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Wildfire Retics

@wildfire_retics

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📍 Park City, UT
Just a dude with big 🐍🐍🐍
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Seeing way more videos lately trying to glorify feeding - especially live feeding.

I almost never post feeding videos, simply because there isn’t anything to glorify about it.

We all know these snakes eat - and for the most part what they eat.

I have people ask me all the time how I feed my bigger snakes.

Well, this is how.

It’s not entertaining. It’s not some exciting process.

I don’t dangle prey items or try and entice my snakes to eat.

By the time they’re eating large prey like rabbits and goats, they know what to do.

I thaw everything out the night before inside my facility. I rarely use water to thaw, unless I specifically need to increase an animals hydration levels.

The snakes can smell their food as it thaws. They know what time it is.

I grab one prey item at a time, write down the type of prey and the weight on a notepad and toss it into the cage.

On to the next animal and just keep it moving.

If I am feeding multiple prey items to one snake, I wait until they’ve grabbed the first item, then throw the additional prey into the cage.

Once everyone has their food, I turn the facility lights off and usually leave for a few hours.

I rarely ever come back and find that a snake hasn’t eaten.

On the rare occasions that I do, that tells me something.

If a Retic isn’t eating, there’s always a reason. And it’s up to me to figure it out.

This goes back to what I said previously about learning your animals.

In all my years of keeping Retics, I’ve always been the one that does the feeding.

It’s one of the most basic aspects of keeping that allows me to be in tune with my animals and their behavior & health.

These snakes will literally show you everything you need to know about them.

You just have to pay attention.

#explorepage✨ #wildfireretics #feedingtime #retickeeper #reptilebreeder by @wildfire_retics

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3 months ago

Retic Keepers are a bit of a different breed 😎

3 year old Malaysian Locality Retic.

#reticulatedpython #wildfireretics #snakekeeper #snakewrangler #snakebreeder #outlaw #differentbreed #reticsofinstagram #reticnation by @wildfire_retics

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3 years ago

💎 The Jewel 💎

I currently own and have owned some amazing snakes over the years.

This girl though, has always been my #1.

She’s never been nor will she ever be my biggest.

She is by far my most unique and hands down BEST tempered snake.

She does everything a Retic should do - without ANY of the BS.

If all Retics acted like Diamond, just about anyone could own one.

Diamond turned 12 years old in February. She’s been with me for 9 of those 12 years.

She’s right at 16’ and usually weighs around 115lbs.

She’s produced some of the best snakes that I’ve ever produced at Wildfire. Not sure if I’ll ever breed her again, her legacy has already been cemented by the countless animals her offspring have produced for other programs.

If I had to choose a snake that defined Wildfire, it would be Diamond.

Major thanks to my best friend @the_retic_keeper for producing Diamond. His friendship and guidance, along with this snake, created the foundation that Wildfire was built from.

#retickeeper #wildfireretics #exoticpets #reticulatedpython by @wildfire_retics

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5 months ago

Response to EVERYONE about the Glass Breaking Clip!

Some y’all are BIG mad…🤬

Some of y’all have questions…🤔

Some of y’all had my back 🙏🏻

Tried to address everything in this video. I’m not going to say anything else about this entire ordeal after this.

Y’all have a great weekend ✌🏻

#snakebreaksglass #wildfireretics #reticulatedpython #snakekeeper #ragnar by @wildfire_retics

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18 hours ago

Quick Update…

Platty Hypo Female

She shed. Wasn’t even fired up, but looked amazing in the natural sunlight.

The fact that this snake is as big as it is, is astonishing.

She’s only eating a single medium 🐀 every feeding.

I’ve tried to get her to take more, she won’t.

If you got a Hypo from @the_retic_keeper you better be ready for it to get really damn big.

#snakebreeder #wildfireretics #reptilebreeder #exoticpets #reptilelover by @wildfire_retics

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5 days ago

Big snakes = Big Meals

But likely not the way you’re thinking 💭

Caught these photos after my last round of feeding and my girl Soleil was massive.

