Dwarf Retic

[greenmonkey51]

I'm just looking around and saw a couple things on dwarf retics, I know that theres a couple different dwarves out there, but which ones stay the smallest. Have they proven to stay at that size.

[bigboyslims]

Super dwarf Retic. Bob Clark is working with some right now. He claims they will stay under 2 meters as adults.
http://www.bobclark.com/

[monkeywrench133]

Mike Willbanks has Dwarf Tiger, Dwarf Tiger Albino and Dwarf Jampeas available. I think dwarf Jamps top out at 9ft.

http://www.constrictors.com/Pythons.html

[Shelby]

Jamps can get over 12'.. I've heard of some 15' ones.. and the morph jamps are crossed with normal full sized retics, so they have even more potential for growth I believe.

[greenmonkey51]

Im looking at super dwarves right now. I've emailed Bob Clark.

[Shelby]

They are gorgeous snakes. I saw a lavender albino superdwarf on kingsnake. Silver eyes.. just breathtaking.

[jknudson]

Garrick at CrestedGecko.com is currently working on some super dwarf projects and will have some available in 07' I believe. The line he is working on at 5-6 years of age were five to six 1/2 feet in length.

It'd be sweet to have a dwarf retic, but all that I've read about the dwarfs is that they have real nasty temperments.

[greenmonkey51]

I've seen that they have a better temperment than other retics.

[Shelby]

I am sure babies can be live wires, but I have heard nothing negative about their temperament.. quite the opposite. I've heard of a number of tame ones.

[snakeman55]

The latest consensus is that female Jamps will top out between 12 and 15 feet depending on how they were fed, especially as young snakes. I would never recommend anyone hold back food to keep a Retic small. But you can still feed a sensible amount. Jim Gasper (the guy with the 15 foot female Jamps) admittedly feeds his animals A LOT!!! We have a 4-5 year old female Jamp that we feed a LOT and she is only 12 1/2 feet and like 65 pounds.

So far, the 1/2 Jamp 1/2 Mainlands, like the 'dwarf hets' and 'dwarf tigers' are actually staying smaller than full blooded Jamps. I can't promise that this will stay true and always be true, but Steve Gooch (1st ever to produce dwarf Super Tigers and Bob Clark Photographer) has a 4 or 5 year old 1/2 Jamp 1/2 Mainland Tiger that is a proven female at only 12 or 13 feet. She dropped over 40 eggs this year!

Last year we had a Mainland Albino and a 1/2 Jamp 1/2 Mainland Het hatch around the same time. The albino was 154 Grams and the 1/2 Jamp was 72 Grams! That little 1/2 Jamp eats like a champ and is still really small.

As far as temperment, I don't really think Retics are nasty at all. We have more nasty Balls than we do Retics. You just don't worry about a nasty Ball. We have 12 adult Retics not including any juveniles or sub-adults and only one big female is ever at all aggresive, and even she is really very handleable if you have the experience. Super Dwarfs, Kayuadis, etc can be flighty/bitey if they're wild caught, but so can everything else. I think they are very similar to Carpets. Jamps and Mainlands require a higher skill level to safely work in my opinion, but I think the same thing about Burms and big BCC's. I'm not talking Master Herper, just some good experience.

Here is some growth data on Superdwarfs
http://mahn001.tripod.com/id28.html

Here is one of our adult female Super Dwarfs. She is under 5 feet and under 12 pounds!


End Rant.