Recommendations?

ngav3 · 11-02-15, 08:10 PM

Alright, heres the deal. Im looking for a medium to large sized impressive looking snake. I have a male western hognose, male bci, a 1.1 pair of argentine boas, and a male coastal carpet, and have been around all sorts of snakes varying in size, temprament, etc.

Im in NO RUSH to make my decision, in fact it definately wont be soon, but i still want some input from you guys. Ive always been a big burmese python fan(i love the "wild type" pattern), and am considering them, although cost of feeding and enclosure space are prevalent issues.

Any bit of info is appreciated.

Thanks
Nick

P.S.- if you own a relatively large size snake that is relevant to the forum post, please don't hesitate to post a picture!

**Tsubaki** · 11-03-15, 12:00 AM

Bloodpythons/sumatran python: impressive weight and girth for limited length, so more limited in required space. You really have to love them though, they're not for everyone and can be temperamental, angry sausage is a fitting discription. But I've seen plenty docile ones.

Dwarf retic. Larger than any snake you currently own, impressive, smart, not known to be the most easily tamed but not impossible. Even tame they are often quick and flighty snakes is my personal experience. Require a roomy enclosure but smaller than avarage burmese pythons, they have a ferocious appetite. Males stay smaller usually , however could be a real handful during mating season. Be wary that you get a real dwarf if they interest you, an adult mainland becomes larger than a burmese python and require a ton of room and food.

Yellow anaconda, impressive, large but manageable, ferocious eaters, stinky, not often seen docile.(often agressive even) Require a large water container.

Burmese python male, stay smaller than females obviously . Will require less room, but still a whole lot. Generally docile, do tend to go through a puberty phase, where even the focile ones become easily agitated and hormonally driven agressive.

Indian python (?unsure of English common name) molurus molurus. Stay smaller than its burmese cousin, similar in care. Harder to keep in my country due to its endangered status, but not impossible. I do not know if it's available in your country.

Rock python, similar to a burmese python. Somewhat smaller, slighty different pattern. A whole lot meaner, for the experienced keeper.

Have to go to work so wrapping this up.

Olive pythons, gorgeous and a nice size. Do not have any personal experience with the species, they are rare around here. Snakes with attitude from what I've read.

Whitelipped python, same as olive, no real personal experience.

Mind you, several of these snakes as adults. Should bever be handled alone. Im out of time for now, should get you started though.

Manietsky · 11-03-15, 09:13 AM

Got a snake-keeping friend who faced the same conundrum, and went for a dwarf retic. It's his favorite snake at the moment and they have same nice properties of retics, but get smaller, yet impressively large, considering it's a dwarf. My money would be on the dwarf retic, but here in Swedwn, they barely exist in the snake-market/trade.

Don't really have any "direct" personal experience. I have seen it and it's gorgeous like any retic.

prairiepanda · 11-03-15, 12:57 PM

Another vote for dwarf retics or white lipped pythons. If you're into morphs, there's no shortage with retics. A lot of the dwarf morphs won't be pure dwarf but you can get a nice high percentage dwarf mix to have both the size and the morph. White lips are pretty spectacular, though.

Both options are big and impressive but still small enough to avoid a lot of the hassle involving food that you would get with a burm.

ngav3 · 11-03-15, 01:27 PM

Thank you all for the responses.
About how big would a mainland retic get?

**Tsubaki** · 11-03-15, 03:41 PM

Mainland retics are the longest snakes known to man, they can grow past 20 foot. There are several sizes really, all relying on their genes. ( i usually describe them in 4 sizes, Superdwarf - Dwarf - Large - Mainland) These are all averages, some specimens stay smaller some grow bigger. Also there's like 24000 islands that potentially have retics on them, so these are just the ones i can think of from the top of my head. 99% of the retics out in the hobby today, descend from these locations. Keep in mind, a 10ft retic is not comparable with a 10ft boa, they are smart and fast. Makes them a whole lot of fun though!

Kalatoa: 5-8 ( so called superdwarves)
Madu: 6-9 (honey island superdwarves, I've seen 10ft females)
Kayuadi: 7-10 (also considered superdwarves, hence the confusion on how big SDs get, and why percentages aren't always helpfull. A 50% kalatoa will stay smaller than a 50% kayuadi)
Timor: 7-11 (dwarf)
Jampea 8-16 (dwarf-large, they vary a lot in size, ive seen both extremes.)
Selayer/sapturai 10-13 (dwarf)
Bali Yellow Heads 10-14 (dwarf)
Thai Yellow Heads 10-14 (dwarf)
Bicol expected 14ft range (never really seen an adult)
Ambon 16-18 (large)
Ceram 16-19 (large)
Java 17-19 (large)

Potential 18-20ft+ (mainland, also origine of tiger morphs and albino)
Borneo
Makassar
Sulawesi
Sumatra

If you end up going for a retic, go for one of which you mnow the parent's size! You might end up with a monster requiring several people to care for it.

