• 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....

Retic Questions

TryntK

TryntK

New member
Joined
Sep 18, 2009
Messages
42
Reaction score
2
Points
0
Location
Saint Joseph, missouri
Alright, so I've retics for about 3 years now and I've always wanted to breed them; i am not looking to make money off of them, I just want them to be able to fulfill that side of their natural existence. (Not saying I am not going to sell the offspring, I am just not trying to get rich off of it.)

Anyways, I've been to reptile shows and it seems all I can get is generalities, if I am able to get any advice - It's like everyone is being magicians and guarding their secrets.

I understand that a cool down process is involved but all the books I have read just say, "cool them down and decrease day light intervals." That's all fine and dandy but I want specifics. My reptiles mean far too much to me to go off of generalities.

If some could, pretty please, walk me through how they approach breeding their retics.

Thanks in advance.
 
retics are breeding machines. they will breed generally anytime of year (assuming both parties are of proper age and health). most of the time, when the female is ready she will go off feed. i wait til she refuses 2 prey items in a row, i then throw a male in with her. one of two things will pretty much happen, she will be receptive or she will musk and tail flip like crazy. if that happens, remove the male asap. best way i can describe, is let as much natural light in your snakeroom as possible, as fall/winter approaches and the sunlight gets less hours and gets dark earlier, it triggers their natural want and need to breed. i personally do not believe a "cool down" is necessary, but if you do, not much of a temp drop is necessary
 
Before you start producing a bunch of retics you have to ask yourself a few questions. Can you sell all of them? If not are you prepared to house 20-50 full grown retics? Can you be sure the offspring get into the hands of responsible owners?

Breeding just for kicks is never really a good idea. If these are normal run of the mill retics, they dont sell very well. You would probably have to wholesale them.... So that means more retics getting sold in PET STORES... Im sure you know how demanding these snakes can be already. The market is flooded with retics nowadays.... I guarantee only a small percentage of them get into the hands of people like yourself that have the ability to take care of them properly....

I collected retics for years, and did some breeding as well... but I stopped working with them because I hated the thought of people getting in over their head with one of my snakes.... and wondering what kind of horrible conditions my offspring may be being kept in.... Retics are amazing snakes... but does the industry really need more of them??

Not being a jerk..... just saying think about those things before you produce.. and take it from me.... they never sell as fast as you think they will... especially nowadays when giant snake purchases are at an all time low...
 
Didn't think you were being a jerk at all and I believe it's a solid point.

Not saying this is the case for everyone but it seems that if you are a serious herper, you eventually breed your animals. I am not trying to fit in, by any means, but I always felt that breeding is a part of having them. Shrug

I don't know if anyone could properly house 20 - 50 adult retics; I mean, my biggest 15' female is in an eight foot Monster cage, thats a ton of space. I wouldn't expect to have the babies moved in a day, month, or even a few months. If I didn't sell them then I would, absolutely, provide and care for them.

Could I be sure the offspring were going to a good home? Absolutely not. That's with any sale: cars, houses, dogs, cats, horses - you have no idea what's going to happen to them but you hope that you are selecting and attracting the right kind of people.

I will take what you have said into consideration, without a doubt. Either way, breeding isn't something I planned on doing for a while.

To reticguy76,
So, it's more about photo periods? Sounds pretty natural - you do not have to manipulate anything?
 
no, you don't really have to manipulate anything. like he said, there breeding machines. I'd just make sure they have a dark spot in cage (if your housing them in a melamine style cage just drape a bed sheet over half of it) and if you want to drop the temps a few degrees, (about 7-10 degrees should be enough, just low enough to where the male is somewhat cool to the touch, from what I'm told)
 
Back
Top