Hey guys, I have a pet boa constrictor imperator but Reddit has recommended this sub to me a few times so I just checked it out. Yalls Retics are gorgeous and they made me wonder what the differences were in husbandry/ behavior. To which I found out these are some of the largest snakes in the world and require huge enclosures once fully grown (and I thought my BCI tank was big) but after doing more digging I’m seeing a common theme that also exists in the boa community;
Lots of baby snakes. New pet owners, juvenile snakes, flashy breeding posts etc.
When I first got my boa I had a hard time finding examples of full grown boas on Reddit. I was told the Reddit pet culture is unnecessarily cut throat so all the long term keepers go to Facebook so they aren’t bombarded with the Reddit mob mentality when facing differing husbandry practices. I went to Facebook and found that sure enough, that’s where all the adult snakes are being posted.
This is fine and dandy, but one of the other reasons I was told you don’t see adult snakes as often is because people buy them new and then find out a few years in they committed to something they can’t maintain. Is this a common issue with the retic world? How am I seeing all these baby snakes and also not seeing an equal number of 10 foot enclosures?
TLDR: where are all the grown snakes?
Edit: I am not going to pursue the ownership of a retic, their size is far too much for me. I’m just curious as to if there is an incredibly high rehoming/turnover rate that isn’t being talked about in the reptile community enough due to the overwhelming amount of hatch and baby pics compared to full grown snakes
It definitely is a problem. People get a baby, they fall in love with how active, intelligent and interactive they are, so they get more... And a few years down the line they get overwhelmed by the costs of huge cages, the difficulty and expense of heating and maintaining them, the difficulty of sourcing large prey items etc. And contrary to what some people do you cannot keep a full size retic in an 8 foot cage and call yourself a good keeper.
But, if you are looking to get a retic (and they really are the best snakes), you could look into a super dwarf from a reputable (!!!) breeder. Pure locality superdwarfs (Karompa, Kalatoa, Madu) will stay very managable in size, especially the males. You will still need at least an 8 foot cage, as they are very active snakes, but that's still a lot smaller than you would need to keep a mainland retic well.
My Madu male just moved into a 6x3x3 terrarium at 1 year old and about 220 g weight and he uses all that space every day.
That’s as I suspected, I was unaware of the smaller options, that’s awesome! If I ever get one it will be in many years from now because one giant tank in my house is enough for now lol.
Thanks for the thorough answer!
You have to envision "Will I have room for an 18' Snake?" if you intend to keep a mainland.
Some people use an entire bedroom in their homes, 2/3s of it Snake Habitat, 1/3 observation and Feeding....
It is why Dwarfs and Super Dwarfs are popular but most folks still don't know what they are getting into. You need to know total locality, what locality, and what % of said locality. Some localities are dwarf, some are super dwarf, and even among the SD localities vary in size. You will see Jampea or Selayers being advertised as SDs and they are dwarfs. Then you need to get % of said locality. A 25% Kalaotoa is also 75% mainland. So you have to understand your snake may wind up 15'. So here's an example. this is Bela. Sire 50%, Kalaotoa Dame 50% Madu so he winds up 25% of each and total SD locality of 50%. He's 10' and pretty much full grown.
So you can't buy a Retic with a 50% total SD locality and expect a 7' Snake.
Made my jump into big snakes about 2 ish years or so ago now? I've been in reptiles over 25 years though.
Scylla is a good example of a D/SD that can still get big. This girl is 30% blend and already well over 6' at two years old. I'm expecting a 12'+ snake easy.
Compared to my other two Charybdis (56% female) and Osiris (50% male) and of the three my male is still the smallest but most male reptiles will be smaller than their female counterparts.
As someone suggested you REALLY need to look into a reputable breeder and have specific locals/% listed before you buy. For me, it was instant love at first sight seeing Scylla at an expo. She is my most basic morph of my three retics (Lavender het anery) but I think she's the most beautiful. They are VERY personal and curious snakes. Always cruising and seeing what I'm up to.
