Handling an aggressive Retic

[thrillho]

Hello, today I picked up an adult male dwarf retic approx 10 feet long. He's great to look at, not so great to handle. I think his previous owner didnt handle him ever other then when feeding. He seems more scared then mean when I try and handle him. Usually with an aggressive snake I just hold it often so it catches on that i'm not a threat but because of this guys size it makes doing that quite difficult.

Any pointers you guys could give me on taming a scared/aggressive retic?

[Theweinz]

How about some photos of him? Handling him is the best, too bad it was not done earlier in his life. 10 foot can be a handful/armfull!

[stephanbakir]

How about some photos of him? Handling him is the best, too bad it was not done earlier in his life. 10 foot can be a handful/armfull!
Have you ever tamed down a DEFENSIVE retic (I've never heard of an aggressive retic, ever) Handling would be terrible advice, especially for someone who may not be experienced with them.

Start with the basics, hook train him. Males are generally more testy then girls btw, especially during breeding season, and if hes 10 feet, hes probably breeding age.

Once he takes to hook training for a few weeks, try and gently work him when you remove him from the cage for cleaning, maximum of a few minutes every few days and work from there gradually. If you want, I'll work my male in a few days and upload a video.

It takes time to build the trust of an animal, start with that (hook training helps) then work on handling.

[thrillho]

Have you ever tamed down a DEFENSIVE retic (I've never heard of an aggressive retic, ever) Handling would be terrible advice, especially for someone who may not be experienced with them.

Start with the basics, hook train him. Males are generally more testy then girls btw, especially during breeding season, and if hes 10 feet, hes probably breeding age.

Once he takes to hook training for a few weeks, try and gently work him when you remove him from the cage for cleaning, maximum of a few minutes every few days and work from there gradually. If you want, I'll work my male in a few days and upload a video.

It takes time to build the trust of an animal, start with that (hook training helps) then work on handling.


a video would be great. Defensive is a way better word to describe his attitude right now. I'm glad you said handling him isn't the way to go because I was thinking that's what I would try. I will start hook training him this week. Again posting a video of you working with one of yours would be very helpful and awesome of you!

[Zincubus]

How about some photos of him? Handling him is the best, too bad it was not done earlier in his life. 10 foot can be a handful/armfull!

..... and harmful :)

[Freebody]

Have you ever tamed down a DEFENSIVE retic (I've never heard of an aggressive retic, ever) Handling would be terrible advice, especially for someone who may not be experienced with them.

Start with the basics, hook train him. Males are generally more testy then girls btw, especially during breeding season, and if hes 10 feet, hes probably breeding age.

Once he takes to hook training for a few weeks, try and gently work him when you remove him from the cage for cleaning, maximum of a few minutes every few days and work from there gradually. If you want, I'll work my male in a few days and upload a video.

It takes time to build the trust of an animal, start with that (hook training helps) then work on handling.
this is definitely the way to go, don't handle a large snake to tame them, no matter what kind it is :P I could not imagine how much fun that would turn out to be lol just hook train it, and after a while you can touch it as your moving it and so on, eventually he wont mind you touching it with any luck, I always touch my retic with the hook when I open her cage, my retic will kill anything the second that door opens, but once I crack the door open and touch it a few time with the hook, so she knows its not a feeding, shes puppy dog tame again, I see videos of people opening the door to retics and just reaching and picking them up np, so not all are like this, but mine is so be cautious, your may be the same way.

[Theweinz]

Have you ever tamed down a DEFENSIVE retic (I've never heard of an aggressive retic, ever) Handling would be terrible advice, especially for someone who may not be experienced with them.

Start with the basics, hook train him. Males are generally more testy then girls btw, especially during breeding season, and if hes 10 feet, hes probably breeding age.

Once he takes to hook training for a few weeks, try and gently work him when you remove him from the cage for cleaning, maximum of a few minutes every few days and work from there gradually. If you want, I'll work my male in a few days and upload a video.

It takes time to build the trust of an animal, start with that (hook training helps) then work on handling.

I would love to see the video too. You are right about the hook training vs handling. I do not have much experience with larger animals and I should have stayed out of the discussion-or at least not offered advice.

[stephanbakir]

Nothing is wrong with offering wrong advice, (probably gona get yelled at for saying that) but in a forum as active as this one, you get corrected quickly no it helps you work on your wrong ideas sooner, before they get to be habits.

[Squirtle]

I would start with introducing him to the hook first. After a couple of days, begin to touch him with your hook and hands while hes inside the cage. When a few weeks have gone by, try handling him. I did this same exact process back when my burm was just a few months old and about 4 foot, he was very aggressive for no reason, but tamed down fairly quickly.

[stephanbakir]

I would start with introducing him to the hook first. After a couple of days, begin to touch him with your hook and hands while hes inside the cage. When a few weeks have gone by, try handling him. I did this same exact process back when my burm was just a few months old and about 4 foot, he was very defensive for no reason, but tamed down fairly quickly.
Male retics can be ornery bastards... I've been working with my male whos in the 10ft range and hes still a ****

[stephanbakir]

It's going to tame TIME to potentially get him to where hes workable. I've been at it two years and my male is still resisting. Work on the trust first, if it takes weeks it takes weeks, if it takes months (it probably will) it takes months... but keep at it slowly and patiently.

[Pirarucu]

Have you ever tamed down a DEFENSIVE retic (I've never heard of an aggressive retic, ever) Handling would be terrible advice, especially for someone who may not be experienced with them.

Start with the basics, hook train him. Males are generally more testy then girls btw, especially during breeding season, and if hes 10 feet, hes probably breeding age.

Once he takes to hook training for a few weeks, try and gently work him when you remove him from the cage for cleaning, maximum of a few minutes every few days and work from there gradually. If you want, I'll work my male in a few days and upload a video.

It takes time to build the trust of an animal, start with that (hook training helps) then work on handling.Well said. Heck, I almost never handle my retic unless there's a reason to, and despite this he's one of the best behaved retics I've seen. Forcing them to like you doesn't work.. I only take mine out of his cage for cleaning and to take him outside, and that's it. He spends a grand total of maybe a minute being handled each month, the rest of the time he's in a bin or exploring. On top of that, if he shows signs of not wanting to be taken out, I leave him alone and try again later.

[stephanbakir]

I leave my retic cages and my scrub cage open once a day for about 2 hours, they roam the room and by the time I'm done my shower and I'm ready to go to work they are back in their cages... on their own. They are highly intelligent animals who can adopt routines rather quickly, if you are strict and follow the same routines every time they will figure it out and adapt.
(my snake room is escape proof, and they can't knock anything over or get under anything. but they can climb all over)

Do it slowly, the snake will live another 20 years, there is no need to rush :)

[Ivanator]

Male retics can be ornery bastards... I've been working with my male whos in the 10ft range and hes still a ****

Mine is the exact same way! Every time that door opens, he immediately thinks its feeding time. If he's really hungry, all you gotta do is just walk by his cage and he'll strike. Freakin pain in the a** but once out, he's totally fine.

[stephanbakir]

Ohh, my male its not a feed response it's defensive.
When he was a baby he struck at the glass and pulled his face down over his teeth, all his teeth went through his face and pulled his face down and tight putting a huge pressure on his eye.
With Kim's help we figured out what happened and pinned him, grabbed his face and pulled it down over the teeth to free his face, to this day he's still scared of people when he's in the cage, super head shy and I don't blame him. To this day he's still cross eyed.