Slithersaurus's Colubrids

[Slithersaurus]

So, I will post the picture of non-corn snake and non-kingsnakes colubrid I have in my collection here.

I have 2 Pantherophis obsoletus sp., known as Western Rat Snake, with one of them is Black Rat snake (O. obsoletus obsoletus) and another is Texas Rat Snake (O. obsoletus lindheimeri).

Here is my black rat snake, Enigma...

http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz207/Jurassic_MT/My%20Pet/IMG_3941Edit_zpsqqwdue2q.jpg

He is a baby boy about 6 months old. I bought him from a breeder here who tried to breed a pair of his licourice black rat snake, weird enough all of the baby comes out as normal... Enigma used to be a hyper brat, but now he is improving a lot and is now pretty calm on my hand.

My Texas rat is a young male, right now a couple months old pink eyed leucistic I won as a prize on a snake club's logo contest. His name is Rudy (Anyone can guess the inspiration of his name? xD).

http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz207/Jurassic_MT/My%20Pet/IMG_4411_zpstkp7kxja.jpg

Rudy is still a feisty little bugger. I just got him for like a couple of weeks and due to his age, so no wonder why is he that bratty.... Still, he is healthy and is eating like pig.

I must say, I love these rat snakes, even more than corn. They grow larger, look more majestic and have more challenging attitude.(Both have drawn blood from me) I hope I will be able to get more species of the closely related group like Everglade and Grey rat snakes.

[Sylphie]

I'm not a big fan of all obsoletus as they are having a little too big eyes, and it looks really weird (even the non bug eyes are still a little too big compared to the whole of the snake). But that being said I really like Rudy! I never saw pink eyed leucistic to be honest... well, it sure looks cool!

[Slithersaurus]

Thank you! Pink eyed leucistic, from what I heard is the combo of albino and leucistic which is not officially confirmed though due to little study is take on these snake's genetic.

I actually like their big eyes though, it helps decreasing a lot of their overal look for such semi-agressive snake. :P But you are right, they are pretty weird comparing to other snakes of the closely ralated species.

Bug eyes do creep me a lot though! XD

[prairiepanda]

Super cute! The normal form of the black rat snake is my favorite, honestly. That applies to both babies and adults, and everything in between :p I think the big eyes suit them. Just not bug eyes lol

[EL Ziggy]

Very impressive critters Slither. I love the Texas Rat!

[Slithersaurus]

So, here I am going to show another of my colubrid in the collection. This one, you probably aren't familiar with much as they are not regular specie to be kept in captivity.

http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz207/Jurassic_MT/My%20Pet/12049241_1030139707037003_3586521789915944015_n_zp snppkackc.jpg

Here is my Ornate Flying Snake (Chrysopelea ornata ornatissima). A huge adult female I called Big Mama. She is the only "display-only" snake I have in my collection and she lives in a terrarium in my living room, where she both terrorizes and amuses any visiters that come to our house. xD

This specie of snake is always my favorite among the native snake here. However, Ornate Flying Snake is rear-fanged and midly venomous, plus her origin as wild caught adult, making Big Mama a furious madam that I will try to handle her as least as possible. She has bitten me several times and musks alot everytime when I bring her out of her domain, that's why I always use hook when I have to handle her.

I called her Big Mama because when I got her, she was gravid and I didn't know that until the next day, she laid a crutch of eggs. Here are her eggs in my noob incubator at the age of a month and a few days.

http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz207/Jurassic_MT/My%20Pet/IMG_4433_zpsn3cz19j1.jpg

I didn't use any proper substrate like perlite or vermiculite as it's all a sudden and unexpectable that she would suddenly lay eggs. Those material also takes time to find here and I can't risk the eggs to wait for it. So, I use sand instead and hope the eggs will be fine. Right now, I have lost one of the egg so far, which I am not sure if it's a good egg turning bad or infertile egg. At least the mother is healthy, so if I end up lose all the eggs, I will find Big Mama a mate and will be likely to try it again.

I will show her whole terrarium later as right now, lots of the fake plants in the terrarium are ruined by the snake moving around, so it looks pretty ugly now. I will have to wait until my exam ends, so I can have time to rearrange things and strengten the set up. So, stay tune!

[reptiledude987]

I lofe the flying snake! Im trying to get a paradise flying snake pair. I ordered them last year and they didnt arrive so Ill try again this year and hopefully they come in.

[prairiepanda]

Wow, I've never heard of flying snakes being kept as pets! They're very beautiful snakes. Do you ever get to see her "fly"?

[Slithersaurus]

No, her terrarium is too small for that. However, Ornate flying snake, being so huge, is the worst glider of its Genus anyway, so even with big enough enclosure, you won't have much chance to see them glide. They are indeed a very beautiful snake, but not really for beginner especially if you aren't in their native range and not prepared for highly defensive snake.

[Slithersaurus]

I lofe the flying snake! Im trying to get a paradise flying snake pair. I ordered them last year and they didnt arrive so Ill try again this year and hopefully they come in.

Paradise Flying Snake is also gorgeous. They are however much smaller and don't adapt to rodent diet well. In fact, there aren't any keepers in my knowledge manage to keep them alive for more than a year. They are absent even in the zoo! So, if you somehow manage to keep them well, please let me know as well! xD

[reptiledude987]

Paradise Flying Snake is also gorgeous. They are however much smaller and don't adapt to rodent diet well. In fact, there aren't any keepers in my knowledge manage to keep them alive for more than a year. They are absent even in the zoo! So, if you somehow manage to keep them well, please let me know as well! xD

Im not concerned about the diet too much as I already have my vine snakes feeding on lizards. So thats not a big issue for me. I just love the look of them and for the price of the imports I figure its worth giving it a shot. the husbandry is very similar to the vine snakes and mine are thriving so I think I should be good there.

