A Poll...Would you be interested....

[HerperHelmz]

Ok, I'm not trying to sell anything, just wanting to know if anyone in here would want to be the first to keep hybrid ringneck snakes. This spring, my 20 inch female northern ringneck snake nicknamed Giant, will breed(hopefully)with a 24 inch regal ringneck snake. The babies will most likely come out in the area of 6 inches long. They will most likely feed on snakes from the start. So....vote on the poll.

Thanks to the people that do vote...

Michael
http://www.freewebs.com/mikesnake

[Stockwell]

NO, wouldn't touch one with a 10 foot pole
1. hybrids shouldn't be made or encouraged
2. they are native and native species can't be kept legally(in many places)
3. They don't eat well in captivety, and babies especially at 3 inches long would be trouble. They're too small to even pinky pump.
Ringnecks, redbellies, and Dekay's are not commonly cultured species. There is a reason for that. They're best left in the wild

[thunder]

i would love to keep a pure ringneck, but im not into hybrids. do you think a baby ringneck would be willing to feed on lizards as opposed to snakes? where does one even get feeder snakes?

[HerperHelmz]

Thunder,

Since they will be hybrids, and since they will be 50% regal, they will probably prey on lizards and snakes, along with all the other things that northern ringneck snakes prey on, gonna have to wait and see though. I catch all of my feeder snakes, but I know people that buy them as well.

Stockwell...

2. they are native and native species can't be kept legally(in many places).... **There is not one place in the world where regal ringneck snakes and northern ringneck snakes occur together, therefore the hatchlings will be legal to keep

3. They don't eat well in captivety, and babies especially at 3 inches long would be trouble.
**Babies at 3 inches long, are a challenge, I know plenty of people that have raised hatchlings to adults, once you get a baby one eating, you are on the right track. Also, getting regal ringneck snakes to eat is no trouble at all, they'll attack any snake or lizard you throw to them. :)
Michael
http://www.freewebs.com/mikesnake

[CamHanna]

I think that the hybrid market is mostly composed of curious herpers and pet keepers. Regal x Northern Ringnecks are not different enough to spark most peoples curiosity (would you be interested in a Northern x Eastern Ribbon cross?) and they certainly won't appeal to the pet crowd either.

I think that the appeal of Diadophis and other obscure species is that they are something different, not represented in captivity, but hybridizing your specimens takes the novelty out of them. You no longer have a Northern Ringneck or a Regal Ringneck, you have a mutt that does not represent any taxa and can't be bred ethically (IMO) to anything but mutts.

I don’t see the point in crossing them. If you want something big then why not breed regalis?

If it were available in the poll I'd say, "No, definatly not! While Ringnecks are great snakes I see no point in hybridizing them." You must realize that you are likely one of the top ringneck breeders in the world (big fish, small pond) and if you muddy up your lines then that has a tremendous effect on captive punctatus.

Cam

[HerperHelmz]

Glad to see I am getting feedback on all of this. I will most likely breed regals in the spring, and breeding a northern to a regal was just an idea that was trying to work with. The more and more I hear about this, I'm confident now that it will not happen. Anybody out there interested in regal ringneck snake hatchlings? They are about 8 inches in length at hatching and feed on neonate snakes and lizards.

Michael
http://www.freewebs.com/mikesnake

[thunder]

i would love some baby regal ringnecks! however, i dont know much about their captive care. i would be interested in buying a few, and i have a good source for lizards, but id need to know some basic stuff like their size, heat, and humidity requirements.

[HerperHelmz]

Regals from the locality I keep(AZ), range from 23 to 30 inches in length as adults, and the record is 38 inches(not 33 anymore). They are best kept at a temperature between 75 and 83 degrees. They do not need much humidity, I give them a little plastic container, with a hole in the side so they can go in, and a hole in the top to let air out, and it's packed with moist mosss and placed on the warm side of the enclosure. That creates a humidity chamber that I only put in for when the snake is about to shed.

Any other questions?

Michael
http://www.freewebs.com/mikesnake

[Crazycorn]

I want some Green Phase regals, they are my favorites.

[HerperHelmz]

The green ones are cool, but hard to come by, I only know of one right now in captivity. The adult light gray ones actually look alot better than the greens.
Michael
http://www.freewebs.com/mikesnake

[snakehunter]

Stockwell nailed it.

[Removed_2815]

A resounding NO!... for Roy's reasons.
So, I voted NO, but not because Ringnecks are "no good"...
Ryan