Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Our Super Dwarf female gave us a very large clutch on March 17.2005 @ 7:00am! (We are posting the clutch number soon) We have invested a lot in this project and it is very elating to see such tangible progress! After candling, all look fertile and have very healthy vein networking. The sire of this litter is the Albino male that produced the very first Super Dwarf HETS by Chris Marshell and a different Super Dwarf female that is actually smaller than the original!

This is the Albino male purchased from Chris Marshell:

This is the Super Dwarf Female, in both pictures she is in the process of laying the clutch...toping out under 6 feet and straightened out and tip-to-tip:

A photo showing the size of the eggs...and weighting in @ 61 grams!

This should prove to be one exciting clutch to hatch out!

~Sean~

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Good luck with the dwarf burms and retics. I'd love to see them become more popular in the mainstream, especially since so many regular burms and retics are given up at alarming rates when they get big.

I'm sure I can speak for many other reptile rescues when I say dwarf versions of the larger snakes could greatly reduce the workload of rescues accross the nation!
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Jesse Rothacker
Forgotten Friend Reptile Sanctuary
Find out how YOU can get involved in reptile rescue...
www.forgottenfriend.org

That's an excellent point indeed Jesse. All too often have been the complaints of the serious minded herper who feels the industry is hurt by people who buy an impulse snake such as the Burm or Retic - only to have the novelty overcome by the sheer size these animals can attain in their regular form. Then try and dump them at their local pet shops, zoos or reptile rescue/sanctuaries, as you pointed out. Of course, the media in general loves the story about "the big monstrous" Burm or Retic that was found on someone's apartment kitchen floor!

Personally, I love the large snakes….although even when a buyer or hobbyist is qualified by experience and knowledge…housing can be the greatest issue for them. Hopefully, these tiny Retics will address the captive limitations of this species and allow many with space limitations and other size related concerns to enjoy keeping Retics and further their popularity and availability to the hobby.

~Sean~
www.ProReptiles.com

I agree with you Sean - big snakes are awesome.

It saddens me though to think how few of them (5, maybe 10 percent - if that) end up in good homes. Local pet store friends tell me about uninformed owners who insist on taking home baby burms and retics. Of course as a rescue operator I see the worst of it too.

With many things in life it seems like one bad apple spoils the whole barrel. But when it comes to average burm and retic owners, it seems like there are more bad apples in the barrel than good ones, which is really sad for the snakes, and the good owners. Like you said, even experienced owners are hard-pressed to provide proper setups for 20 ft pythons at maturity.

I sure wish there was a way to keep the bad owners from getting these amazing creatures before every state follows NY's lead and bans big reptiles all together. Hopefully these dwarf versions will make a big impact. Our rescue still gets as many Red Tail Boas in as we do Burms and Retics, but RTB's are much, much easier to place in good homes.

Anyway . . . KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK DWARF BREEDERS! WE REALLY NEED YOUR SMALLER SNAKES IN THE REPTILE TRADE!
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Jesse Rothacker
Forgotten Friend Reptile Sanctuary
Find out how YOU can get involved in reptile rescue...
www.forgottenfriend.org