[jjhill001]

I think the ratsnake eye size kind of levels out by the time they hit adulthood though.

[reptiledude987]

When it has struck at you has it ever latched on and managet to envenomate?

[Slithersaurus]

When it has struck at you has it ever latched on and managet to envenomate?

No. All the bite from Big Mama came from a jab or quick nip with the tip of the jaws, so I have never been envenomated.(And never want to. :P) I doubt flying snake would be able to envenomate with defensive bite anyway, their fangs are way very back in the jaws. I would be more concern on feeding respond which I typically use forceps or hook to reach in during feeding or trying to get her out to avoid the possible bite.

[reptiledude987]

Well thats good. As well from my understanding if you did get a food response bite where it latched on it wouldnt be all that bad. Theyre venom is basically the equivilent of a hognose with some minor swelling and irritation.

[Slithersaurus]

It still sounds like an unpleasant experience anyway. :P

Anyway, Here is Big Mama eating F/T gecko and mouse.

http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz207/Jurassic_MT/My%20Pet/IMG_4425Edit_zpsmjv5zhlt.jpg

http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz207/Jurassic_MT/My%20Pet/IMG_4431Edit_zpsklhqfet0.jpg

[reptiledude987]

Wow it actually takes FT? Why give a gecko at all if she will take mice? from what Ive heard getting them on FT mice is quite an accomplishment. Thats great!

[Slithersaurus]

Well, I caught and froze some geckoes long time ago when I first got her. I used them to scent the mouse and also fed them to her to encourage her to eat before following right with the mouse. Now that she could take mouse on her own, there was still some geckoes left, so I had to feed them together with the mouse in the recent feeding so the lizards wouldn't be waste.

And yeah, I was really surprized that she could take F/T mouse really fast... Probably a normal habit of large female OFS that will also hunt small mammals in the wild?

[Slithersaurus]

Enigma the black rat snake has recently rufused to eat.... It has been 2 weeks already and he refused everything I offered him. He is not in shed too and never be like this before. :( I am kinda worried about him now, eventhough the off-feeding duration hasn't been that critical yet.

[sharthun]

Wow beautiful snakes!!

[Slithersaurus]

http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz207/Jurassic_MT/My%20Pet/IMG_4597Edit_zpsr6i9eayf.jpg

So, here is Big Mama's terrarium after I fixed things into the place and cleaned everything up. It's kinda small. But the snake doesn't seem to be stressed out and can still eat normally, so space isn't a big issue here.

All the plants there are fake(except the brown vine) and the background is custom. Substrate is shaved aspen and Big Mama uses the fake fern as her cover when she wants more privacy and there is also for her to sit on at the background as well.

[pet_snake_78]

I think Dan at DM Exotics has had a lot of luck with the Paradise flying snakes, saw a video where he had hatched and raised young.

[pet_snake_78]

Beautiful snake, btw, hope you get something out of the eggs.

[reptiledude987]

I just emailed dm exotics they dont show the Chrysopelea paradisi avail for order but willl see what they say when they reply. Id rather go through them for cb than the wc from my import list. Fingers crossed and we shall see what happens!

[Slithersaurus]

Good luck for that! Some CB flying snakes would be cool indeed, given the fact that they are almost impossible to find here. I guess the husbandary understanding of these snakes of people here is just really barren, despite being the native range of the snakes.

[Slithersaurus]

So, I just took Enigma out to explore a bit. I am trying not to bother him much lately, due to him being very inactive at feeding, in fact, he is now eating like once every two weeks which I don't feel like it's the normal schedule for such young snake. However, sometime I just want to take him out for handling or he could get back to be aggressive again if I stop handling him for too long.

http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz207/Jurassic_MT/My%20Pet/IMG_4684_zpsjaoujqyc.jpg

http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz207/Jurassic_MT/My%20Pet/IMG_4696_zpsimxyoo2k.jpg

I want to take some pics of little Rudy so badly, but he is being very squrimy lately and I can't leave him to stay in my one hand... So, gotta wait for him to be more used to handling....

[Slithersaurus]

Enigma finally ate something today! He got a big fuzzy right from the forceps. I am really happy!

[Sylphie]

Congrats! It's such a relief when they finally starts eating :D

[Slithersaurus]

Thanks, Sylphie. It's always a delight when snake finally eat after a long time.

Anyway, today I decide to risk handling the flying snake!

http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz207/Jurassic_MT/My%20Pet/IMG_5128Edit_zpspscndfj7.jpg

Big Mama did a good cooperation, only struck at me a few times today and drew no blood!

[Minkness]

Jeez...that is a GORGOUS snake!!!

[Slithersaurus]

Thank you, Minkness!

Finally an update on little Rudy, who finally let me took his photo without squirming around.

http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz207/Jurassic_MT/My%20Pet/IMG_5262Edit_zpsdexizedh.jpg

http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz207/Jurassic_MT/My%20Pet/IMG_5251Edit_zpsw9sjspeu.jpg

He has improved a lot from the day I took him in. Much more placid and less nip and strike. The best thing is he no more defecate on me which was the thing he really loved to do when newly arrived. Still waiting for him to go whiter and less yellow.

[Tsubaki]

Cute little guy :D

[Slithersaurus]

http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz207/Jurassic_MT/My%20Pet/IMG_5845Edit_zpslweea7ar.jpg

Big Mama the flying snake is getting less and less active due to the colder weather. I leave the lamp open longer so she can bask some more during the noon. She still hasn't shown any sight of health problem though, so I think there is nothing to be worried yet.

She still has enough power to charge at me when I tries to reach in to get her droping out anyway. xD