Retic Face Rubbing

[Sportsman's Exotics]

Around a month and a half ago I picked up a 5 year old male Jampea Dwarf Retic. He was eating and acting fine for a few weeks, and then two or three weeks ago out of the blue he started to rub the right side of his face all over his enclosure. He's being housed in a 4'x2.5'x2' wooden enclosure w/ sliding glass doors, heated with a heat lamp. He has the largest Reptile Basics I could find (which he often uses) and has newspaper as substrate. I've checked his face quite closely and didn't find any stuck shed or something that would otherwise cause discomfort, and he has no symptoms of an RI. He's still eating like a champ and has shed since he's started the rubbing. Any advice on what might be the issue would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[bcr229]

I have a mainland proven breeder male that just started doing the same thing after being fine in his enclosure for months. My guess is that he wants a girlfriend.

You won't completely stop him from rubbing but a breeder told me to try crumpling up large sheets of paper, like the brown Kraft packing paper used in shipping packages, into loose balls and putting them in the enclosure. The snake will spend time rubbing on the paper and pushing it around instead of smashing his face on the side of the enclosure.

[Sportsman's Exotics]

Ahhh, okay. I've been toying around with the idea of getting a female and breeding anyway, guess this gives me another reason to. Until then, I'll toss in some paper balls. Thank you for the advice.