>>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???

>>



Hi again, Shane.



I remember buying that book for $150 yrs. ago. I think I saw it at the IHS for $80 or $100 this summer. Schulz has been the expert on the Elaphe clan for a long time now, since I got interested back in '88. However, slowly, but surely, hobbyists are adding info to his great volume.



>>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



Thanks very much for the info. They certainly are interesting, as are the other Japanese ratsnakes, especially climacophora and conspicillata, because they are endemic species and for other reasons. I've worked with climacophora and conspicillata before, but have opted to concentrate on mainland species of China, South Korea, etc, because I believe they are more ancestral and other reasons. But another reason the Japanese endemics are interesting is because the environment resembles that of the U. S. and there is great variation over their ranges. Consider the fact that there are mountains throughout their ranges and that they reach about 45* north on Hokkaido and Kunashiri.



The Japanese endemics are exposed to a variety of climatic and geographical conditions. They have to be adapted to very cool conditions, as well as subtropical. There are dry as well as very moist conditions and the humidity. In some areas they have long active seasons and in other areas they barely have enough time in summer to carry out their reproductive functions. Studying these snakes can tell us a lot about how ratsnakes evolve and how flexible a species can be. Also, I think the Japanese species might tell us something about what kind of snakes may have migrated to North American across the Bering Straits Land Bridge and how they may have evolved.



Schulz gives quite a bit of info about quadrivirgata. As far as prey goes, he mentions fish, frogs, snakes, lizards, rodents, birds, and eggs. He also says they have quite a strong musk which resembles carinata's. The upper ele. he marks as 2,000 m. I imagine examples from high ele. would have more tendency towards melanism than ex. from low ele.



Hope you get into this species and find some snakes to start with. Keep us posted, Shane.



Terry


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Ratsnake Haven...researching ratsnakes since 1988



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