Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I saw two female easterns at a show yesterday, they were about four foot long, as thick as big watersnakes and six years old, (my three year easterns are around that size, not near as fat), the people that were selling them had gotten them a short time ago out of pity I think. Is it possible to rehabilitate snakes like that? certainly wouldn't want to breed four foot females.but Its a shame to lose any part of the gene pool. I didn't buy the snakes by the way, I have enough easterns for now.

Oh, they said the snakes were "stunted" not a genetic problem, I guess they had to feed them up.

One of the most common mistakes people make when keeping drymarchon is to treat them like most other colubrids. While many snakes will do quite well on one or two appropriately sized prey itmes every 10-14 days, I believe that indigos are a much different story. The keys to successful indigo keeping are: sizable habitat (too many are kept in cages that don't afford proper exercise), temperature gradient (particularly paying close attention to preventing high temps), good hydration, and a varied diet of smaller sized prey a couple of times each week. Even my large adult males (one that is well over 7') are fed such prey items as: large adult mice, small rats, 1-week quail, baby rabbits, etc. My adults are fed twice each week and they have grown well while not becoming obese. These are snakes with high metabolisms and need food more often than other colubrids. A six year old, 4' female isn't necessarily stunted, however, most of my females reached 4' at the two year mark. If put on an optimal diet, they can certainly recover rapid and normal growth rates (but it may take time). These are fairly long lived snakes that can breed late into their lives so there is hope for them in becoming viable animals.

Rob Carmichael, Director/Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
City of Lake Forest Parks & Recreation

there was something wrong w/ those 2. they were adult looking in every way except length.......big heads and thick bodies and almost no middle section. those were the dreaded drawfs. i don't know much about this affliction but maybe some else could shed some light on the subject. i don't think it has anything to do w/ feeding though [as the girl said], it looks more like a genetic defect if you ask me. they were weird looking....almost like a black hognose w/ a rounded face.

How did we not get together, I was at a table on the other side & one down from them, had a good looking 5' indigo to show you, one of my babies from 2000?

i came in w/ a vendor before the show opened and left quickly after it did. i was looking for you but assumed you were late. i was home by 11:30, fed some stuff and promptly took a nap. lol! sorry i missed you and the indigo! seems like the only times i bump into you are when we didn't plan to meet! murphy's law.....

If you're talking about the show in PA. I saw those also. At the last show they had a healthy7ft. adult pr. for sale. But the 2 at this show were not related to the pr. I got a card from the vendor as I may get one of the young ladies in the future as I think they can be rejuvenated to grow. I have no Drys. as of yet but soon & very soon.

I raised a dwarf. It was bred by a friend and did not grow right. From the time it was a baby it got Proper food, proper caging, but IMPROPER growth. It was either stunted due to incubation at too high temps, or it was the pairing up of those adults.

My friend didn't get more babies from the pair that produced the dwarf and we didn't follow up on the next owner of the snakes. The breeder who my friend bought the adults from never replied to my email questions about if he has seen that condition in any other offspring from his stock (he did reply to questions about buying his babies though)....

If memory serves me right, that dwarf of mine is 5 years old now. It will never reproduce as it could never pass even 1 egg.

If someone is selling the stunted snakes as breeders, I would avoid them. Normal healthy females have frequent trouble with breeding. I can't imagine a dwarf being anything but much more likely to become eggbound.

The dwarf I raised is an amazing pet snake. That's probably the best those snakes at the show will ever be.