ID help?

[BarelyBreathing]

Whatever it is, I love these snakes! I've added them to my wish list.

[Jason_Hood]

Originally Posted by StudentoReptile

Diadem rat snake. The taxonomic name escapes me, but they pop up now again on wholesalers lists/tables, mainly those who do a lot of WC imports.

It's an African species, not really related to our North American rat snakes.

Exactly right except they are more Middle Eastern and these look to be Royal Diadems Rat Snakes. As with many of the diurnal or arboreal snakes, it is far far better to buy CBB. It will take a bit more effort and a couple dollars more to do so but the pay off is huge! These guys are more racer than rat snake and have the attitude to back it up. If you buy CBB and young you can get them to be very placid and easy to deal with but a large WC can be a bit of a pain.

They are not chainsaws by any means but they do get a decent size and calmer is better. They also have a good hiss to them which is off putting to people not accustomed to hissing snakes. I had one clear a dozen kids out of my house one time... but they were easily scared.

Jason

[EmbraceCalamity]

Originally Posted by Jason_Hood

Exactly right except they are more Middle Eastern and these look to be Royal Diadems Rat Snakes. As with many of the diurnal or arboreal snakes, it is far far better to buy CBB. It will take a bit more effort and a couple dollars more to do so but the pay off is huge! These guys are more racer than rat snake and have the attitude to back it up. If you buy CBB and young you can get them to be very placid and easy to deal with but a large WC can be a bit of a pain.

They are not chainsaws by any means but they do get a decent size and calmer is better. They also have a good hiss to them which is off putting to people not accustomed to hissing snakes. I had one clear a dozen kids out of my house one time... but they were easily scared.

Jason

I'm a little confused about all the different pictures I've got turning up on Google. Some look like this:

And some look like this:


Do they go through a big change as they age or are they different morphs or what?

~Maggot

[StudentoReptile]

Thanks for the feedback, Jason. I do seem to recall they are more "racer-like" than ratsnake like.

[Kaity]

Originally Posted by Jason_Hood

Exactly right except they are more Middle Eastern and these look to be Royal Diadems Rat Snakes. As with many of the diurnal or arboreal snakes, it is far far better to buy CBB. It will take a bit more effort and a couple dollars more to do so but the pay off is huge! These guys are more racer than rat snake and have the attitude to back it up. If you buy CBB and young you can get them to be very placid and easy to deal with but a large WC can be a bit of a pain.

They are not chainsaws by any means but they do get a decent size and calmer is better. They also have a good hiss to them which is off putting to people not accustomed to hissing snakes. I had one clear a dozen kids out of my house one time... but they were easily scared.

Jason

Thanks for the info! They seem really interesting, hope I can hunt down a CBB neo sometime.

[Jason_Hood]

Originally Posted by EmbraceCalamity

I'm a little confused about all the different pictures I've got turning up on Google. Some look like this:

And some look like this:


Do they go through a big change as they age or are they different morphs or what?

~Maggot

You have pics of a baby and an adult. They do go through a change as they mature. I am not aware of any morphs but I am not up on the current state of things with them. There could be morphs by now...

Jason

[alessia55]

That's a really awesome snake. I'd like to see one in person some day

[dinosaurdammit]

so the question i have still stands, do they burrow?

[Jason_Hood]

Originally Posted by dinosaurdammit

so the question i have still stands, do they burrow?

If you put them on aspen they will burrow but so will most snakes. They are a desert dweller but not in the classic all sand that people tend to picture but rather low humidity, low annual rain fall, and oasis ravines. In this environment snakes tend to burrow into cracks and rock formations to get higher humidity and lower temps during the heat of the day. So yes they will burrow but a simple hide will suffice. I kept them on cypress mulch but I do that with most of my snakes. Most desert snakes are not as "desert" as we think. Most live in well drained soil with leaf litter cover and rock outcrops. They live between the dry outside and wet inside locations within their habitat. For most humidity near 40% is good.

Jason

[Jlassiter]

There are many species of Spalerosophis (Diadem Ratsnakes)
The most common is the Spalerosophis diadema diadema and the second most common being the Spalerosophis diadema cliffordi.
Out of the egg, both are very similar to the subadult picture up above, but the cliffordi does not go through an extreme ontogenetic change and will look much like a larger version of itself as a hatchling.

This is an ADULT cliffordi:


S. d. diadema go through a tremendous ontogenesis and end up tannish/orange with random dark splotches...Like the adult the OP has......

Just thought I'd add a tidbit of information......carry on......

[Snakeman8]

first ones a rat snake, discolored black rat
second is a cliffordi
scratch that, the first is a gopher snake

[poison123]

Originally Posted by Snakeman8

first ones a rat snake, discolored black rat
second is a cliffordi
scratch that, the first is a gopher snake

I dont see any gopher snake

[Snakeman8]

i was just about to fix that mistake right be fore you commented
diadem rat snake

[StudentoReptile]

Nope, no gopher snakes pictured here.