Retic Story's

NewLineReptile · 08-20-03, 04:43 AM

Hey i just got my first Retic i have done my research on them for the past year and i am ready for one. And i also keep other large snakes. So now i have a Retic and it is nothing like people or book's say about a Retic. This one is about 4'-5' long and is pretty good to hold it has not tried to bite or anything. It originally came from Henry Piorun and is CB. What i would like is to hear some story's from Retic owners about their experience with there Retic's. Good or bad story's

The way this Retic's temperment is right now i would say that it is as good as all my Brum's temperment So i guess i just got lucky with this one

Brandon

bebo · 08-20-03, 05:43 AM

I wouldn't say you got lucky. You just recieved one that either has a good temperment, and has been handled. The majority of retics are fine with regular interaction. Now some do just seem to be more difficult to deal with. But IMHO the majority aren't bad at all. Hope you enjoy .

JasonBrennan · 08-20-03, 06:19 PM

It is amazing what a few generations of captivity will do, isn't it? Most of the "evil" retics you hear about are WC animals. You do get some that are just plain cranky, but you get that with any species.

I have several retics, including one that is suppossed to be very mean and nasty (according to previous owner), and I have yet to see any aggression. She has an amazing feeding response and was just under fed, not mean.

Just keep your retic healty, well fed (not over fed, but well fed), and maintain some level of intereaction and you should have very little trouble with him. I will mention this....retics in general (and adults in paticular) do not like to sit still while you hold them. When that bugger is 15 feet long he is going to be a handful!!! Not in a bad way, but it can be quite a trick to keep that much snake in one "place"...have fun!!!

(By the way, I would not trade any of my retics for anything!)

NewLineReptile · 08-20-03, 06:32 PM

JasonBrennan...I do have one question Why do people say it is better to have a Captive Breed then a Captive Born Retic does that make a big difference between there temperment? I no why they say not to get a WC but what's wrong with Captive Born Retic's? I do no mine is Captive Breed But just before i got this one i was looking at another one that was captive Born but people said not to get it because it was not Captive Breed

Brandon

Mike177 · 08-20-03, 07:21 PM

i dont have a great deal of first hand expreance with retics, but it is nice to have any of your snakes tame! my Super Jamp is still nippy in her cage but as soon as you get her out she is a sweety. now that you have your retic tame, KEEP IT TAME!!! snakes can realy change in there agrestion if you dont hold them alot. i went a wile without holding my BCI and now he turned from a sweetheart to a little Bit*h. just keep up with regular hadaling and you wont have a problem

NewLineReptile · 08-20-03, 08:51 PM

The only time She is ready to bite is the odd time when you try to take her out But like you said your's was Mike177 that she is a sweety when out that is the same way with mine. Right now i use the glove to take her out then off comes the glove when she is out. But even when i take her out she has never struck at my hands she is just very alert. I have had her for about 3 day's and i hold onto her about 5 times a day for about 10-15 minutes. She has seemed to adjusted very well she come's out of her hide and lay's on her log for like hours. Then when the light's go out she goes back in her hide box.
I always thought when i get a Retic that it would be a hand full because of all the story's of Retic's. But this one is just AWESOME and i am going to keep her that way.

Brandon

JasonBrennan · 08-20-03, 11:36 PM

Brandon, you in box if full!!! Empty that sucker out. Here is what I tried to reply to you:

Brandon,
Well, hard to say with out seeing a pic, but from what you describe she sounds ok size to me....Retics are very slender snakes compared to burms. They don't get a ton of girth until they get a bit older, but then the females can get pretty massive.

As far as feeding the retic rabbit, I also feed all my snakes rabbits if they will take them. I deal with a few local rabbit farmers, so I can get any size rabbit it need. My young retics take rabbits (you would be shocked as to how large they can take, but it is not good to power feed them). I still use rats as well, and I also feed chickens on occasion (agian, local farmers)

I have two burms (both very young) that will not take rabbits, but they will devour rats and chickens with out hesitation. The retics don't seem to care, they eat anything. If you have access to them, I would try to start your retic on rabbits as soon as possible (you never know, you may have that one odd retic that is hard to switch later, best to switch them early if you can, IMO)

Let me know if I can help you with any thing!
Jason

JasonBrennan · 08-20-03, 11:39 PM

I just wanted to add that of the 30 snakes I have (all large species except the balls and the copperhead), the retics are my all time favorite.

As to handling them, I would suggest you hook them out of the cage when they are smaller...works great to break any feeding response or confusion by the snake. Ditch the glove, if you can.

Now, since you have talked about your retic, pics are mandatory!!

NewLineReptile · 08-21-03, 12:10 AM

Thanks jason i just emptyed my mail box.
I hope to have some pic's up this week end i don't have a digi cam
so i have to put all my pic's on a disc and go from there.

Well i am going to try to feed her tomorrow a small rabbit and see what happens. Tonight i took her out with no glove or snake stick and had no problems so i think i am not going to use the gloves anymore.

What do you use for bedding? I use newspaper on my big snakes and right now the retic is on newspaper as well. But is there something else that she might like better then the newspaper?

Thanks again for the help Jason

Brandon

JasonBrennan · 08-21-03, 01:45 AM

I use cypress mulch in all my snakes cages. I know alot of people like to use newspaper for simplicity, but I hate newpaper. It does not hold humidity, it does not absorb urine or feces (or their odor) at all, and it is plain out ugly.

The only time I use newpaper is if I have a new snake in quarantine (makes parasites much easier to spot if any escaped detection when the snake arrived). Or is a snake has any type of injury (recently got in a retic with a head wound, nothing major, but didn't want to risk getting anything in the cut, so I put her on paper until it healed)

NewLineReptile · 08-21-03, 03:14 PM

Thanks Jason...

I will give the cypress mulch a try. I also hate the looks of newspaper but it work's for my big burms Because every time i clean there cage and put them back *BLAM* they take a killer dump....lol So that is why they are on newspaper now

So how big are your Burms?

Here is a pic of my babies out in the sun

three of the four i have
1, Female Green 1, Female Pattern 1, Male Albino

Also i picked up film today to take some pic's of the Retic for you And hope to have them posted soon

Brandon

NewLineReptile · 08-22-03, 11:14 PM

Well i feed her tonight a HUGE! jumbo rat she took it with no problems and i also got some pic's of her after she got it down and also other pic's i will try to have them up on Sunday

Brandon

RETICULATED · 08-26-03, 01:47 AM

Congrats on your first Retic. They are my favorite snake of them all
i have one and she is the best with a awesome temperment
good luck with her.

Also nice Burms