• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Want a retic

RonzRoyalz

RonzRoyalz

New member
Joined
Dec 8, 2011
Messages
248
Reaction score
2
Points
0
Location
Canton, Ms, USA
Got a ? yall retic owners. I've balls (bp's), balls too, but I'm talking about snakes right now. Anyway, I've read some can be cage aggressive, others not. I'm retired, so I can handle 'em daily. Now the ?. Pull 'em out of living quarters (retired military jargan) and feed in another enclosure, so he won't relate to me just pulling him out to let him stretch his scales and shouldn't hit me. But an enlcosure is an enclosure, right? Pull him out to feed, then pull him out to put him back in living enclosure. How will he differentiate between the two?
 
IMO a snake isnt smart enough to differentiate between a seperate feeding and non feeding enclosures. I feed all my snakes (colubrids, pythons, boas) in there cages, some are cage aggressive, others are not. Not to mention all of them start pacing when they smell the rodents being defrosted, so it doesnt really matter if i try to feed them in seperate cages anyways because they are already smell food and are excited. So no i do not think a seperate feeding enclosure is practical.
 
I would not recommend feeding a large constictor in a separate container. They have a very strong feeding response and it can take them a while to get out of food mode.

I would recommend hook training, basically, anytime you want to enter the cage to do anything besides feed, touch the snake on the head with a hook. Eventually it will learn when it gets touched by the hook then it is not getting fed.

Just my opinion, I've never kept retics but keep large boas and have heard horror stories from people about getting wrapped by a retic and burm when trying to move the snake from their food tub back to the enclosure.

good luck!
 
Thanks for the quick replies yall! I didn't think it was necessary to feed in another enclosure. An enclosure is an enclosure to them. I know my balls get excited when they hear their rack mates getting to eat. I saw a before pic of a metal storage shelf unit in the process of being made into an enclosure. I'm gonna do it. $90.00 for the 4'w x2'd x6'h unit. Come up about 1-1/2' for the base, widen it from 4' to 8' and have the left or right side come up from the base to 4' tall, the other side will just be a 1-1/2 tall. There's plastic 4'x8' sheets at lowes or HD like lamanite flooring that I'll cover the inside with and silicone it and put a plexiglass front. I'll post pic's soon.
 
feed inside its permanent enclosure and hook train. they will be able to tell by a tap on the head whether you are coming in to clean or take out, or if you are feeding. tap on the head a couple times, when you do anything else than feed. when you feed, open door offer food, it takes it, close door. thats the extent of interaction on feeding day
 
RonzRoyalz said:
I know my balls get excited when they hear their rack mates getting to eat.
Click to expand...

it's got to be something else - smelling the food, seeing the movement or feeling the vibration of your steps - they certainly aren't hearing anything. Not trying to be a smart A**, just pointing out that sneaking up quietly isn't going to work! :D

I bow to the advice of not removing a very large snake to feed it, but on the general point of "an enclosure is an enclosure" I beg to differ - my small boas are always removed from their main tank to feed, and they certainly recognise the feeding tub, and behave very differently in there from the way they do in their "home tank"

.
 
@ Helen, duhhh, (hearing) I don't know how that spit out of my fingers as I typed and didn't catch it. Well congrat's to me!! I'll have my very 1st & only lav tiger retic next week!! I'll scetch out my idea above, scan it and post until I get the materials to build.
 
Here's a sketch of the retic enclosure made from a metal shelving unit from hardware store with wood sides, 1/8" recycled plastic sheeting
(like linoleum), and plexi glass front with locks. Metal shelving is rated @ 1000lbs per shelf.
 

Attachments

  • BP's 070.jpg
    BP's 070.jpg
    109.4 KB · Views: 144
Last edited:
A little nervous, but with this nice size cage I'll have for 'em and me being retired I can give 'me ALOT of attention. I'm gonna breed rabbits for him and my dog. Yup, my dog LOVES chasing and eating rabbits. I've seen her crunch on one without busting it open and then swallow it like our snakes. And while riding horses on the trails, I've seen her run towards some cows and then stand up on her hind legs and HOP towards them like a roo. No up down up down hopping, but body straight up and hopping towards them. She's wild. Anyway, I get my boy next week.
 
41qt tub system (with heat) should hopefully get you a year or so. maybe less, maybe more depending on genetics and feeding schedule/type of prey/size
 
new baby lav tiger

Got my baby lav tiger retic in today!! When I opend the bag he tried to get acquainted really quick! Not shy like the BP's. And as I was holding him, not moving much in front of him and showing him to the fed-ex guy, he tried mulit times to assert himself as dominate over me. He's sooo silly.
 

Attachments

  • 2012_Tiger_Lav_Retic_Male_001.jpg
    2012_Tiger_Lav_Retic_Male_001.jpg
    116.4 KB · Views: 99
Since this gonna be the only retic I'm gonna own, I'm gonna make videos once a month of him. I'll call it (growning up retic) I know I don't need a huge enclosure yet, but I'm excited about how I'm gonna build it. I do have a ? I've heard that they can bust through plexi and glass and someone said to use pnumatic stapes and hardmare cloth? Maybe it was a joke? What if I make the windows out of smaller thick glass, like windshield glass?
 
Well, he ate a live mouse on the 24th and a 2nd on the 26th. I pulled him out yesterday to let him move around on me and get my scent. All he did was sit in my hand staring at my head. I moved my head and he followed. Sooo much the opposite of bp's. He struck at me but was still a good foot from my face and I wasn't moving. Then he warned me I guess by showing me his teeth. He's soo funny! Like I'm scared of him, right now..
 
Thanks Ryan, will do that next week. I've been using a pen to tap him on his head and then pick him up, so he'll associate the 2 together. And not touch him when I'm gonna feed him. Sound good? Ron
 
Well folks, tried to tong him a f/t wr, but he did a diversion attack on me. He hit the food and as my eye's were on the rat getting bite, he zig zaged and got out of the tub and up all the other racks which is about 6-7' high. The lights were off and I had a flashlight to look for him. It was like the anaconda movie where the snakes slithered up the trees in superman speeds. I'd see him and poof, he's gone. I finally cornered him and grabbed him with my tongs to pull him towards me. Then I grabbed him and he got acquainted with my flesh and wrapped around. When he got borned and let go, I uncurled him and put him in his tub without food for the night. I showewd him! Huh?
 
Back
Top