Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought a tiger retic baby about a month ago, and he was cool and nice the first day i got him, outside of a little spraying, and ever since i fed him for the first time he is WICKED! he always bites at the glass and lundges when i put my hand in the tank to change his water bowl, once he is out of the tank he sprays all over. i want him as a pet, but i dont want something that gets that big, that mean. is there any way i can tame him down?

Welcome to owning a retic. The snapping at the glass and at your hand when you stick it in there is a feeding response. It sees somthing warm and thinks its food. No one sticks their hands in the cages without tapping the retic first. This is to let them know you are not food.

The spraying a totally differnt issue. It seems scared and uses that as a defense. I think that is worse then being bit at least for a baby. Let it eat, and settle down for a couple days. Take it out for a little bit at a time. Gentle handling is the key and you will be fine.
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
1.0 Amel Retic
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa

Do you think if i fed him in something other than the tank i keep him in be a good thing? or will he always think no matter what tank he's in, i'm going to feed him?

NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! What ever you do, dont feed a retic, burm, rock, conda, ect, outside of their enclosure. A few reasons, one is after its done eating the handleing to get it back into its enclosure could cause it to regurge. A second reason is that animals with heavy feeding responces (retics would be famous for this) can often stay in "feed mode" for several hours to even a day or two. What this means is that if they smell that food, and that switch is flipped, anything and everything that moves or is warm is, in their eyes, food (ie dead!) you do not want this when you have a 10, 12, 16, or bigger animal. Lastly if you take it out to feed it, then yes it will not associate you sticking your hand in with food, insted it will think that every time you take it out there will be food, and that switch will be flipped.

Feed the snake in its cage. Just hook train it and you will be fine. The way you do this is, every time you go in the cage to do something thats not feeding (clean, change water, check temps, take him/her out, ect) you will gently tap or rub the animal on the top of the nose. When my animals are young I rub them for a few seconds with the hook, until they get it, then after a few weeks I cut it down to just a single tap. What this does is get the aniaml to associate the hook tapping them as "no food buddy, so dont bite," another thing this does is, if you startle the snake or it is just having a real bad day, your hook will get tagged insted of your hand.

Now when you go to feed, most likely you will use tongs to feed the snake, do not let the snake see the tongs unless you are going to feed, and if you are feeding, dont let it see the hook. When you feed, open the cage and present the food item, do not tap it with anything first. Do this and you should be fine

Note: While its called hook training and typicaly a hook is used, you dont need to use a hook, The hook is only to allow distance between you and the snake for that fist touch. Anything thats long enough and wont hurt the snake is fine. I have a 30in hook and an 18in hook, but also use empty paper towel rolls, pop bottles, a hanger, and once I used my shoe.

hahaha! i used my shoe once!!

that was perfect advise!

and another thing- how much are you feeding the retic?

mine recently had an attitude change for the worst- and then ate and ate and ate... she was hungry...

theres a post a little bit down titles "IT EATS, and eats, and eats..."-- thats mine- and explains why she was so hungry and PISSY!!

mine urinates on me every time i pick her up- i think she thinks its potty time. i'll touch her with the hook and she'll start coming out and i'll pick her up and hold her over the toilet or tank and she'll pee and then we wipe her tail off (no drips please) and then we spend a few hours watching tv together... usually curls up in my lap actually...

anyway- check your food amount- i dont know how experienced you are so i'm not trying to offend you or anything- but mine only strikes when she's hungry...

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

Thanks to everyone with advice. I feed him once sometimes twice a week, and a good size rat too, so its not being underfed by no means. now when i got him, he was underweight, so ive been beefing him up a bit, and i had him out this evening and he's getting a little better. I've had over 10 years of experience with different boas and pythons, but this is my first retic. But thanks again All

awsome! definatly not underfed- thats about what mine is taking.

sounds like you're doing great then!

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

I'm not so optomistic for you. I think you just got a high strung individual, and with a snake that gets as big as tigers do, you might want to think about finding him a new home. Spraying you when you first held him should have been sign. I've held tons of baby tigers, and they are usually very docile. Nervousness and such a strong feeding response could spell trouble for you.

Thats a good point to. You can try to work with it while it is smaller, and if it does calm down great, but if things don't change its best to give it to someone is not looking for a pet or does not mind. It does take the fun out and you will probably lose interest faster, and just give up, so before the animal and youself suffers, it may be somthing to consider.

Where did you get it from. You do not have to say but maybe call the person and ask them if all their babies are like this. When you first hold them,its usually at a show when the animal is cold and does not have any care to fight, but then when you get them home and after a few hours, its a whole different story.

