Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, so i have an '07 male Jampea dwarf retic. He's about 5 feet long. He is still eating but he is so restless. He won't stop moving around. I keeps kind of wiggling his tail, too. I haven't seen any sperm plugs or anything.

Poor guy, I have no one for him either. All I have is a female blood and ball. No retics. I just hope he doesn't give himself a bad nose rub.

same boat with a kayaudi male I've got. I'm hunting for a female for him and *think* I know what I'll get next month (my snake allowance for this month is spent).

This guy is going to have to tough it out. I am trying to slim down on my animals.

Does anyone know if there is anything I can do for him? Besides get him a female? I wouldn't want him to get a bad nose rub. I also don't even have money for another dwarf female retic.

I am curious as to the temp and photoperiod conditions that this male is being exposed to. Outside influences can have a great affect on the seasonality changes to which captive boids may be responding. If shorter North American winter photoperiods and/or cooler outside temps are affecting the room environment, reproductive cycling can occur in captive boids even if not planned. For tropical boids for which there are no short-term breeding plans, it is best to maintain fairly consistent environmental conditions throughout the year. This being a longer daylength cycle and slightly higher temps year around. An example would be a summer tropical temp regimen with only slight drops at night along with at least 14 hour daylengths all year. This also means that you need to over-ride any outside influences during the winter months with good interior lighting and temperature control.

This of course is if the cause of the activity that you are seeing is reproductively oriented. This is still a fairly young python and there could be other causes of this increased activity, but these are usually environmentally based as well. If so, try to think of any changes that may have occurred recently that could have initiated this activity. Good luck.

Kelly

I haven't really changed anything much at all. Same photo periods and temps.

That's the best I can see, however, make sure you are not getting a significant overnight temp drop, and that you have a good hide and proper humidity.

Kelly

The really weird thing is how he keeps wiggling his tail. It almost looks like he is trying to use a cordal lure, which, retics don't have. He'll do it while he is apparently sleeping or no activity otherwise. I am confused, because I thought that Chondros were the only boids to have the lure.

Caudal luring has also been seen with the young of Boa constrictor, Acrantophis, and Tropidophis. I would imagine that it is not as uncommon as suspected, and it probably occurs with a few other boid taxa as well.

Kelly