retic food frenzy

[scottyy]

so lately my retic has been striking at the walls of her cage sometimes when i walk by. its not that she is aggressive but because of her feeding response because she will strike at my feet but when she sees me standing over her to get her out she just mellows out. i know its because theres something about the feeding that im missing or my feet in white socks look just like the whit rats i feed her? i doubt it though. my feeding routine is i take her out of her cage and put her in another sterilite bin for feeding. she also strikes at that bin just after i feed her and go to put her back in her cage. Could she just have a very strong feeding response or am i overlooking something?

[stephanbakir]

Retic aggression is obvious, they hiss, they puff up and they don't miss when they strike. If you think it might be food aggression, it probably is. I'd advise against feeding in a tub, just because when she does get big its going to be a royal pain. Just cage feed and hook train her.

[scottyy]

yeah i have her hooked trained i mean once i get in the cage and tap her she completely changes from looking at me like im dinner to just chilling. but wouldnt feeding in her cage make the response stronger. or perhaps is it because i dont feed her on and exact constant schedule (its not that i dont feed her im just a day late or earlier from the day i normally feed her)

[stephanbakir]

A strict feeding schedule is super important with tics, if they miss a meal its better to wait another week and feed them on time.
Feeding in a cage and not feeding in the cage has no effect in my experience on aggression, or cage feeding response, some people argue both ways, I've never noticed a difference.

[scottyy]

yea i think i may have made a mistake because when she was in shed she didnt want to eat when i offered her food so i waited a few days for her to shed and then i fed her againand this was just the last feeding, but before that i fed her on every friday before i went to work.

[stephanbakir]

It's worth trying to feed during sheds, but don't break the pattern.
Personally I feed on Wednesdays, that way they have digested by the weekend, and I can handle them on my days off :)

[scottyy]

yea that does sound like a good day to do it and sense it has been about a week i will just start her on wednesdays from now on and hopefully see improvements. and yea i always feed her when she is in shed and every once in a while she will eat though.

[Lankyrob]

My SD 'tic knows to the say when feeding time is - the day before (before the rats are even defrosting so no smell from them) he will cruise up and down the front of his viv constantly, when the rats are defrosting he will sit by the end of the viv that the rat goes in and then when he sees the plate that he gets fed on he goes MENTAL!

[Jenn_06]

my Isis was like that too, every time to went in the room she would strike at the cage door a few times i had to take her out and fix her lip because she would have a tooth that went into the lip but all i did was feed her a bigger rat and feed ever sat. now she will just get really close to the door to say hi and see if im going to take her out or feed her.

[scottyy]

rob thats funny. but do you like feed on one end and take him out in another? that does sound like a good idea though. and jenn while my snake has never really hurt herself striking the cage yet. but it is kinda weird just walking by and hearing something smack against the side of the cage. hopefully she stops before she actually hurts herself

[Lankyrob]

Nope never worry about which end i take him out - he is more than aware that i am not food and the only time he went into a semi strike position i touched him on the head with my hand and he chilled out. The only time i have to worry about opening his viv is when ther IS food around - at which point anything with a heat signature is likely to get pounded.

[Jay]

but wouldnt feeding in her cage make the response stronger.
By this logic, wouldn't taking the snake out to feed in a separate place make the snake associate you reaching in the tank to take him somewhere to be fed trigger a feeding resonse??
Hook train your monster, it will be way better in the long run.

[NennaMeerkat]

I am just curious, don't own a rectic or anything. But wouldn't this constant feeding response be caused by the snake being hungry? Perhaps a larger meal or being fed more often help curb this constant feeding response? Or is it just a Retic's nature to be food hungry all the time?

[stephanbakir]

Its in most retics nature to be hungry most of the time.
Larger meals, or having a fully belly ready to burst will NOT curb it in most cases.
Retics also get obese easily if you overfeed them(AKA TWINKIE MR PREHISTORIC PETS).

[NennaMeerkat]

If I ever got a Rectic I would name him Twinkie...just cause of your comment LOL

[stephanbakir]

Twinkie is a retic owned by Prehistoric Pets, its currently the longest one in the world after Bob Clarks fluffy died (but might be overtaken by Medusa soon) Twinkie is so overweight its insane that the animal is still alive, and I'd slap Jay (Twinkies owner) if I saw him in person. Risking the animals life for a place in the record books.

[Lankyrob]

I am just curious, don't own a rectic or anything. But wouldn't this constant feeding response be caused by the snake being hungry? Perhaps a larger meal or being fed more often help curb this constant feeding response? Or is it just a Retic's nature to be food hungry all the time?

I reckon my guy could eat a horse and look for seconds! The rats he has at the moment take him twenty minutes or so to get down, he then immediately goes into feed mode and even the next day getting his plate out of the viv can be risky, takes about 48-72 hours before he "turnsoff".

[stephanbakir]

After that 72 hours... opening the cage sets of off again lol. That's why not hook training retics is just silly.
They are fantastic animals, that are incredibly intelligent. They follow you with their eyes without moving their head, every time.

[NennaMeerkat]

Interesting behavior. Makes me glad my snake choice doesn't have such a strong feeding response. Though TBH she does get a bit fiesty eating her two pinks a week. Fun to watch her strike all clumsy like when she gets going...so excited she can't see straight! Personlly I will be glad when I get these pinks all fed and can move on to fuzzy.

