Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 6-8 month old tiger retic....
Seems like the first few months we had her, she ate and took her time digesting, then would be looking for food...

The last 2 months or so, she eats a huge rat- that really stretches her out, and 2 days later you cant tell she even ate and 2 days after that- she poops and wants more...

She is getting bigger, but for the amount of food she eats, compared to some of the other animals we have that are 'babies'- seems like her growth is slow....

She is a good 5-6 foot long but she's super skinny.
She's not skinny in that she's underweight, she's got little jelly rolls and a nice smooth back- she is just narrow-bodied...

I've not had a baby retic until her- all the one's we have/had were already upwards of 8-9 foot and 6-9 inches around...

is her size normal?
Should I feed her more?

thanks
Beth
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

Sounds like until recently she was being maintenance fed, so she was keeping at just the right weight to be healthy.

Now that you've moved her onto bigger and better things, she'll start to put some size on.

Alot of the snakes I've owned came from breeders that had a good amount of animals, in which case space restrictions require maintenance feeding to keep the animals small.

Now that she's digesting faster and being fed bigger items, you're in the clear.

Just my opinion.

GET READY!!!! u are in the midst of seeing a retic hit a growth spurt, she is gonna put some size on for ya and u will be amazed at how well u can watch her grow. keep the feeding steady, how often are u feeding her by the way, sounds like she could go every 5 days. which is what my 7month old male is on right now and he is digesting just like u described. keep us posted on her sounds like ur doing a great job

I didn't think about that part.

My 2 retics were born around May/June of 2007. They both ate their first medium rats the day before yesterday, and today, you can barely tell that they've eaten. They were good sized lumps.

Mine is the same way and about a month ago i started her on med rats and she acts pretty much exacly how you said your does and she seems to have grown a great deal in just that 1 month, she's around 5-6ft as well, i just believe she's going into a growth spert, i'm about to start her on large rats in a week or so.

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0.1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0.0 Yellow Anaconda
1.1.0 Suriname Red Tail Boa
1.1.0 Guyana Red Tail Boa
1.0.0 Coral Sunglow Boa
0.1.0 Coral Albino Boa
0.1.0 Arabesque Het Albino Boa
0.1.0 DH Sunglow Boa
1.1.0 Red Blood Python
1.2.0 Jungle Carpet Python (females VPI Bloodline)
0.1.0 Burmese Python (Rescue)
0.1.0 Albino Retic (Lavender)
0.1.0 Avicularia Versicolor
1.0.0 Cat

oooooh!!! i'm so excited now!!

She is eating about every 4-5 days.

I let most of my snakes 'tell' me when they're hungry. if i walk by the cage and they're up looking- they're hungry=== which is what shes doing!!

well i'm ready for a growth spurt- seems like we've been stuck at 'baby' size for ever....

thanks
Beth
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

I keep all my youngsters at a 7 day feeding schedule, not in any need for her to grow to unreal proportions in a day, if i fed her every time she seemed hungry i'd be feeding her every hour, lol, he is always up wanting food everytime you walk by her cage, stubern children, sometimes you just have to tell them NO, lol
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0.1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0.0 Yellow Anaconda
1.1.0 Suriname Red Tail Boa
1.1.0 Guyana Red Tail Boa
1.0.0 Coral Sunglow Boa
0.1.0 Coral Albino Boa
0.1.0 Arabesque Het Albino Boa
0.1.0 DH Sunglow Boa
1.1.0 Red Blood Python
1.2.0 Jungle Carpet Python (females VPI Bloodline)
0.1.0 Burmese Python (Rescue)
0.1.0 Albino Retic (Lavender)
0.1.0 Avicularia Versicolor
1.0.0 Cat