Quote Originally Posted by reptileexperts View Post
haha ok - I'm going to raise a turtle in a soap dish now because it will never outgrow its cage!!! Stunting an animals growth is as detrimental as powerfeeding it to grow faster. They CAN do these things, but its not how they are and not how it will happen every time. If you want to control its growth, get a dwarf or super dwarf, if you want a big snake, get a Sulawesi . . . its locality and fact, not marketing and hopeless fiction.
There's a difference between stunting, and simply feeding smaller and less meals. Go take a survey of retics in the wild. You think most of them hit 18'+ for the average female? NO. In some cases- sure, but the majority you will find stay significantly smaller, and yes- they will eventually get big, it takes SIGNIFICANTLY longer than what we can achieve in a captive setting.

Control of its growth get SD. LOL. Ever see Gaspars huge jamp? Granted that's not an SD- but it's considered a dwarf, yet if you feed a jamp heavy enough, guess what- you can get a 14ft animal pretty easily, even larger with Gaspars biggest female over 17', while locality does play a role, so does feeding. If you think a wild sula eats anywhere near what we feed it in captivity in the wild- you need to get a clue and do a field study- because you are MASSIVELY mistaken.

Quote Originally Posted by Expensive hobby View Post
You are greatly mistaken. I personally held a 22' female last night. While it's not 25', she is still young.

The largest ON RECORD is 33'. The largest living retic is 25'. I'm lost as to why this is a lie??


I like my Dubstep to go Wop Wop Wop Wop
Proof of the 22' female? Do tell!

33' record, proof please!

Largest living retic? Let me guess, you listen to guiness! Baby was quoted over 20ft, but upon death measured like 17'? Fluffy was quoted at 24 or 25, but measured was what, 21? I can't remember the exact figures down to the inches, but guiness is a laughing stock among the real retic keeping community, and anyone who believes 33', 25', etc is delusional, hell, I can prove medusa is only a 20-21ft animal just with the snake measuring widget, and anyone who has ANY real retic experience (more than having a handful of animals) knows that animal is NOT as big as claimed.

Go to facebook, have a nice chat with Steve Dawson, he has animals above and around the 21' mark, and you'd be astonished at how big even those are, and how massively exaggerated size is among big snake keepers, his are all dead accurate, and not exaggerated.

Quote Originally Posted by jclaiborne View Post
Have you ever been to Prehistoric Pets? I wouldn't believe anything that guy had to say about caring for animals. Every animal in his "Zoo" was sick, in an undersized cage, the list goes on.
Undersized cage really, do tell me about your extensive knowledge of retic care. I guess Jay, Bob Clark, Nerd, all use cages too small! I've seen the blueprints for their cages and building, cages are fine, and I think their tract record is testament of that.

So what- you think they are wrong, I can give you 50 that love PP for every 1 person that thinks PP is horrible.

Quote Originally Posted by Expensive hobby View Post
Just another question for the retic expert on this thread...

Why do you handle your 18' retic everyday? And alone at that?

An 18' animal is more than capable of killing you. Why risk making large constrictors look even worse than they do with irresponsible handling practices?


I like my Dubstep to go Wop Wop Wop Wop
Alone- because I am the only able bodied male in the house, I'm not having my 105lb wife near an animal that weighs more than her, and upkeep NEEDS to be done.

Is she capable of killing me? Yes, she sure is. So are 2 of my dogs (soon 3). So are my neighbors horses, the livestock I work with. I drive to run errands, my car is capable of killing me, so are my firearms.

Just because something is capable of killing me, doesn't mean it will, it's highly unlikely. I'm very careful with my animals, and I KNOW my animals very well, and I am more than confident in my abilities with my animals.

Safety measures are always in place, should anything going wrong (because every once in a wild blue moon) something happens, it's BEYOND rare that a retic has a problem that results in death- but I have protocol in line for if that ever happens.

I like all the google experts with small collections of immature animals making silly claims and outlandish suggestions on retic husbandry- it's truly amusing and I appreciate the humor.