Gerald Super Dwarf Ultra Ivory Retic Progression

[Sauzo]

Your original post was taken as a "come on guys, you're starving your snakes feed them" comment. I guess I thought you were being serious when you made that comment. Typical of internet posting and misunderstanding. I should have known that as we discussed this before.

When there is mainland blood in them, it can be nullified a great deal due to the amount of SD and Dwarf especially in JM's case. However pushing the food may or may not turn it the other way and then you ruined the purpose of the SD or dwarf.

If feeding Caesar solves your pushing problems, by all means feed him, but there are MANY reasons snakes will push. My carpet does it often and it has zero relation to food. I too mentioned "individualism" as every snake will be different so we obviously agree on that.

I have a good friend that has kept loads of retics, mostly high end, mainland species and he has had most of his males stay in the 12'-14' and lean because of his feeding.

Just like with boas and other snakes, YouTube shows a ton of out of shape, fat retics that should have beed fed less over the years.

Caesar may grow fast initially and slow down a lot after two years. It is fairly common so you may end up leveling him out and large rats maybe his final weekly sized meal. Or you may have the snake that takes on full mainland attributes and you wind up with a giant. Hopefully not.

For people maybe looking to get into retics, especially the SDs or SD x dwarf combos, they should understand its not all about food. Just because they will eat, doesn't mean they need to eat. For folks looking at owning a smaller sized retic, a good, healthy approach to the diet is part of it. If you push it, the end result may not be what they want.

There are many factors, and I don't have all the answers or the experience to claim expert status. I'd venture there are few true experts.

I misunderstood your post and thought you were inferring I was underfeeding which isn't the case.

Its all good.

Yes it was a joke.

And as for growth. I mean this is a perfect example. Caesar and Wallace. Caesar was fed small rats every 4-5 days, then medium rats every week and now large rats every 10 days. You feed Wallace a small rat every 7-10 days. Now with this different of feeding, both our snakes are the same size, about 5'. And yours is actually more dwarf than mine while mine is more mainland than yours. While I think food plays a good chunk of the snakes overall size, I think a lot of it also plays into the genetics and whether said snake takes on the attributes of mainland or SD. I personally would say it's a 50/50 mix.

And yeah I always go back to this for info from Cody. https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...nd-Information

And yes people looking for a smaller retic should just go 100% kalatoa. The introduction of dwarf and mainland blood is kind of a roll of the dice from what I've read as it depends how much of that blood the snakes 'uses' for lack of a better word in it's growth. As for the food, yes feed it as much as needed to keep it quiet and healthy. Not every snake is going to be the same and some react quite different to hunger as like I said, you see a huge difference in Caesar and Phyllis vs Riverrun and Wallace when it comes to wanting food.

And I'm jealous JM, I like that Ultra Ivory and you might be lucky and have one that isn't food driven like Caesar. Lol and heck, even after eating those rats last night, today I slide the doors open on Rosey and Vicky to stir their Eco Earth so it doesn't stay wet and packed down. I stand up and there is Caesar with his head popped out of his hide staring right at me lol. He is such a curious snake. Guess he felt the movement of the cages below and wanted to know what was up even with a full belly.

Oh and I forgot to add, Your snake is also a month younger than mine as Caesar was born 5-18 and Wallace was born June, yet they are the same size even with the age difference and feeding difference. Lol maybe you will end up with the bigger snake if Wallace uses more of his dwarf and mainland genes over Caesar haha. Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants. Think all of us would be floored lol.