Tips for a fussy, pissy retic? (pics)

guyabano · 02-15-13, 05:58 AM

Hey there, I'm new here so a short intro before the "bitniss". I am a relapsing retic addict. I had to quit the hobby a while ago, but now I'm back with a retic named Esmeralda. For my full intro and pics of former pets click here: Relapsed Retic Addict

Okay, let me introduce my little "lady". She's a rescue, wild caught retic. Caught about 30 minutes from where I live in the city. I've had her for two months and she's shed twice, beginning a third shed cycle. She's currently at about 4ft long and she can BITE. For the most part, she's handleable but there are just times where she looks right at my face and strikes at it. Other times she'll just be slithering through my fingers calm as can be, then just turn around and bite my hand. Not the problem, I'm used to retic bites.

Okay, so for the situation I need help with. She's a shy eater. Not picky, shy. I've fed her chicks, mice, rats and she's eaten them all. The problem is she'll never take the food if I'm around. Because of that, I can't transition her to prekilled or F/T. I've already tried leaving a prekilled rat in her viv overnight, I thought it had worked when I didn't see the rat, but it turns out, it just got covered up by the substrate.
I can throw a live rat into her viv and sit there for 30 minutes and she won't take it. I leave for 10 minutes to brush my teeth or something, I get back and It's already halfway down her body. Such a character this one. Also the snake I've had the most trouble transitioning. I've had ball pythons that transitioned to prekilled quicker.

I'd appreciate any tips you ladies and gents have on Esmeralda's transition. Feel free to share taming tips as well if you have them.

Thanks

Terranaut · 02-15-13, 10:23 AM

Have you considered releasing it?
Won't bite you anymore after that I promise

What exactly was it "rescued"from?

guyabano · 02-15-13, 07:22 PM

I have considered releasing her, but there aren't exactly places nearby where I can do that. I live in the middle of the city and she was found in the city.

She was rescued from some very scared and angry people who wanted to kill her. A level headed individual in the area called the pest control guy who is a friend. He told me about her and I thought she looked pretty cool, so I took her off his hands for a staggering amount of $10 (equivalent in my currency).

Squirtle · 02-16-13, 01:21 AM

If she eats for you in captivity, then I don't see a reason for releasing her. But man, is she beautiful!

I would take her off of your hands in a heart beat if you were in NYC. You just have to keep handling her until she feels that you're no longer a threat, and she will most likely stop biting. As for feeding, you're going to have to stun her prey really good, although they can still fight back.

Corey209 · 02-16-13, 02:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squirtle

If she eats for you in captivity, then I don't see a reason for releasing her. But man, is she beautiful!

I would take her off of your hands in a heart beat if you were in NYC. You just have to keep handling her until she feels that you're no longer a threat, and she will most likely stop biting. As for feeding, you're going to have to stun her prey really good, although they can still fight back.

Stunning doesn't do anything but cause pain.

Squirtle · 02-16-13, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corey209

Stunning doesn't do anything but cause pain.

I've stunned rats before and from experience, they tend to not fight back. Just to make sure, I put an object on the rats mouth to prevent it from biting my snake, so far, I've never had a prey item bite any of my snakes. Although they're still able to fight back, it's better to stun the prey than feeding a fully aware rat, which will most likely fight back and injure the snake.

guyabano · 02-16-13, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squirtle

If she eats for you in captivity, then I don't see a reason for releasing her. But man, is she beautiful!

I would take her off of your hands in a heart beat if you were in NYC. You just have to keep handling her until she feels that you're no longer a threat, and she will most likely stop biting. As for feeding, you're going to have to stun her prey really good, although they can still fight back.

She blushed when I told her you said she was beautiful. haha
I thought the same thing when I saw her, so I decided to keep her.
How would you go about stunning a rat? Mice are stunned pretty easily by a flick to the head, but rats are more resilient. Seems that there's a fine line between stunned and dead with rats. Also, they seem to bleed more. I'd like to be as humane as possible when dealing with the rats. I breed my own and I treat them like pets up till the moment they're eaten.

Here are some recent pics of Esme. She's in her 3rd shed cycle in a under two months. Growing like a weed, she is. hashtagyoda

The night before her eye caps got foggy. I was misting her enclosure and she struck at me twice.

From this morning

Squirtle · 02-17-13, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyabano

She blushed when I told her you said she was beautiful. haha
I thought the same thing when I saw her, so I decided to keep her.
How would you go about stunning a rat? Mice are stunned pretty easily by a flick to the head, but rats are more resilient. Seems that there's a fine line between stunned and dead with rats. Also, they seem to bleed more. I'd like to be as humane as possible when dealing with the rats. I breed my own and I treat them like pets up till the moment they're eaten.

