SD Retic, bought as a kalaota

[Red123]

My son has had his kalatoa ? (CB 06/14) since december 2014. She was fine to start with but over the last 2-3 months she has become very food orientated. She automatically assumes that when the viv door is opened food might be coming and probably 3 times out of 5 will bite the hand entering the viv and constricts, she is feeding on 70-80g rat weaners once a week maybe she is still hungry. She is getting a little to large for this biting and constricting at around 4ft and my son has lost confidence with her and wants to sell her. I am trying to convince him that he needs to just give her a chance and try tap training. The fact that she also wees and poos over him when out of the viv doesn't exactly help matters. Just wondering if anyone else has any tips for this type of behavior other than tap training. Strangely he also says its her eyes that puts him off her. He says she watches and follows him with her eyes. I have to say this is very noticeable with her.
If anyone cares to give any advise on her behavior it will be gratefully received. Maybe her feeding regime is in inadequate?
Some pics of her for you.











Thanks for taking the time to read my thread

[JoshSloane]

I have a dwarf tiger retic that I received a few months ago from Vital Exotics. His temperament is off the charts aggressive. There are a lot of opinions that the dwarf retics have a higher potential for aggression compared to mainlands. ReptilExperts on here would know best to help you out. Unfortunately my guy is not calming down much.

[bcr229]

SD's are known for having an off-the-charts food response. I would try feeding her every five days, she's still young enough to eat that often. Leave her to digest for 2 days, then handle on days 3, 4, and on feeding day before you start thawing her evening meal.

They are also known for being much more defensive than other retics, which makes sense when you consider that they stay small - and are thus tempting prey - for a longer portion of their lives than the mainland strains. Small locality boas exhibit similar patterns compared to their larger BCI cousins; my Tarahumaras were defensive, hissy, and nippy for two years before settling down.

Hook/tap training should have been started the day you got her, I do it with all of my larger snakes and also even with one of my bigger female king snakes. No I'm not afraid of taking a hit from her, but her thinking that my pinky finger is a rat pinky has gotten old. Hook or not, I'm not crazy enough to put my hand into a retic enclosure once I've started thawing feeders.

[Red123]

SD's are known for having an off-the-charts food response. I would try feeding her every five days, she's still young enough to eat that often. Leave her to digest for 2 days, then handle on days 3, 4, and on feeding day before you start thawing her evening meal.

They are also known for being much more defensive than other retics, which makes sense when you consider that they stay small - and are thus tempting prey - for a longer portion of their lives than the mainland strains. Small locality boas exhibit similar patterns compared to their larger BCI cousins; my Tarahumaras were defensive, hissy, and nippy for two years before settling down.

Hook/tap training should have been started the day you got her, I do it with all of my larger snakes and also even with one of my bigger female king snakes. No I'm not afraid of taking a hit from her, but her thinking that my pinky finger is a rat pinky has gotten old. Hook or not, I'm not crazy enough to put my hand into a retic enclosure once I've started thawing feeders.

Thanks for that. My son for some strange reason dislikes the idea of using a hook. He worked in a reptile shop for a couple of weeks and I get the feeling maybe he witnessed something with a hook though he hasn't said so. Also the fact that our 7ft boa is so laid back makes him see the retic as very unpredictable
Are you saying that she is not being fed enough which could be part of the reason for her behaviour. She was being underfed when we bought her she was very slim but in the 6 months we have had her she has doubled in length and girth. I was a little concerned that this growth was abnormal for an SD retic.

[bcr229]

A hook is like any other training aid; it can be used appropriately or it can be abused when working with an animal.

Used correctly it will teach a snake that hook = no food, no hook = food. I don't use mine to drag my snakes around the enclosure or even to pick them up. Assuming it's not feeding day, if she's obviously awake and aware or even "foody" then the hook is the first thing she should encounter when your son opens the enclosure. Let her investigate it until she relaxes.

If she's not awake/aware then a gentle rub along her side or back with the hook will to announce his presence will help prevent a nip from her being startled, no different than if you're home dozing in your favorite recliner, you'd throw a fit too if you were suddenly picked up.

When it's feeding time she shouldn't encounter a hook at all, just the feeder. Eventually she will learn that when the hook comes in that she's not getting fed.

As for her growth rate, if she was underfed before that may be contributing to her problem. Retics, even SD's, grow a lot their first year and then slow down. How fast does her feeding lump disappear?

[Red123]

A hook is like any other training aid; it can be used appropriately or it can be abused when working with an animal.

Used correctly it will teach a snake that hook = no food, no hook = food. I don't use mine to drag my snakes around the enclosure or even to pick them up. Assuming it's not feeding day, if she's obviously awake and aware or even "foody" then the hook is the first thing she should encounter when your son opens the enclosure. Let her investigate it until she relaxes.

If she's not awake/aware then a gentle rub along her side or back with the hook will to announce his presence will help prevent a nip from her being startled, no different than if you're home dozing in your favorite recliner, you'd throw a fit too if you were suddenly picked up.

When it's feeding time she shouldn't encounter a hook at all, just the feeder. Eventually she will learn that when the hook comes in that she's not getting fed.

As for her growth rate, if she was underfed before that may be contributing to her problem. Retics, even SD's, grow a lot their first year and then slow down. How fast does her feeding lump disappear?

Thanks for replying.

If we feed her on a monday she will hide away but will be out on the prowl again by wednesday or hanging in her branches watching. There is no sign of any feeding bump at this time. The food item is considerably larger round than her and she appears very stretched when she eats it but it soon disappears.

[reptileexperts]

The weight range of the rats for the length of snake you are describing definitely sounds like its being underfed slightly. Increase prey size and/or frequency and you may notice her sitting down more and becoming a little less food aggressive. However, if she was from a wild collected batch of pures, or if she was bred from wild collected adults, she may also just have that little bit of extra freakout tendencies.

As noted above; SD remain smaller and thus have a larger sense of fear from the get go. Hook training is an important tool, and used properly can prevent this food aggression from leaving the cage. If your son has a problem with using hooks, retics are not the snake for him. They need to be conditioned to when they are going to receive food without question. If you use the hook system, conditioning them becomes second nature for them, and when they see the hook its a lightbulb that clicks and says no food. If they only see a hand and glass door opening every time they are fed and everytime they are handled, there's too many possibilities - one of which being FOOD. This drives that aggression a little bit more so. It's not too late to start hook training, but its going to be more difficult at this point.