Posted by:
Jeff Schofield
at Wed Jan 27 20:45:25 2010 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Jeff Schofield ]
I know a guy in Md that used to swear by it. Chuck "the snake man" is quite a relic. He used to collect commercially back when it was legal and he knows more about east coast colubrids than anyone I ever met. He kept some kings but his pride and joy were his coastal plains milks. Living in his parents basement he didnt have many live mice colonies(smell) or even frozen($$). He used to go dig bottles and hunt milks. He fed his captives all kinds of wc stuff, snakes and lizards. I used to remark at the size of his kings, many at or over 6'. I asked him how he got em so big, he said he fed them racers! Black racers are very common, and not only compete with milks in the same habitat but wont hesitate in eating one. Cutting down the competition Chuck would remove the racers(fed to kings) and the milksnake population would increase. Now we know 6' is a nice big king, but in his freezer he showed me one that he claimed to be 8'....frozen in a ball bigger than a basketball. Now I didnt thaw it, but it was considerably bigger than the 6'ers. Feeding snakes other snakes is the most economical use of the snake's gut and I'm sure a 5' racer kept the king's feeding pretty aggressive...a must for growing a really big snake.
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Good ole Chuck - Jeff Schofield, Wed Jan 27 20:45:25 2010