Russian ratsnake care?

Sasha2 · 09-28-15, 06:59 PM

I am thinking Sylphie is the resident russian ratsnake expert.
I am getting one, well I may be getting one this week.Its about two years old. Anyway how do you keep your russians?
Will a 55 gallon be a good size for a female?
Overhead heat or just a simple UTH?
I think it gets pretty cool here in winter(new to this house so we dont know yet).
Any helps will be appreciated, thanks.

Sylphie · 09-29-15, 03:19 AM

Hahaha, how cute to be called "expert"

Not the expert (yet! hahaha), but I can answer to your questions.

I understand that by 55gal you mean something like 48 x 13 x 21 (inch)? If so, yeah it will be really good for 2yo (although in future you might want to move him/her to bigger tank, as they can sometimes grow to 6 foot). You can put there a lot of branches, as they are perfect climbers, and rather active most of the time. The heat is for you to choose, it's totally neutral for them. I personally prefer UTH as Russians love to climb and can easily burn themselves if the heat bulb (or any other overhead heat) is not well secured. And they are really strong, so it should be WELL secured

As to general tips... some of them (mostly females from what I see and heard) are having rather strong feeding response, so you might want to feed them with tweezers. In spring you can try to give quail eggs, as some of them really like it. They are calm, don't mind being handled... well they love to be out and about so you can handle them a lot

As for humidity, water bowl is all they need, but they love to swim so it would be nice to give yours a bigger bowl so s/he can swim a little.

Of course there are also some more shy ones... or with feeding response so strong that they strike on the glass when you just watch them in their tank... (yes, yes, I'm having one like this)... but then I recommend just a hook to get them out of the cage, once on hands they can be a little squirmy but will calm down after a while. But that are exceptions, mine is the only one I known/heard about to be like this, and I talked to a lot of owners, so that's just my luck

Sasha2 · 09-29-15, 08:21 AM

Thanks so much. I do have some tweezers for feeding and a hook so Im set.
These snakes sounds like fun. I will have to keep her in a tub for quarentine but its a big one so shouldnt be too confining for her.I will add some branches in as well.

The 55 gallon is 48 x 13 x21 in inches. I havent gotten it yet but will this weekend, Petco here is having their dollar a gallon sale.

Sylphie · 09-29-15, 08:35 AM

No problem at all. She'll be fine in tub for quarantine, but they are one of these species that should be kept in tanks, as they are really active and love to use all the space they have.

And remember to post a lot of pics!

Sasha2 · 09-29-15, 11:40 AM

I agree, I dont like to put them in tubs unless needed. My corns are in 40 gallon breeders tanks, nice and roomy.
My female ball python will stop eating if she is in anything other then a small tub. Go figure, but if it makes her happy.

Sylphie · 09-29-15, 11:58 AM

Haha, yeah, it really depends on the snake

Sasha2 · 09-29-15, 05:45 PM

How often do you feed yours? This one is a female and she is about 2ft long, has already turned mostly black . She looks a bit thin but its hard to tell from pictures.
I will get her on Thursday hopefully. Im pretty excited, I hope she is healthy.

Sylphie · 09-30-15, 02:13 AM

If you'll post a pic I'll be able to advice what size and how often. In that stage that you described I was feeding mine one miece every 7 days, but then I changed it to 2 mices at once but every 2 weeks (and that's how often should you feed them when they are adult... unless you are having a really big adult like 6ft, then ofc you should feed him more/bigger prey). It really depends on the size of snake, if you'll feed her one mice and there will be no visible bulge, or she'll be digesting it after one day and will looking for more then I will definitely recommend moving her to 2 preys at one feeding. Russians are known to prefer more but smaller preys than one big (thats why I feed my adult female 2-3 mices than one rat at the moment).

Sasha2 · 09-30-15, 08:56 AM

Here is one of the pics I got from the guy Im buying her from.

Sylphie · 09-30-15, 09:07 AM

Definitely one mice every week

They are always hungry and grow really fast so with steady feeding she'll ba a big one in no time

Sasha2 · 09-30-15, 02:09 PM

Now Im really worried because it keeps saying that the shipment was canceled by the seller at the fedex tracking sight.....I hate buying online.

Sylphie · 09-30-15, 02:46 PM

Hope everything will be fine

Sylphie · 10-02-15, 04:14 AM

Everything ended well? I hope nothing wrong happened and it was just some small mistake.

Sasha2 · 10-02-15, 07:22 AM

Yes I finally have her home. She is a cutie and quite handleable. I didnt get a picture because she didnt get here until evening. If she is out and about in her tub today I will get a picture, this morning she is still hiding.