General care on retics and experiences with these amazing animals

[Aedryan Methyus]

If you want to know what it's like to take care of several retics watch this video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD6yUoFwYR8&t=20s

I'm sorry, but it is so inhumane keeping snakes that size cooped up in little racks like that...

[William Snakespeare]

Shouldnt if its a female. Some males when adults and ready to breed will get cranky or antsy during breeding season as they want a girlfriend. Some wont care. It's not something that you can just look at a baby male retic and say yes or no to. You would just have to wait until he becomes an adult and then see how it goes.

Plus males generally stay smaller and leaner while females get larger in both length and girth.

Time will tell

Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk

[bcr229]

I'm sorry, but it is so inhumane keeping snakes that size cooped up in little racks like that...

I have smaller retics in larger enclosures than that, but it's not unusual to find them coiled up under a hide or crammed in a corner for security. They may be big snakes but they don't like big spaces, and the more defensive they are the more they hate to be out.

I would plan on a female mainland potentially needing an 8'x3'x2' enclosure eventually. It may not happen for a few years but if she's never bred she'll get larger than females that are used as breeders since they put energy into producing eggs rather than growth.

If you want a female that stays smaller get a 50% or higher SD combo, at three years old my girls are just under 10 feet and thickening up so I don't expect them to get too much longer or ever need anything bigger than a 6'x2' enclosure. Yes it will cost more than a pure mainland but you'll save on caging and food expenses over the course of her life.

[William Snakespeare]

Guys, what size would a 75% dwarf female or male get to

Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk

[jmcrook]

Guys, what size would a 75% dwarf female or male get to

Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk

Depends on the locale, parent's sizes, feeding schedule... even "dwarf" females can still get big. I believe Bcr has a genetic stripe female, which is originated from a dwarf locale, and it's about 14'.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bcr229]

Depends on the locale, parent's sizes, feeding schedule... even "dwarf" females can still get big. I believe Bcr has a genetic stripe female, which is originated from a dwarf locale, and it's about 14'.

Yes, I do. And yes, she is. She's a two-person slither for feeding or cage cleaning as she's cage defensive.

[William Snakespeare]

Wow, so it all comes down to how you feed, parent sizes and what not. Thanks guys

Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk

[Henrique]

Wow, so it all comes down to how you feed, parent sizes and what not. Thanks guysSent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk

I saw this the other day and I thought it was interesting. I trust what Jay says because he test his theories.https://youtu.be/8PJklQQoo9Y

[Sauzo]

Wow, so it all comes down to how you feed, parent sizes and what not. Thanks guys

Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk

More or less. Parent size i think will make the biggest difference. Like i've said before, with Gio, Jacob, Steve and I all comparing out retics combined with our feeding schedules and genetics, you can see there is a lot to factor in. I mean Pyhllis is pure kalatoa female is almost 9 feet, Gene is 50% dwarf and 50% mainland and he's around 8 feet i think. Caesar is 37.5% SD 31.5% dwarf and 31% mainland and he's just over 7 feet and Wallace is around 35% SD 40% dwarf and 25% mainland and is around 6 feet.

Also like i said with feeding, not sure how Gene was fed growing up but Phyllis and Caesar were heavily fed while Wallace was very conservatively fed. That combined with Wallace being more dwarf and less mainland only landed him about a foot short than Caesar. So to me, i dont see feeding as being a BIG factor in the size. Like i said, it will affect it but if your snake is genetically programmed to be large at birth with its genes, it will be large even if you starve it into a stunted growth. That might shave off a foot or so but you arent going to starve a snake generically programmed at birth to be 10 feet into a 2 foot snake.

I personally think the genetics play the biggest part and even more so, which genes said snake uses in it's programming. That is the reason you want to stack the deck in your favor by going with the highest SD percents you can. Then highest dwarf percents. That way you have a good chance the snake will be 'programmed' from the SD pool which will get you a smaller snake but again, we are talking mother nature and anything can happen like i said. It's not so black and white.

Again, my advice is if you are really worried about ending up with a really big snake, i would probably advise against getting a retic. Even SD ones arent little tiny cornsnakes. If you get a high percent SD, just plan for a 10' snake and you wont have an unpleasant surprise. I planned for 10' from Caesar even though Kris at Vital Exotics told me he should top out around 7 feet with normal feedings. Well Kris called it well as Caesar is just over 7 feet and that was with heavy feeding.