Steven,

Ah, I see on Micrurus. I have had plenty of lizard- and anuran-eaters including Ahaetulla* as well (which are indeed motion-detectors, of even the blinking and breathing of stationary prey!), feeders of which I was able to obtain plenty of year-round and cheap enough...$6 per anole?! Are You going through Petco or something?!?? I can get them for $1-$2/each depending on season. Same with (tree) frogs like Greens and Cubans. I used to get house geckos for $0.70/each.

Aside from opisthoglyphous snakes being my specialty the past 10-plus years, so have snakes with odd and unusual eating habits including Ahaetulla for lizards and anurans mentioned above which happens to be an opisthoglyphous genus; but also, a Dasypeltis scabra for Button Quail eggs, Ficimia sp./Gyalopion canum/Tantilla nigriceps for Vaejovis sp. ("Texas Gold Scorpions", obtained for $1.50/each!) and spiders, plenty of Heterodon platyrhinos and even H. simus which I REFUSE to feed mice and instead stick to their natural diet of anurans, among others. I love the rare and unusual stuff albeit many of these genera have become highly sought after by a good few over the last 10 years since I got into them.

I used to dream about starting Fowler's and American Toad colonies for not just myself, but as a business for Heterodon platyrhinos and H. simus keepers among keepers of other snakes demanding such species of anurans - maybe $0.25/each for babies and upwards to $1.00 max for ~3"-plus adults? Heh, someday maybe...

I think You should start a colony indeed!!

Gods, 1000-2000 feeders every six months...! I do maybe a few hundred in that time, and a dozen or so XXXXL GPs/small rabbits per year for my Eunectes notaeus (all through Rodent Pro as well). I wouldn't have the money for all of that!

Timothy

*I have had three (3) Ahaetulla prasina and one (1) A. mycterizans, ALL of which did very well. My longest-kept (in terms of Time) specimen was a ~6' 0.1 A. prasina that was actually supposed to be shipped with the A. mycterizans from East Bay Vivarium on 9/11 interestingly enough, but they were postponed (of course) until the end of September (2001). "Pinnocchia", I called her (-nn- intended), passed in August 2007 (forget exact date which I have written down). I'd throw in a mix of ~10 lizards/geckos/tree frogs every week or two - she was voracious (!!) yet gentle as could be when occasionally handled. They're so unique...I want more now! Haha.

>>From what I understand most are snake eaters. I have a few snakes that will only eat frogs and lizards and that is a pain as well. Rodent pro doesn't sell them and even if they did it probably wouldn't do me much good since some of mine (vine snakes) are sight hunters. I'm trying to figure out if i should start a frog colony just to offset some of my costs. $6 for an anole is the cheapest i can find live non rodent feeders around here.
>>
>>I order 1000-2000 feeders (mice/rats/chicks/GP) every 6 months. I go through 40-60 a week. Of course some of those go to the caiman and large lizards so it isn't just the snakes, but it still can get pricey.


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T.J. Gould

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