Ribbons!

[Oliverian]

Well, as some of you know, this was my first year brumating snakes, and it didn't go all that well. Out of three ribbon snakes put into brumation, only two came out. My largest female died for no obvious reason, a short while before she was due to come out. The other two were fine. I believe that one female had something wrong with her, and I suspect it was improper nutrition from the last owner. (all three snakes came to me with signs of vitamin B deficiency, now corrected)

Now, the pair that did well were introduced about two weeks ago, and showed signs of wanting to mate. I left them together for a few days, and then seperated them again. I reintroduced them about three days ago, and I THOUGHT I saw them mate. I had never seen a snake mating before, but I knew basically what to look for. Anyways, I thought they had mated, but left them together for a few more days.

Last night I went into the room and saw them actually mating, and let me tell you, it was sure different from what I saw the other night. Before they were just on top of each other, kind of wrapped up and that's when I thought they mated, but last night they were definitely mating. Let me just say I didn't expect it to be so active (and violent!)

It was definately a succesfull mating, so now I'm hoping she's gravid. She has the gaping cloaca going on, and there was quite a bit of 'spillage'. It's very exiting, as this is my first snake mating.

I snapped a picture with a regular camera, but it's probably pretty bad as I didn't want to disturb them. I'll post it when it gets developed. Need a digital camera, I know!


Man, I'm excited now! Were you guys this happy when your first snakes mated?

-TammyR

[Dom]

HI!

Sorry to hear about the lost female.. as for mating of your ribbons.. theres one thing that first came to mind .. You were speaking about how violent they were while "mating" .. Are you sure they were not combating .. to me for some reason this seemed more likely. I'd get the sexes checked.

If they were mating congrats and keep the introductions..


First time I bred snakes were my two burms.. accidentally .. I was pretty excited about it but they never produce .. so happy about it now.. I was not ready then for em.

Dom

[Oliverian]

Hey. Yes, these guys are definitely a pair. Definitely mating. It was very interesting, to say the least. Actually, it was not really violent in the true sense of the word... It was just that the female occasionally tried to move somewhere, and the male would be dragged along, and then one or the other would start getting ancy and thrash a bit. Very neat.

I know not a lot of people breed these guys because many think they're 'beginners' snakes, or not very interesting to keep, but they're awesome. I'm impressed. :) And now exited to wait for little snakes. :D

-TammyR

[creepiecrawlie]

GOOD LUCK man to me that would be exciting!!!

[Oliverian]

:) Thanks. Yea, I'm exited. And I have a whole bunch of people already interested in the offspring. I'll probably keep a couple nice looking ones though.

-TammyR

[Auskan]

Tammy, I'll be very interested to hear the progress with your pair. I also have a Ribbon snake and while I can't say its my favorite snake, I do find him interesting to watch. Whereas my terrestrial snakes have relatively small rubbermaids that are simple - a hide on each end, water bowl etc, for my Ribbon, being arboreal, I created a very nice habitat with all kinds of vines, spaghnum moss, aquarium background etc, and I enjoy watching him. He's an awesome feeder - tonight he ate ~about 25 minnows. (I asked for 12 but they couldn't be bothered counting them out, and when I finally counted after he was well into his feeding, there were still 20 in the bowl!). What has surprised me (I've only had him a few weeks so I'm still learning about them) is that he doesn't have the capacity to eat large food items. He is quite big and about 1/2" thick, so I thought he'd be able to handle something the size of a small fuzzy at least, but when I bought him 2 goldfish as a treat last week, he really struggled with them. One of them he had to have 3 tries at before finally getting it down. Anyway, this is way off the topic - it was just nice to see a post about Ribbons for a change. Congrats on your mating and please keep us posted on the results.

Btw, how big are your male/female? I had never considered breeding Ribbons, but now you've got me thinking LOL.

[Jeff_Favelle]

Whereas my terrestrial snakes have relatively small rubbermaids that are simple - a hide on each end, water bowl etc, for my Ribbon, being arboreal,


Ribbons are arboreal??

