The title is pretty exact, I'm looking into a reticulated and am wondering what I'm gonna be getting into with an adult retic on the average food cost

If superdwarf on islands eat seasonally and mainly on birds migrating to islands, has anyone thought about feeding on more of a seasonal schedule and more small poultry items and less rats and things like that to support their natural diets?

Is it possible for a baby retic about 6 months old to eat meat products from a grocery store? Like chicken heads? Just curious tbh

We’ve had our newest addition for 4 months, got her at a reptile show in KC over the summer. She’s eaten twice since we’ve had her. She shows no interest in food. Anyone have any ideas?

Update: she finally ate last night!! Not sure what changed but i appreciate everyone’s input and advice!

Is there any agreed upon shopping list for setting up an enclosure? Over on the ball python subreddit they've got a nice one. I'm sure there is a lot of similarities. But I'm setting up a 2x2x3 enclosure and want to make sure things I get can easily be used when I upgrade to something bigger in the future.

How do yall go about finding local feeder breeders? Im struggling to find a supply in Utah. Especially for rabbits eventually. I DO order online atp, but id love to just get a bulk order local.

I know there are some laws regarding them but I wanted to know the measures you have to go through to be able to keep a retic

I bought a male retic back on June 29th from a breeder a few hours from where I live, and he was 5 months old about 30 inches. He is 8 months old now...i started off with feeding 2-3 rat pups once a week and he has just been growing rapidly .easily at least 5-5 1/2 feet now and still slim but definitely getting girth. he took 3 small rats this last feeding and was wanting more. Is this normal?

When I review things online it looks like 6 feet at 2 years would be normal for a male. I have many different snake species but this is my first reticulated python.

I am completely okay if I end up with a monster on my hands and I will have no fear of it. I just don't believe in feeding less to get a small size or feeding more to pump up either. If I am doing this all wrong I would love to course correct or if someone thinks I may actually have a female on my hands.

Pic is from day I got him.

Title. The way I understand selective breeding, this would mean that they are only breeding the smallest members of a clutch, then repeating that for as many generations as you can.

This seems at odds with the economics/logistics of breeding, where just having a SD% seems to be the only thing that people pay attention to, the buyer and the breeder both have no idea how big the parents will actually get because they’re only a couple years old, outcrossing into mainland morphs, etc.

If the answer is no, no one is actively trying to shrink their SD lines in any way other than increasing the locality %, does that mean that eventually the absence of whatever selection pressures were keeping the snakes small in the wild will lead to SD% not actually affecting the size of the animals?

If the answer is yes, there is someone out there selecting for size, where can I find them?

Hey guys, what's this morph for this retic with Jay?

My retic hasn’t had a shed that’s in one piece yet, I’ve been misting the enclosure daily but it just keeps coming off in pieces, I’m not sure if it’s the substrate that’s not retaining moisture or if I’m not misting enough. Any advice on what I can do/change? He is also a younger snake.

I plan to get a super dwarf retic at an expo. I don’t want any crazy morph but I just want to know how much I should expect to pay for it. Any feedback is appreciated