>>Well, well...the gang's all here! Terry, I have only been keeping them since this spring, so I don't have a lot of experience to add to the conversation. Both were W/C from the same locality (practically your backyard! ) this year. They were both treated for parasites and have acclimated nicely. The male took off like a champ, eating f/t on the first try, but the female took over a month to eat and even though she eats 2-3 times a week, she will only take live hopper mice to this day.
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>>As far as keeping them, I follow a simplistic approach. I keep both of them on newspaper, with one dry hide and one damp sphagnum moss filled humid hide each. At first, I tried to provide a warm spot (85-90), but they avoided it like the plague, so they are just at room temp now (76-80).
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>>My friend Oscar actually bred his Pajaritos pair this year. Let me know if you want me to put you in touch with him for the details.
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>>Diego


Hi, Diego.

Wanted to make a comment about parasites.

I thought this would be an issue at first, as my pair of green rats are wild caught also. But I put them in treated cages when I first got them as I do for any new snakes I bring in and I've never seen any mites. Also, I've been watching for any signs of internal parasites and have seen none. The snakes look very healthy.

One theory that I have is that it's better to start with young snakes. It might be better because they might not have contacted any of the bad parasites, yet, and it might be better because behaviorally they are still learning and will become accustomed to your captive environment more easily, imho.

Another note is that my snakes were both yearlings when I found them. I didn't find any 'last year's' babies my first year here. I'm not sure why, but I'll check it out better this coming year, and hopefully it won't make a difference with the pair I'm working with. BTW, for those who aren't familiar with AZ law, we are allowed to keep four green ratsnakes, or two pairs. We are not allowed to sell any, but we can gift them to someone.

Regards...Terry


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