Why was she so big?

Because she had to play “clean-up” for several other snakes that didn’t eat.

I don’t EVER re-freeze feeders and I HATE wasting food.

I’ve got (2) females cycling for breeding and as a result, 3 breeder males refused their food.

So I had to re-distribute several rabbits during this feeding.

After it was all said and done, I was curious when Soleil last had a meal this big.

So I checked the feed log and realized it had been a year since she stuffed down this much food.

Now I’m a big proponent of feeding my Retics big meals.

However, that doesn’t mean I’m stuffing them every feeding.

So the total on this feeding was 24.5lbs of rabbit.

The last time Soleil ate a meal close to that was 11/11/25 and she put down 21.7lbs of rabbit.

After that she had one more meal on 1/3/26 and then went off food completely for breeding until 6/1/26.

Since June the biggest meal she had put down was 9.3lbs.

What’s my point with all this?

Varying your feeding routines is a GOOD thing.

Timing, prey type, & prey size should never be a static thing when it comes to ADULT Retics.

Hatchlings and yearling Retics are a different story.

Soleil turns 10 years old in March. She’s around 16’ and sits right about 100lbs.

She’s past her prime growing years so she doesn’t need to get hammered like this very often.

No question this meal will push her straight into a shed and result in some growth.

I’m not breeding her this year so my goal isn’t to push her into cycling.

Way too many Retic keepers worry about “overfeeding” their snakes.

Most of y’all truly aren’t feeding enough.

#reptilefanatics #wildfireretics #reticulatedpython #snakebreeder #retickeeper by @wildfire_retics

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6 days ago

🎬 PART 3 🎬

‼️ LANGUAGE WARNING ‼️

Well, this is the one y’all are going to want to watch.

It’s the longest of the 3 segments, it’s where things went REALLY sideways.

First thing I want to say is that, miraculously Ragnar wasn’t hurt.

He had one small cut on his belly, superficial enough that it didn’t even draw blood. He’ll heal within a single shed.

Second, I made a grave mistake in under estimating how powerful this guy really is.

He didn’t strike at the glass. He simply wedged his body against the back wall of the cage and flexed. That’s all it took.

For reference, the glass I use is 1/4” thick. There were no cracks or prior damage to that pane.

The other big thing I learned in this - and really it’s a confirmation of what I knew - 3’ cage depth for big Retics is not sufficient.

I’ve been working on bigger caging for my snakes and this situation put it as an absolute top priority.

Larger caging improves their quality of life AND makes working with them safer.

Clearly I lost my cool in this whole ordeal 😅

I’ve said it 100x, I’m far from an expert when it comes to these snakes even with 15 years of experience.

As of now, Ragnar is still in that bottom cage. I gave him a day, then got it setup with bedding and water.

And since this whole ordeal, he’s been pretty subdued.

I’ll keep y’all updated on him and our interactions moving forward.

And for those who say “why would you keep an animal like that?!?”

Just remember - all of us that keep Retics are a little insane 😉

#exoticpets #wildfireretics #reticulatedpython #snakekeeper #reptilebreeder by @wildfire_retics

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12 days ago

🎬 PART 2 🎬

As promised…here’s the 2nd part of the events on Sunday.

I’m keeping these clips shorter so it’s easier to digest.

This went about how I thought it was going to 😅

After this is when all hell broke loose 🤦🏼‍♂️😂

Part 3 coming tomorrow…

#reptilebreeder #wildfireretics #retickeeper #Ragnar by @wildfire_retics

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13 days ago

🎬 PART 1 🎬 - PLEASE READ!!

If you saw my story yesterday with the broken glass on the floor, this is how it all started.

First and foremost, I will say that there is PLENTY I did wrong here.

I genuinely thought when Ragnar went straight into the tub initially that it was going to be easy.

I was wrong.

