big colubrid

Carpetfreak2004 · 06-07-04, 02:48 PM

i like the way ratsnakes look but i also like big snakes so my question is what are some of the biggest ratsnakes?
how tame are yellow rat snakes?

JD@reptiles · 06-07-04, 05:27 PM

Big rat snakes are asian elaphe... they seem to range from 6-8 feet. yellow rat snakes are as tame as you make them.

jim mcallister · 06-07-04, 05:31 PM

Check out the beauty snakes. Blue beauty's and Tawainese....they are nice.

Ryan23 · 06-07-04, 07:39 PM

I have to throw in the Black Rat, they can get huge and are awsome snakes.........I guess the Tiger Rat(Spilotes) is right up there with the asian rats too.

p.s. I know the Tiger Rat isn't asian just meant size.

snakehunter · 06-07-04, 07:47 PM

What about western indigos, i think thats right, theyre a slate gray color with black trikles from their eyes to their mouth, like taers. i hear they can get 8-9

Tim and Julie B · 06-07-04, 08:15 PM

Well if you want to get technical. The above species aren't really ratsnakes. A lot of misc. stuff is grouped into the ratsnake comman name only to be taken out later. So it is a huge list of various families of snakes. If you want to go by Elaphe then Elaphe carainata at 2 metres would have to be in the running. They don't call it the King rat for nothing, but even it is thought to be a different species.
If you are looking for a pet though, go for a N.American species.
Yellows are great. My female is puppy tame (actually.....why do people say that? Puppies bite a lot!) but my male is a little devil. Everglades are a very nice species. But out of all the N.American species I have had, the largest was by far a male grey rat. I am 6'4" and I used to hold the tail by my head and the snake still had about a foot left on the ground. An absolute monster. So times you come across freakishly large snakes for their species. TB

Beardonicus · 06-07-04, 08:24 PM

Black Rats also get fairly sizeable and make great pets as well.

anders_240sx · 06-07-04, 10:23 PM

All Drymarchon sp. get a nice size ... and are absolutely awesome ... by the end of the summer I should have a total of three ...the one I have doubled its weight in 32 days ... eats everything... and is diurnal ... They can get as big as 10 feet and the record is 12 feet... but anywhere between 8 - 10 feet is common (Cribos)

Simon Sansom · 06-08-04, 04:32 AM

While SOME of the North American rat snakes may only occasionally reach eight feet, I'd say it's a more rare occurrence than it is for some of the Asian genus/species/sub-species.

The Cave-Dwelling Beauty Snake can reach ten feet in length, and I think the Taiwan Beauty can get a bit longer than that.
I have an adult male Caver who is at least eight and a half feet (The last time I measured him was last year, and he came out to approximately eight feet, six inches, taking into account the fact that we couldn't quite stretch him all the way out, lol) .

Cheers!

Simon R. Sansom

gonesnakee · 06-08-04, 02:45 PM

Largest Colubrid in N. America is the Eastern Indigo. Big & Black. Unfortunately being from Florida it will most likely be illegal for you to keep. You can observe them in the wild there though if you are lucky. I'd go for some Beauty Snakes meself. Mark

Vanan · 06-08-04, 03:45 PM

I'd have to agree with Mark on the beauties. Never seen any other colubrid (in person that is), that easily reaches the 7ft mark. We're talking 6ft in their first year!

BTW, Tim, King rats are called so cos of their ophiphagous nature, as is so with any other snake with King in it's common name. How's yours doing btw?

Of course, nothing beats the longest colubrids, Ptyas sp.

Scales Zoo · 06-08-04, 06:40 PM

My favorite colubrids are Tiger rats, Taiwan Beauties, and Indigos. Our Tiger rats and Beauties are longer than any indigo I've ever seen in person.

While we got off the "ratsnake" thing a bit - I should also mention that Northern pinesnakes and bullsnakes, both North American, get very big as well.

Ryan

Simon Sansom · 06-09-04, 02:55 PM

Good point, Ryan! I've seen some monster Bull and Gopher Snakes. Impressive, hefty - another good group of snakes to consider if you're looking for something fairly large in a colubrid.

And, I can't wait 'til my <html><i>Spilotes </i></html> get to the size of yours.

Cheers!

Simon R. Sansom

Scales Zoo · 06-09-04, 03:18 PM

Our big Northern pine snake is 7' long, and very thick. I've seen captive bullsnakes the same size - I'd love to see a 8' + bull, I guess they get very thick.

I think the female spilotes grew since we last took pictures of her. She is over 8' long, not much - but she has gotten a lot thicker, hopefully she will bless us with eggs now that she is in with a male. You should see our new male, he is about just as big as the female.

Ryan

Simon Sansom · 06-15-04, 01:57 AM

I'm hoping to get another c.b. female this season.

Ryan, do you have any pics of yours? I'd love to see your new guy...

Simon R. Sansom