Cant decide on next snake

Which snake should I get?

  • Female Platinum Retic

    Votes: 9 60.0%
  • Barneck Scrub Python

    Votes: 6 40.0%

  • Total voters
    15

Dyn

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Messages
364
I'm not exactly sure which of these two snakes I want to get. Going back and forth trying to decide which one I want more.

Its a hard decision

I have a normal male I can breed with the platinum when she gets old enough.

I really like barneck scrubs though.



Does anyone here have a platinum retic? I'm having trouble finding some pictures of large ones.
 

Dyn

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Messages
364
Me too but retics are probably my favorite snake.
 

Dyn

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Messages
364
Scrubs are a VERY close second

I have 2 retics but no scrubs.
 

Redneck

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 1, 2009
Messages
1,393
Just out of curiosity.. How do y'all house snakes that are going to get as huge as a retic? Even the scrubs.. What do y'all feed them?

I think I will be just fine with a snake that gets no larger than 9 feet.. Yeap.. {D
 

pouchedrat

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Messages
614
LOL I always wonder how people house them as well. I know they sell custom enclosures for retics, but honestly they must be curled up on top of themselves in those.

My ex-veterinarian in NY had an enormous burmese python he housed in a custom built enclosure that was like a walk-in closet right in the reception area. However, it was more tall than wide.

You can stick to 9 foot snakes, I'll stick to my 3 foot long and mini-sized snakes, lol.
 

Dyn

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Messages
364
I'm feeding my 11 foot retic small to medium rabbits at the moment.

I'm going to be getting some 6x3 cages for my retics soon. Cages for these snakes are really only alittle bigger than the standard 4x2 cages for boas. 2 feet longer and 1 foot wider. Now if I had a female get over 20 feet I would get her an 8x3 cage for alittle extra room.
 

Jaymz Bedell

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 19, 2009
Messages
186
I voted scrub python, but I'm heavily biased as scrubs are by far my favorite animals to work with. the only scrubs I've yet to work with are Halmahera's and Aussies. the rest are all quite amazing animals to interact with. Retics are great too, but I've always prefered scrubs.

housing wise, Scrubs are far easier than Retics. a Scrub and a Retic of the same length are far different animals mass wise. scrubs are not as heavy bodied as retics. scrubs are long, lithe animals, that spend quite a lot of time in the trees. I kept adults of the large species in 48 x 36 x 24 cages, with 48 x 18 shelves mounted about midway up the cage, and also with lots of branches about as thick as the snakes at their thickest point. hides on the warm end and cool end, one filled with moist sphagnum moss. didn't matter which one because most of the time they'd end up moving both hides to where ever they thought was best. smart snakes! for the mid sized species 48 x 24 x 24, again with a shelf and lots of branches, and hides. same deal with them, they liked to move their hides here and there too. Tanimbars are the smallest and were kept in 36 x 24 x 24 or 36, they're really very arboreal. they're the only species I kept in a natural type of vivarium past 1 year old. retics obviously require larger, but as with most boids they are not terribly active snakes. the last retic I worked with was housed in an 8 x 8 x 7 room. had large trees for climbing, but did so rarely. at 18 feet she was fairly stocky, and took 2 large rabbits every 2 weeks.

feeding wise my scrubs in the 10 to 13 foot range got large to jumbo rats, jumbo hamsters, and the occasional large chick. 8 to 10 feet got medium to large rats and the occasional chick, 4 to 8 feet got small to medium rats, and hatchling to 4 feet got either rat pups or adult mice. tanimbars usually started on small prehopper mice.

Retics had a similar feeding scale. but due to girth and other size differences got larger prey, ending in large rabbits. it's not that hard to find feeder goats and feeder pigs frozen for relatively little money, and these are not snakes that need to eat every week, one large meal can last a month or longer. large snakes are not hard to manage, but do require 2 people to safely work with, if not more. especially at feeding time. at the very least there should be someone within ear shot who can assist. safety first. these have been my personal experiences and others will vary.
 

pitbulllady

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
May 1, 2004
Messages
2,290
I guess it would depend on your finances. Platinum Retics are some pretty darn high-dollar snakes, while Bar-Necks can be purchased for under 200.00. I've only seen one handleable Scrub in my lifetime, but many handleable Retics, so personality-wise, I'd go with the Retic, but again, there's that money issue.

pitbulllady
 

Dessicaria

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 27, 2010
Messages
44
Just out of curiosity.. How do y'all house snakes that are going to get as huge as a retic?{D
Mine haven't grown *huge* huge yet (my biggest was about 13 feet), but it's my intention some day to have an entire room-sized enclosure for them - complete with tree trunks and a water basin with a drain in the floor. And some form of access to natural sunlight. Have got a few years to work on that yet. Meanwhile we're using melamine cages of various sizes.
 

Dyn

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Messages
364
that seems pretty sad a cage that small.
Large pythons dont really need a huge cage. What size cage would you think they need?


Well Platinums have come down in price. $650-$1000 depending on breeder/quality of the animal.
The barnecks I was looking at are CBB from VERY nice looking parents the guy is looking to get $400 for them.

I'm not worried about the price diffrence just not sure which one I want first really lol
 

Dyn

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Messages
364
I really think I'm going to go with the platinum retic I cant stop looking at them.

Scrubs will just be down the list for alittle longer.
 
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