What next?

[dakski]

I know I am VERY late to this post, however, I thought I would add my two cents.

First, wonderful family and Mazel Tov on the new house. Good luck on all fronts.

Secondly, if you are between a SD Retic and an Boa of some kind, I would lean more towards a Boa. I made that choice and I am incredibly happy.

Boa's generally have amazing temperaments and are often calm and easily controllable even when large/adult size. I got a female BCI in October of 2017 (Behira - who is a ghost BCI and will be two in June of this year). Right now she's about 3 1/2-4FT and about 900G. Far from where she will be. However, she is alert, interested, responsive, curious, and basically unafraid. When being handled she doesn't freak out and get head shy, but is calm and easy to read and predictable. Total sweetheart when out. As she grows, I imagine she will be even less afraid (although she is pretty fearless now). She also moves more than say, a BP, but her movements are slow and deliberate most of the time.

Feeding time is a separate issue. Strongest feeding response of any snake I have had. However, she happily eats F/T. Because of her temperament being awesome when out, but the strong feeding response, I hook trained her and that has been fantastic.

I am rambling here. However, SD Retics are awesome - don't get me wrong. Beautiful and intelligent and curious animals. However, I've heard of more issues/work with them.

Here is what I have observed, largely on this forum (Keep in mind I do not own a Retic of any kind - only a BCI, BP, and Corn Snake on the snake front).

1. They pee like crazy. Lots of cleanup.

2. They get antsy when they get hungry - often rubbing their face, for example, on the tank doors, walls, etc. Some people think it's part of their charm, but you need to be on top of it.

3. They are a handful. They may not be aggressive, but they move a lot and where they want. Handling an 8FT retic is work and requires strength and trust. A 7-8FT female boa is a predictable puppy dog comparably.

If you want a challenge - and can handle it. By all means, get a Retic.

However, if you want a large animal that you handle on your own and easily, I would be thinking Boa.

There are many choices of Boas, as has been mentioned, and you can get virtually any color, pattern, etc. you want.

Negatives on Boa's are their slow growth (if looking for a large snake fast) and, as mentioned, strong feeding response can take some getting used to. However, that can also be a big positive.

I think it was mentioned here the idea of getting a Boa and if that goes well, also getting a Retic later on. That seems to make a lot of sense to me.

I hope this helps and I also hope I didn't offend any Retic people. Please, if I am off base on my limited observations, feel free to correct me.