>>I think there's considerable knowledge of them around. Schulz' monograph of the Elaphe probably has the most info of the literature. I think they may have been bred in the U.S. before too. I know they've been offered for sale before. They haven't been very popular for one reason or another, so most breeders don't keep them. Many of the Eurasian ratsnakes have had popularity problems.>>



Thanks Terry. I've been putting off buying Schulz' Elaphe book for some time now. Rat snakes are definitely one of my favorite groups. I'll eventually break down and buy it. I wonder if the asian rats are more popular in Europe???



>>I didn't know that. Maybe the melanism is a recessive gene. I know the species is highly variable in color/pattern and size. It's a very interesting species and I would compare it to the King ratsnake, Elaphe carinata. It seems to have a number of characteristics of the ancestral Elaphe. Do you know much about the behavior? I think they are probably quite racer-like, similar to carinata. Anyway, keep us posted if you learn more or get more pics. Thanks for some awesome shots, btw...

>>

>>Terry



The melanism is not a simple recessive trait. Here is some data that I received from a breeder in Japan:



Several (n=??) WC striped females that produced melanistic and blotched from the same clutch.

Two years of captive breeding a pair of melanistic snakes produced:

year 1 >> 18 eggs, 9 blotched, 3 melanistic, 6 duds.

year 2 >> 18 eggs, 10 blotched, 8 melanistic.



It is an interesting, and very widespread species. Some of the small island populations have particularly interesting traits. On Izu(oshima) island, they're generally smaller than 80cm, and completely melanistic; on Tadanae(jima) island, they reach 240cm plus! The Tadanaejima population feeds on sea birds, and they apparently fast for long periods of time. Reminds me of the giant Tiger snakes that feed on mutton birds, and the large cottonmouths of Cedar? key that eat a lot of fallen birds from rookery locations.

I've seen ~30 in the field, plus a handful of DORs; all from northern Kyushuu. Coloration wise, at least from lower elevations, it seems that about 1 in 4 will be melanistic. I only found one at around 1800m elevation, and it was melanistic (also found a DOR from considerable elevation that was melanistic).

You are correct, they are very racer-like. They're not nearly as flighty as racers, but I did get into a downhill chase with a yearling and it gave me a good run. Once in hand, at least initially, most tend to deal a lot of scratching bites, and they flail about, much like a racer. They are diurnal, and I imagine that they eat a lot of frogs, given their propensity to roam the edges of the rice paddies. I will say though, that I found 3 that were making their way down tunnels (presumably in search of rodents). Size wise, I found two that were about 4', but most adults were in the 3' range. It's amazing how prevelant they are in the right environment.

That's as much as I've been able to gather about their behavior. I'll certainly post if I learn more.

Shane

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