I need advice for a Retic Problem

[Jorshaw]

I just recently got a male Normal retic and I am very excited about it. He is beautiful and very tame. Is about 4 feet long but not very fat. He has not eaten yet because he was fed in his cage at the breeders but i am trting to feed him in a box. So we are working on it. I was wondering if anyone has some helpfull advice for this situation.

P.S also some help on trying to convince my folks to let me keep him would be nice too. I have many other snakes but this one seems to really upset my mother. She is saying she will throw it in the snow soon. I just cant get throught to her that the 25 ft 300lbs snake you see on the discovery channel is not what he is going to be. Help!!!

[AjBalls]

How recent is recently?

What are you offering him? Live, frozen thawed, pre-killed?

Feed him in his cage. You will get him thinking that when he comes out of the cage it's feeding time. You don't want a 14' retic in feeding mode outside its cage.

I would have checked with your parents before getting the snake. Show her a care sheet on them saying that most males will max out between 10' and 14'.

[DSGB]

Dont buy retics unless you plan to care for them even if the get 20 feet....

[JKExotics]

Honestly I'm not sure you know what you got yourself into. Reticulated Pythons are HUGE when they grow up. Usually if your not expierenced with big snakes everyone recommends 2 people to handle a Retic (cleaning,feeding, etc...). This is the type of snake that will get your parents attention in a HURRY! The sheer size of the animal in adulthood would make me tell my kids no, and we house alot of different types of snakes here. You need a large area to dedicate solely for the snake, and you will need to keep any small pets (puppies, cats etc..) isolated from the snake once it grows big enough all little critters are fair game. I think you should think about what your getting yourself into. Almost forgot then you have the legal issues... here in NY Retics and Burmese Pythons are illegal to keep as pets. Not sure where you live but did you check your state laws regarding large reptiles and Pythons to be more specific?

[Damon Theis]

Whether you keep this animal or not...
These are my comments on your post.
Feed it in the cage. It's not a friggin corn snake for crying out loud. I'll stop at that before I type a page on the concept of taking out a 15+ foot animal to feed and then trying to put it back.
Secondly, retics are NOT fat bodied snakes. Retics are slender and long by nature.
Lastly, fyi, a 4 foot retic will be 8 foot inside of 2 years easily.

[tigerretic76]

feed inside of cage. hooktrain. be prepared for a huge snake. my male tiger grewto 8 feet in his first year and is gonna be 2 in a couple months and is at12 feet. be prepared to spend lots of money on food. i spend roughly 150 bucks a month on food for my 3 retics at bare minumum (mostly in winter) in the summer when their metabolisms go even higher they eat more. and be prepared to put him in a big cage by his first birthday (ie at least a 5 x 2) and dont under any circumstances feed him bare minimum to keep his size down, that is unhealthy for you and the snake

[MattZ BallZ]

the breeder you bought it from is an ideiot for selling it to you. that just shows you that money is more important to some breeders.. the breeder should have asked you if you knew how to keep big snakes, and if a respectful breeder try to talk you out of buying it.. also the breeder should have seen that your still a kid and said no without adult permission. I breed and sell ball pythons although not very big, i still screen every person first on taking care or balls weather they be a $50 snake or $2000 snake. and if the person is under 18 i ask for their parents to be present when making the sale. dont get me wrong im not a big breeder but i car enough for my animals to just sell to anyone.

[mainbutter]

I just cant get throught to her that the 25 ft 300lbs snake you see on the discovery channel is not what he is going to be. Help!!!

A male probably won't hit 25 ft.. but 20 foot by no means unheard of for a male. 15 foot, over 100lbs? Yeah that's pretty damn likely.

I was around a 16 footer just two weeks ago or so.. and let me tell you, your mom has quite legitimate concerns. Not a snake that could eat you, but definitely one that could kill you if you aren't careful around it. Snakes as small as 10-11 feet have been known to be capable of killing humans on occasion.

[AjBalls]

the breeder you bought it from is an ideiot for selling it to you. that just shows you that money is more important to some breeders.. the breeder should have asked you if you knew how to keep big snakes, and if a respectful breeder try to talk you out of buying it.. also the breeder should have seen that your still a kid and said no without adult permission. I breed and sell ball pythons although not very big, i still screen every person first on taking care or balls weather they be a $50 snake or $2000 snake. and if the person is under 18 i ask for their parents to be present when making the sale. dont get me wrong im not a big breeder but i car enough for my animals to just sell to anyone.

That doesn't make the breeder/seller an IDIOT.

1.) We do not know how old this guy is. Sure by bringing up the fact he wants to know how to get his parents to let him keep it makes him sound like a kid. But how many 18+ year olds still live with their parents? I'm 19 and still live with my mom.

2.) Even if the breeder/seller asked if he knew about big snakes, it's all possible that he could have lied.

[JKExotics]

A male probably won't hit 25 ft.. but 20 foot by no means unheard of for a male. 15 foot, over 100lbs? Yeah that's pretty damn likely.

I was around a 16 footer just two weeks ago or so.. and let me tell you, your mom has quite legitimate concerns. Not a snake that could eat you, but definitely one that could kill you if you aren't careful around it. Snakes as small as 10-11 feet have been known to be capable of killing humans on occasion.

I just got a visual in my head, death by constriction!

I kind of feel bad for my rats right about now lol.