Reptile & Amphibian Forums

anyone keep these snakes?

are they really that hard to keep in captivity?

thanks for any info

I have about seven right now. I have had up to 20 at a time. They are by far my favorite species of snake, even including all of the venomous species I used to work with during my zoo days.

I really don't know how to approach the difficulty question. Right now myself and several other Gonyosoma keepers I correpsond with have been hit by mortality this winter. Just bad luck I hope. But at the moment I'm a bit bitter and biased about it.

When I first got into keeping Gonyosoma I had a lot of experience working with imports. I probably would consider them difficult if they were the first import that I had worked with. It's not so much that they are difficult, as I can usually get them to feed and de-parasitized. The problem is that they just keel over and die for no apparent reason, even after thriving for months or years in captivity.

Even experienced Gonyosoma keepers (mostly Europeans and some zoo people I know) regard them as a short lived snake and one that can die for no apparent reason. This holds true for true captive bred and born specimens. In fact I lost two CB G. janseni this winter that were doing fine, no problems.

I still feel they are a worthwhile project, although they are frustrating.

You might also post this over on the ratsnake forum as many still consider them as Elaphe type snakes.