Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am looking to do some reading on beauty snakes. if anyone can point me in a direction let me know.
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0.0.1 Black Rat
0.0.1 Normal Corn
0.1 Leucistic Texas Rat
0.0.1 Garden Phase ATB

The book, A Monograph of the Colubrid Snakes of the Genus Elaphe by Klaus-Dieter Schultz is the ultimate for reading on the species Taeniura. The bad side is that the book costs $150 and it is not east to come by.
Other that that many other general snake books will just have a little info on them.
Your best bet other than the book above is just by doing a search on the web under beauty snakes or taeniura and picking a little info up here and there.
Feel free to e-mail me with any specific questions you might have or I would be glad to talk to you on the phone as they are a favorite of mine. I keep and breed several.
My e-mail is colubridman@nc.rr.com.
Later, Randy Whittington

I have a taeniura question for you Randy. Actually, any input from the group would be nice too, as I know there are many on this site who keep E. taeniura ssp.
WHAT DO YOU KEEP YOUR BEAUTY SNAKES IN? I have a pair of adult blue beauties, and I recently purchased a couple of ridleyi hatchlings. I currently keep my adult pair in a 6' vision cage. This seems to small for them, especially the height. They are very active for a large snake and I would like to provide them with room to explore, but as a full time college student - I don't have time to build a large enclosure. The vision display cages seem perfect, but I can't imagine the shipping cost.

I'm curious what other people are using...and any pics would be great!!

Thanks a lot,

Obie Sage

I do not have any adult beauties right now just a pair of babies, however i have built a 4' x 2' x 2' cage for each of them as juvies. Then, assuming i still live where i do, i plan on building a 8'w. x 3'd x 4't cage for each of them. I am pretty sure this is much more than they "require", but i plan to give them as nice of a home as possible.

Ben
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0.0.1 Black Rat
0.0.1 Normal Corn
0.1 Leucistic Texas Rat
0.0.1 Garden Phase ATB

WOW 8'X4'! I don't know if I could go that big -- I live in an apartment. But I'm sure they'll be pretty happy in there...

Thanks Ben!

Obie

I think a 4ft by 2ft floor space cage is a good size cage for most adult taeniura. Some smaller adults such as taeniura taeniura(chinese beauties) can be kept in 3ft by 2ft cages. I must admit that I keep some taeniura in 3 by 2 cages that should be in 4 by 2's. If possible it would be best to keep the biggest blues, taiwans or cavers in something a little larger than 4ft by 2ft. As far as height, I really dont feel arboreal oriented cages are necessary and money is better spent on more floor space for taeniura.
If you are currently using a 6ft vision cage for your adult blues that is much more than necessary and your snakes are lucky. Hope this helps. Randy Whittington

Sounds like my 6' vision is fine after all. No need to fix whats not broken...

Thanks Randy!

By the way -- do you find it better to give them each their own cage? I keep my pair together, but I'd like to breed them next year and I've heard that keeping them separate can help. Also, have you ever heard of a canabalistic baby caver?

Obie

Hey Obie,
I keep all my Taeniura in seperate cages and just put them together for breeding.I have never heard of any Taeniura being cannibalistic but I would never feed them together if you house them together. If two begin eating the same rodent from different ends, well you can guess what might happen when they meet in the center. Randy Whittington

what kind of substrate is that, it's not aspen is it?
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0.0.1 Black Rat
0.0.1 Normal Corn
0.1 Leucistic Texas Rat
0.0.1 Garden Phase ATB

It is aspen bedding. The snake is a Mocquards beauty hatchling from a clutch I had last year. The picture is very blown up. The snake and the wood chips are not any where near the size they appear to be in the picture. Randy W.

I keep a trio of Taiwans in a 6X6X2 cage I built for them, & keep my male Blue in a 4X4X2 cage & will have another 6X6 cage built for him & the females when they're big enough (& I've made the room!)

My beauties are highly arboreal & spend more than 50% of their time off the ground. This may be because they prefer the comfort of the smoother surfaces of the various shelves as opposed to the rougher substrate of the ground but, generally, they tend to mainly visit the ground to drink, defecate & as part of their roaming when 'hunting'.

If you can spare the vertical space, I'd recommend it as they can look spectacular when taking up ambush positions dangling from a branch...

Thanks for the response. I think I will eventually get a taller cage for them -- they do like to climb and there isn't much climbing to be done in 18" of height. They also seem to feel more secure in a cage with glass only in front (one of the reasons I have been using the vision). Since I have few tools and even less time (college), I have been thinking about getting a large Cages By Design unit, although I've heard some bad things about them.