Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was curious if anyone has any info on vine snakes, whether legal to own, what their demeanor is like, care, etc.? Also with the small cat eyed snake. I know that both are mildly venomous, rarley toxic, and in my opinion gorgeous snakes. I haven't found a whole lot of information myself, very little if any on captive housing. Just a curious inquiry, any info would be helpful. I have never owned any venomous "pets", but I have thought about it. Very distant future plans, certainly not practical with young children. But I am a fan of conservation and of captive care of exotic animals. Thanks in advance.

Can't help you with information about Vine Snakes.

As to Cat-Eyed Snakes (Leptodeira), I maintained several of them for a few months back in the early 70s. They are for the most part a rather timid snake and I never had one of them attempt to bite. Their venom seems to be quite effective on small cold-blooded prey, but certainly not anything that would be of any real danger to humans. The ones I kept fed readily on small frogs and lizards. Pat Burchfield of the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Tx. reported that they would feed on other snakes, but I never tried feeding other snakes to mine. I have also been told that in captivity that they can be switched to accept small pre-killed mice but I am not sure of this.

Cat-Eyed Snakes occur on northern South America, northward throughout Central America and the eastern part of Mexico and into extreme southern Texas. We found them to be abundant in parts of Mexico, but in the small area of South Texas where they do occur they are rare. In Texas, they are currently a protected species and can not be collected or possessed without a scientific permit from Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept.
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Gerald Keown
The Venomous Snakes of Texas

Thanks for the information, very helpful

I have a pair of Asian vine snakes. I have mine set up in a 40 gallon glass aquarium turned on one end to make it tall and have all kinds of fake plants for them to hide in, since they are diurnal, I keep them right by a sunny window and in the summer they seem to do fine(in the winter I use a daylight bulb to up the temperature)Temps are hot spot from the light in the low 90's and ambient temp of 85 in the lower part of the cage. I mist them twice a day because they do not seem to drink from a water bowl(though I have one in there just in case). As far as temperment my male is very docile and I can handle him without problems, the female is aggressive and will give an angry display and has tried to bite before. So it varies by individual snake. They do feed primarily on lizards or frogs, but yes that gets expensive. I wouldn't think crickets would be very nutrional but they have eaten a couple just because I wanted to see if they would, I tryed small fish in a water bowl when they had babies, with mixed results. My adult female will take live fuzzy mice, but my male never would and so I still have to force feed him pinkys, but he's used to it and has learned to eat when I put it in his mouth so it's less stressfull, but he is healthy otherwise. These guys are just really tricky feeders. Prey always has to be live with them because they are unique in that they have the best eyesight because of their horizontal pupils and hunt primarily by sight. I've noticed they are very aware of their surrounding outside of the cage and even got all defensive when I put a poster of a leopard within veiwing distance of their cage(I didn't think it would have an affect on them and have since taken it down) With babies you may have to start out forcefeeding them regardless of the prey item. It seems that they prefer to eat only once every month(you'd think it would be more than that as they defecate about two days after eating) as adults and they do fine with that(mine bred and I think that shows they are in good condition)with babies they will eat about every 5 days. As far as laws go they are technically considered venomous and so venomous laws apply, but most dealers are willing to sell them as nonvenomous, because they are considered to be harmless. I think you could own these with kids as long as they are in a locking cage. As far as handling them with kids, they are really fast and you have to hold on to them tightly, very flighty, I think you could show them to the kids, but not a good snake to let them handle. Also for the fact that children are smaller and so their venom could affect them more severely in the unlikely event they are bitten. I've been bitten with no ill effects. Hope this helps

I have a long-nosed whipsnake, Ahaetulla nasuta. Careful about heating: they heat up quickly and can be "cooked" by a heat lamp or heat pad. I use a heat pad on the SIDE of the cage, instead of the bottom.

Good Luck!

Eric

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