Here are some recent pics of Esme. She's in her 3rd shed cycle in a under two months. Growing like a weed, she is. hashtagyoda

The night before her eye caps got foggy. I was misting her enclosure and she struck at me twice.

From this morning

Are you sure she's just normal? I'm not too big on retic morphs, but she looks like something else to me.

moshirimon · 02-17-13, 12:53 AM

Looks normal to me. Retic locales vary greatly in colour.

To the OP do you use a hook? Hook training a retic can be very useful especially once she grows.

Try not to restrain her when you hold her. When she just turns around and bites like that it's most likely cause your holding her back from movement and she feels captured or in danger especially her being wild and all. Let her just glide more and for short periods she should improve. But don't expect an extremely docile snake some just don't calm down, depends on the individual .

With feeding I couldn't give you too much advice never see a retic with a feeding problem lol but remember she's a wild animal. She just needs to gain your trust. Try splitting a prekilled rats head and leave it to see if she takes it. Stunning can work too.

Whatever you do that's nice retic I wish you the best of luck in turning her around

Ivanator · 02-17-13, 02:29 AM

Definitely one of the nicest looking normals I've ever seen. How long have you had it? Since it is wild caught and still extremely nippy with you, it might not eat in front of you until it calms down and is used to seeing you around. I've never had a retic that wouldn't eat though. Sorry I can't offer any other advice.

Lankyrob · 02-17-13, 04:13 AM

Do you hav mold issues with the substrate you use? It looks like aspen and i found it molded easily with keeping the humidity up over 75% so switched to a bark substrate.

Corey209 · 02-17-13, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

Do you hav mold issues with the substrate you use? It looks like aspen and i found it molded easily with keeping the humidity up over 75% so switched to a bark substrate.

When I looked it up a lot of people who used aspen couldn't hold humidity and had mold problems. I personally like Zilla Jungle Mix (fir and sphagnum) with cocofiber.

guyabano · 02-18-13, 12:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squirtle

Are you sure she's just normal? I'm not too big on retic morphs, but she looks like something else to me.

Yeah, pretty sure she's a normal. We do have several variations here in the country. You can almost tell certain origins from the look of the retic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by moshirimon

Looks normal to me. Retic locales vary greatly in colour.

To the OP do you use a hook? Hook training a retic can be very useful especially once she grows.

Try not to restrain her when you hold her. When she just turns around and bites like that it's most likely cause your holding her back from movement and she feels captured or in danger especially her being wild and all. Let her just glide more and for short periods she should improve. But don't expect an extremely docile snake some just don't calm down, depends on the individual .

With feeding I couldn't give you too much advice never see a retic with a feeding problem lol but remember she's a wild animal. She just needs to gain your trust. Try splitting a prekilled rats head and leave it to see if she takes it. Stunning can work too.

Whatever you do that's nice retic I wish you the best of luck in turning her around

I do hook train. I have ever since I made a hook out of a clothes hanger. Of course, now I use an actual snake hook. I'll keep that advice in mind. Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

Do you hav mold issues with the substrate you use? It looks like aspen and i found it molded easily with keeping the humidity up over 75% so switched to a bark substrate.

Nope, I haven't any mold problems. Humidity over here rarely goes under 70% anyway so it isn't entirely necessary for me to mist. I just figured a little more wouldn't hurt.

NBLADE · 02-18-13, 05:43 AM

You could try putting some more hides into her cage, so that she can curl up under neath one and feel more secure, unless you took them out for the pictures. This should calm her down as she will be more relaxed in her environment. Should also help with the feeding, also if you wear an old shirt for the day, then put that into her viv somewhere, she will get used to your scent quicker, and learn that you aren't a threat, that and regular handling should help.

She is a real nice and bright looking normal retic, wish i could find retics like that in the wild over here.

guyabano · 02-19-13, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NBLADE

You could try putting some more hides into her cage, so that she can curl up under neath one and feel more secure, unless you took them out for the pictures. This should calm her down as she will be more relaxed in her environment. Should also help with the feeding, also if you wear an old shirt for the day, then put that into her viv somewhere, she will get used to your scent quicker, and learn that you aren't a threat, that and regular handling should help.

She is a real nice and bright looking normal retic, wish i could find retics like that in the wild over here.

I've already got two in there, how many do you suggest I add? If you've noticed, her old plastic box is still in there. It's funny how she likes to go back into that one and not use the other hide. Recently though, she's been chilling out under the box instead of inside it. Might have something to do with the shed.

Leaving a used shirt in there sounds like a GREAT idea! I've done it with dogs when they were puppies to help with separation anxiety, but I never thought about doing it with a snake.