How to keep retics on the smaller side? (Mainlands)

[Dehlol]

I'm not debating a retic is a fantastic animal I have great respect for these animals...all animals...but I respectfully have to disagree that telling someone that has never worked with a snake larger than a bp with a 5 year old son makes a great first pet

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So we went from a beginner pet, to suddenly a beginner pet for a 5 year old?

2 COMPLETELY different things. For me, as a 23 year old adult, a retic would be a suitable first time pet. For a 5 year old? A hamster is about it.

You are missing my point...how many people that are looking for a first time reptile know to contact the breeding facility...their breeding facility may be great it may be top notch...but if they can't take care of the animals in their store front and they get neglected then he needs to be more hands on eith his store.

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Most of the people who want to buy a retic from them don't use the storefront. They use fauna, kingsnake etc.

The OP was asking for advice on retics. I backed advice given from Jay Brewer at PP, who has tremendous retic experience. The condition of their storefront is irrelevant to the OPs question.

[John1982]

The OP was asking for advice on retics. I backed advice given from Jay Brewer at PP, who has tremendous retic experience. The condition of their storefront is irrelevant to the OPs question.

Do you back their advice blindly or did you actually read what the OP said?

Hey everyone. So I am subscribed to numerous youtube channels to keep up to date with all my favorite snake keeps. Anyways.. I had seen recently that I believe it was Prehistoric Pets posted a video about keeping a mainland retic smaller. It was a female on a clutch of eggs. I believe they had said she was 20lbs. She looked pretty small to me. They said, "we have treated this like a pet. Not like a breeding animal or something to make money off of." I by no means believe in starving an animal to keep it malnourished and at a size you can handle. But she appeared very healthy. I was curious how you would go about this. I read somewhere that they need fed at least every 10 days as babies-juveniles or else they will get really hungry and can become irritated and nippy not to mention malnourished. I would like to get a mainland retic. But I can't handle more then 10-12 feet of snake (I am not even 5'). I have all necessary means of caring for it. I just need to know anybody that has had success with keeping a mainland no bigger then 12 ft.

Original poster is under the impression that they can handle a mainland because of this video. Note, they also say they doubt they can handle a snake more than 12 feet.

Your snake will never get 25'. 25' is a lie, no snake has ever been that big or close. The largest on record is 22' 9", that's beyond rare, expect a max of 18-20 if you're lucky, more like 14-16 as a female.

Because... Jay is accurate and correct in his information. You don't need to power feed the animal or feed it heavy. I'm sure snakes stay 10-12 foot in the wild and breed and produce. Retics don't have to be monsters unless you make them as such.

If a 10'+ animal is too much for you alone, retics are not for you.

The sheer stupidity of people thinking they know anything based about retics based on keeping a handful of animals is laughable.

The fact that you people seem to think 24-25' is an achievable size by a retic is also mind boggling.

OP, I'll back PP's advice, as well a lot of very experienced retic keepers and breeders will back PPs advice on keeping a retic small by not stuffing it full of food.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQVze_CkK_c
Check out around 2:22 and tell me if he is not implying that mainland retics can and do get 22-25 feet in length. Can you have it both ways? Is your hero the master of all things retic or maybe a bit more hit/miss. Whoops, skip ahead to the 5:00 mark, he clearly states a mainland can get 25-26 feet..

Burms and retics are not bad beginner pets, they aren't for the feint of heart, but as I've told multiple people- I trust my retics more than I trust your average shelter dog (a typical first pet), if you know what you're doing, and do it right, with the right advice, a retic is a fantastic pet animal.

It was petstores across the nation spewing crap like this to customers that caused us to be in much of the trouble we are now. Zoos, rescues and private parties became so overwhelmed with donated animals they basically had to start refusing them or only accept animals to be immediately euthanized. What happened to these large constrictors that nobody would take?

I have a 13' female, pure mainland, that was fed light (by another owner), and bred just under 3 years (2 years 10 months), and 12 foot. She lays a healthy clutch of 20-25 every year, and in 2 years with me, has gained a whopping 1 foot, after heavy heavy feeding to see if breeding has any effect on overall growth.

The idea that any snake will "top out" is silly, but I was giving averages here team- if fed light, the female will hit 12-14' and slow way down, 14-20' are slow growth times, that by the time they start getting into those sizes, you are years and years down the road.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQVze_CkK_c
So, it's ok to mislead people so long as there's a time frame involved? They won't be upset if it takes 10-15 years as opposed to 5? Also, check out the above video at 3:20, Jay says retics need to be 3 years to breed. You've schooled the master yet again young padawan. Can check at 4:00 too, Jay clearly states that they could keep that female retic at her current size. You obviously don't believe this as you stated they continue growing for the entirety of their life, if at differing rates. Do you seriously think he is not misleading future customers and doing this solely as a sales pitch?

For me, as a 23 year old adult, a retic would be a suitable first time pet. For a 5 year old? A hamster is about it.

The OP was asking for advice on retics. I backed advice given from Jay Brewer at PP, who has tremendous retic experience. The condition of their storefront is irrelevant to the OPs question.

How old is your oldest retic and how long have you been keeping them? What are your personal growth records? I think it's great to have people you look up to, mentors and all that. I also think you should seriously question someone's motives when they release a video such as this above one.