IW17 · 11-03-15, 07:57 PM

How long have you been keeping snakes? I only ask because your looking for a med to large impressive looking snake while keeping a 1.1 pair of argentine boas, which to my knowledge are some of if not the largest locality of boa constrictors. I don't know your situation so if I'm way off please excuse my assumption. But a lot of people buy snakes and really want something big because theirs haven't grown up yet. But Argentines can grow over ten feet and be quite impressive. Like I said I'm not trying to poke at you or anything but this question comes up fairly often, and it's usually someone who has acquired several animals in a rather short period, and they're all babies/juveniles at the moment, and they want the "impressive" snakes they keep seeing in the pictures.

Again not trying to accuse you of anything or hijack the thread. Just wanna get some more info for an honest, educated response.

ngav3 · 11-03-15, 08:02 PM

No problem, thanks for your reply. I have been around snakes for the past 9 or so years, and have had many snakes in that time period. I sold most of my snakes, which were mostly ball pythons, and now i only keep what i truly want to work with. I understand argentines are very impressive, and they are much to my liking-i wouldnt be keeping them otherwise. I also want to stress that im in no rush to get a new snake. Ive had that before, and it just ended up with me spending less time on proper care-part of the reason i sold most of my snakes. So really i think its just a discussion post rather than me having "snake fever" lol. Hope that cleared things up

IW17 · 11-03-15, 08:43 PM

No problem I'm glad to hear it. I've got two retics, a half dwarf male and a half SD male. Both are awesome animals and fun to work with. Both are quick and toothy in their enclosure, everything is potential food lol. But once out perfect gentleman. I have a male hypo Burmese, but he is very young so I cannot comment honestly just yet. I had a blood python until recently. Little demon as a baby, but calmed down quickly and didn't bite for the next two years I had him. The reason I sold him however was he was the most boring animal I've ever owned. Literally never moved. Not sure if this is always the case, as my experience is limited to one animal. I'd give olive pythons a look as stated above. And papuan pythons. Both get over ten feet and are quite the lookers. I plan on have one of these species at some point in my life.

ngav3 · 11-03-15, 08:55 PM

Yea, ive dwelled on blood pythons before, but in reality they are generally meaner, larger ball pythons(pet rocks) lol. Still love them, just not on the same level as my boas or another similar snake. Post a few pics of the retics! Would love to see them.

Also, ive never looked too deep into olive or papuan pythons, and im not sure why. Ill look into them.

Zelg · 11-10-15, 12:30 PM

Moluccan scrubs have always been a favorite of mine when it comes to large snakes. Appearance wise anyways. From what I understand they can get quite long but arent that heavily bodied. I dont have any large snakes. My WLP is still growing and under 4 ft.

dave himself · 11-10-15, 02:11 PM

Hi I can back up what has been said here about retics although my experience with them is limited. Our female is unlike any snake we've ever kept she is smart and very switched on. Also she is a mainland and although she is not power fed by any means her growth rate is very fast. I have no idea what size she is as I've never measured her but this is the most recent pic I have of her

I have a bit more experience with burms roughly around 10, we keep 2 at the moment a female normal and an albino male. Burms are much more chilled out snakes than retics, when we have ours out they climb less and are no where near as switched on as our retic. But be warned you can never drop your guard around these large snakes they can have their off days as our female Daisy has done on a few occasions. The rest of the time she is the most pleasant girl you could ever meet

Daisy

Wilson our male

IW17 · 11-10-15, 04:40 PM

I mean really, how sweet are these? Photo courtesy of Google images, from a private collection.

dave himself · 11-10-15, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IW17

I mean really, how sweet are these? Photo courtesy of Google images, from a private collection.

My dream snake

IW17 · 11-10-15, 04:37 PM

If your looking into scrub pythons check out tanimbar scrubs. They stay the smallest. Until you have some experience with these snakes I would not recommend getting a scrub python that has the potential of hitting 15+ feet. I know many keepers with years more experience than myself who have thrown in the towel because they couldn't handle a 13' snake launching out of the enclosure at their faces. Not every animal is this way, but scrubbies do have quite the reputation as being less than enthusiastic about life in captivity. Plus most animals you'll find will be wild caught, probably adding to their unlikable disposition.

That being said if you do your due diligence, and are ready for what you could possibly be getting into, these are a neat species. If I could find a captive bred barneck scrub I'd snatch it up in an instant.