Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Soo, we own several BCI's and ball pythons, and my husband decided he wants a retic. Which is perfectly fine, but was just curious as to what I was gettin myself into as far as temperment and handling. because his intentions are to make him a pet.. Can anyone inlighten me?

It is what you make it. If you handle it and work with them, they are great. Just as any baby they can strike quick. Retics do have a strong feeding response, that when you see it can be taken as a sign of aggression or being mean. Like when you walk by the cage and you see a mouth full of theeth flying at you and it shakes the whole cage. That only happens in the starting months when they start eating again. I really enjoy mine. They are very active and move a lot especially outside the cage. I would prefer my retics over my Boa's anyday as far as temperment and so on. They do get large and heavy but overall a great snake. I am sure if I missed anything the people in here will advise. I would go with a Tiger or Super Tiger if you go with one and invest in a snake stick if you do not have one.
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger (Dash)
1.0 Amel Retic (Mahola)RIP Buddy.
0.1 Ball Python (Cyeanne)
0.1 Red Tail (Memphis)
1.0 Coral Sun Glow Boa (Rodman)
0.1 Blood Python (Danica)
1.0 Green Ananconda (Prefontain)
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa (Bing Bong)
1.0 Ivory Ball Python (Hansel)
0.1 Bumble Bee Ball Python (Sissy)
0.0.2 Yellow Ackies (Ludmilla and Ivan Drago)

I got my first retic in October. I had kept a BCI and some bloods, as well as balls in the past and the retic by far is the best one. I would agree with the other comments as far as it is what you make of it. Just make sure you inquire about the parents and make sure you do some research. I got mine and couldn't be happier as he has never shown any signs of aggression. Definitely get a hook or something similar. This will help turning off the feeding response as well as being able to read the snake's mood. If he pushes or huffs, you will know it is not a good time to get them out to play

Awesome, thanks for all the advise, the retic i have picked out is a '09 male (wildtype) that is produced by prehistoric pets. my husband usually is my consultant for our purchaces but this is a suprise for him, so i hope im not being miss guided!

You guys will love it.
Of all the BIG snakes... retics are the most intelligent.
You can learn their behavior which actually makes reading their attitude easier than with a lot of other constrictors.
I think they are the most rewarding snakes to own and are a lot of fun.

Retics have personality and a sixth sense.
They know who has walked into their room even before they can see you.
They communicate like a dog barks by their interaction with the front of the cage. They know who is family, but the feeding response screens bite and wrap first ask questions later whenever they see movement.

If they are pets you should only have one or a few as they do require time to handle and keep fed and cleaned. Their metabolism is faster than a lot of other boids overall.

Larger animals- adult females and larger breeder males require a keeper who is strong attentive agile and willing who has resources to heat feed house and care for a large athletic and potentially aggressive giant constrictor. Every time you unlock an adult cage you need to consider (my family knows my "all hands on deck" a request for a spotter in case of an adverse feeding response even if just filling or pulling a water bowel.

Hot water bottle or listerine bottle or both ready to pour on an arm and snakes biting head as a feeding response deterrent is always immediately at hand as is a set of snake hooks to adjust the initial interaction though never needed to use god willing so far for a big tic.

Winslow

The interaction however is almost always very gratifying in a

Very rewarding if you have the resources and stamina.

I have kept many taxa of boid over the last 40 years and retics are definitely one of my f

Thank you SO much, all that information is super helpful. the most helpful i've received so far! but what would be your suggestion as to slow raising, i want to prolong him reahing an ungodly length, but i want to do it with a well balanced diet to keep him healthy and the weight be appropriate to the length.

I like the tiger retic morph the best and in my opinion it seems to be the tamest retic morph. Now there are other breeders / owner out there that know more than me about them but here is some info I think should help you out. Just do some research and get the retic you like best not just any retic just to have one. This way you will be happier with it and more than likely care for it better. Below I have added lots of pictures of my two retics I own.

One of the most important things we can do for our reptiles and ourselves is to educate ourselves on their care and proper handling of any reptile. Big constrictors are very powerful snakes. I guarantee they are stronger than most people think. I trust all my big snakes, even around my kids. But my kids and I also respect them even more than we trust them. I always thought that I would be able to pull a snake off of me if it ever tried to constrict me. After handling a couple of my large constrictors, who are only holding on to me to feel safe, I'm convinced I would never be able to pull one of them off of me, if it's intent was to kill. Animal planet reported a test that determined an 18-foot-long snake applies pressure equal to about 12 pounds per square inch. That doesn't sound like a allot per inch, but if you figure your arm is about 12 inches in circumference, and a snake that is 6 inches wide wraps around your arm once, that's 864 lbs of pressure on your arm with one coil. Assuming most snakes coil at least 3-4 times, do you think you could get enough people in the same room to pull it off of you? I don't have that many friends and my wife would rather collect the insurance money. LOL

I believe in the 8 foot rule rather than a 6 foot rule for new snake owners. That is you should have two or more people around when handling a snake over 8 feet long. I do handle my 15 foot retic by myself sometimes but I have had boas and pythons for over 34 years now and I feel I can read / sense there mood and I know when to leave them alone. I don't know how I know but I have always been able to tell how my snakes feel. The 12 to 15 time I have been bitten in the last 34 years I knew every time I was going to get bit before it even happened.