Just some more thoughts.
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
1.0 Amel Retic
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa

Nervousness and feeding responce are typical of retics. The nervousness goes away very quickly with handling. The feeding responce should always be there. If I ever got a retic without a good responce, I would think something was wrong.

I bought a young male het. blond lat April and he was the nastiest little bugger I have ever encountered. But after working with him (hook training) and always using hooks to clean his cage, he has calmed down considerably. It's been almost a year and he is near 7', while I still don't trust him completely, I can manage to get him out of the cage once he is "tapped" with a hook. It is not an overnight process and sometimes the snake just doesn't want to be messed with. But once you can learn the snakes methods you will begin to appreciate it more.

Ok, so back in December 2006 I purchased a supertiger female retic het albino from Bob Clark. I was soooooo nervous. I would only hold her with gloves that I purchased from Lowes. I use to shake i was so nervous holding her. I am 31 years old and when i was a teenager, I have only seen nasty retics, mostly because they were wild caught and the different morphs were in the workings back than probably very expensive. I remember when my retic snapped at me for crumpling a plastic bag. I had her for just over a year now and she is about 9 feet... I hook trained her pretty much from the beginning. I laugh at the fact that I bought gloves to hold a baby retic. LOL. Now I tapp her a few times with the hook, establish myself and go in and grab her. I take her out to some of the petstores and poeple love to hold her.

While retics are not meant for the novice snake owner, their ownership has so many rewards if done right!

Hi

Here is some info I posted on another site for some one that needed help with there retic. I hope this can help you out too.

When I first got Tigger ( my 12 foot Tiger Retic) he was not tame at all. It took me about 3 months to tame him.
Here is how I work with him.

For the first week I used the snake hook to touch him a few times and I would just put my hand on his body and the hook holding his head. I did this for about 2 or 3 minutes a day. I also put my shirt I was wearing in his cage at night so he would get use to my scent. I did the shirt trick for about 3 1/2 weeks.

The next 2 1/2 weeks I would use the hook by his head and pet him on his body. He would jerk his body and throw my hand off but I would put it right back on him. I did this for about 15 minutes a day.

Then after the 2 1/2 weeks I still did the same thing but I would also pet his head. I did this for about 5 to 7 days.

Then I started to take him out of the cage for about 10 to 15 minutes every day. I would let him go just about any ware he wanted to but I would not put him down. I did this for about a week. I still would pet him in his cage just about every day.

The next week I started to let him crawl around on the floor. But I had to use the snake hook to pick him up as he would strike at me.

After about 1 or 2 weeks he was fine with me then I started letting my kids pet him when I had him out in the house.

The first time I took him outside (this was about 6 to 7 months after I got him) he when right back to wanting to strike at me so I had to use the hook with him. After about 2 weeks he was fine outside with me and I even let my kids pet him too.

I still use the hook every time I open his cage to take him out. All I have to do is touch his head now and he knows it is not feeding time.

The only time I would not do anything with him was on feeding day and the day after. Tigger stays in feeding mode for about 1 to 2 days. Tigger has only bit me one time and it was just a little bump on my hand and it was to let me know he did not want to come out as he was deep in shed. The bite did not even bleed, just 2 or 3 little marks in my hand. Tigger has become one of my tamest snakes I own, and he is not head shy at all. I believe this is because when I first got him I would pet his head allot.

There are pictures of him on my website if you would like to see them. http://www.mccarthyboas.com/Tigger.html
If you have any question and want to talk to me just e-mail me your phone number and I will call you.

Take care
Tom McCarthy
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McCarthyBoas.com

I have a 4ft female that just the other day went from a very trusting retic to a madman after feeding! I was shocked when she started striking at me through the tub! Did I trip the feed switch and it got stuck there or should I be worried? I mean she went from kitten to tiger overnight. I have only had this python for a few weeks and was thinking maybe that im feeding her more then the previous owner that she is just hungry and wants to eat and eat and eat or if she just wants to be an irracsible retic. btw she's on med rats once a week. many thanks

Ian

There are so many things that could make your snake seem mean. My first guess would be that it feels insecure inside the aquarium. As hatchlings most are kept in racks at the breeders facility. The tubs are not perfectly transparent as glass is, which could be part of the reason. Your snake might feel threatened and feeling like it is in the open. Try covering up three of the four walls of the glass. Now I am not a fan of using hides, but in cases like this it might be worth giving a try.

Few hatchlings are handled often when they are at the breeder. There simply is not time when there are large numbers. Try making the interaction sessions short at first until it becomes used to you. Never restrain the snake from behind the head. This is a good way to tick off your snake. Support the snake with your hands and arms but let it feel like it is making all the choices not you.

If it is eating well, make sure it is getting enough food. There is a possibility that it is still hungry. I'd try offering more food to see if that helps.

Jim

thank you