Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My friend was trying to breed some snakes, expensive, i think they are rat snakes, but not sure, i do know that they dont constrict, but what they do is grab their prey, and slam them sensless against anything near it, i know there is a long waiting list for this snake since it is an endangered species, and its black, and most housing is double conected, since they like to burrow, the lower being higher in humity, this is killing me that i cant remember the name, can anyone help?
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having the balls to try something, and having the balls to do anything, are two separate things!

just ask your friend
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jake

my addiction:
0.2 normal ball pythons (lazlo and izzy)
0.1 amelenistic corn snake (maizy)
0.1 blizzard corn (blizz)
1.0 albino cal king (zeus)
0.0.1 wc garter (zim)
hybrid breeders association
hybrid haven

Sounds like Indigo snakes to me. Certainly not rat snakes, as they constrict and are not expensive.

yeah, first reply, if i still knew who the friend was, i would have asked him, but i have not been in touch with em! secone reply, yes indigo, thats it! thank you very much, can you tell me, is it still hard to get them?i am pretty sure that, i still want them a part of my collection, and breeding program. ty
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having the balls to try something, and having the balls to do anything, are two separate things!

>>...is it still hard to get them?

That depends a lot on where you live and which subspecies. The Eastern Indigo requires a permit that you probably won't get in Florida. Outside Florida, I don't really know te situation.
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.

Before you go out planning to get an Eastern Indigo, there are a few things you should know.

1. They are expensive. Babies run at least $400, usually more.

2. You can't own then in several states.

3. They are a high maintenance snake. They eat a lot, and crap a lot. And they really mess up a cage like few other species of snake. Most people who keep indigos have to keep them on paper and clean their cages almost every day.

4. They require large cages as they are big active snakes. Most keepers keep them in cages that are about 6 feet long x 3 feet wide (the size of a small bed). Where are you going to put that? Have you priced big cages like this?

5. You should only feed snakes prekilled food, therefore your indigo isn't going to "slam prey senseless". It will just pick it up off the cage floor and swallow it quickly.
There is no reason to feed an indigo live food. To do it simply for your own entertainment isn't really a great idea.

6. Breeding indigos is an artform. It isn't simply a matter of getting two and putting them in the same cage. Also, selling baby Eastern Indigos can be troublesome. You can't ship them across state lines without federal paperwork.

I'm not trying to discourage you, just to point out that these aren't the sort of snake one gets just because they are cool. They ARE cool, but there is a lot of work involved in getting/keeping/breeding indigos.

You might want to start out with one of the cheaper and easier to get morphs like a black-tailed cribo. You can buy imports of this species/subspecies for less than an indigo and can learn the intricacies of their care before jumping into the top end snake.

Check out some of the posts on the Indigo forum and learn a little more about these creatures. You may find it is just what you want, you may find it isn't.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

This is a black-tailed cribo from southern Mexico. They are imported with some frequency. However, they can get very large (8-9 feet isn't unusual).

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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

hey dude, what classifieds do i look for this snake under, and where are the caresheets? i wouldn't minds learning about them, and who knows, maybe one day, the ol'lady might let me get it!LOL!
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having the balls to try something, and having the balls to do anything, are two separate things!

right on! thanks chris, i was really thingking about getting one, it has just been killiing me for two days that i cant figure out what kinda snake that was, i knew about the whole permit thing, that was really intimidating, and i wasnt aware of the dailing cleaning, i heard they bite really fast, and really hard, and leave a really really wicked looking scar! I am getting started in ball pythons, i just bought an industrial metal rack, it has five shelves, so i bought two, and using all shelves on one since they are ajustable, and gonna use an empty tubs to size them where i like them,and use heat tape as my heat sourse, i am gonna do yellow bellies, and pastels to get started, and try to get into simple recessives after that, i wanna dabble in a lucy project, and a cinnie project, really just trynig to trend softly one step at a time.
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having the balls to try something, and having the balls to do anything, are two separate things!

Keeping an Indigo is a lot like owning a very expensive high performance sports car . . . there are a lot of costs and maintenance features involved you may not have anticipated going in. I've never had one, but from all I have seen and read, as Chris says, it's a very high maintenance snake. Going from ball pythons to indigos sounds a lot like stepping directly from a Yugo to a Ferrari!

YEah, i understand about the indigo part, i was "never" going to get one, however, after chis' response, i am kinda wanting to look up stuff about the black taild cribo, it looks cool, sounds fun, and i have a tank that i used to have a 9' redtail boa i, its like 4' tall' 3' wide, and 3' deep, front opeaning, i am not sure if its big enough. some of the sites that i have been looking at, say that they are pretty docile, and there has been a could sites that say, they are not for beginners in that type of snake, what type of snake are they? colubrids? and which type is a good one to begin with, i had lucy rats before, one was cool, the other a real biter.
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having the balls to try something, and having the balls to do anything, are two separate things!

Yes, Drymarchon is a colubrid. Some individual red-tail cribos may well be docile, but others may be the opposite, & a large adult is capable of defending itself very well. The eastern indigo is more reliably docile, but as you have been told, an extremely high maintenance captive.

If it is legal to do so where you are, & you have the proper licensing, you may want to look into false water cobras (Hydrodynastes gigas). They are rear fanged colubrids that reach about nine feet & are often fairly docile & easy to maintain & breed in captivity. Except at breeding time, keep them one to a cage, & be careful at feeding time. They get rambunctious.

~~Greg~~