Retic food-weight charts?

[DJ__RAY]

Hi I have a retic roughly a year old weight around 350grams.

I was wondering if anyone has charts for recommended prey sizes/weights for the weight of the retic?

Thanks

[bcr229]

There really isn't a size/weight chart for retics that I know of. I just offer a rat or young rabbit that is slightly thicker than the snake's widest point every week.

[Sauzo]

Depends on the snake. Each one reacts differently to the 'want' for food. I made Caesar wait 2 weeks and it was a bad idea. He pushed his nose on one not quite raw but close and his underside of his chin has a few scrapes. Looks like the longest i can go with him is 10 days before he starts doing damage to himself.

With that said, Caesar went from about 2' at 5 months old eating small rats to now 9 months later and he's 7' and eats a jumbo rat every 7-10 days.

[CloudtheBoa]

I'd probably do a weaned or small rat at that size, you want to feed something that leaves a sizeable lump in them. You can feed weekly or every 10 days, depending on how the snake reacts to waiting. My retic River doesn't have a high feeding response so I started her out on 10-14 days, then fed her every 7 days for awhile. Now she's 8'-9' and just under 8 lbs eating a colossal rat or 1 lb rabbit every 2-3 weeks. She's also really weird when it comes to growing, she'll not grow at all for 7-8 months or more, and then all of a sudden put on a foot or two in length before not growing again for awhile. This is even when I increase her prey size significantly and/or feed her more often. Doesn't seem to make a difference, so I opt for a more conservative approach. She'll be fed appropriately-sized rabbits monthly once she's an adult.

[Gio]

I'd probably do a weaned or small rat at that size, you want to feed something that leaves a sizeable lump in them. You can feed weekly or every 10 days, depending on how the snake reacts to waiting. My retic River doesn't have a high feeding response so I started her out on 10-14 days, then fed her every 7 days for awhile. Now she's 8'-9' and just under 8 lbs eating a colossal rat or 1 lb rabbit every 2-3 weeks. She's also really weird when it comes to growing, she'll not grow at all for 7-8 months or more, and then all of a sudden put on a foot or two in length before not growing again for awhile. This is even when I increase her prey size significantly and/or feed her more often. Doesn't seem to make a difference, so I opt for a more conservative approach. She'll be fed appropriately-sized rabbits monthly once she's an adult.

I tend to go conservative as well and by no means does that mean starving or underfeeding.

The retic game is interesting. Sauzo and I have similar animals from the same breeder and they may be distant relatives. Caesar is food driven, and my boy Wallace is less food driven. Both are NOT full mainland animals but they are still reaching a larger size than a pure SD.

My opinion is that almost ALL snakes in captivity are over fed.

That said you can't necessarily deny a retic that is pushing and destroying its face the opportunity to eat. The retic keeper needs to be prepared for the unexpected.

Cloud and I tend to work with the less is more approach, but I will admit my retic is becoming more food driven and has taken a growth spurt within the last few weeks. He's not 7 feet like Caesar, bit I'm thinking he is rapidly catching my 4 year old coastal carpet who is a bit over 7 feet.

Sauzo, JMcrook and I keep in touch fairly often and compare notes and that helps me a lot. If I hear Caesar is slowing in length and getting thicker I expect Wallace will be catching up in a month or so.

My personal opinion which is somewhat echoed by Nick Mutton and Vin Russo is the best feeding schedule is not a feeding schedule. Frequency and prey size can be mixed up. Long stretches followed by shorter and bigger prey followed by smaller. YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW YOUR ANIMAL!

Most intelligent, tuned in keepers know their animals well and if they are not motivated by breeding with hopes of financial gain, they will do right by their pets and try to keep them healthy by following a wild type feeding regime.

That may be a lot of blabber, but think "WILD snake" and what nature gave reptiles to succeed. You will learn what your animal needs.

Don't feed for fun, even though it is my favorite part of the hobby.

Be patient and smart and look at having your animal for over 20 years.

I take my hat off and totally respect keepers that have snakes that are thriving at 20 + years old.

Without a doubt they are feeding and keeping their animals the right way.

WOW,,, what a rant. I hope it made some sense.

[Sauzo]

Yeah for sure, you cant deny a pushing retic haha. Like i said, i tried making Caesar wait 2 weeks and it was a bad idea. Half hisface is kind of pushed flat. It's not swollen or anything but you can easily see its flattened and his upper lip is pretty much level with his lower lip while the other side of his face is normal with his upper lip sticking out just a smidge over his lower lip. Also the flat side, the pits seem to look a little raw from his pushing. And under his chin has a few small scrapes here and there. He is a brat when not kept happy with food.

I actually might try a baby/small guinea pig next feeding as a jumbo rat leaves a so-so lump in him. Plus guinea pigs are cheaper for me than rats and maybe those will keep him more satisfied longer so i can maybe get lucky and stretch him to 2 weeks.

He also somehow managed to hurt one of his belly scales or maybe its just a pattern/color to him. But i dont remember it. Like i said, he gets fairly destructive when hungry but never gets bitey, thank god.

As for feeding being the favorite part, for me it's not lol. My snakes are all angels when there is no food but when they smell food, they are seriously dangerous. Even the little baby boas slam their mice with authority. The retic and big boas are just scary. I need to invest in new tongs as i got the 18" ones which work fine for the babies but not so good for the big ones. I've been using BBQ tongs for them but they are kind of big and the boas tend to wrap them up with their rat/rabbit lol. Might look into those fancy long gripper ones like you see people use to grab stuff from high shelves.

[ShaneSilva]

350g yearling? I'm guessing this is a SD?

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[cchardwick]

I was thinking the same thing, don't you mean 350 gram hatchling? For a retic I would feed 10% of their body weight once a week at minimum, so that would be 35 grams. Take a look at the website at Rodent Pro, that's about the size of a large adult mouse. Hard to believe any retic would still be on mice after a year, even for an SD.

https://secure.rodentpro.com/catalog...el=frozen_mice

[ShaneSilva]

I'm more into mainlands than dwarf's & super dwarf's so I'm no expert on them but all the ones I've seen or had experience with are larger than that after a year

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[jmcrook]

I'm more into mainlands than dwarf's & super dwarf's so I'm no expert on them but all the ones I've seen or had experience with are larger than that after a year

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Yeah, my pure SD kalatoa gal was around 350grams when she was like 5 months old. A little over 17 months now and weighs around 3000grams.



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