I would also be to tempted to feed her more if she had a feeding response like a Retic. I am a sucker for animals that "act" hungry.

[stephanbakir]

Lol. Try a Taiwan beauty :) they are always hungry. And quite aggressive :)

[NennaMeerkat]

Aggressive is not something I would want. Got a family that enjoys interacting with all our pets. Not to mention I am hoping to use my exotics as teaching tools for my son's school this year.

[marvelfreak]

They are fantastic animals, that are incredibly intelligent. They follow you with their eyes without moving their head, every time.

That what make them some of the coolest snake on the planet. They are so much smarter than any other snake i ever worked with. It's like they are always learn. It creepy in away because they watch what you do and learn your patterns and behavior. It makes you feel like they are plotting against you and just wait for you to make a mistake so they can nail you. 13993

[stephanbakir]

They are badass, and will forever be my fav snake :)

[NennaMeerkat]

That is pretty cool. Only other snake I heard doing anything like that is an Indigo Snake. And I have no doubt they are plotting something evil. Gonna take over the world!

[stephanbakir]

I had a retic that was just a baby, only about 8 feet and skinny, he would fake a bite to your side and make you jump into a corner then go for the kill.
Only snake that ever bit me more then once.

[scottyy]

By this logic, wouldn't taking the snake out to feed in a separate place make the snake associate you reaching in the tank to take him somewhere to be fed trigger a feeding resonse??
Hook train your monster, it will be way better in the long run.

i have her hook trained and perhaps she would not show the response because she knows that before she is fed u have to pick her up

[Lankyrob]

After that 72 hours... opening the cage sets of off again lol. That's why not hook training retics is just silly.
They are fantastic animals, that are incredibly intelligent. They follow you with their eyes without moving their head, every time.

Not really, after the feed response is gone and the plate is taken he goes back to totally mellow, handleable and chilled out. As you retic owners know once you know your snake you can tell just be looking what "mode" they are in.

[stephanbakir]

Mine were always hungry, once you tap em with the hook and the know there is no food coming they calmed right down though.

[Jenn_06]

Isis is always looking for food but as soon as i open her cage and show her the yellow hook she moves back in the corner my brum does that sometimes but most of the time her fat head is already out of the cage looking for the food lol.

[Lankyrob]

So far my guy is fine with me sticking my hand in as long as the other signs of feeding time arent there (the plate, smell of food etc).

He is so obvious with his behaviour tho that you really couldnt get it wrong.

[scottyy]

out of curiosity how often do u guys handle your snakes? i know that i dont get to handle my girl as often as i would like to but she is still calm and i can handle her with no problem and i hold her maybe 3 times a week. i would more often but as everybody knows ya gotta go to work unfortunately.

[TeaNinja]

i used to hold my snakes once or twice a week, now that im working 5-6 days every week i hold them even less.

[stephanbakir]

as needed but generally once a week

[Lankyrob]

Each of mine probably gets held once or twice a fortnight on average except my GTP who gets handled roughly every two or three months.

[scottyy]

y hold the gtp only once every few months?

[TeaNinja]

i don't remember 100%, but i think it's because they are extra prone to stress or something.

[marvelfreak]

i don't remember 100%, but i think it's because they are extra prone to stress or something.
It because as baby they tail are real easy to break. And when your talking about a snake that use it tail to hang on to branches all day you just don't want to chance it. But a lot from people put removable branches in they cages. So they can just lift the whole branch out with out hurting them. Plus this up them feel more secure.

[Lankyrob]

y hold the gtp only once every few months?

THey are much more fragile than most snakes, as mentioned their tail is extremely important to them and if it is damaged quite often they cant adapt to feeding on the ground (normally they hand upside down from a perch).

My gtps clutchmates are all dead - the shop i buy from had the whole clutch and they were all sold to so called experienced keepers (except me - i was pretty new to the hobby and got a lot of flak for buying it). Everyone of them died either from poor husbandry or from damage when they were small.

Our GTP will always be a display snake rather than one that is handled and used for shows etc.

[scottyy]

as they get older is their tails less fragile and you can handle them more frequently? i always see the gtps at expos and always thought they were awesome but wouldnt get one for another few years

[stephanbakir]

IF you damage the tail, as mentioned their tail is extremely important to them and if it is damaged quite often they cant adapt to feeding on the ground (normally they hand upside down from a perch). (quoted from Rob)

[Lankyrob]

I think most successful GTP owners have them as show animals - the guy i bought it from used to breed them A LOT and never handled any of them - he used removable perches to transport them and NEVER had skin to scale contact.

[scottyy]

yes i see wat you mean. pretty much if their tail gets damaged their done for just about. are tree boas the same way? because i have always wanted a gtp but never did any research for it because i may not get one for another few years but now i dont think i want one because i like to hold my animals so that definitely wouldnt be for me. i think that feeding her in the cage has made the response stronger because now she will strike at anything that moves around her cage, but that will probably only be temporary until she realizes that every friday she will get fed and no midweek snacks

[Lankyrob]

Have never researched ATB's but i can only assume they have similar issues?