Retics.
Yeah...biased and all...but still, once you go retic, you got the best pick! hahaha.
On a serious note, I like retics because they have more variety; I'm not referring to morphs but more on the locales. For instance, I'm a fan of retics from my native country; based on what I've read/heard from fellow retic keepers here, the further south (of the Philippines) you go, the bigger they get. And yes, retics from the northern areas of the Philippines are smaller and maybe comparable to the SD retics I'm seeing in the forums.
Just to prove a point, this is a (most prolly WC) retic I obtained last 2006; this pic was taken sometime 02/2010
For the sake of avoiding a "you suck as a snake keeper", i fed her regularly; until her 2nd year, she was fed once a week (appropriately sized rat OR multiple mice and chicks per feeding); I occasionally give her raw chicken heads as treats (NEVER as the main meal). From her 2nd year onwards, she eats 2x a month. I had diff. vets look at her and they all agreed that her health bill is clean; no parasites, nada. She was a mean pusher but that's besides the point I guess.
Now, this is Prony, a well known captive retic in Bohol (also in the Philippines)
Unless a Sulawesi managed to swim from Indonesia all the way to Bohol, I'm quite sure Prony's a 100% "Filipino retic"
Bottomline: if you willing to invest time to "calm down" a beautiful animal, get a retic. If you prefer a more laid back pretty giant, go for a burm.
On the whole "Feeding debate"
I want my retics to be like this:
....and NOT like this...
Here are a few articles on feeding too much/irresponsible feeding:
http://community.livejournal.com/herpers/1595022.html (WARNING: VERY graphic...but still a VERY good eye opener when it comes to snake feeding. Also read the comments)
http://www.reptilechannel.com/snakes...ing-snake.aspx (written by a Vet)
YouTube - SnakeBytesTV "Snakes as Pets Vs. Breeders (c/o BHB)
As far as I'm concerned, more and more snake keepers should practice responsible feeding (not too large like an adult rabbit for a ball python and not to small like an adult mouse for a 7 foot long burm).
Just a Q: supposedly, someone in our local forums challenged the ideas present in the LJ link posted above and claimed that the Barkers released an article that it's "okay to overfeed/powerfeed" pythons. Can anyone point me to where I can read this article? I once emailed Brian of BHB about this and he's also not aware of any article from the Barkers about over feeding.
thanks and I hope our feedback would help the OP on picking between a retic and a burm
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