View Full Version : New Florida Water Snake!
regi375
05-01-17, 06:27 PM
I was able to find this beautiful girl at the reptile show I went to. She was a little thin (I think that the vendor had her on a maintenance diet), but once I got her home she took a scented fuzzy no problem. One thing I was surprised about was how well she tolerated handling. No defensive gestures or nervousness at all. Handled better than some corn snakes I know. Being a water snake, I've decided to name her Ariel. (shout out to jjhill for looking at her with me. Thanks again bud :) )
Here is the point where I ask for some advice.
Should I only feed her mice? I'm not entirely sure how it'd impact her health since her natural diet is mostly fish and frogs. I've considered varying up with mollies from the local tropical fish store, but I'm hesitant because they may carry diseases. Even though I know that the owner quarentines his fish, I'm still hesitant.
Is it necessary to take her to the vet? I'm asking this for multiple reasons. Until I'm able to get a job I need to budget my money very carefully. The closest vet is at an exotic animal center an hour away, and just the appointment costs $65. Also, the vendor said he sexed her as a female, but I'd like to be sure. He also said that she is a wild caught animal and he treated her for internal parasites. So I'd like to make sure that they're gone. Is this something that I can put off, or is it completely unnecessary?
The set-up I have for her is semiaquatic. 1/3 of the tank is a small litter box full of water, foliage, and branches. I also have a heater in there that's fully enclosed in a plastic cage to keep the water at 75. The hot end of the tank is 85. I also have a hide and foliage in there as well. Anyone recommend any changes?
I do eventually plan on breeding her, so expect a few posts in the breeding section in the future. Thanks guys and gals :)
Scubadiver59
05-01-17, 07:15 PM
Can't wait to see more pics!
Tsubaki
05-02-17, 03:25 AM
Never kept this species myself so can't be of much help with that, but I do have some wildcaught snake and have past experience with that. If she was treated for parasites already and doesn't seem to have any issues, I would just keep her in extended quarantine and see how she fares; In stead of potentially stressing her out by taking her to a vet. Especially if it's already something not really in your budget, just keep an hawks eye on her and try to get her established. Good luck with her!
regi375
05-02-17, 06:42 AM
Thanks Tsubaki! I'll keep an eye on her. Definitely be posting more pictures as they become available. Didn't want to stress her out with much handling after the long car ride home.
jjhill001
05-02-17, 01:07 PM
Personally I would wait to see what happens with quarantine before worrying about a vet visit. Get a basking lamp or some other heating element on her before making judgments about her attitude is gonna be #1. At shows all the snakes tend to get a bit cool and cold snakes means less active snakes which makes them all seem to handle better.
This is one of those species that really seems to benefit from a basking hotspot and a UVB bulb. I'm not gonna say the UVB is necessary but it just seems to give them more natural behaviors. This combined with it being a wildcaught would probably make it's transition easier. If it's being kept in a tank I would wrap 3 walls with flat black aquarium background just to give added security.
Little fish from the petstore would be OK but this species actually gets quite large (females being larger with most species) and those just aren't going to be a viable food source for very long which is why I wouldn't even risk the disease, plus if the store owner takes the added time to quarantine his fish it kind of seems like a waste to just feed them off when they could be really healthy pets. Plus I imagine they can't be cheap. Once it's up to 10-20 mollies in a sitting you'd probably regret that decision.
Fish & Gelatin: A Total Success! (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/general-talk/4881-fish-gelatin-total-success.html)
Making something like this is going to be your best bet and most cost effective in the long run. Initially you'll be spending like 15 bucks on the tilapia and salmon filets and I assume you have the calcium and vitamin powder already for your beardy you have. Plain jello can't be THAT expensive. You can make it in bulk freeze it and have food for a couple of months. If you actually did the math it would probably actually be way cheaper than mice although I'd give a feeder mouse every now and then simply because they aren't getting complete nutrition because they aren't getting full body fish.
Plus you can switch it up for variety too using basically any type of freshwater filet you can find on sale, trout, catfish being two other common types you can see at the grocery store for less than 6 bucks for about 6 filets. Plus if you're hungry you can cook up one of them for yourself while you wait for the jello to set.
Remember also that large water bowl, dry substrate is going to be key to avoiding the common skin conditions people see when keeping water snakes too wet.
I'm really interested in seeing the progression of this snake and finding out what you decide to name her. She was a really striking snake when I first saw her. You're lucky I didn't have a cage set up or I might have just ran out of the show with her haha.
regi375
05-04-17, 06:53 PM
Just a pic of what I currently have her set up in. I did also add in the uvb as suggested.
Macropodus
05-10-17, 08:53 PM
We kept wc water snakes years ago. 3 things I still remember about them: 1) they stink; i mean they really have an odor, it's not just their feces & urine that smell - that's easy enough just keep up w/cage maintenance - but the flesh of the snake itself stinks. 2) they eat anything that moves - opportunists by nature - so probably evolved on a very varied diet of anything they could catch and kill and swallow. 3) they need to be brumated otherwise they're gonna die <1yr, they're just not designed to be at a constant warm temperature year round.
p/u this vid @ 11:40 for a wild, wild, beautiful wc water snake ready to take your face off https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCdr1OGYGbo&index
Albert Clark
05-11-17, 05:50 AM
Nice addition. a safe thiaminase free fish to feed that is complete nutrition would be Sally's San Francisco silversides that can be obtained at Walmarts Pet dept. Also may be found at your local high end aquaria shop. They come as a frozen package and are relatively inexpensive. They are whole fish, thus complete nutrition and of course its always good to feed rodents in most snakes diet. Be careful and observe her closely while in quarantine for any scale eruptions and or discolorations bc there is a fungal disease rampant in the water snake population. However i think its milling around in the wild water snake population and not captive bred individuals but i may be wrong. A exotic vet visit is always a good thing to do so you have professional baseline to start with.
regi375
05-11-17, 06:42 AM
Thanks for the advice. I made that fish gelatine as JJ suggested, and I'm going to switch it up with a mouse every 3 feedings. She's been under strict quarantine procedures, and I haven't handled her much yet. Want to wait at least two weeks until I do. So I'll be getting her out this Tuesday and I'll inspect her then.
How long has she been captive? There is a horrible outbreak of fungus this past year. Many of the water snake group put down large portions of their collections and others just put down many new water snakes still in quarantine because wild caught snakes were having symptoms a few weeks to months after getting them. It's not very treatable. I am assuming reptile sensitivity to antifungals being part of that and it's under the skin. Definitely quarantine a long time.
Silversides seem to be a pretty standard diet item for them. There are probably plenty of sources besides your typical live feeder fish.
regi375
05-11-17, 10:21 AM
I'm not sure how long she's been a captive. What are the signs/symptoms of the infection? So I know what I'm looking out for.
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