African Egg Eating Snakes...

tabastifur · 05-10-03, 05:55 PM

I am not sure if this is where I should be asking about these, but who knows anything about them, or who keeps them?

Thanks,

Dan

JD@reptiles · 05-10-03, 06:06 PM

i dont keep them but i know a little about them. what do you want to know?

tabastifur · 05-10-03, 07:48 PM

If they are available for purchase, or even captively kept?

And what kind of temps would I have to maintain should I be lucky enough to find one.

Ed_r · 05-10-03, 08:05 PM

They are sold in the pet trade. They stay relatively small. The catch is they ONLY eat small songbird eggs. So chicken eggs are out. I don't have them but met a lady who has one. A very cool snake. Hers only eats FRESH Quail eggs. I was told hers will only eat the eggs out of an old actual birds nest. They are highly arboral. Be aware of their captive needs before you get one.

tabastifur · 05-11-03, 08:46 AM

I have a good idea of thier requirements, I just needed to know the temps. That's one thing I can't find.

Does anyone know where I can find one?

Vanan · 05-11-03, 07:20 PM

I think it's one of those things you're gonna have to wing it. Not many caresheets out there and not many people have taken the effort to study them in captivity. A shame but such as it is. I would go with considering their natural habitat, and actual temps of their region. Take into consideration that they're colubrids and don't need such high temps as most boids do, as they're pretty small too. Also since they're pretty arboreal, you'd want good ventilation in their enclosure and a cooler temp than the ground temp. Temps in the trees pretty much are the same as air temps, but the ground heats up more.

If I were to get a Dasypeltis, I would go with a safer range of being on the cooler side. Warm side of about 85-87F and cool end of about 75F. In fact, if you have the space, you can create a high thermal gradient and see which is the most preferred spot your snake hangs out in. Be sure to give hides all over the gradient though.

Good luck!

Disclaimer: I have not kept the genus Dasypeltis and am only speculating. If there's anyone out there who has kept them successfully, go with their advice!