Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A huge thanks to Phil Bradley for this pair of '06 gaigeae! I wanted a species of snake that undergoes an ontogenic change for my science classroom next fall, and considering the price, fragility, and temperaments of some of the slightly more dramatic examples (chondros, emeralds), I decided to go with black milks. I have a thing for big, pitch black snakes anyway.

These little guys arrived yesterday and are even better than I was anticipating. I took these pictures not realizing the female was in shed - which she did last night - so I'm going to get some more today and compare them to see if there's any noticeable difference. I plan to photo-document the process as much as possible.

They should make for some very nice classroom display animals along with the other species I have lined up (ridleyi, ruthveni, couperi, and L. olivaceous so far). Man...why couldn't I have had me as a science teacher when I was in school?? lol

Enjoy the photos. They're squirmy little things and hard to get!

Male

Female



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Chance Duncan
www.rivervalleyexotics.com

Congrats on your new acquisitions! Black milks are great snakes to work with, I'm sure you'll be happy with them!

Dave

DNS Reptiles

Nice snakes. I remember when my little guy looked like that.

Here's a pic taken shortly after I got him. He was about 6 months old.

And this is what he looks like now at 17 months.

I got him from Jim Sargent.

Thanks for the responses guys. Your snakes are gorgeous. I'm really looking forward to seeing these guys when they're solid black. But the transition is going to be quite interesting as well. I only hope they retain enough of the reds and yellows by August so that my students will be able to watch a good portion of it throughout the school year. I may feed them every 7 days during the summer rather than every 5 just in case that could help slow them down a bit. Thoughts?
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Chance Duncan
www.rivervalleyexotics.com