I just wanted to see the number of different opinions/ways that the community keeps, feeds, heats, enriches, handles, trains, temps and humiditys, hides, and etc. for these amazing, intelligent and beautiful beast.
I will open with the caveat that I do not keep retics, but I have looked at getting a superdwarf and have done a bit of preliminary research along that eventuality and based on everything I have found the one biggest thing I would say is that to keep these animals as anything other than semi-arborial is to do them a terrible disservice. These animals should be long and lean climbers, not obese ground slugs
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I have been keeping retics for little less than 3 years. I have a female that was 2 when I got her 3 years ago and she has not been power fed or greedy for a retic. She is 18 feet and over 100 lbs. She loves to climb, swim, and interacts with everything in her environment. When out she shows signs of intelligence and is a very powerful animal. Long and lean is a good description but she is not a super slender animal. She enjoys out of cage time and exploring the back yard with supervision. The other 3 retics I have seam to enjoy the same. They can be slugs and sleep for a week or so right after eating a meal but they are allowed an enclosure that enables them to move around they will and is good for them. I don’t think you can go to big on enclosure. The more time you spend building a relationship with them the better your experience will be in most cases. Some are not good to keep as pets. Some are picky on what they like to eat. They can escape and enclosures need to be strong. Long tongs are a must. They require cleaning more than once a week.
Keep in mind this is all my personal experience and I am learning and so are they. They can be quite bold creatures even as babies.
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This video will always be my go to on care for retics as well as body mass. If you can’t see muscle definition on them, then they are too fat. On top of the fact that they need to climb, especially when young.
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I have two super dwarf animals and I completely agree with the climbing. I get my animals out and moving as much as possible and they are happier and healthier for it. Also we have ours light and tap trained for feeding vs handling and I love it. Even started doing it with my other animals it’s been so great. I’ve been keeping retics for 7 years and will never look back! Love these monsters
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