Need some help.

[AjBalls]

do you know how much a retic eats? at 5ft it will need atleast 2 rats a week. i hope you breed rats or can get them cheap. and what are you going to do next year when you need rabbits to feed it?

Can start a 5' retic on rabbits right away. 1/2 pounders. It's recommended to get them on rabbits soon because some are a bit hard to switch over.

My last one would eat a rabbit 3-4 times a year, but ate rats every time offered.

[AjBalls]

Weren't you the same person that was posting in the classifieds looking to adopt any animal except a large snake ("cause you weren't set up for it").

I would assume he meant not a BIG one at the moment.

[AjBalls]

As of now I am getting a 4 foot tank with 2 UTH's with the snake. I was just looking for some advise for someone who is going from BP's to Retics.

Ditch the tank. They suck, plain and simple, especially for large constrictors. Invest in a 4' long animal plastics/boaphile/vision cage (whichever you like more) and keep it in there. If she is fed well enough and grows like one should, he will outgrow it in 1-2 years. Then it will be time to upgrade to a 6' cage and it shouldn't outgrow that one.

Ball to retics can be a big step. Support is probably one of the biggest things. Not too many people want to be messing around with a 15'+ snake. If you don't have support, you can't own one. Someone has to be with you when you are feeding and cleaning the cage. Especially feeding time. Last thing you want is for a 16' snake wrapped around you concentrated on killing you because it mistook you for food. Food is amongst the top requirements needed for a retic. They eat more, their metabolism is faster, their food response is superior to any other snake I have ever had.

[nova2door]

Can start a 5' retic on rabbits right away. 1/2 pounders. It's recommended to get them on rabbits soon because some are a bit hard to switch over.

never heard that, i waited until mine was about 12ft to give it rabbits.
the first one took a minute or 2 then she realised it was food. now they barely hit the floor before she has them wrapped up.
i planned on starting my next one at the 8ft range if its still small when i get it.

[JNugent]

Yeah, I'd say think this one through. Working for the local zoo, as well as volunteering with a reptile/wildlife rescue group, I can't tell you the number of times I see people trying to get rid of retics/burms because they're "too big" or "I"m scared of it" or any other number of lame excuses. Unfortunately, it's hard to find homes for these snakes once this happens. It won't be 5 foot for long, a tank with a retic is a bad idea, and once he gets larger you have to think you'll need 1 person for approximately every 6 feet of snake to handle it. Really think this through before you dive in. My .02