Super Dwarf Retics
The original super dwarf retics were found on islands in the Indonesian Achipelago (estimated to comprise around 18,000 islands!) The theory is that these animals were "dwarfed" by the lack of large prey, especially at certain times of year, and their habitual diet of birds. Whilst stunning in their own right these original wild "locality" super dwarfs have been bred into the mainland morphs to produce (after several generations of careful breeding) smaller super dwarf morphs. Still relatively expensive as a result of the smaller clutch sizes and many years it takes to "shrink" the morphs down the Super Dwarfs are nonetheless an exciting option.
The Super Dwarf Localities :
The catch-all term "Super Dwarf" (originally coined as a marketing term) is slightly unfortunate as it sometimes means that the specific locality that particular animals were bred from is lost. The first generation of captive bred animals were thought to be a mix of Madu and Kalatoa (the smallest two localities). Good breeders should be able to tell you what localities are in their animals and in what percentages. Be careful if buying other than from the original breeder as that bargain "Super Dwarf" may end up 14ft long! Ask to see parents and for hatch dates and weights where possible so that you can be reassured that you really are buying a snake whose maximum size is within the ranges above. Do not believe anyone who tells you that their albino is a 100% super dwarf as that is simply not possible (see below) - the only morph that originated in super dwarf sizes is the Anery so that is the only morph that could be 100% SD. (There is also a dwarf Jampea line of anery)
Super Dwarf Percentages :
I am often asked what the percentages mean when referring to Super Dwarfs. Simply put it refers to the proportion of pure locality blood that remains after crossing mainland morphs into Super Dwarf bloodlines. So for example pairing a mainland platinum super tiger male with a pure super dwarf female - all of the offspring will be 50% SD Tigers and half of those will be platinums too. The only way to shrink those animals further is to raise up a male 50% SD Platinum Tiger and breed it back to a pure SD locality female which will result in a clutch of 75% SD offspring (25% SD from Dad and 50% of the SD coming from mum). Breed a 75% SD offspring back to a pure SD again and you shrink the size down even further to 87.5% SD. So to get to that point has required a considerable investment in time (at least 3 years). Introduce a recessive gene (e.g. albino) into the mix and it takes much much longer to breed back AND shrink down as in the first generation you have to breed a 50% SD Het albino male back to a pure locality SD and hold back all the resulting 75% SD possible het albino females - grow them on for at least 4 years and then breed them with the 50% SD Het Albino male to make the first 62.5% SD visual albinos. So combined with the fact that clutch sizes are smaller than mainland retics you can perhaps start to appreciate why the Super Dwarf morphs are still relatively expensive as years of careful breeding have gone into making that 75% SD recessive morph combo.
Temperament :
Super Dwarf retics are fast, intelligent full of personality and very strong so need to be treated with the same respect as their mainland cousins. The more mainland blood the calmer it seems they are with pure SD hatchlings being the snappiest and most aggressive! Being intelligent though makes them more "trainable" and even the snappiest babies can be taught good manners. We make sure we spend time handling all of our hatchlings so that they go to new homes as calm as possible.
Feeding :
SD retics evolved, as mentioned, on islands where food is in short supply at certain times of year and even when abundant the prey size is small. This meant that natural selection favoured those smaller animals with slower metabolisms that could survive on a meagre diet. Transfer those animals to captivity and they have the potential, if heavily fed, to get larger than the average sizes quoted above. If you then mix in a percentage of mainland blood to create morphs then of course you will end up with larger animals. Final size varies even between siblings - there are those that feel that it is the mainland percentage that is the most sensitive to heavy feeding so even if you have a 75% SD, the 25% mainland blood still has the potential to influence the overall size of the animal if fed too heavily. That does not mean however that they only stay small if starved - our animals are weekly fed on prey that leaves a distinct bulge in the stomach and our adult breeders are within the parameters above. We also sometimes leave the adults for 10 days when outside of the breeding season if they are not prone to pushing (I will cover this in a separate article). New keepers need to bear in mind that these are not Royal Pythons, most retics are vicious feeders, and will eat any and every time food is offered (something that attracts frustrated feeders of fussy royals!) so do not be tempted to over feed. Most cases of larger than average Super Dwarfs are from animals being heavily fed by breeders impatient to get them to breed. A counter-productive approach as it will shorten the life expectancy of your animal - a slowly grown snake is a healthy snake. As regards prey we feed mainly defrost rats to our Super Dwarf animals - the larger 50% Super Dwarf females are fed small rabbits after laying to get them back into condition. Most will never need to see live food, but a few will and can be picky eaters.
Breeding:
I will cover the breeding process in detail in a separate article but in brief, animals with high percentage super dwarf locality bloodlines take longer to reach sexual maturity than mainland animals. Males may be ready to breed at 18 months but are best backed up by an older male to be sure of getting a viable clutch. Females are not usually ready until 4 years and often not until 5 years. Our pure Super Dwarf locality 2009 female bred for the first time in 2014 (a 13 egg clutch). Our 2009 75% SD Anery female bred in 2013 but produced mostly slugs whereas in 2014 she produced 12 perfect eggs. Super Dwarf hatchlings are small - usually in the 65 to 85g range depending on the percentage of pure locality blood. Incubation is around 80 days but can often be less for high percentage Super Dwarf clutches.
