Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just received a 3 week old baby morph retic in the mail the breeder said it had eaten 3 or 4 meals but I realy doubt it.. Useally I never receive snakes this young I useally get babies that are already established eaters and comfortable with atleast basic handling. This guy is none of either he ate a rat fuzz for me yesterday but it took some encouragment and patience.. Problem is he is extremely flighty and insecure.. My questions are What is the proper size cage for a snake of this size I don't want it to get stressed out in too big of a cage? Also just any tips advice on handling or taming would be GREAT. I have larger burms and retics just never had a hatchling this small.. Thanks so much in advanced!
Jbugg

JBugg, Ok here's how I handle a new baby. I just recieved a dwarf tiger female from Steve Gooch a few weeks ago. I started her off in a sweeter box for the first week. I let her get use to the new home, which I always let a new snake sit for a few days before I handle or feed it. After 3 days I handled her for a good hour. Then the following day I fed her a rat fuzzy for her first meal. The next week I put her in a 10 gal. aquarium. She gets handled frequently at night since my quarantine room is my closet. The third week which was last week I fed her 2 rat fuzzies. She is doing great. I have a small Midwest hook that I keep in my closet to train her with also. Out of all the retic's I've gotten from Steve in the past years I've only had 1 female that was a real pisser for the first few months. Now she's just fine after lots of work. Hope this helps
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Education is Everything.......

Why doubt the breeder? The retic could of been given smaller meals. They have such fast metabolisms that they almost always have folds on their sides as youngsters! I feed BIG meals and my little retic still has folds! You need to give the animal a chance, my retic will only take live at this point and has the WORST feeding response! LOL She eats when she wants to on HER schedual, not typical of a retic! Most breeders don't have time to sit there and handle a bunch of snakes so they are calm when people buy them. Retic babies are natually jumpy, they need to get used to the new world and the person handling them. I keep my baby animals in sweater box racks, this is more then enough room from them. IMO a 10gallon aquarium just isn't enough even for a baby and they will out grow it in just a few weeks/months. You can go larger as far as the cage size, just remember to put lots of cover/hides in there. The down side to a large cage and a small snake is feeding which could take awhile. I'm willing to bet if you give that snake 2-3 minutes of doing what ever it wants when you take it out of it's cage it will be just fine. At first it's like you just woke them up and they need to figure out exactly what's going on before they can calm down.
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John Light

Ya I have him in a 40 breeder with hides on both side and water bowl in the middle with a towel covering half his cage.. I'm not doubting the breeder at all to me it just seemed like the baby never had seen food before.. He is just very skidish and I was curious to hear others exsperiences. Ya I have a small hook I been useing ima go ahead and move him into a smaller cage I have a 20long set up in my closet that I'm going to put him in...hopefully he will calm down. Thanks and any more tips info is appreciated! Thanks Again!
Jbugg

John, yes the 10 gal is small but she is only going to be in there for 3 months, then I'll move her to my reptile room where she will get her own cage. She's maybe 2 ft. so to me the 10 gal is just fine for the few months she's going to be in their. Plus Steve Gooch is a friend of mine and I've never had a problem with any type of illness's out of the 9 snakes I purchased from him in the past 3yrs., but it's just my rule for new snakes.
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Education is Everything.......

No problems with quarenteen!!!
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John Light

You are " O " so right John. Can never be too cautios....
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Education is Everything.......

He is doing so much better in the 10gallon.. We attempted handling again and he was a little nervous but didn't strike the whole 30mins.. I think he was just too insecure in the bigger tank... Handling went so well later on that night I offered him a fuz rat off of tongs and he was a lil hesitant but took it after a minute or two of patience.. They were small fuzzies like 4 days old so I offered him a second and he took that one too! I'm so much happier thanks guys for talkin to me lol I was stressed! Purps the Purple Albino Tiger thanks you too!
Jbugg

Jbugg, glad to hear everything is working out.
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Education is Everything.......