Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I must have the only pair of fussy beauties on the planet. Her and the male still won't accept frozen thawed.

Nope, I have a fussy Chinese beauty also. Did you recently buy those from a dealer/importer in the kingsnake.com classifieds? If so, I got the other female of the original trio that they were selling. I got mine to get new blood into my calico line, and I am pretty happy with her so far. She will be in quarantine for a few months at least, making sure she is clean before she gets to go ino the "snake room". She is taking live, large hopper mice for me with no problems, but I have not gotten her to take f/t yet. This does not surprise me, since she is w/c, and from what I have seen in my other Orthirophis taeniurus taeniurus specimens, this subspecies just may not have as strong a feeding response as the other beauty subspecies. I will probably just continue feeding her live for a couple months and then try gradually switching her over.

My adult pair (male - het calico, female - calico) were a little challenging with getting them to take f/t as well. Their former owner mostly fed them live mice, so that is what they were used to when I got them. The male took f/t mice for a couple months without a problem, then suddenly went off feed. He would not take f/t for the rest of the year, but I got him feeding again on live mice.

The adult female (calico) took f/t very well, once I got her used to it. I got her to take f/t by experimentation to find the method that worked. What worked was dangling a f/t mouse by the tail with forceps, in front of the snake's hide. I had to hold the mouse until she had it at least half-way swallowed. If I let it go too soon, she would drop it, and would not come out of her hide for the rest of the night. Once I had done this several times, she started taking f/t mice on her own, from a paper plate. She was a very good feeder for the rest of the year, until brumation time.

The '07 offspring from this pair were very easy to get feeding, and took f/t pinks for their first meals. They are taking 2 - 3 large fuzzies per meal now, and the only time they miss a meal is when they are in the blue, and will sometimes still feed at that time.

Best of luck with those beauties!
-Toby Brock

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Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

I picked up the pair at a show for 20$ as hatchlings. They were labeled as farm raised. For the longest time they would only take live pinks or small fuzzies. It's just recently that they have been consistantly taking small adults and are finally getting some size. I had some real nice Taiwans a few years back. I guess I was expecting a similar feeding response. That calico is nice. How large are your adults?

Thanks, that calico is one of my favorite snakes.

I know that most of the other subspecies of taeniurus normally have very strong feeding responses, but from my experience, this has not been the case with my Chinese beauties. My '07 babies feed very well on f/t fuzzies, but they are very shy and will wait until it is dark and nobody is in the room before they feed. My adult female (calico) is probably the least shy feeder of my beauties, and will sometimes feed in front of me, if I am quiet and still. She eats very slowly and methodically compared to the rest of my rat snakes. I just brought her and the adult male out of brumation last week, and offered them f/t fuzzies last night. The female ate hers, but the male did not. I will probably have to feed the male live mice again, this spring.

I think my male is close to six feet, and the female may be between 5 1/2 and 6 ft long. I seem to have lost my record of their weights during last summer, but I think I remember that they were both in the range of 700 - 800 grams.

Best of luck with your beauties.
-Toby Brock

Photo: adult male in gallon water jug

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Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

I bought a het. T minus albino in December, cheap price as she was a live-feeder. She took f/t first time offerred and has only refused when about to shed. She has a very good appetite and is planned to be paired with my T minus albino male in two years.
Graham.
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30 Snakes :
Corns, Milks, Kings, American Rats, Asian Rats, Leopard Rat, Texas Long Nosed, Royal, Boa
www.ratsnakefoundation.org

Sorry Don, forgot to add, very nice snake.
Graham.
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30 Snakes :
Corns, Milks, Kings, American Rats, Asian Rats, Leopard Rat, Texas Long Nosed, Royal, Boa
www.ratsnakefoundation.org