Conclusion :
Great characters, stunningly beautiful, very interactive and conveniently small - Super Dwarf retics really can be the perfect pet snake. As long as you do your research before buying and learn as much as you can about these amazing animals you will never regret owning one.
The Super Dwarf Localities :
- Kalatoa: 5-7’ with some pure females still attaining 9’
- Madu: 6-10’
- Kayuadi: 7-10’ (with some females getting larger - so really more bordering on Dwarf sizes)
The catch-all term "Super Dwarf" (originally coined as a marketing term) is slightly unfortunate as it sometimes means that the specific locality that particular animals were bred from is lost. The first generation of captive bred animals were thought to be a mix of Madu and Kalatoa (the smallest two localities). Good breeders should be able to tell you what localities are in their animals and in what percentages. Be careful if buying other than from the original breeder as that bargain "Super Dwarf" may end up 14ft long! Ask to see parents and for hatch dates and weights where possible so that you can be reassured that you really are buying a snake whose maximum size is within the ranges above. Do not believe anyone who tells you that their albino is a 100% super dwarf as that is simply not possible (see below) - the only morph that originated in super dwarf sizes is the Anery so that is the only morph that could be 100% SD. (There is also a dwarf Jampea line of anery)
Super Dwarf Percentages :
I am often asked what the percentages mean when referring to Super Dwarfs. Simply put it refers to the proportion of pure locality blood that remains after crossing mainland morphs into Super Dwarf bloodlines. So for example pairing a mainland platinum super tiger male with a pure super dwarf female - all of the offspring will be 50% SD Tigers and half of those will be platinums too. The only way to shrink those animals further is to raise up a male 50% SD Platinum Tiger and breed it back to a pure SD locality female which will result in a clutch of 75% SD offspring (25% SD from Dad and 50% of the SD coming from mum). Breed a 75% SD offspring back to a pure SD again and you shrink the size down even further to 87.5% SD. So to get to that point has required a considerable investment in time (at least 3 years). Introduce a recessive gene (e.g. albino) into the mix and it takes much much longer to breed back AND shrink down as in the first generation you have to breed a 50% SD Het albino male back to a pure locality SD and hold back all the resulting 75% SD possible het albino females - grow them on for at least 4 years and then breed them with the 50% SD Het Albino male to make the first 62.5% SD visual albinos. So combined with the fact that clutch sizes are smaller than mainland retics you can perhaps start to appreciate why the Super Dwarf morphs are still relatively expensive as years of careful breeding have gone into making that 75% SD recessive morph combo.
Temperament :
Super Dwarf retics are fast, intelligent full of personality and very strong so need to be treated with the same respect as their mainland cousins. The more mainland blood the calmer it seems they are with pure SD hatchlings being the snappiest and most aggressive! Being intelligent though makes them more "trainable" and even the snappiest babies can be taught good manners. We make sure we spend time handling all of our hatchlings so that they go to new homes as calm as possible.
Feeding :
SD retics evolved, as mentioned, on islands where food is in short supply at certain times of year and even when abundant the prey size is small. This meant that natural selection favoured those smaller animals with slower metabolisms that could survive on a meagre diet. Transfer those animals to captivity and they have the potential, if heavily fed, to get larger than the average sizes quoted above. If you then mix in a percentage of mainland blood to create morphs then of course you will end up with larger animals. Final size varies even between siblings - there are those that feel that it is the mainland percentage that is the most sensitive to heavy feeding so even if you have a 75% SD, the 25% mainland blood still has the potential to influence the overall size of the animal if fed too heavily. That does not mean however that they only stay small if starved - our animals are weekly fed on prey that leaves a distinct bulge in the stomach and our adult breeders are within the parameters above. We also sometimes leave the adults for 10 days when outside of the breeding season if they are not prone to pushing (I will cover this in a separate article). New keepers need to bear in mind that these are not Royal Pythons, most retics are vicious feeders, and will eat any and every time food is offered (something that attracts frustrated feeders of fussy royals!) so do not be tempted to over feed. Most cases of larger than average Super Dwarfs are from animals being heavily fed by breeders impatient to get them to breed. A counter-productive approach as it will shorten the life expectancy of your animal - a slowly grown snake is a healthy snake. As regards prey we feed mainly defrost rats to our Super Dwarf animals - the larger 50% Super Dwarf females are fed small rabbits after laying to get them back into condition. Most will never need to see live food, but a few will and can be picky eaters.
Breeding:
I will cover the breeding process in detail in a separate article but in brief, animals with high percentage super dwarf locality bloodlines take longer to reach sexual maturity than mainland animals. Males may be ready to breed at 18 months but are best backed up by an older male to be sure of getting a viable clutch. Females are not usually ready until 4 years and often not until 5 years. Our pure Super Dwarf locality 2009 female bred for the first time in 2014 (a 13 egg clutch). Our 2009 75% SD Anery female bred in 2013 but produced mostly slugs whereas in 2014 she produced 12 perfect eggs. Super Dwarf hatchlings are small - usually in the 65 to 85g range depending on the percentage of pure locality blood. Incubation is around 80 days but can often be less for high percentage Super Dwarf clutches.
Conclusion :
Great characters, stunningly beautiful, very interactive and conveniently small - Super Dwarf retics really can be the perfect pet snake. As long as you do your research before buying and learn as much as you can about these amazing animals you will never regret owning one.
