RedBelly!

[Malhavoc's]

So,

I went out on a hike, and ended up getting nipped on the toe of my sandal due to a misplaced step dangerously close to the cornored and premolt redbelly race snake (just a baby I believe, ontario native only about 5 inches long, I think they max out at 10 or 12?) anyway, fascination caught me, I've not seen this species so close to town before (only an hour or two hike into the nearby woods.) and decided to take it home.

It immediatly shed its skin, and is quite the looker ( I know pictures will be up and coming) however, I am torn, should I return it to a place a bit less close to a hiking trail/street, should I keep it? I figure I'll get some opinions on the snake prior.

Scientific name is "Storeria occipitomaculata"

a minor link to these guys is here.
http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/subsite/glfc-amphibians/storeria-occipitomaculata

If you think I should keep it, since I've not kept *tiny* snakes before, What would I feed it?

 

[pitbulllady]

So,

I went out on a hike, and ended up getting nipped on the toe of my sandal due to a misplaced step dangerously close to the cornored and premolt redbelly race snake (just a baby I believe, ontario native only about 5 inches long, I think they max out at 10 or 12?) anyway, fascination caught me, I've not seen this species so close to town before (only an hour or two hike into the nearby woods.) and decided to take it home.

It immediatly shed its skin, and is quite the looker ( I know pictures will be up and coming) however, I am torn, should I return it to a place a bit less close to a hiking trail/street, should I keep it? I figure I'll get some opinions on the snake prior.

Scientific name is "Storeria occipitomaculata"

a minor link to these guys is here.
http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/subsite/glfc-amphibians/storeria-occipitomaculata

If you think I should keep it, since I've not kept *tiny* snakes before, What would I feed it?

These guys eat earthworms and slugs, just like the Ringnecks, but often refuse to eat in captivity. I've never had any luck with them, as a matter of fact, and wound up releasing every one I've ever had so they wouldn't starve. Their drabber cousins, the Brown Snakes, are pigs, but for some reason the Red Bellies just don't take as well to captivity, which is a shame, given their coloration.

pitbulllady

 

[Malhavoc's]

Considering its fresh shed, and your opinion, do you think it would be wise to give it a week and see if I can get it to accept food?

I was actualy contemplating sending you an IM pitbulllady

It is a fat healthy little sucker, but in the long run, I would rather not cause it more strife then needed. So will happily release it but you are right, it does have darling colours

 

[loxoscelesfear]

no harm in giving it a week or so to accept food. if it doesn't eat, turn it loose @ the place of capture. from personal experience, the Storeria are hit and miss when it comes to being good pets. I don't think they live more than a year or two in captivity. It's a treat to find occipitomaculata ; mainly dekayi where I live. At night, I find dekayi along the foundation of my house eating slugs and small worms.

 

[Crysta]

Hmm, I need to disagree with you guys on how hard they are to keep, and they do live more then a year in captivity. I had mine for 4 years before I had to give her to someone.(had to go to college) You just keep them in room temperature, with a little humidity, since that's when they are active, in the dewy mornings and nights.
For food they are a bit picky on what type and size of slugs to eat, they really love those black slugs, won't touch those yellow slugs, and they will eat those white ones with gray stripes, and those peach colored ones with a bit of spotting. They love small worms!

I also managed to breed them in captivity, but I released the young shortly after they where born.

heres a picture of the female

I think the reason these tend to die in captivity is because people end up keeping them too warm.

This is the following setup I use, a bunch of folded peices of paper so she can hide in them, I offered a hide before, but she never used it.
this is also another female

Heres some others i've kept.

Also heres a female giving birth:

couple days old drinking thier first drink

and heres them all

lol sorry some of the pictures are really small back when I was 12-13 I didn't have a camera, so i used one of those old webcams and took screen shots haha.

After a few feedings to prevent stickyness, just collect your slugs in a bottle and put the snake inside, she will eat and come out when she's full.