[Oliverian]

I don't think they're actually arboreal snakes... they do spend a LOT of time up in the trees though, especially the florida ribbons. Auskan, my female takes the occasional pinky and downs it no problem. I actually find that they take larger prey better than the corn and king. You probably already know, goldfish are basically without nutrition for the snakes. I feed mine trout/rat/vitamin blend. It's about the consistency of wet cat food when thawed, and they just chow down. They're awesome when it comes to eating. Anything that is scented with fish, they'll eat, and they're so easy to convert to pinks when needed.

The most interesting thing about these guys is that they totally come to check you out when you are in the room. My other snakes either ignore me or move a little bit, but the ribbons come up to the glass and watch whatever you do. They're curious little buggers. And it's crazy how different males and females behave. I have a pair each of easterns and floridas, and the females act way different from the males.

The gravid girl is doing well. She's really getting big, and has started basking a lot more. I have to go back and count the days, but I think she's due in a little more than a month.

Very fun. :)
-TammyR

[Jeff_Favelle]

If they are like garters (I know they're related, but how much so?), then the females bask at HIGH HIGH temperatures. But I wouldn't muck around with what you're doing.

Be cool to see some neat Ribbons born! Best of luck! :D

[Sean_.E.]

Thats awesome! I know what you mean when you say how exciting it is! On wednesday my pair of african house snakes bred. They copulated for over ten hours, which surprised me. They are the first reptiles I have ever attempted to breed and I was so amazed when they bred. I hope I get some eggs from the female and then, some baby snakes!

I hope your female has a nice healthy litter for you! Good luck!

Sean

[Oliverian]

That's awesome Sean. I think I heard about that in another thread actually. Seems kind of odd that they would copulate for that long, but hey, that's snakes for you! Do you know how long it takes until they lay?

-TammyR

[Sean_.E.]

I believe on average it takes takes approximately 60 days for them to lay and the about another 60 for them to hatch (these are only ruff numbers). What is the gestation period of ribbons?

Sean

[Cedille]

Congrats!

I know *exactly* how you feel, as i just watched my first ever snake mating. I'm going to be a snake-gramma soon. Very exciting!

All in all i thought it was pretty anticlimactic.. (no pun intended..) i mean, there was just sort of a lot of sitting there with their tails pressed together. Not sure what i expected but.. hey.

Make sure you post lots of pics of the eggs and babies!

[Oliverian]

The courting process was pretty interesting. The male was constantly on the move, rubbing his nose on her and twitching, and inching along really slowly. It was neat to watch.

Oops, looks like I forgot my information. I thought it was 40 days from fertilization to lay date, but I looked it up again to make sure, and I was wrong. Birth occurs typically 90 to 100 days after mating, so I'll be waiting a while more. Been doing a lot of research lately, so must have mixed it up with some other species' gestation period. I will try and get pictures, if I can get ahold of a digital camera. I think my brother has one he can lend me.

-TammyR

[Jeff Hathaway]

Congrats, Tammy!

Ribbons are great snakes, but you're right- they are underappreciated. Partly that's because they aren't so easy to keep and breed compared to most rodent feeders, and partly it's because there are still thousands of WC westerns flooding the market for a few bucks each, IMO.

You have easterns? Now I'm really interested... Do you know anything about where they came from?

Jeff Hathaway
Sciensational Sssnakes!!

[Oliverian]

Thanks Jeff. Yea, they're neat snakes. I actually find they're quite easy to keep because they aren't demanding at all with humidity requirements, and they eat just about everything as long as it smells appetizing.

The easterns I got as a trio from a guy in Nanaimo (Vancouver area) back when I first started keeping. (Almost two years, holy!) ;). I don't know where they were from before that. They weren't the healthiest snakes in the world when I got them, but they're doing well now. Are easterns not common in captivity or something?

They look exactly like this: http://www.enature.com/fieldguide/showSpeciesLG.asp?showType=4&rgnID=901&curGroupID=7&curPageNum=39&recnum=AR0120

I also have a pair of what I got as 'florida ribbons' but I can't find any information under that name. They look similar, but act differently and have a slightly different head shape. I'll try to find a picture that looks similar to them.

-TammyR

[Oliverian]

... I'm still not totally sure if they're easterns. It's hard to tell!

The female is getting really large about three inches down from her head all the way to her vent. She's still eating really well and she should be due on May 1st (if I counted right)

-TammyR