I have been looking into getting a dwarf retic and have landed on a cow as I love the freckles! I currently have a palmetto corn so having basically the same thing in a retic is my dream snake. So I came across only a few people selling them and I’ve gotten $1,500 and $10,000 as an answer for the price. Which one is closer to the truth cuz one is definitely a scam but I can’t find any other info online about how much these guys typically cost. Thanks guys.
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I know that with dwarf and super dwarf retics, price is impacted quite a bit by percentages of d/sd blood, as well as family lines and expected adult size. If small size is important to you, expect to spend quite a bit of money, especially if you want a morph like cow. It takes generations to work morphs into d/sd lines while still keeping the snakes small, and all that time and work is going to come with a hefty price tag. If you want a small cow, you’re not likely to find any bargains, if a true dwarf-sized cow is even available at all (I don’t know much about cow specifically, but I know morphs that keep true d/sd size are quite spendy). I would be prepared to pay on the upper end of the range you were quoted. Look at the size of the mother to get an idea of the adult size you can expect in the offspring. It’s my understanding that the size of the mother can actually impact adult size more than percentages of d/sd blood. Find a reputable dwarf breeder who knows what it takes to make small retics. Many morph retics advertised as dwarfs, especially at the lower end of the price spectrum, will not end up being much smaller than a mainland. Making small morph retics is more complicated than simply crossing any old morph mainland to another retic with dwarf locality blood. And again, the expertise, time, and work required to make morph retics in smaller sizes doesn’t come cheap.
I’ve put my dreams of having an SD retic on hold for a while, because even a wild-type would be a lot of money (at least for me) in the size I’d want. In my research on them, my biggest take-away was that if you want a small retic, you need to find a good breeder and be prepared to spend a lot of money, otherwise you’ll likely end up with a snake that grows a lot bigger than you planned for or wanted.
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How big are you willing to go? From what I understand a normal cow retic will usually max out at 14 feet for an exceptional large female. So if you get a dwarf it will cost you probably 5x the amount of a normal cow, if not more, for a small size difference. Feed it every couple of weeks and chances are you won’t even get past 12 feet for a plain old cow female.
Just an idea but that is probably the better way to go as long you are comfortable with a snake 10+ foot snake (even with a dwarf you would have to be comfortable with it)
From what I have found a 25% super dwarf cow (which is an extremely small percentage. Maybe a foot difference. Maybe.) is about 1,500. If you want a cow that is 50% plus it would probably be 5000+.
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I’ve talked to multiple people who own 25% dwarf cows and they said males were 5-7 and females were 7-9 feet long. That is the size I want and for the $1,500 price tag it’s really worth it for me since I have no one to spot me for handling anything bigger than that and the enclosure I have is made for that size snake.
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Yea, I was planning on speaking with reach out reptiles and figuring out a price point and just saving up. Honestly I love cows so much that I’d spend about $6,000 on one. That’s a ways away from 10k so if I have to wait several years for the price to go down I will. I’ve heard a lot of conflicting info after asking this question in multiple places that I think I just need to talk to reputable breeders. Probably go to the next expo and meet some in person too. Thank you tho, this was helpful
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Really? I have never heard of only a 25% making that big of a difference. I guess you learn new things every lol.
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Yeah, I agree that the best way to proceed is to talk to some breeders who are actually producing and selling dwarf cows. Definitely ask about the size of the mother and family line, because that will tell you more about what to expect in adult size than the mere percentage of dwarf blood. Reach Out Reptiles is a great place to start, that’s where I learned a lot about smaller retics, but I know they’re not the only ones working with them. And I suspect that more and more people will be jumping on the small retic bandwagon in the coming years, because the demand is definitely out there. Just be sure that whatever breeder you go with is reputable and knows what they’re doing!
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Here is my baby, Sasha, taking a soak. My sister also got a 50% super dwarf from the same clutch and they were very reasonably priced. However, I don’t think they had any cows, but they are super tiny compared to our main lands.
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What morph is it? It is absolutely gorgeous
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She is an ultra ivory. My sister got one of her siblings, a platinum PH amel. They’re both super cute.
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I saw they’re having a special price on them currently.
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