I would recommend them to you Malhavoc, they are really fun snakes.
The only problem I for-sea is the winter, but you can easily brumate them in the basement.
Also they eat every 2 days and poop every 2 days... so a bit of clean up is necessary.

 

[Malhavoc's]

an update.

As it stands its on very lightly moistend paper towel, thats been shredded for its burrowing funness, I have a moss terriarum I was thinking of letting it loose in. for its stay with me. Just to test to see how it may acclimate to captivity- I gave it some small worms, it immediatly began hunting them, however. I believe it to be a very nervous and shy snake, as it immediatly coiled up when it saw me move in the background. I left some worms in there for it to crawl around with, and will check back on it in a day or too and see if the 6-8 smallish worms I put in dissapear or not.. and will try to keep this thread updated with pics once I get my came going and how it fairs, however, if I cant get it to take food in a week it will be released promptly.

edit: its also being kept at roomtempishcold nightish tempratures, so very close to the actualy tempratures outside, with both chances for heat and cold in its temprory home, And will try to observe to see which it likes more, warmer days or all out cool temps

also for a snake, it is very very aware of where its tank opens and closes, and has actualy been observing it, to be honest, I've had pet snakes before..corns kings garters etc.. I dont think I've ever seen any so..aware? its kind of creepy, I wonder if that is simply because it is from the wild where awareness=life?

 

[Crysta]

haha yep awareness = life. They get used to you pretty quickly, trying handling it in a couple days. They get stuck to routine quickly, when I used to walk by my enclosures the snakes would come out of their hide to the glass expecting dinner. haha

Although I do find them more aware then when I had my garter snakes. Reminds me of the awareness recticulated pythons have?

Sounds like you got the tempurature down if its too warm it probably won't eat.
I even experimented with regulated heat pads on one side of the aquarium when I first go them, they didn't like that.

just think....snake with slug living preferences.
Hm, you don't need to moisten the paper towels if you have a large enough water dish.

About the moss terrarium, keep isopods in them (although i never kept mine in terrariums such as this.) they poop a lot so stink-ups might occur.

 

[Malhavoc's]

I will have pics tommorow I found my webcam,

Centipedefreak, how long before yours ate in captivity? and how long before you observed feeding response?

Also the paper towel being moistend, wasnt my choice, stinker did that, apperently he didnt like the way things were aranged. He/she *think its a she( inspected the worms with deffiante intent however, not actualy seen him eat, though, I *think* several of the worms are missing, but their worms, meaning, as I have found already they can actualy dig inside of the paper towel to hide.

and yeah, I've noticed the stink believe they employ it defensivly aswell. hence me calling it stinker, I am handling it when it seems calm now and then, and am debating your method of feeling with a soda bottle. though do not want to stress it unduly.

and yes, my pet moss terrirum, it was actualy home to a small group of redback salamnders, which, like I said, made it a home of moss, and since have been released. if I am to house the little stinker in it, I would need to get a nice screen lid for it...

as far as isopods yes, those are a must in any live tank. However, wouldn't heshe eat those aswell *chuckles*

 

[Crysta]

Give them about a week, might take a bit longer since some females (especially males) need to get used to you.

Go outside and find some small black slugs, they like those and those where always the starter slug to get them eating, i know its weird to call it a starter slug but that's just how it goes haha.

I wouldn't think they like isopodes, even when i tried centing meal worms, ect with slugs they wouldn't eat them.

Don't try the bottle thing as of yet, BUT...theres those small bottles that have children pop in them called 'chubbies' try putting that in the enclosure with worms/slugs inside and leave it alone she will smell her way to it.

Yep I used to keep ambystoma laterale, fun little salamanders.

