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Do retics typically have a faster growth rate than other snakes like Burms? My baby is around 4 months old and is growing like a fraggin' weed, faster than any of my other snakes.
Thanks!
- April

I keep many retics (8 adult tigers alone) and many burmese. Both species grow very rapidly, but to date, in my personal experience, none of the python species grow as rapidly as the burmese. This being under conditions of "max feeding" any of the given species. Here are my results:

Young burmese can easily reach growth rates of 12 to 14 inches per month during the first several months or between 2 and 8 feet of length. I have even had 18 inch months with female burmese, but not consistently.

Retics tend to grow just a little more slowly than this and while I have had isolated months of up to 16 inches, the averages fall somewhere between 8 and 12 inches per month for the first several months of life or between 2 and 8 feet. I attribute this to the fact that retics don't digest as rapidly and thus don't eat as much.

While burms may grow more rapidly while young, they slow down abruptly at around 11 or 12 feet and then their growth creeps. Retics also slow in their growth, but not as dramatically and this is where retics will pass the burms. They will continue to grow rather rapidly until they reach 16 or 17 feet (females) and then they may slow noticeably. This is when they really begin to put on some girth/weight and they will begin to dwarf the burms.

As always there will be many exceptions to this. This has just been MY general experience with the animals as a whole. I have poorly growing burmese and rapidly growing retics and everything in between, so don't be surprised if your individual snake falls outside of this generalization of their growth. Every individual snake will have slightly differing results.

>>Do retics typically have a faster growth rate than other snakes like Burms? My baby is around 4 months old and is growing like a fraggin' weed, faster than any of my other snakes.
>>Thanks!
>>- April
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Believe in yourself and your abilities and you can accomplish anything.

I have had both retics and burms. Just on my experiences, the retic is hard to top. I believe they are capable of processing larger and more frequent meals than burms. They are a more active snake and don't tend to bulk up as fast as burms, however. I have a male tiger retic that I aquired from Mark Kennedy some time ago. He is a direct descendent of the original Karl Herman tiger. He is just over three years old and a legitimate 16ft . Not bad for a young male.