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How much variability is there in Taiwan beauties? Every one I've seen has looked about the same. Is there much of a difference between WC adults, and CBs? Any specific bloodlines turn out brighter than others?
I'm thinking about asking for a pair for Christmas, and I'm not sure where to go for them. I know a couple people who sell captive hatched, but of course they don't have pictures of the parents up.
Is there much benefit in buying CB over captive hatched, asides from parasites & such? I'm prepared to quarantine & medicate any captive hatched I'd get, so that's not too much of a worry for me.

Hi,

As far as I'm aware only captive bred specimens of the Taiwan Beauty Snake (Orthriophis taeniurus friesi) are being offered on the market, since the worldwide captive population of this subspecies stems from a single pair of wildcaught adults (wich were imported by an Austrian breeder many years ago). The subspecies friesi reaches lenghts of 8-9 feet and is diurnally active, so I would advise only to get into this subspecies when you have plenty of room available. I know a Dutch breeder who has kept a trio (1.2) of adults for many years in an enclosure wich measured 2.5 feet by (approximately) 1.5 feet by (approx.) 1.5 feet (length x depth x height) and who had two fertile clutches of eggs every season. Having kept this subspecies myself I can tell you that Taiwan Beauty Snakes are quite active and that they love to climb. Therefore, I feel that this subspecies deserves lots of space and that's the reason why I'm not keeping Taiwan Beauty Snakes anymore, because I feel that I can't give them the space I feel that they deserve.

As far as appearance goes: some specimens have a more olive colour (head, body and the longitudinal stripe) whereas others have a white groundcolour with a bright yellow head and stripe. If you look at a clutch of newborn O. t. friesi, it's relatively easy to pick out the animals with high contrast (wich in the future will turn into bright yellow 'monsters' of 9 feet).

The subspecies taeniura (Chinese Beauty Snake) reaches lengths of 4-5 feet and is being offered as captive hatched (or 'farm bred') occasionally in the classifieds here on Kingsnake.com. Chinese Beauty Snakes are more olive in colour.

Regards,

Bert Grit
The Netherlands

Thanks for the info! I'm aware of the size they reach, and I'm actually looking forward to that. They'll definitely be my biggest colubrids! I have Hog Island boas, and a cungle carpet python, so these guys shouldn't be too much more than the JCP; a bit longer probably, but the girth should be similar, right?
I have housing prepared currently for babies, and room on a rack to house anything up to just about 6 feet. Within the next year, I'll have two 40 gallon aquaria free, and a 55(working on building new cages all the time). A 55 should be enough to house a pair, should it not?

I'm specifically looking for Taiwan, not Chinese or Blue beauties. I see those both available more often than I see Taiwanese available, but I like the coloration of the Taiwanese better. The others all seem dull to me in comparison.

Would you say that these "captive hatched" babies would be Chinese then, instead of Taiwanese? The people who have them both get their animals from wholesalers, so it could be entirely possible that they're labeled incorrectly; they looked right to me, but very dull. I had just assumed that this was because they're babies.

Do you have any pictures of what baby Taiwan beauties would look like? Maybe even Chinese? Then, I'd have something to compare to.
Also, the ones I've been seeing are dirt cheap, like, comparable to corn snakes in prices. I assumed that was because they're WC/CH, compared to CB, but would that maybe signify that they might not be Taiwanese?

Thanks for the input!

Hi,

Personally, I find a rack system not suitable for Taiwan Beauty Snakes, but that's just my opinion. I couldn't quite figure out how large a 40 gallon tank would be, but if I were to keep this subspecies again (something I'm planning to do), I would house a single adult snake in a cage that would measure at least 7 feet by 3.5 feet by 6 feet (length x depth x height). But again, this is just my opinion; as I already mentioned Taiwan Beauty Snakes will thrive in cages with much smaller dimensions. Since this subspecies has quite a strong feeding response I would seperate the pair whenever it's feeding time. I would feed the snakes in a seperate container (and not in their cage), because this way you'll avoid being bitten or struck at every time you put your hands inside their cage. When you feed the snakes in their cage, they will associate your hands with food.

Like I said, to the best of my knowledge all captive specimens from the Taiwan Beauty Snake stem from a single pair of wildcaught adults. Taiwan doesn't export snakes (or any other reptile) like China does. Whenever you see Taiwan Beauty Snakes being sold as captive hatched/farm bred, it's pretty save to say that not the subspecies friesi is being sold, but the subspecies taeniurus or (sometimes) yunnanensis. I would therefore say that Taiwan Beauty Snake hatchlings that are being sold for around 10-20 bucks each are instead captive hatched/farm bred taeniurus.

I'm sorry, but I don't have any pictures of hatchling friesi. Compared to adults the hatchlings are rather dull in colour (they're more olive in colour); they develop the yellow colour during the (approximately) first 2 years of life. However, when you compare several hatchlings with eachother it's relatively easy to pick out the specimens that will turn into bright yellow adults. These specimens already show a bit more of the yellow colour and they have the lightest ground colour (in my experience the specimens with a white ground colour will turn bright yellow, whereas the specimens with an olive ground colour will stay more olive).

Regards,

Bert Grit