Retic Intelligence

[sandman]

Just curiuos I have been told that retics are the smartest among snakes, now not owning one of these amazing snakes what makes them so intelligent.

Do the do things that exhibit more intelligence?

[SnakeCollector]

This sounds interesting.

[dhonaker]

it is very hard to explain but if you were to hold one you would understand

[Chris.M]

pretty much one of the most direct ways to see an animal's intelligence is the escape attempts. when you see them outside a "secure" tank with no signs of how they escaped, you just know they are smarter than they seem.

[sandman]

So it is more of a feeling of intelligence than an actual display

[razeraze]

Nope they are smarter, my retic figured out in a week which door her food comes from. They are unbelievably intelligent and I have no doubt learn visible cues faster and more often than other snakes.

[mongoose5971]

I've never noticed anything special about them other than the fact that they like to bite a lot...but I could imagine a giant snake would have a giant brain (for a snake,) which could make them smarter.

[sandman]

haha, or maybe they have the elephant syndrome and have smaller brains. Just playing.

I was just curious about this because I have heard about there intellegence from several people, just never experienced it first hand.

[KyleZ]

From my experience, Retics and most of the Austral-Asian Pythons (Morelia, Liasis, etc) seem generally more alert and inquisitive than most other snakes, their eyes follow you very closely, they move quickly and precisely, and seem to learn routines very fast. They seem to be constantly sizing you up, as if they are debating how they want to treat you that day (friend/foe?), what they can get away with, etc.

Maybe it has something to do with their evolution (at least among most juveniles) as somewhat arboreal snakes, which generally have to navigate a more complicated terrain (branches, ledges) and be more precise and skillful when hunting in their environments, as opposed to terrestrial species which seem much slower paced and lazy, since they do more simple ambushing rather than climbing for bats and birds' nests...For instance compare the (for the most part)slow-poke, easy going Burm to a similar sized Retic, and you'll see just how much more calculating, alert, and quick the Retic is...

Just a thought.

	Arboreal Arboreal is a word meaning "related to or resembling trees". Its meaning comes from the Latin arbor, meaning tree.<br> In biology, an arboreal animal is one which inhabits or spends large amounts of time in trees or bushes.

[boaterr]

I have read that Rock Pythons alertness and problem solving ability are on the same level as Retics. My Rock Python is actually much more alert than of my Retics. Also, my Rock Python has a much higher metabolism than all my other snakes which makes her digest large prey items quicker than any Retic I have ever seen.

[KyleZ]

Very interesting....It's awesome that you keep an Afrock, they are quite rare in the trade, and I 'm curious whether their bad rep is possibly undeserved as the reputation Retics had as recent as 10 years ago, when docile, workable retics were virtually unheard of, since most examples were WC highly stressed snakes...
They sure are known for their eating abilities though, I'm pretty sure they take the cake for largest prey taken in the wild.

	Wild caught wild caught