Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, i recently acquired a tiger retic which is about 4.5 feet long.The man I got her from said she is a female.She is usually pretty good when I take her out and handle her for a while but if I put her down and then go to pick her up again she wont let me get close to her without striking like crazy.I have a normal retic which I couldnt even get out of the cage but I tamed that down, any suggestions on how to get my new little tiger calmed down? It also seems that when i put her back into the cage and try to take her out again she strikes like crazy.Thanks so much and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Matt

with a little time, patience, persistance, and gentle handling your new retic should calm down nicely...
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Reticulatus.Net

Do you have a snake hook or something you can reestablish yourself with? I would hold her and hold her and hold her until she realizes who you are. If you are gonna let her roam a little bit, then I would just touch her with the hook on the head a few times when she is acting up till you cancel her out. Are you hook training her? Are you feeding her in or out of her enclosure? I am new to retics myself so I am no expert, but I have gotten alot of info from others on here. I know theres a big debate on whether to feed them in or out of the cage, but you are much better off feeding inside the cage. Remember when baby retic gets to be big mamma, pulling her out to feed is quite a hassle. Also, everytime you go into the tank, besides feeding her, you should use a hook so hopefully your snake learns that when it sees hook, no food, just you. I dont know how much you about retics so if my preaching to the choir, i certainly apologize. When you feed her you should use a hemostat to hold the food in place and hopefully you can get her to eat frozen thawed.

She is probably striking because shes nervous and not a feeding response, but again the hook will come in handy. I am not talking from personal experience, but people on here who gave me info have. Without the hook, they would of been in trouble especially with large retics.

My boa does that sometimes, She never stuck but will not back down. I never tested her, I just throw a shirt on her head and pick her up and everythings back to normal.