Super Dwarf Reticulated Python Care and Information

[Ax01]

So I didn't see any mention of this but for those with SD retics, how are their temperments on average? Are they as laid back as boas or are they generally flighty? Asking mostly about females. I've got a couple AP cages coming and when they get here, i'll have a couple temp/quarantine tanks free and been kicking around the idea of either a Jungle carpet from Nick Mutton, a Hog island boa from Vin Russo if I can catch one when his female has babies or possibly a SD retic from Vital Exotics. Never had a retic so not sure about their personalities and from what I have read, SDs tend to be more flighty by nature where as mainlands are more relaxed. Vital Exotics ones are 37% SD and 31% dwarf. Are SD retics something you can take outside in the yard and laid back like boas? Oh and i'm also looking for something that is manageable for one person which is the reason I'm looking at SDs.

i've read that SD's are flighty as well. Yodawagon here on the forum has a 100% SD and says his is really chill.

i wanna get a 100% SD. Brian from Breaking Balls in Tacoma has a breeding pair but won't breed them b/c he believes there's not enough demand locally (and i don't think he's on the list of pre-Lacy act shippers). if u are down for a 100% Kalatoa SD, we can get like another 10 peeps committed to buy up his clutch. 100% Kalatoa's say between 5-7 feet. if u wanna get a cool morph, high % SD and other high % Dwarf blood will keep them smaller but it's really a guessing game as to when they will max.

[reptileexperts]

So I didn't see any mention of this but for those with SD retics, how are their temperments on average? Are they as laid back as boas or are they generally flighty? Asking mostly about females. I've got a couple AP cages coming and when they get here, i'll have a couple temp/quarantine tanks free and been kicking around the idea of either a Jungle carpet from Nick Mutton, a Hog island boa from Vin Russo if I can catch one when his female has babies or possibly a SD retic from Vital Exotics. Never had a retic so not sure about their personalities and from what I have read, SDs tend to be more flighty by nature where as mainlands are more relaxed. Vital Exotics ones are 37% SD and 31% dwarf. Are SD retics something you can take outside in the yard and laid back like boas? Oh and i'm also looking for something that is manageable for one person which is the reason I'm looking at SDs.

The more % mainland the better attitude they typically have but of course the bigger they get. I have a 50% f2 tiger female that is from Travis Kubes. She never exceeded 8 ft despite being on rabbits and just turned 4 back in March. Her attitude is slightly spastic but for the most part I can take her outside without too much fear. On the flipside my Anery male pure SD who was the size of a corn snake, he was basically a colubrid in attitude and wanted to bolt anytime he got the chance. This is partially due to the fact most SD stuff that is pure came from wild caught parents right now (although we may be getting deeper into captive generations by now).

I was on a waiting list for a pair of Russo Hogg Island, the dude was very nice at first but after months of waiting for the clutch to feed, after the last update I sent to him (7 months after paying in full) he basically was annoyed and suggested canceling my order. . . Nick Mutton however, I have done a fair bit of business with and have always been absolutely pleased. Just as a side note.




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[Sauzo]

Good to hear. Yeah i'm not really holding my breath on the Hog Island as it sounds like its a mad rush for them when they go up for sale and I personally don't like rushing headlong into purchasing a pet i'm going to have for 20 years or more lol. As for Nick Mutton, I've been eyeballing his Jungles as I love the color of them and he actually lives fairly close to me kind of, basically on the other side of Washington lol. As for the retic, think the lavender albinos which are the ones I've been looking at from Vital Exotics are 37% SD and 31% dwarf so I'm going to guess the rest is mainland. I really don't want something that is going to bolt every chance it gets like a corn or other colubrid lol. I'm getting too old to be chasing down skinny fast snakes like when I was a kid. And something around 8' or so is fine. I just don't want a surprise of something that is 14' lol.

[Yodawagon]

My 100% kalatoa female is very curious. It's been awhile since I've had a corn snake, so I can't really compare. She's definitely active, but not in an annoying way that would make her hard to enjoy.

[dkatz4]

Good to hear. Yeah i'm not really holding my breath on the Hog Island as it sounds like its a mad rush for them when they go up for sale and I personally don't like rushing headlong into purchasing a pet i'm going to have for 20 years or more lol. As for Nick Mutton, I've been eyeballing his Jungles as I love the color of them and he actually lives fairly close to me kind of, basically on the other side of Washington lol. As for the retic, think the lavender albinos which are the ones I've been looking at from Vital Exotics are 37% SD and 31% dwarf so I'm going to guess the rest is mainland. I really don't want something that is going to bolt every chance it gets like a corn or other colubrid lol. I'm getting too old to be chasing down skinny fast snakes like when I was a kid. And something around 8' or so is fine. I just don't want a surprise of something that is 14' lol.

I've been eye-balling the same Vital snakes, started off thinking about a big BCC to go with my little central american BCI, but it seems like everyone who comes in contact with a retic falls in love with them so there must be something to it, right? I have a few nube questions, sorry for that, but i figure this thread has a lot of knowledgeable people on it. Regarding the 37/31 Vital retics (god, those albino lavenders are gorgeous) - what kind of size difference would you expect to see between a male and a female- both length and girth? Also, and this probably applies to most SD influence snakes, i know the rate of feeding has a huge effect on the rate of growth, but at what age do they stop growing (or slow down, anyway)? I'm more familiar with boas, so i see a 3 year old boa and expect to see a lot of growth over the following 3 or 4 years, what's it like for retics?

EDIT: forgot to say thank you to everyone for all the great info, i'd be lost without you. Special thanks to Cody for this thread and all the great YT vids (but how about some update, man? i've watched the three long ones 100 times now)

[Zincubus]

I never said it would - it would only grow it at a slower rate without detrimental results to its health. The end size will still be the same between mine and Travis' mine just got there faster, and as a result MIGHT stay slightly larger than his. But in the end - this is why I stated slow feeding will help you sustain it for 1-2 years. Not it's entire life . . . a snake will not "grow to its max comfort in a small tank" . . lets break that mindset yet again

May I ask what people mean when they talk about ' stunted growth ' due to under feeding !?

Is this just a load of nonsense ?

[reptileexperts]

May I ask what people mean when they talk about ' stunted growth ' due to under feeding !?

Is this just a load of nonsense ?

Anna from this Forum can be a great testament to that. She rescued a male retic that was very much underfed, undersized, and a few years on its life. When gave proper husbandry and fed regularly, it grew back to its proper potential.

The key rule is that dwarf and superdwarf retics have been designed by evolution on smaller islands that are isolated with less abundance in food items. They are able to slow their metabolism down enough to live on smaller portions of annual food intake, with large intakes happening only a couple times a year and pretty much none after that. Mainland retics that grow larger are not designed by evolution this way. They need to continually eat to grow healthy, once full grown they do become more stagnant and their metabolism slows down. This causes them to become obese when fed in heavy amounts.

So stunted growth is seemingly only a temporary thing.

[Annarose15]

What great timing on this post - I just recently got active again. Yes, he's in the 12-13' range now and 35lbs, after being only 6' long and TWO pounds when I rescued him at 3 years of age.


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[Annarose15]

Pic 1 is at 3 years old (the day I brought him home), and Pic 2 is a few months ago, at 6.5 years old.


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[Tigerhawk]

He looks great. You did a good job with him.