Retic breeding

Cclark4108 · 12-26-19, 07:31 PM

I've always been a boa girl, I've began breeding boas this past season and plan to,continue next year. Well, i was "gifted" a pair of retics and now I'm hooked on them. I'm strongly considering breeding them once the female is up to size(she is roughly 2 years old and 8ft). The male is a tiger(just under 12ft, age unknown)and the female is a purple tiger. I get the jist of breeding, but incubation will be a whole new world for me. We are in,the works of building a dedicated out building just for my larger snakes/breeding projects. Any tips, tricks, links(not YouTube, I learn better reading things than comprehending verbally), etc. I have a few close friends that are breeders that I'll be following closely and that will be mentoring me, but the more knowledge the better.

**Tsubaki** · 12-27-19, 05:04 AM

I could give you many tips and tricks... That you can probably find elsewhere, but first of all something important to me. I personally never bred a retic female under 5 years old, they're not done growing untill then (if they're not overfed). Many get another spurt after their 4th year, and I do not like breeding with animals that still need energy to grow.. And also very important, check the market. Not exactly a breeding tip, but.. You'll get Tiger and Supertigers het purple, are they wanted? Not exactly a killer or rare morph, around here you'd struggle to sell more than a handful unless they're superdwarfs. Can you unload 50 of them on your local market? Are you willing to sell 'leftovers' off for cobrafood? Or are you going to be stuck with perhaps 40+ retics if they don't sell. If the market is bad, you could consider only hatching a part of the eggs. Again I don't know your market, around here I woulnd't consider that pairing they wouldn't sell. I've bred many retics in the past, but I stuck to max 2 litters of retics per year, because more often than not, I still had ' leftovers' from past season. And that was with high end morphs and pure locals, the market is saturated in a heartbeat. Just food for thought, good luck!

craigafrechette · 12-27-19, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tsubaki

I could give you many tips and tricks... That you can probably find elsewhere, but first of all something important to me. I personally never bred a retic female under 5 years old, they're not done growing untill then (if they're not overfed). Many get another spurt after their 4th year, and I do not like breeding with animals that still need energy to grow.. And also very important, check the market. Not exactly a breeding tip, but.. You'll get Tiger and Supertigers het purple, are they wanted? Not exactly a killer or rare morph, around here you'd struggle to sell more than a handful unless they're superdwarfs. Can you unload 50 of them on your local market? Are you willing to sell 'leftovers' off for cobrafood? Or are you going to be stuck with perhaps 40+ retics if they don't sell. If the market is bad, you could consider only hatching a part of the eggs. Again I don't know your market, around here I woulnd't consider that pairing they wouldn't sell. I've bred many retics in the past, but I stuck to max 2 litters of retics per year, because more often than not, I still had ' leftovers' from past season. And that was with high end morphs and pure locals, the market is saturated in a heartbeat. Just food for thought, good luck!

There are some fantastic points in this reply. Very well said.

I think it's important to to ask "WHY" do you want to breed these animals?

Is it for financial gain? Is it just a hobby? What's your goal in breeding them?
Just because you have two snakes doesn't mean you need to breed them. So I think knowing WHY you want to breed them is very important.

If they're full mainland retics you're going to have a very hard time unloading all the offspring. Especially if the morphs aren't as desirable as they were a few years ago. The last thing our hobby needs is a retic situation like the Burm situation in the Everglades. Oversaturated markets lead to unwanted or abandoned animals.

I just think breeding retics is a HUGE responsibility and shouldn't be entered into just because you were "gifted" a few retics. And unloading a clutch of 25 or 30 or more retics will be a whole heck of a lot harder than unloading a litter of 12 boas.

Cclark4108 · 12-27-19, 06:34 PM

I greatly appreciate both of your replies.

I have decided to wait to breed her in a few years, once she's fully grown. I talked with my breeder and she is 2-2.5years old.

Secondly, I would be breeding more as a hobby than for monetary gain. I would be comfortable culling eggs or babies for feeders as needed. I actually have few friends with cobras that i could contact for those instances. Our local market is actually pretty decent for mainlands, not any local breeders that i know of in at least a 3hr radius of me, if not further. It's all ball pythons and "red tail boas" here.