>>The seller has been very informative and helpful. Has answered any question I had very honestly. Even directed me away from one type because I wasn't looking for difficult babies to get started (I have enough of that in the future with a handful of GTPs, Gray-bands, and Thayeri).

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>>I want the book because I like books. I like to have a source of info to read over and look at. I can know everything about a snake I keep, but it doesn't mean I can see its native habitat, see and read about related snakes, etc..etc.. There are some snakes I've kept and bred for over 10 years, but I still have a few books about them.

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>>I'm not buying snakes I know nothing about, I'm researching to inform myself as much as possible before I get snakes I'd like to know even more about. I'm a moderately experienced keeper, and I like to get as much info as possible, so I can derive from it the way I want to keep and breed an animal.





Nice response, Brian. Sorry I jumped to conclusions. I just get a little frustrated about a couple things, especially having to do with high-end Asian colubrids.



Your type of questions get asked a lot on these types of forums, and actually, there's not a lot of info out there about some of these snakes, i.e. porphyracea and frenata, etc. Schulz' book came out in 1996 and has been the authority since. However, few folks had kept some of these species at that time, and even Schulz admitted he didn't have much experience with some, or knew little of their natural history.



Also, relationships (taxononmically) have changed since then. According to most studies, not all ratsnakes are the same. Many of the Old World ratsnakes have been put into new genera and have been shown to be more distantly related to each than we thought at first. For instance, frenata might be considered more of a racer than a ratsnake, being put into the genus, Gonyosoma by many. Hard to guess at a species' habitats when it's not guaranteed what type of snake it is even. My guess is that porphyracea is close to the racers also. The habits and habitats of these snakes are fairly well known, however.



Bamboo ratsnakes actually are a more terrestrial or semi-fossorial snake, being actually very secretive; and they are also usually pretty high strung, so might be a little challenging to handle. Frenata, the rein snake, is usually thought of as semi-arboreal. They are associated with water to some degree also. I believe some have even started them on small fish.



Just a recommendation: You might want to ask some specific questions about habitat and behavior, if you want to get some hard to find info from hobbyists on this forum. Not many people specialize in these species, and I think even fewer are knowledgeable about natural history info.



Regards...Terry

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