Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've read all about black milksnakes. How docile they are, and how big and impressive they get. But I have yet to find a photograph of one that looks like it's larger than 36" or so. If you've got a gigae that lives up to it's name, post it up. Convince me to get one!

......scroll down to the Sept. 13 post by nategodin. There are some pretty impressive pics of the San Antonio Zoo breeder gaigeae. They are extremely docile and can exceed 6' in length. But all a gaigeae needs to do to live up to its name is turn solid black in a short period of time. Here is a 2 year old female of mine at 33" that is that way. And she is San Antonio Zoo stock.

Need anymore convincing?

Scott

Both of my adults are 6 ft easy. Here is the female. Sorry I don't have a pic of them with somthing you can measure against, but the one pic is of her crawling out of a four foot wide by two foot deep cage.

They get big, trust me. Get one, you won't regret it!

Dave

DNS Reptiles

nice cages!
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Paul Weaver
Carolina Herps

Yeah, enjoy them Paul. Your indigos and large hondurans will appreciate the space!

Dave
DNS Reptiles

Just fed all of mine. Gotta leave em' alone for a while. I'll try for some soon. My biggest are only arounf 5'.
bob

Here are two pics about 18 months apart. In one pic she was around 4 feet, in the next she is around 5 feet.

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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

This is the large size Snapple. Doesn't show size very well. He's a big Tivo fan though. Mostly Nature shows. He's not much into "Lost" He may follow "Jericho" though. LOL
Bob.

Chris(above) has some real nice pics of REAL Gaigeae habitat that are awesome to look at.
Bob.

On their websites.

Here's one of my big female breeders. Measured 68 inches using the serpwidgets program.

Rob Haneisen

Great pics everyone. Thanks for the awesome response.

Yeah, I could have looked a tiny bit deeper into the forums for some shots, but the search engine just wasn't turning anything up for some reason.

Next time I see one of these snakes at a show I think I'll have to pick it up.

What temps do you all keep them at?

I keep mine at room temps, roughly low 70s. They are a high elevation snake, so they don't mind cooler temps. And mine NEVER refuse a meal, even when they are at their bluest in a shed.

I really think you'll become an instant fan of one once you get it (or a pair would even be better). They are incredibly bulky and thick even as two-year olds. And they are very calm snakes to hold. The transformation from tri-color to solid black is incredible.

Good luck with getting some for your collection!! If you don't want to wait for a show, check the classifieds. There are several on there now.

Scott

This is my male - he's close to 6 feet. I am around 5'10" and he has 6 to 8 inches of his tail wrapped around my hand.

You've got to love these gaigeae!

Dave

DNS Reptiles

Very nice. Nice place to, btw.

Hello,
Looks like I'm late to the party, but the hatchlings have been keeping me pretty busy lately. Here's "Sonny", just a couple inches shy of 6 feet according to SerpWidgets. He lives in the cage behind me, which has a small 20W incandescent "puck" light on the right side, which is on from 7AM to 6PM every day. That gets the warm side of the cage up to about 80-85 degrees, but the gaigeae spend most of their time hidden under their terra cotta saucers on the left side of the cage, where it is 70-75 degrees.

Nate

of a hot side? Just wondering.
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phflame
kingsnake.com host

Well, basically my dad went to the trouble of making me a very nice hardwood display cage with built-in incandescent lighting, and imperfect as it may be (see the elastics holding the latches down?) I feel obliged to use it. If I were to turn on all nine lights (three on each level), it would be way too warm for the black milks, although the Sinaloan who lives on the top level would probably be quite happy. There's usually a month or two in the summer where it gets warm enough that I have to disable the lights entirely to keep the cages cool enough for the black milks. In fall and spring, the temps are just about right using one light per level, and in the winter, I use a heating pad under the top level as well, just to keep the Sinaloan toasty. Although the gaigeae spend most of their time on the cool side of the cage, they will frequently bask under the light as well, especially right after a meal, or just before defecating or shedding. Until they were almost 3 years old, though, my breeding pair of black milks lived in unheated 10-gallon aquariums, the same ones that now hold my two unsold yearlings. The 7 surviving '06 hatchlings now inhabit the Sterilite shoeboxes that the '05s recenly vacated, which are all also unheated.

Whew! Anyway, I guess the long and short of it is that black milks do fine in an unheated cage at room temp, but if you want to set up a temperature gradient, as long as the warm side is no more than 85 degrees, and the cool side is no more than 75 degrees, they will do just fine.

Nate

I feel that your hot side is entirely appropriate. Anyone that has been to the tropics, such as Costa Rica where I've been, knows that even if it's cool out at a high elevation, those black milks are black for a reason - to absorb heat from the sun. They can't do that in a cage - so you should give them at least an undertank heater to warm up their bellies after a meal. I would bet that even if the ambient temps in the wild are in the 70s, they can warm themselves up to 85-90 from the sun.

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Matt from Minnesota

I think Matt makes a good point.

Bob

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phflame
kingsnake.com host

This is pic of my 02 male taken about 4 months ago. He currently weighs in at 1700 grams, but I don't have a recent size although well north of 60"

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