Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm purchasing a couple of normal retics today... I was wondering if an 8' long x 30" wide x 2' high would be big enough to house 2 of them close to adult age, I will actually have two of these cages... But I'm just asking if you could house two retics in a cage that size to maybe adult age?

No way. That would be less than minimal for one young adult, and would end up being way too small for a big retic, and they do get big. Two of them in a cage that size is just not going to work. It will work for one until it gets over 12ft or so, then your only option would most likely be to construct your own cage of much larger proportions if you plan on keeping them for the long haul. Hope this helps.

MrClean

That unless you have about a 12 foot cage you just shouldnt get a retic? Unless you plan on getting a dwarf most retics are going to push that 12 ft marker. I just ordered a bunch of 6x3x2 cages and wanted to house a retic or 2 in those, and also my burms will be going in there. Each having there own cage of course, but is that a bad idea buying retics for those cages????

Dwarfs Under 12ft
Kayaudi's
SuperDwarfs

Smaller Locals
Selayer are known to stay under 12ft
Bali Yellow Heads are known to stay under 12ft-although I know of a 16ft pair and heard of 20fters.

6X3X2 will house 1 retic, houseing reps together isn't a good idea! Anyways I'm out

John

That unless you have about a 12 foot cage you just shouldnt get a retic? Unless you plan on getting a dwarf most retics are going to push that 12 ft marker. I just ordered a bunch of 6x3x2 cages and wanted to house a retic or 2 in those, and also my burms will be going in there. Each having there own cage of course, but is that a bad idea buying retics for those cages????

I am one of the people that most disagree with on this matter. I do agree that you should give your snkae as much room as possible but I do not think that a burm or a retic needs a house to live in. I have noticed in 16 years that once they are in their cages most snakes do not do a whole lot of exploring and most sit coiled up on the side of their cage. I think that a vision 632 will work for all except the extremely large specimens. If possible sure give them larger cages but is it a necassity. No not in my opinion.
As far as housing two snakes together. Absolutley not, regardelss of the size of the enclosure. I have written about this so many times. First it allows the transmission of disease from one snake to the other much easier then if they are seperated. secondly if they are both males when they reach maturity they will probably fight. even females might occassionaly fight with each other once they get mature. Male and female might result in unwanted or unplanned offspring. Feeding becomes the biggest problem when housing multiple snakes together. You can not safely feed them in their enclosure so you must resort to feeding outside of the enclosure. I have gone over this so many times but what the hell I will do it again. When you feed the snakes outside of the enclosure you are playing russian roulette. You might do it for years without any incidences but eventually something bad is going to happen. Snakes stay in feeding mode even after they have consumed a prey item. When you introduce yourself to the animal to relocate it back into its enclosure then you can easily become mistaken for another prey item. Even if you successfully feed and relocate both animals back into their enclosure their is still a bad situation that can arise. I used to houses multiple snakes together and on two seperate occasions I have had one snake smell the rat on the other snake and bite and constrict the other. This happened with two burms that were about 7' long and it was an extremely harrowing experience trying to seperate them. Imagine what would happen if this situation occured with two 15' retics. Not a situation I would want to get into. It is crucial to house snakes seperately and to feed all large constrictors within their cage. Sorry about the length of this post but I thought if I was thorough in my explanation then maybe it would be more convincing. Todd

I agree with Todd for the most part, but a 632 Vision is just not large enough to comfortably house an adult female retic. I would say your cage dimensions should do nicely. That extra couple feet of length just gives them some more room. A full grown female could take up the entire floorspace of a 632 Vision. 18 square feet of floorspace for an animal that gets well over 20 feet is just not enough in my opinion.

yes I agree with you that a 20'er would not do well but you have to acknowledge the fact that a 20'er is equivelent to a 7' human. They do occur but they are not the norm. If you wind up with a monster than definitely a 632 will not suffice but I think it will work adequately for a 16'er or smaller. Todd

I do agree that, once in a cage, they aren't extremely mobile. But, if given more room, that can sometimes change. I have a male tiger retic that I started out in a 6x3x2 when he was about 7ft long. He was pretty active in the cage for a while until he began to really grow. As he topped the 12ft mark, he became very inactive and usually remained coiled in one spot as if he knew there was no use in trying to stretch out or roam around. When out of the cage, although never aggressive, he was a little hard to controle. I constructed a cage that is nearly 12ft long, 3ft wide, and 2ft high. He is now about 16ft and just over 3 years old(I realize that's a little bigger than the average male), and takes full advantage of the extra space. He has more room to stretch and is more active in the cage, and less trouble to handle out of the cage. This is just from my experiences and I am not trying to correct anyone. He just seems to be a happier animal in his bigger home. And I personally believe that the comfort of the animal should always be a top priority. Just keep in mind as to whether or not you plan on keeping the snakes until they reach such large a size before investing in larger caging.

MrClean

having kept burms, retics, 'condas for a long, long time, I will share a few of my observations. First, keep one large snake to its own cage. There are MANY reasons but keeper and animal safety are the primary reason to keep just one snake per cage. In terms of cage size, that is a matter of personal opinion. Yes, a large constrictor can do just fine in a 6' x 3' but is that snake being kept in optimal conditions? Does it have opportunities to explore, thermoregulate, etc? Probably not. Our adult burms and retics are never kept in anything smaller than a 8' x 4' cage (although we will use our neodeshas that measure 6' x 3' in a pinch when confiscations come in) and our exhibit burm is kept in a cage that measures 12' x 4' x 4'. Retics are much more active than burms and as such, should have opportunities to crawl around. While some folks allow their retics time out of the cage, others spend most of their time inside the cages; and that is when troubles will arise. Large snakes kept in small cages are prone to a variety of health related issues. And while you certainly don't necessarily need a room sized exhibit (although not a bad thing by any means), anyone keeping a large burm or retic needs to understand that these snakes need ample room to thermoregulate, move around, drink, etc. Rob

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
City of Lake Forest Parks & Recreation (IL)