Interesting reading about people's different feeding schedules and growth.
I've still got Wallace eating small rats on a 7 to 10 day schedule and now that he's in shed we may hit 11 or 12 days. He is at the 4 foot mark, lean and fast as a jet when he wants to move. He is 7 months old and seems to be on the perfect growth course for what I'm looking for.
The more you feed them when they are young, the more potential they will have for larger sizes at adulthood, according to Bob Clark and Jay Brewer.
I don't anticipate any issues if my guy hits the 9-10 foot mark, but that size may present some challenges when handling due to the speed these guys have.
I read a thread on another board about carpets and retics and some folks felt they were quite similar. I guess the semi arboreal behaviors and longer, leaner body type could be considered similar, but the locomotion of a reticulated python is much more colubrid like than any other boa or python I've experienced. I have not worked with olives, Timors or scrubs so I can't comment on them.
Wallace dose not move slowly and when is eats, he uses very quick, deliberate movements. He may technically be an ambush predator, but he goes to the food when its time verses waiting for it to come to him. He ended up with a small, live rat on our last feeding and he actually pursued it. When he eats he tries to get the food down rapidly and doesn't spend a lot of time swallowing.
Frequent handling is important IMO. The species is certainly more advanced and requires respect and certain cautions.
Caesar and Phyllis are looking good.
I'm not ready to bump up my cage size just yet which is nice considering it will be a bare minimum of $500.
I'm tempted to call AP and ask what a T-25 with 2 extra inches of ceiling height would go for, although I have a Monster Cage option too.
Sauzo, do you think I could stack one of my Pro-Line cages 48" x 30" x 20" on top of the AP unit? The AP would spec the exact same only it would be 6' wide.
I don't want to completely revamp my room, but I will if that stack idea won't work. It may work out with Monster Caging though as Matt uses welds and cross bars in the ceilings of his cages.
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