Here is a little update about my Yellow-bellied Puffing Snakes (Spilotes sulphureus). I have them now for three weeks and they did settle down quite nicely. Both ate a medium sized rat last week and I had to remove the result later this week. Since this was the first time I had to remove the droppings of them it was a learning experience for all of us. I learned a lot about them, especially about the tolerance of the first male who is still more active and inquisitive than the second male.
He was a little nervous and showed me his displeasure when I had to remove their droppings from where he was watching me. He showed a graded defensive behavior very similar to his cousin the tiger rat snake (Spilotes pullatus). It started with the typical tail rattling and when this didn’t get the desired result he inflated his neck vertically and to a lesser degree also horizontally. When I had to remove some waste right in front of him he was also bending his neck in an “S”-shape, something I haven’t experienced with my tiger rat snakes yet.
The second male was also more active. His coloration is paler than the coloration of the first male, he has some reduced markings at the last third of his body, the first male has no markings at all at the last third, he shows only his gray-brown base color.
Male #2
You can see the reduced blotches on the right side, some small reddish spots at the upper scales of the back.
Here are both males in comparison. Male #1 disappears to the left, you can see his lower third with no markings at all, in contrast the second male with paler coloration and some reduced markings at the lower third of his body.
Another picture of male #2 showing the reduced markings.
Male #2 in his hide
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