50% SD Retic Male questions

[reptileexperts]

Here we go - the video you linked back to is mine - and my animals are fed a VERY sturdy diet that keeps them growing but staying slim. Mine are also females, that show just how large of a difference it makes between males and females.

1) Breeders who keep their snakes back will usually do so on a very minimal diet - after all, the benefit of SD is that you can keep them smaller and on lighter food plans, and the snake SEEMS to do just fine. Travis kubes held back a sibling to my 2012 Tiger, and the sibling female is less than 3 ft, and weighs about 300 grams. . . Mine was above my scales limit, is at 7', and is eating rabbits weekly now. Again, different feeding schedules.

2) If you want your snake to achieve a larger max size, start feeding heavier - not till the point that the snake becomes obese, just to see some steady growth. IF your snake starts to retain weight, and not adding any length, slow your feeding back down. I feed every 4 days for my retics that are under 1 year of age, and every 7-14 days for the rest (7 for the females, 14 for the males), and only till they start gaining weight. Then I pull them back even further, one SOLID meal for 2 weeks for the females. And the males stay on a normal meal every 2 weeks.

3) your temps are fine. The front of the tub fogging up is from either using hot water, or cypress? or possibly just water that spilled and fogged up. Humidity should be around 60-70%, pretty easy to achieve around the water area and a little bit of misting. If it fogs too much just add some holes. I keep my retic hot spot (the hottest point in the cage) at or around 92 +/- 1 degree. The cool end never gets lower than 76-77 (ambient of the room).

4) Great hooks - midwest tongs.com, ok hook for training with - Reptile Basics 24" I believe it is, works FANTASTIC its their small reptile hook. I use it for 12' retics :-) Just enough to wake them up then I pull them out with my hands.

Good luck