Russians

[Katt]

Not a heck of a lot of these guys in Canada. I hear they are illegal in Alberta.

Great snakes, big eyes, mine are tame as can be. Nice black blue colour, yellow is kinda crappy, but hey, they're not jungle carpets so what does it matter?

I got my pair from SCALES Zoo and I am really happy with them. Just got them yesterday. Fantastic beasts.

The male is pictured here and I will keep his name of Smirnoff. All that speckly stuff on him is dried peat moss.

Any other russian fans out there? European rats seem to be quite uncommon even in the states.

<img src="http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/137smirnoff.jpg">

[Bartman]

there nice..do you have any other pics of its entire body?

[TheRedDragon]

Wow, those Russians are beautiful in my opinion. Congrats on your new pair, and good luck with them. :)

[mark129er]

Nice snakes, I would be interested to see the entire body too

[Katt]

I'll get some full body pics once I get some decent ones.

These guys are about four to five feet, but can get close to six feet.

[lydhagen]

I have russians, and i live in Sweden. Lovley snakes!

[Tim and Julie B]

I love Russians! But you probably knew that because we have the exact same intrests in snakes. They are such a cool species and I am totally jealous! TB

[Pitviper]

Hi folks!

I´m from Germany as you can see, and the common name "russian" is not known in european literature. So what kind of snake is this? I guess it´s a Elaphe Schrencki, isn´t it? If so you should contact europea breeders, in germany it´s a very common snake which is sold for about 30 to 50 Euro each. Yours is a very beautyful one as most of the adult specimen often are simply dark brown with muddy coloured stripes´. It´s a sad thing, they´re so beatyful when they´ve just hatched... E.Schrencki is one of the very few european species that can be traded and bred without gouvernmental permission. Most species are protected by law and are not allowed to be caught, traded with or being kept in private homes.
Happy herping,
Pitviper

[Linds]

Neat looking snake! Think its the first colubrid I've ever seen that actually appears to have "expression"...

[Invictus]

I can't imagine a russian rat being illegal in Alberta. As far as I know, the only Elaphe that are illegal here are the indigenous ones, and I don't think this one's indigenous.

[Clownfishie]

Beautiful! :D Can't wait to see some more pics...

[snakelet]

Beautiful snakes, I wish I could get one. If you happen to get them to breed, I'll be the first one waiting for a baby or two ;)

Leanne

[snakelet]

Beautiful snakes, I wish I could get one. If you happen to get them to breed, I'll be the first one waiting for a baby or two ;)

Leanne

[Scales Zoo]

Russians are restricted in Alberta.

There are not any native elaphe in Alberta (you probably meant Canada), and many ratsnakes, for different reasons that don't know, are restricted in Alberta.

I've been told it is because it is possible that some ratsnakes could escape and live in Alberta climates as a feral animal.

But then there is the tiger ratsnake, and others.

My gut feeling is that tiger rats are restricted because when making the laws, they may have read somewhere "...can attain 12 feet long, and may have the propensity to bite and be aggressive...." and they thought it would be bigger than a boa.

Ryan

[Scales Zoo]

Oh, forgot to ask, are russians still elaphe - or what are they now?

Are there any elaphe left?

Ryan

[Katt]

Yup, still Elaphe left. Russians, Koreans, carinata and some others i can't remembe still remain Elaphe.

http://www.ratsnakes.com/revision1.html

[lydhagen]

http://zoonen.com/perzoonen/galleri.asp?oid=65256&gid=65258

There you have some pics of my russian ratsnakes. I have 1.2 for the moment. Very nice animals!
And they are still known as Elaphe (shrenckii schrenckii) And live in Russia, by the river amur, and is sometimes refferd to as Amurratsnake.

BR Emil, Sweden

[Katt]

Yes, I've heard of Amur ratsnakes. Thanks for sharing your pics!