Rhynchophis

[Dirty]

Rhino rat snakes are awesome. I was wondering if anyone had any info... are they hard to keep?

[Simon]

Rhino Rats are to be honest one of my most prized snake that I am keeping right now.

I have been keeping these for 3 years now and currently have 2.3 of these beauties.

As hatchlings, they are a bit funky about what they eat. Usually starts off with guppies (fish) and would willing to take mice after a bit of scenting and all that.

Usually they would like live food item. But I have gotten 3 of 5 of mine to take f/t with no problem at all. The other 2 would eat f/t once in a while and with a bit of tease feeding.

Also I have noticed that they love soaking. In fact 90% of the time I see mine soaking in their water bowl and which is why I have a bigger water bowl for them than any of my snakes. They don't just sit in the water, they actually submerge themselves in it a lot. I thought that was weird cause they were suppose to be snakes that lived in trees and all.....tried to increase the humidity for them, but they didn't like it as much as soaking....so right now they have a water bowl that they can submerge themselves in and I think that they're all happy~~

Currently I am hoping that one of my female is gravid. She looks awfully 'fat' so Iam just hoping to produce them this year.

If you would want any other information on them, please feel free to ask.

[lolaophidia]

I've got a pair of 04's and I agree with what Simon posted. The male eats fish readily, but I have to trick him into eating a mouse pink. The female eats f/t pinks, no problem. They both spend a lot of time in their water dishes, the female totally submerges for days at a time.
I'm keeping them on the cool side in the mid 70's for temps and they're digesting their meals well.

I really enjoy keeping them. They're odd little snakes with some interesting behavior, not like a "typical" small asian rat snake. In a few years, I hope to have a clutch of the little pointy nosed critters myself.
Here's a couple of pics of the male...
http://photos.herphost.com/albums/userpics/Rhynchophis%20fishing16_112404.JPG
http://photos.herphost.com/albums/userpics/Rhyno1_111504.JPG

[Simon]

Lora,

Nice looking little one there.

I would love to see more adult females.
I am begining to think that you can tell the sex difference from the patterns that these snakes have as adults. Both of my females have blackish/blue/grey markings. Where as my males have light green and little markings on them. I don't know if this is true since I have only seen 10 rhino rats in my life time, not enough to prove this out yet.

I also found out that my females were easier to feed on f/t mice than males. Maybe there has something to do with this too~~

Your rhino is looking great Lora~ Best of luck with them!!

[lolaophidia]

Thanks Simon. I'll be sure to let you know if my female and male end up looking different from one another in a couple years. Wouldn't it make life much easier if you could sex snakes by color!

[sapphire_moon]

OMG I HAVE TO HAVE ONE!

seriously, how much do they go for and direct me to a care sheet or 10! That would be a dream snake! Do both sexs have the little rhino nose?

[Simon]

Sapphire Moon,

Currently in the States they're selling them for about $6-800US each. This year if I produce I'll be selling them for about $800-$1000CDN each.

As for care sheets.....I really don't konw of any care sheets out there.....I can tell you my experience with them....that is the best I can do for you.....

Both sexes on these snakes have those little rhino horns on them. They hatch out as being grey little ones and have a color changing phase (kind of like ETB/GTP) and turn into great looking green snakes.

[lolaophidia]

Both sexes have the same pointy nose. For care sheets, you can try a search on Google under either Rhino ratsnakes or Rhychophis boulengeri.

Here's a pretty good one I found on the Bushmaster site...

green unicorn... (http://www.bushmaster.de/HTML/Rhyno-review.htm)

Here's the quickie one from Pro Exotics where I got my female from...

Pro Exotics Quick Care (http://www.proexotics.com/care_rhino.html)

Pricing that I've seen are between 400-600 USD for hatchlings. They aren't very common at this point, so you can go months without finding them available. I have no idea what they might go for in Canada, depends on the number of breeders working with them.
Hope that helps!
BTW- Simon, you type faste than I do! Beat me to it while I was searching google for the care sheets...

[sapphire_moon]

lol, thanks. Wish I had that kinda money! I would definitly be buyin me one or two!

Beautiful, maybe.....one day when they become more common.........like in my dreams...lol

[atheris]

R. boulengeri lays in water because it actually hunts from under water a tadpoles ! So this behaviour is natural, mice is not good for this species digestion in first year of living.

When used natural pray items they reach sexual maturity in 18 months (females).Males in 24-26 months. Also cool night temps are important to this species 17-18C .

Hibernation in 10-13 C 3 months.

To Simon:

There is no sexual dimorphism, only that young males grow faster than females.

[Simon]

Lora,

LOL~~
I type pretty fast~
about 85wpm~

Kert,
Thanks for the info~
I actually found it the other way round, my females were growing a lot faster than the males. They were more readily to eat too.

[Simon]

Here are my Rhino Rats.

Hopefully the female is gravid. I am not sure, but it sure does look 'fat'

She also hasn't been eating as much as she used to.

Hope you'll enjoy these pics~

One of my Female Rhino

http://www.extremesnakes.com/images/Photos/Rat/RR0201F-19.JPG

http://www.extremesnakes.com/images/Photos/Rat/RR0201F-20.JPG

http://www.extremesnakes.com/images/Photos/Rat/RR0201F-21.JPG

One of my Male Rhino

http://www.extremesnakes.com/images/Photos/Rat/RR0201M-14.JPG

http://www.extremesnakes.com/images/Photos/Rat/RR0201M-15.JPG

http://www.extremesnakes.com/images/Photos/Rat/RR0201M-16.JPG

http://www.extremesnakes.com/images/Photos/Rat/RR0201M-17.JPG

http://www.extremesnakes.com/images/Photos/Rat/RR0201M-18.JPG

Enjoy~

[csolis]

Rhino ratsnakes are one of my favourite snakes!!! Simon you have to let me know if you breed some!!!!!!!!!!!!, good luck man!, Carlos