a very gentle way to get him used to handling. It seemed to help him feel secure.
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...a/IMG_1795.jpg

We moved into free handling within a few days and he was pretty mellow.
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...a/IMG_3598.jpg

A trait that retics have that really make them beautiful. Mr. Rainbow Head.
The iridescence of Python Reticulatus.
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...a/IMG_3600.jpg

The first meal:
A small rat taken with no problem.
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...a/IMG_3616.jpg

Posing for "School Pics":
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...tput_30e3.jpeg

The other side.
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...tput_30e7.jpeg

Getting more color and once again a taste of the rainbow.
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...tput_3104.jpeg
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...tput_3105.jpeg

Out of quarantine and into his new/current cage.
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...tput_3119.jpeg

No cage stress. He ate immediately.
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...tput_311b.jpeg

The Penthouse:
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...tput_3116.jpeg

He's whizzed on me a few times, but this was our first and ONLY real disagreement.
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...tput_3141.jpeg

He was a brat that day, and he seems to be pouting in the corner here LOL!
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...ut_3145_1.jpeg

Despite some resistance to come out of the cage now and then, he is doing very well. He's close to 5 feet long maybe a tad less, and very lean.
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...tput_3152.jpeg

He's been a super captive and an exciting jump into another species.
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...tput_3155.jpeg

We should be up to date here:
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...tput_315b.jpeg

Now there is some "progression" to the Wallace thread.

Nice photo show Gio!

I love that photo of him peeking through his coils during the wrap of his "kill".

I also wanted this thread from another board in my thread.

It's been posted/linked here before. It fits my preference for display caging to a T. Though I could never have an enclosure like the on here.

http://www.reptilescanada.com/showth...thon-behaviour

My favorite snake species are the semi arboreal types.

Boa constrictors, carpets, retics, scrubs,,, and so on.

If you think big retics aren't into climbing and perching, think again.

I will provide Wallace with a much ceiling space as I can.