Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I recently am in the market for a super tiger or a dwarf retic. The show is coming to chicago so I am pumped and plan on bringing home somthing. My question is are snakes that are older babies like 03 that the breeders just give a mouse whenever to keep them going until they sell them, so they stay small and people will by them, does that stunt their growth, or effect how big they will get or how long they will live. I have talked to a breeder that does this and wonder if it is common as well.

Thank you
Jeff

It seems to be rather common practice-who would want their overhead to go through the roof and at the same time run out of room with rapidly growing retics?

As for the snakes, I got a female from a reputable breeder that was under 3 lbs and almost 10months of age-rather small for almost a yearling. Right now, she is around 25 months old and weighs 40lbs. That's approx 37lbs in 15 months-I think she's catching up! As for life span, I can't imagine it would change it at all. These snakes are built for a low food intake if it isn't available-shouldn't be a problem.

~Brian

There was an article published in a recent issue of REPTILES about a herpetologist in Australia studying water pythons. Over the years, he has noticed that young snakes that feed often as juveniles have faster growth rates and attain a greater adult size. Those that fed sparingly tended to grow more slowly and not get quite as big. Of course, this is with Australia water pythons, but the analogy probably holds true. I have a young female lavendar retic that went through a sick spell when she was a couple months old, and was off fed to close to a month. She became fairly emaciated and had all sorts of problems. That was back in December. She's now about a year old, and is 4.5', though she gets fed plenty. I believe this might suggest that retics, like water pythons, have a growth rate dependent upon how they are fed as young ones.
-Chance
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Chance Duncan
http://www.rivervalleysnakes.com

and she was about 5' when she arrived, and perfectly healthy. As soon as I started feeding her large rats, about three a week, she began to put on size VERY quickly, and is now onto rabbits and chickens. There is nothing wrong at all with growing your snake slowly. In the wild, they obviously don't eat as much as we tend to feed them in captivity. A breeder has no reason to feed the snake a lot if the intend on selling it. It is MUCH easier to ship a 5' retic than a 10-11' snake.

There should be no adverse effects on an animal that young. Many retics that were either held back or were slow to start eating easily make up for lost time by consuming large quantaties of food. On the proper feeding schedule they may even surpass their larger, better fed siblings.
However, if you want an animal that has a good head start it really comes down to knowing your breeder. Use someone who you trust and respect. If your new to retics find knowledgeable keepers and ask for their recomendations. A good breeders reputation will procede them and you wont get a poorly maintained, skinny animal. Good luck with your purchase.

Darrell Armstrong
reticulus@aol.com