'Tic Talk!

[stephanbakir]

After a while if she is still like this you might want to pass her to a breeder friend who is willing to deal with an angry snake. I'd do it if I was ready/closer.

[Will0W783]

That's definitely a possibility. I have always wanted a purple albino, but I dont' want to fight with my fiance over her all the time either. Time will tell if she cools off or not. As she settles and recovers from the RI, she'll either get nicer or she'll have more energy to be angrier, lol.

[Jenn_06]

She might be 7 years old and under fed, feeding has a lot to do with the growth rate of a snake.

[stephanbakir]

Thats REALLY underfed if its that... My shortest female mainland was 8 feet at a year old..

[Will0W783]

Well, I guess I'll have to see how her growth rate goes with me. I'm thinking she's around 2 years old, but then again I've seen people who have retics that are 6-7 feet and 2 years old. She just seems too small to possibly be as old as the guy said...
She's way too thin to handle the rabbits I have, so I gave her a large rat and the next day I gave her two more. They left a noticeable bulge. I am going to look for XXL or Jumbo rats or smaller rabbits tomorrow at the expo. I'm also going to do another handling session. She hasn't been out except for the shots the last week because I've been too sick to do much of anything. However, after her spazfest last night I would like to follow up with a positive experience for us both.
Hopefully she still flips the switch from angry snake to calm, curious snake once she's out. I can deal with that if she stays that way.

[Jenn_06]

Well Isis is 2 years old and 9ft but her mother was only 14ft so she might be on the smaller side of retics. All retics grow different some get 10 there first year some don't. Just try not to over feed i see too many retics look as fat as brums.

[Will0W783]

I plan to give her either 3 large rats, or 1 larger appropriate food item (small rabbit?) every two weeks. Then I will judge her shed rate and growth over the next few months. If it needs to be adjusted I'll adjust the amount of food.
I'm feeding my hatchling, Mojo, once every 5 days. Calypso, at 2.5 feet, gets fed every 7-10 days.
I work hard to make sure none of my snakes are obese, as it can be really bad for them and really hard to get something as inactive as a snake to lose weight. I would think Orchid's more along the lines of 2-3 years old.
I highly doubt the guy had her for 6 years as he told me. He claims he fed her 4 jumbo rats every 2-3 weeks, and that should have put her growth up over 9 feet in 6 years. But who knows. I just want her to be healthy and comfortable. She is very nervous and defensive.

[stephanbakir]

Its HARD to make small retics overweight, we powerfed ours for the first little while, to get them on pinky rabbits asap, then slowed down to a 7 day cycle till a year, then after that down to a 7-14 day cycle dependent on size/growth rate.

[Will0W783]

That's pretty much my plan, except I'm trying to ride the line and not quite powerfeed. Mojo will eat, and then poop 2 days later, so I try to feed him every 5 days or so.
He just bumped up to rat pups though, and they fill him up well so he will only take food every 6-7 days.

[stephanbakir]

Nice, upload pics of the new tic'!

[Will0W783]

I will once she sheds out. She's deep in shed right now and scared out of her little mind. She's very docile but I can see the heavy breathing and she's mushed into a corner, crammed behind her hide. I need to come up with good names for her and the A. ceratophora....I'm running out of ideas. lol

[stephanbakir]

Call her "Willow"