All snake have a very good scene of smell and they learn what is a food source and what is not. They do know human scent is not a food source and I believe my snakes think the same about my dogs after sometime. When I first got Tigger my retic she would follow my dogs around the room when they went near her cage as if she wanted to eat them but after about 6 to 8 months she did not do this any more. She does not even give them a second look any more. There dog hair is all over the house and me sometimes. So I believe all snake big or small do get use to having cretin scents around and consider them safe and not a threat or a food source. I have also noticed my boas and pythons seem more calm around me then when someone else is holding them. I also believe they can tell the difference between humans by are scent. They are smarter than most people think.

Here is some info to help with taming a mean retic.

When I first got Tigger in 9 / 2005 she was not tame at all. It took me about 3 months to tame her. Here is how I worked with her to tame her down.

For the first week I used the snake hook to touch her a few times and I would just put my hand on her body and the hook holding her head. I did this for about 2 or 3 minutes a day. I also put my shirt I was wearing in her cage at night so she would get use to my scent. I did the shirt trick for about 3 1/2 weeks.

The next 2 1/2 weeks I would use the hook by her head and pet her on her body. She would jerk her body and throw my hand off but I would put it right back on her. I did this for about 15 minutes a day.

Then after the 2 1/2 weeks I still did the same thing but I would also pet her head. I did this for about 5 to 7 days.

Then I started to take her out of the cage for about 10 to 15 minutes every day. I would let her go just about any ware she wanted to but I would not put her down. I did this for about a week. I still would pet her in her cage just about every day.

The next week I started to let her crawl around on the floor. But I had to use the snake hook to pick her up as she would strike at me.

After about 1 or 2 weeks she was fine with me then I started letting my kids pet her when I had her out in the house.

The first time I took her outside (this was about 6 to 7 months after I got her) she when right back to wanting to strike at me so I had to use the hook with her.
After about 2 weeks she was fine outside with me and I even let my kids pet her too.

I still use the hook every time I open her cage to take her out. All I have to do is touch her head now and she knows it is not feeding time.

The only time I would not do anything with her was on feeding day and the day after. Tigger use to stays in feeding mode for about 1 to 2 days back then now only a few hours after she eaten.

Tigger has only bitten me one time in 2006 and it was just a little bump on my hand and it was to let me know she did not want to come out as she was deep in shed. The bite did not even bleed, just 2 or 3 little marks in my hand. When she is deep in shed I will not take her out of her cage but I can open it up and pet her. Tigger has become one of my tamest snakes I own, and she is not head shy at all. I believe this is because when I first got her I would pet her head allot. I don't even have to use a snake hook any more when I open her cage. She does have bad shed allot so after she starts to shed I put her in my bath tub and help pull all the old skin off of her. I think she does this on propose as it seems like she like it.

I always mess with Tigger's head at home when I have her out so she is use to people touching her head. I can even slap her on her side or even hold her head and give it a good shake and she don't care any more. I have done this for years with her. I even let my kids at home play with Tigger allot to help her get use to children. When ever a snake person is over at my home they can't believe how tame she is and the stuff she will put up with. After owning snakes for 34 years I feel I can read most snakes attitude pretty good at least the ones I own.

Tigger is probably the tamest snake I own now and I don't even need to use a hook on her any more to get her out of her cage. She is now 15 feet long and 90 to 100 lbs.

This is Tigger when I first go her in 2005.

2006

2008

2009

2010

This is my albino purple phase retic.

Hope this info had helped you out and I hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures.

Take care
Tom McCarthy
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McCarthyBoas.com

WOW thanks a bunch! this makes me even more excited to get ours! yours are beautiful! and thanks for all the detailed handling tips! hopefully we will be able to have ours as tame as Tigger..
i'll try and remember to post some pics of him! what is your preference on slow raising, and how to feed him and keep a healthy balance on weight to length ratio, so he wont get 'breedable' male size just a pet size.

Your retic will grow to what ever size his genetics will let him you can not stop it. You may be able to slow it down but a hunger retic is a mean one so don't under feed him. When Tigger was smaller I feed her one to two large rats every 10 to 14 day. Then when she was big enough to eat rabbits I would feed her one 2 to 3 lb rabbit every 2 to 3 weeks. Now she eats one 5 to 8 lb rabbit every 3 to 4 weeks.

take care
Tom
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McCarthyBoas.com

well, figured i'd let you know we picked up a nice male '10 lavender albino retic today! hopefully we didnt bite off more than we can chew! i think we will be alright tho!

dont know forsure how to upload pics on here but when i figure it out i will put him on here

here we go

Congratulations he looks very nice. Glad to see you got what you wanted. With proper feeding and care he should grow up to be a tame and healthy retic for you.

Take care
Tom
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McCarthyBoas.com