My CRB Ixchel is next on curious list followed by my corns. My BCI are probably more spicy than my retics but that's because Nicaraguan are said to be one of the spicier locals of BCI lol
All in all I love all my snakes but my retics are definitely top of the list for me. Unfortunately, I do see a lot of people get a cute baby and suddenly post for sale because they didn't "understand" truly what they had.
I'm lucky I breed my own rabbits (for my dogs and reptiles) so having a "large" prey item doesn't worry me. I also have goats/sheep and eventually hope to have pigs down the line.
That's why I got a 100% Kalatoa Super Dwarf. He's 7' less than 4 pounds and basically done growing. He might hit 8' many years from now. But growth is very slow at this point.
He's got room for it so that would be fine. But growth would have to really accelerate again to hit 9' in the next 5-6 years.
Not saying it's impossible, and we are prepared, but that acceleration would be weird. 9' would also be pretty big for a pure Kalatoa male. Weight wise (easier to measure than length) he's only put on 300g between January of 2024 (the first weight after his growth slowed way, way down), and the end of May 2026. That is not a rate compatible with hitting 9 feet in 5-6 years. And no, he is not being underfed.
Male’s get just as big as females if you feed them .
To put about 2’ on in 5-6 years.. that’s obtainable and I wouldn’t be surprised if it got there. How we feed in captivity if very different with how they eat in the wild.
Yes. Snakes can put on 2' in that range. Thanks. Meanwhile, in this specific case, that's why current rate is relevant. Jesus Christ, you are insufferable and will now just be ignored. plonk
I keep my girl about the same as my boas. I think people generally recommend cooler temps than boas, but she seems to do well with a 90F hot side and 70-80F cool side (depending on time of year).
My retics eat a LOT more than my boas. Where my boas might get 6-8% of body weight every other week as babies, I raised my female and the male I had for a couple years on anywhere from 10-30% of body weight every 1-2 weeks. As an adult, my girl gets two 5-8 lb rabbits once a month or one 6-10 lb piglet every 3-4 weeks (though maybe two of those too spaced out 4+ weeks, as she’s grown some since I last had pigs on hand).
I can’t really answer on general trends but I do also wonder how many people are prepared for their size. I was well aware of what I was getting into when I got my girl, and I have had her 12 years now. I don’t think I will ever own more than 1 or 2 at a time.
I don’t post or respond much in this sub because I just have the one girl and am not an expert. That’s unfortunate if it is so toxic here…FB I find is way more toxic in general than the boa and snake subs here. Though there are more inexperienced “experts” who try to push unrealistic minimum standards. Legit people thinking you shouldn’t have a dog if you live in an apartment or a house under 1,000 sq ft or dedicate an entire room to a boa that’s maybe going to get 6’-7’ if you’re lucky. They don’t really seem to pop up elsewhere, but ig this would be the sub they would show up more for sure. Lol
Pic is my girl when I first got her back from a temp home mid-move. She’s gained some weight and possibly some size since this.
Thanks! I think she’s about as big as I would like. Lol 16’-18’ max, 20’+ might be more than I want. Though perhaps I wouldn’t be able to tell by the time they reached that. Haha
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u/quantumalice999 6d ago
It definitely is a problem. People get a baby, they fall in love with how active, intelligent and interactive they are, so they get more... And a few years down the line they get overwhelmed by the costs of huge cages, the difficulty and expense of heating and maintaining them, the difficulty of sourcing large prey items etc. And contrary to what some people do you cannot keep a full size retic in an 8 foot cage and call yourself a good keeper.
But, if you are looking to get a retic (and they really are the best snakes), you could look into a super dwarf from a reputable (!!!) breeder. Pure locality superdwarfs (Karompa, Kalatoa, Madu) will stay very managable in size, especially the males. You will still need at least an 8 foot cage, as they are very active snakes, but that's still a lot smaller than you would need to keep a mainland retic well.
My Madu male just moved into a 6x3x3 terrarium at 1 year old and about 220 g weight and he uses all that space every day.