 

[pitbulllady]

If this one is really fat as you said, it's likely to be a gravid female, Malhavoc. Most gravid female snakes won't eat, anyway, until they give birth, so you might want to hang onto this one a bit longer and see if she gives birth or just loses weight, which would indicate that it was simply a well-fed snake instead of a pregnant one. The last Red-Belly I caught was also gravid, and wound up having a pile of babies just a few days later.

pitbulllady

 

[the toe cutter]

I actually have a gravid Dekays snake whom I am waiting anxiously for the eggs to drop! I have kept these in the past and love the little guys as do most of the children that visit my house. They are quite wonderful snakes to keep as they dont take up much space and food for them, worms mostly, are quite inexpensive and due to their small size have a very minimal housing requirements. By far one of the more interesting to observe in captivity! Good find though, I have been looking for red-bellies around Virginia, as well as eastern worm snakes no luck so far!

 

[pitbulllady]

I actually have a gravid Dekays snake whom I am waiting anxiously for the eggs to drop! I have kept these in the past and love the little guys as do most of the children that visit my house. They are quite wonderful snakes to keep as they dont take up much space and food for them, worms mostly, are quite inexpensive and due to their small size have a very minimal housing requirements. By far one of the more interesting to observe in captivity! Good find though, I have been looking for red-bellies around Virginia, as well as eastern worm snakes no luck so far!

LOL, if you're waiting for eggs to drop from a DeKay's Snake, you're gonna be in for one heckuva long wait! These, just like their Red-Belly cousins(same genus, different species), are live-bearers. The give birth to live young, just like Boa Constrictors and Water Snakes.

pitbulllady

 

[pouchedrat]

I LOVE northern redbellieds!! That was the snake I had as a kid, and the main reason I purchased a male/female pair of southern ringneck snakes, because they look somewhat similar.

 

[the toe cutter]

PB Lady, Yeah I used to have a few of them back home in GA and have seen them drop eggs that hatched after about a week, I believe I have some pics I will have to dig up and show you guys. I sent pics to Prof Whit Gibbons at UGA and after a long while he replied saying that the Storeria and Opheodrys can either lay their eggs nearly fully developed or pop out some live young depending on environmental circumstances. I also had a wild caught rough green pop out 5 eggs that hatched within days! The Dekays should be anytime now though, the little lumps (eggs)have moved further towards the cloaca. I will post some pics on a different thread!

 

[Crysta]

ahh so cool there!! I'd like to see pictures of the eggs

 

[Here for a bit]

I've had my snake for about 2-3 days. He has a nice home with alot of room and decent darkness, from reading a few of these comments I found out he needs a damp climate, and prefers cool temperatures. I haven't seen him eat much and I think hes blind. I'm planning to keep him till the snow melts and hopefully gets a bit warmer, but I cant seem to let him go. If anyone has advice on how I can keep him happy please reach out to me at 507-308-4548. I will now go blend a paper towel and get it wet so he can burrow and have a bit more fun.

 

[Matts inverts]

Please release him. You shouldn’t take a snake just because you found him. I find garters and gopher snakes all the time but I don’t keep them as pets. If you do keep him, know he will probably have parasites and might not eat or adjust to captivity. Also most hiking trails are protected land so it was probably illegal to take him. If you decide you want a snake, please buy captive bred

 

[Here for a bit]

Please release him. You shouldn’t take a snake just because you found him. I find garters and gopher snakes all the time but I don’t keep them as pets. If you do keep him, know he will probably have parasites and might not eat or adjust to captivity. Also most hiking trails are protected land so it was probably illegal to take him. If you decide you want a snake, please buy captive bred

Sorry for the miss under standing I found him half dead in my basement from being to cold and do plan to let him go once it gets warmer tomorrow or in a few days I was just wondering if there were something to give him in order to make him happier

 

[Matts inverts]

Oh, not you I didn’t realize the page was 10 years old

 

[Here for a bit]

Oh, not you I didn’t realize the page was 10 years old

Sorry I'm 13 my moms a vet and I've studied snakes for 4 years maybe your the one I need to teach.