General care on retics and experiences with these amazing animals

[William Snakespeare]

Oh and is Caesar fully grown and what does he eat?

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[cchardwick]

If you want to know what it's like to take care of several retics watch this video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD6yUoFwYR8&t=20s

[Sauzo]

He's beautiful. Definitely inquisitive animals that love to explore. Not like pet rocks.

What would be the minimum cage size for a retic male. I won't be keeping him in a bland cage that has only newspaper and a water bowl. I would like my refic to have a naturalistic home. Like branches and peat as a substrate. I don't want him to be bored.

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I have Caesar in a Animal Plastics T25 72x30x18 with a 10" shelf running across the back. I might upgrade him to a T65 this summer which is a 96x30x18 with the 10" shelf depending how much more he grows over the winter. He should be done with his fast growth as he doesnt shed nearly as much as when he was a baby and isnt as food driven anymore.

[Sauzo]

Oh and is Caesar fully grown and what does he eat?

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He gets a jumbo rat, quail or guinea pig every 14 days. And yes he is probably close to 'full' grown but snakes grow their whole lives. He is done with his baby/fast growth i believe. he has put on a lot more bulk and not really that much more length and hasnt shed in a while.

But like i said, he is a 37.5% SD 31.5% dwarf and his dad was 6' and mom was 8-9'. So even though he is 31% mainland, tiger, and was fairly heavily fed, it seems he didnt pull from the mainland gene pool too much as like i said, he is 7' ish at 18 months old.

[William Snakespeare]

My friend says that when his hatchlings have hatched, hed give me a mainland lavender albino. Will the mainland grow much bigger than yours or not. I will be feeding him gradually and not for breeding purposes. It is a he btw

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[Sauzo]

My friend says that when his hatchlings have hatched, hed give me a mainland lavender albino. Will the mainland grow much bigger than yours or not. I will be feeding him gradually and not for breeding purposes. It is a he btw

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Yes, a mianland male will probably be close to double my retics size on the larger on end. I would personally guess anywhere from 10-14' but you need to see how big the parents are and that should give you a general idea.

[William Snakespeare]

Yes, a mianland male will probably be close to double my retics size on the larger on end. I would personally guess anywhere from 10-14' but you need to see how big the parents are and that should give you a general idea.

How long is yours in feet?

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[William Snakespeare]

What would be a good substrate for retics. I am going to try peat moss and i also heard that reptibark can also work.

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[cchardwick]

My friend says that when his hatchlings have hatched, hed give me a mainland lavender albino. Will the mainland grow much bigger than yours or not. I will be feeding him gradually and not for breeding purposes. It is a he btw

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A Mainland reticulated python is the biggest snake on the planet. If you want to get an idea of the size potential check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFhDhVaGbsY

[dylan815]

I found that my female retic had a very fast metabolism when young, I would feed multiple rats every few days and within 2-3 days she looked anorexic. I fed pretty heavy until she reached about 8 months old, her metabolism slowed down and she finally kept the weight on. I think by feeding her what she needed when young her personality improved, she is really a sweetheart.

When she was young if I waited a week or more before feeding she would get super food aggressive. Now I feed her a jumbo rat once a week, I actually skipped the last couple weeks and you couldn't even tell by her body condition or temperament. I know a lot of people disagree with feeding that heavy as a young retic but it has worked wonders for me. I totally feed only by body condition, if they are super skinny they get more food, if they get too fat I'll hold back the food for weeks or months if needed. I'd say she is about 35-40 pounds now and about two years old.

I keep both of my retics on coconut husk in ARS boa tubs and I find they are no more work than my ball pythons. I check on them every day and spot clean as needed and change out the substrate once a month. I enjoy them very much and they have the job of using up all my old breeder rats that are too big for my ball pythons LOL.

I do the same thing with mine, i don't see any problems with it.