# Chrysopelea Ornata



## Dessicata (Apr 29, 2004)

Had her out cos she had some substrate stuck in her mouth, tricky task to remove it, but seemed to get most if not all out.  One of my 2 adult females, nasty as hell, another of my rear-fanged species, common name Golden Flying Snake.


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## Atalanta (Apr 29, 2004)

That is a beautiful snake.  I also love the Chrysopelea paradisi; the markings have made that a favorite of mine for many years.  (Your post actually helped me remember the name.)  I don't know much about the flying snakes, however - is yours a venomous species?


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## Immortal_sin (Apr 29, 2004)

wow...what a beautiful snake. I've never seen or heard of it before....
How is the care on them? Where are they from? 
( guess I could google, but I'm too tired tonight)!


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## Phillip (Apr 30, 2004)

They come from Burma, Thailand, Indochina and southern China to northern Peninsuar Malaysia.

I'm not sure on the care as I haven't kept them but they are probably similar in care to most Asian rat snakes. In other words not too hard to keep but shy snakes that prefer to be left alone and do best when given ample hiding space and not handled much.

Phil


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## Immortal_sin (Apr 30, 2004)

thanks Phillip! 
Even though it sounds like they might not make the best display snakes...they are still really cool


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## Dessicata (Apr 30, 2004)

They actually make great display animals, always out and about, although philip is right, they don't like to be handled, I only get them out when I need to (this one has something wrong with it's mouth, trying to discover what it is, I dont have a reptile vet anywhere near me   ).

Easy to keep, nice and humid, and warm.  Very bitey though, so not the friendliest species  that one actually mistook my finger for a mouse and tried swallowing 

Lee

P.S.  Anyone who knows anything about snakes and minor veterinary stuff, please get in touch!


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## Bry (May 2, 2004)

I've been interested in keeping this species for some time now. What would be considered appropriate-sized housing for an adult of this species? I've read they mainly eat geckos and lizards in the wild, but will eat bats and other rodents. How difficult are they to switch over from lizards to rodents, if necessary? The picture below is one that I found through an image search on Google. I'm not too well-versed on the differences between Chrysopelea ssp., but I believe this one is a C. paradisi.


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## Dessicata (May 2, 2004)

For a start that is Chrysopelea paradisi (if you know this already, discount that).

I keep my adult pair in a vivarium 36" x 18" x 20".  I would love to keep them in something much bigger, but haven't the space, and this is more than big enough for them.  As adults, the C. ornata are the largest of the genus, being 3-4' as adults.  Paradisi are smaller, so you could get away with a smaller vivarium - the guy I bought these off was keeping the 2 in a 12" x 12" x 18" vivarium and they were thriving - so long as they have hides, they are happy.

As for the mice issue, mine readily accept frozen thawed mice, as well as my fingers   Just make sure you have some tongs to feed them, as they will attack you.  Whenever I need to do anything with this species, I get at least 10 bites from each   Good job their venom isn't potent.

Hope that was of some help.

Lee


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## Bry (May 4, 2004)

Thanks Lee...as for the size of 36"x18"x20", I'm assuming you mean HxDxW?

Bry


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## Dessicata (May 4, 2004)

LxDxH.  Sadly, thats the largest I had available to me when I bought them.  Other than this problem (think it was brought on by a change of substrate to 'eco earth' [now back on newspaper]) with her mouth, they have both been fine in there.  They're not overly large snakes, and, although I would like to offer a larger vivarium, I am not currently able to (hopefully this will change, but they are ok in the size they're in now - there are people keeping them in 'shoeboxes' with good results).

The main thing they need is somewhere dark to hide, fairly high humidity and temps, and good ventilation (my ventilation wasn't as good as I had thought, so I added another 30 ventilation holes).

Very interesting snakes, I just wish I could find a male (or some Chrysopelea Pelias) but living in England has it's limitations (which far outweigh the benefits  ).

Hope I'm of some help to you, and I strongly advise you get some, you won't be disappointed (although they will bite you lots )

Lee


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## Ravnos (May 11, 2004)

They're very cool snakes, I have a pair that I picked up last week. I've been looking at them for ages. I'm definitely going to go the larger viviarum route. Even though they're not very large snakes, and do spend a good amount of time on the ground, they're just so active and seem to enjoy the space.

They've only been bred a handful of times in captivity, I just hope I do things right so they can be bred some day. Though, I'm not looking forward to feeding babies.







Rav


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## Dessicata (May 11, 2004)

Well, the one that was ill gave up the fight the other day   It started to get better, and then i found it curled up dead   The other one is ok though, and I separated them last week just incase.  Still, they are both very old, so I shouldn't have thought the other will be far behind 

Hatchlings have been known to eat crickets, what with the VERY small size of them.  They are very beautiful snakes, I wish I was able to find a male.  They are extremely hard to find in this country sadly, and I haven't had any luck in a long time of searching 

Good luck with getting them to breed 

Lee


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