So I guess this means I am now a snake owner...

[pouchedrat]

Don't know if it's male or female.. We named it "Crawly" after the character from Good Omens (who later becomes Crowley). Probably one of the only snakes I could ever own without feeling guilty about, lol. I can't wait until he eats his first eggs! Haven't tried feeding him since he just arrived today, but he's drinking water like a fiend I've noticed.

 

[ShawnH]

Interesting choice for a first pet snake, what type of eggs do you plan on feeding it? I also heard (idk if it's true) that they won't eat cool eggs.

 

[pouchedrat]

Quail, since they're easy to obtain and I don't mind eating them either. He's a small snake, but definitely looks large enough to handle quail eggs. If he can't handle that size then I'll have to resort to finch or dove from a coworker who keeps them, lol. I used to have some button quail years back, so honestly keeping them around wouldn't be a problem for me either if I needed to resort to that some day.

Haha, I've been offered a corn (snow), ball pythons, etc. from coworkers since they heard I was getting a snake. I told them all I wasn't interested, though. I HAVE had snakes when I was a little kid, but I was young so I'm sure I didn't give them the best care back then and my parents didn't care/like/want anything to do with them. They were a northern red bellied snake and a rough green snake.

I'm really not interested in anything that gets too large, but I do have plans on getting two ring neck snakes soon as well.

This guy isn't my first reptile, I have experience with old world chameleons, some oddball skinks and geckos. However, this is the only pet reptile currently in the house. I haven't kept herps in almost 10 years, with the exception of two anoles, but both are long gone now.

 

[dtknow]

Wow, very nice! Lets see some full body shots so we can see if it is Dasypeltis scabra, or D. medici.

How long is it?

My female is currently quite fat, actually in shed ATM. My male, meanwhile, has not eaten in about a month, and has been offered quail and dove eggs. He did shed recently so hopefully he will take some food soon.

Another thing is that if you cannot get small eggs they can be tube fed whipped egg(the guy who told me this successfully raised a batch of medici babies to nearly full size on mostly tube feeding...he did however add biotin supplement to the whipped egg to make up for any deficiency). Of course not an ideal situation but it did work splendidly.

 

[pouchedrat]

I was told D. scabra, but here's a top shot of him. I'd say right now he's a little under 2 feet (but I don't have a ruler on hand for accurate measure, my kid broke it recently while "battling with swords", lol), but he's very long and slender. He's actually pretty relaxed for a snake, IMO.

I also recieved two new snakes today, so I'm a snake owner x3! A male and female ringneck. Their enclosure isn't completed yet (I can still smell the silicone I applied to the wall last week... ugh) so they're in a temp tank. Now THESE two are feisty and fast! I love tiny snakes, lol... These ringnecks remind me of a northern red bellied I had as a kid, except with venom and definitely feistier. Apparently both the northern and southern ringnecks can be found in this state... which I was unaware of when I bought them from the dealer.

 

[pwilson5]

ahhh ring necks... i caught some of thos when i was younger... and they are PUNGENT! lol

 

[bitzy1]

ahhh ring necks... i caught some of thos when i was younger... and they are PUNGENT! lol

wow what a beautiful snake never seen it before. it might have anal spurs like pythons and if it does then you can identify the sex.

 

[Teal]

Wow! Awesome additions!

I want feeding pictures when you start giving it eggs

 

[dtknow]

Haha ringnecks sure are squirmy and poopy little things. Do they make good captives? I'd imagine they'd just hide all the time and poop on you when you hold them.

Your snake is Dasypeltis medici medici, the East African egg eater.(due to pinkish background color, and lack of "rhombs" that give scabra its name) Not really any different from scabra as far as husbandry goes. If you get a side profile of the vent I could take a stab at sex(guessing young female from this picture).

Good luck with it! I've really enjoyed mine so far.

 

[dtknow]

Any updates on either of these snakes?

 

[pouchedrat]

All are doing fine. My egg-eater shed a few weeks ago, but hasn't eaten since the shed. She's looking fine, moving around, drinking regularly, etc, so I'm not too worried yet.

A couple days ago I woke up in the middle of the night to a thump... THUMP! ..thump... THUMP! I looked over, and my cat was sitting next to the snake's tank, smacking the side with his paw, and the egg-eater was curled completely up, poised, and lunged at him, over and over. That's the FIRST time I've EVER seen her act aggressive towards anything, and that cat was having a grand ole time watching it, as well. He wound up kicked out of the room and the door closed after that though.


The male and female southern ring-necks are ok as well. They have a rather naturalistic tank, and as a result we only see them once in a great while, as they stayed buried most of the time in the dirt. There's worms and slugs and isopods in the tank with them. I haven't seen them eat at all, but both look in great health and are VERY fast when they do come out of hiding, so I'm sure they're eating what's in there. I just keep the thing stocked.

I'm considering getting a couple of the brahminy blind snakes, since I keep isopod cultures. It'd be easy to keep them as I already have isopods ready for them of all different sizes. Talk about tiny snakes, lol! I DO want another D. medici, as I love mine a ton, but I have yet to find another one for sale anywhere, and they're not on lllreptile.com anymore, either.

 

[dtknow]

Haha I have only gotten a defensive display from my girl once...not sure why she was feisty that particular day but upon lifting her hide she did the whole C shaped coils, saw scaled viper imitation(surprisingly loud), complete with flattening out the neck cobra style and baring her jaws to make her head wider. Of course since they have no teeth whatsoever they always strike to miss.

Normally I can just reach in a do whatever I want with little-no reaction from her. She's interesting to hold as she always likes to wrap around something...whether its herself, or your fingers. Putting her down is sometimes the hard part! That being said she is quite shy about eating and will only eat if everything is quiet and she doesn't think she's being watched. I often awake at night to the sounds of her cracking an egg.

I would talk to Kevin Switzer of Switzer reptiles, he imported the ones LLL reptile had.