Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all. I'm usually over in the tree boa or boa constrictor forum, but wanted to share that I just got 2.0 little baby tigers. Was told they were farm bred in Surinam. They are only a few months old at best and still have their umbilical slits (about 15-20" long). I am so excited because this is a species I have wanted to work with for a long time, but did not want to start with large, imported adults or subadults. Hopefully I can find a little girl or two in the near future for them. I will try and get some pics up this weekend.

Billy

n/p

These guys are sooo cool. I picked them up during lunch on Friday and had them on my desk for the afternoon, where they calmly kept an eye on what I was doing. So far (after only two days) they are proving to be very curious, confident and calm when I hold them. Don't get me wrong, if I take them by surprise, they will nail me, but once out, they are very calm and deliberate. Alot like my boas and nothing like my hyper, nutty yellow rat snakes. This guy took a f/t rat pinky the night I brought him home. He's the bigger of the two. Also, they both have solid, ink black tails. Most of the pics I have seen show animals with bands on their tails. Is one form more common than the other? Will they develop the banding with age?

Billy

This little guy refused the f/t rat pinky Friday, but took a live hopper yesterday. He has some more white patterning on his head than the other one.

Billy

Wow, they are both really nice! I believe the tail will stay black.. Mine are very young and all the others from the same clutch had the tail bands from the start... Maybe they are a different ssp.

Thanks! Do you know locality info. on yours? What little I could find on this species said the colors may change, but the pattern would not. If they keep their black tails, I will be very happy! Oh yeah, the guy I got them from is trying to get me a female from the same locality. I've bred Bci, amazon tree boas and yellow rat snakes, so I'm really hoping I can breed these guys as well in a few years. I think the market could use some big, tame, black and yellow cbb colubrids!! I am smitten with these guys already.....

Billy

>>Wow, they are both really nice! I believe the tail will stay black.. Mine are very young and all the others from the same clutch had the tail bands from the start... Maybe they are a different ssp.

The banding they have is the banding they'll keep. The intensity of the coloration may fade a bit over time but not much. My 10' adults are as vibrant as they were when I got them years ago. Get them on rats ASAP, it'll be way cheaper over the long run!

Wow, I can't over how much those guys are nice!! Mine are supposed to be Honduras locale... Thats what I,ve been told... Either way, they are Spilotes pullatus pullatus. VBilly, your adults are somethin'!!! Can't wait till mine are that big! hehe

Just a little question like that... What size rats do you feed your adults and how frequently?

Thanks for the compliment! Actually those aren't my big ones, the ones in the pics are two holdbacks from 2 years ago. They're about 5.5' or so. Their parents are brumating so I don't bug them at this time of year.

My breeders eat medium sized rats, they are still slender for their length and have a tougher time w/jumbo rats. I feed them one rat every 2 weeks, the ones in the pics take 1-2 small rats weekly to maybe every 10 days.

I start the babies on haired mice then progress as they get older/bigger. I also have a source for baby pheasant which I feed to the adults at a rate of 4-5 each as these are week-old Pheasants w/little "meat" on them. They go crazy on them, chicks are pounded w/equal zeal!

Enjoy, they are the coolest and hardiest snakes I've ever had the pleasure to keep.

Bill

Thanks for the info and pics Bill! Would you mind giving up some info about breeding them? Age, size, housing, nesting boxes, incubation, breeding consistency (every year, every other year), etc.?

Thanks again!
Billy

>>Thanks for the compliment! Actually those aren't my big ones, the ones in the pics are two holdbacks from 2 years ago. They're about 5.5' or so. Their parents are brumating so I don't bug them at this time of year.
>>
>>My breeders eat medium sized rats, they are still slender for their length and have a tougher time w/jumbo rats. I feed them one rat every 2 weeks, the ones in the pics take 1-2 small rats weekly to maybe every 10 days.
>>
>>I start the babies on haired mice then progress as they get older/bigger. I also have a source for baby pheasant which I feed to the adults at a rate of 4-5 each as these are week-old Pheasants w/little "meat" on them. They go crazy on them, chicks are pounded w/equal zeal!
>>
>>Enjoy, they are the coolest and hardiest snakes I've ever had the pleasure to keep.
>>
>>Bill
>>
>>
>>

None of mine have bred before 4 years of age and 6'-7' in size - especially the females. I'm sure the males are ready earlier than that. What I do is simulate a wet/dry season. My snake room peaks at 90F during the hottest part of the Summer - its walled in now and will have an a/c unit for next Summer but they never stressed during these peaks. I keep them basically w/out any humidity (easy to do in Vegas) w/the exception of a large water bowl. Starting in November I cool them down to a NTL of 70F and a DTH of 80F. I do this for 8 weeks.

I then bring the DTH back up to 86F w/a NTL of 78F - done gradually over a week. The hide box is on the cool side of the cage and averages 82F. They are in a 4'x3'x2'(LxWxH) cage. I then mist the crap out of them - the reaction to the "rain" is immediate and remarkable! Overall activity goes through the roof. My breeders are housed together year-round. It takes about a day for courtship to commence and it is an energetic affair. One way to tell they've been breeding is that the cage looks like a tornado has hit it!

I keep a Sterelite tub w/4" of vermiculite dampened until you can barely sqeeze out any water. They've never double clutched and my largest clutch has been 8 eggs.

Bill

That's all great information Bill! Thanks again!

Billy

I have never seen a acptive raised Spilotes pullatus that was only six - seven feet at four years of age, as all I have raised were at least six feet by the end of their firts year, with a few that approached eight feet by 18 months!
In my experience, Spilotes pullatus have been one of teh fastest growing snakes I have ever worked with, literally growing before your eyes!

Best regards,

Jeff
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Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947

geez jeff, you must be putting miracle grow in their food......or something. 8' in 18 months?!?!? my big boy took at least 3 years to hit that size & believe me, he was never denied anything as you can see in this very old pic of him as a youngster. he's now 4 years old & a fairly hefty 9'. although he's never bitten me, he did once head butt me from approx. 3' away which i never saw coming. i guess that apparently satisfied him cause he's been a real good boy ever since.......

Hmm, maybe I'm not feeding them enough?? LOL I keep them more on a "maintenenace" diet if you will. They are my "garbage pails" in that they get fed anything thats been thawed and not eaten by some of my more finicky snakes. Usually its one medium rat every 10 days and the occasional extra mouse/rat thats left over. Its a regimen thats always worked for me.

Before breeding I really ramp up the food for 90 days or so before cooling just to make sure the females have adequate reserves.

Bill

Hey, Dan!

That must be what the "blue powder" I sprinkle on their food is! ;0)

Jeff
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Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947

Those are truly beautifull snakes.

Sincerely,

Fred Albury

Thanks for the compliment!

Bill