Second, this is NOT how this snake always acts. Scroll back on my timeline. I’ve posted plenty of videos and photos of this guy and me handling him with zero issues.

He and I do not have a bad relationship - though certainly days like this don’t help.

This is a textbook example of a large, dominant & confident male Retic that has zero fear of me.

And, he was looking for a fight as soon as he came out of his cage.

Notice he never turns away from me. He never runs.

This is also why working with a snake like this alone is NEVER a good idea.

I’m not posting this to promote a thing.

I’m posting it so people can truly understand what CAN happen with snakes like this.

In the end, I had to manhandle him and I do not like nor do I promote handling like this.

I needed him secured in one of the totes so I could safely clean his cage and work.

This is only Part 1 of what will be several posts.

Ultimately, I did get him back into a cage - though it wasn’t the cage I intended.

I walked away unscathed, Ragnar did injure himself slightly in this entire ordeal. He will be fine, no medical attention required.

A lot of that keep these snakes forget what they really are sometimes.

Myself included.

Yesterday was a stark reminder of what they are and what they can do.

#dumbwaystodie #wildfireretics #retickeeper #reticulatedpython #snakekeeper by @wildfire_retics

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14 days ago

So you want a giant snake do ya???

🤣😂🤣

First thing I’m going to say - DO NOT DO THIS!!

This situation could genuinely turn very bad very quickly.

This is Jormungandr. She’s 6 years old.

She’s well over 100lbs and I’m going to say conservatively she’s 17’+

50% Sulawesi, 50% Malaysian. True F1 from WC parents.

I genuinely believe she will be the biggest Retic I ever own.

Yes, even bigger than Neffi.

She’s got a lot of years of growth ahead of her and she has an extremely healthy appetite.

It’s been a while since I posted an update of her. I got a couple videos of her today I will post over the next couple days or weeks.

Y’all have a great weekend!!

#Locality #wildfireretics #snakekeeper #reptilelover #reptilebreeder by @wildfire_retics

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16 days ago

Since @the_retic_keeper did an update on his Hypo yesterday…

Here’s my Platinum Hypo girl.

Again, she is not as big as Paul’s. His girl is already taking small rabbits. Mine is still on rats - and won’t take more than 1 at the time.

I’m not worried about it nor am I in competition with Paul.

I think it’s a solid comparison though to show the differences in growth rates that are almost solely based on diet.

Because our snakes are siblings, they have the same DNA.

Now that doesn’t mean they’re genetically identical, as they are not twins nor are they from a partho clutch.

They both started eating about the same time after hatching.

Paul sent her to me maybe a month or two after she hatched.

So at this point their differences are really based on how we keep and feed.

Either way, this girl is still very large for her age.

Their Mom, Bitchface, we believe is a true F1.5 off the WC Hypo. Lots of reasons why we believe this, not just her spicy attitude.

That being said, we’re confident that all the snakes from this clutch are going to be large animals. Especially the females.

Going to be a lot of fun raising this girl and watching her sister grow too.

Thanks again to my best friend for making these and sending me a perfect animal 🙏🏻

#hypo #wildfireretics #theretickeeper #snakebreeder #reptilelover by @wildfire_retics

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17 days ago

When your males think that they’re top dawg…😂

Lots of talk about males behavior these days.

Figured I’d drop my .02 in…

This guy really isn’t bad to work with. Even when he’s worked up.

Pure Sulawesi (Reed Line) male. 6 years old.

This guy hasn’t been with me that long, only about 6 months.

I’ve been keeping him pretty heavily fed, which normally keeps him calmer.

I’ve got some females cycling and he is hungry so he was a bit more difficult than usual.

I don’t believe in trying to appease or be gentle with a male when he’s acting like this.

The point is to move him and do it as efficiently as possible.

Hope this helps some of y’all!

#boyswillbeboys #wildfireretics #reptilebreeder #snakekeeper by @wildfire_retics

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18 days ago