Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just wanted to share a very positive experience I had with Fred Albury in obtaining a gorgeous pair of couperi from him. I'll post some pics soon. Due to some difficult circumstances, Fred had to part with his prized pair of indigos and I was fortunate enough to obtain them. After waiting for what seemed like forever getting my permits (and worth it), I finally received the indigos. They were in perfect shape and absolutely beautiful. They were accurately represented despite not seeing a picture. So, A BIG HIGH FIVE for Fred for coming through even when he has been facing some very difficult personal hardships.

That's got to be tough having to part with some of your favorite animals but atleast they're going somewhere where they'll be equally well cared for.
Chris

Congrats Rob; I know you are one proud new papa!

Eric

on your new aquisitions. I'm sure they are fine animals....let's see lots of babies this coming year. I know Fred has always wanted to do the right things, and had a long history of it before his current situation started cropping up. Hopefully he can get his situation fixed soon and we'll start seeing him around here again once in a while.

I'll second that... I recently had to sell my '02 male in order to secure a mortgage... sucks, don't it?

I am glad Fred has become his old self and I hope that the financial troubles will go away for him soon. I realize that we all do things we don't want to do and sometimes don't feel right about when we are under the financial stress, and sure hope that Fred will find a way to get Indigos back into his collection very soon. For myself, I am going to restock someday, I want to try a yellowtail.

Can anyone give me an idea of their temperament as compared to an Eastern or blacktail, both of which I have kept in the past?

Thanks,

Landon

In my limited experience with Y/T's, I find that there really is no comparison to the temperament of Easterns and Blacktails. The Y/T's seem much more high-strung and have a lot more "attitude". I've seen a few Blacktails that were squirrely, and a few Texans. Most all of the Easterns I've seen or dealt with were pretty laid back. Yellowtails for the most part are not mellow snakes at all. They are quite attractive, though...and for me, I guess the "attitude" is part of the attraction, too. Yellowtails get very large, too..bigger than any other Dry. I think they could lay a nasty bite on you, if they connected. I've been lacerated pretty good by Easterns, not even really intending to bite me (missed the food, got me) and bitten once by one intentionally (he intended it, not me). I don't even want to get tagged by a big angry Yellowtail, or God forbid, one that mistakes my hand for food. The determination that they show to hang on when going for food makes me think that just wouldn't be a lot of fun.

How are you're babies doing. Mine are both eating large live pinkies with feeder fish guts smeared on them. I was curious if you or Jeff & Beatrice have had any luck getting yours switched over to rodents yet. I was pleasantly suprised how easy they were.
(Of course, those little neonate copperheads I picked up are proving to be a royal pain in the butt).
Chris

I managed to get mine to eat a scented pinkie once, and now she's refusing them again. Shouldn't be a real big deal, though...she has a real good feeding response.

How about the little Cantil?

The cantil has been easy. It ate an unscented live pinky the day after I got home and hasn't refused a meal since.
Chris

Nice! I like the taylori, too...something about those orange face stripes against the brown ground color...but the white on the bilineatus is cool, too. Those things can definitely be squirrely, though..a big fiesty adult can be a handfull..sort of like a w/c Bothrops nummifer or Vipera russelli....very spastic and hard to hook.

That one should be a very pretty adult...

If I did they'd be the 1st thing I'd wanna work with, a very 'overlooked' snake..........

best of luck with them

Dean

.

Have you seen the Leucistic Cottonmouths that Terry VanDeventer produced this year? They are amazing...solid white with white eyes and black pupils. I wish I could afford a pair, but at $4,000.00 per pair, it's a little out of reach for this year. He got seven solid white ones. He's also selling hets and possibles.

They are pretty incredible. I'd love a pair but it's probably not going to happen unless I receive a suprise inheritance from the billionaire uncle I never knew I had
Do you know any history on those? I never knew they existed until I saw that ad.

By the way, to keep this on topic...one of my YT babies took an unscented live pinky tonight. I'm hoping the other one will do the same soon but I'm already feeling very fortunate.
Chris

That's pretty good...I'm still struggling with mine a bit. I got her to take a scented F/T pinkie once by sneaking up on her with it and wiggling it around in front of her with forceps...she's wise to that now. I'll have to get some live ones and let her get good and hungry and try a live scented pinkie.

I'm not sure where the lineage came from on those white cottonmouths..Terry sent me an E-mail with some pictures a few days ago. I e-mailed him back and that was one of the questions I asked him...where did the original W/C stock come from, are they piscivorous, leucostoma or conanti...etc. I haven't heard back from him yet, but he'll get back to me when he gets time. He's pretty busy with the snakes, school shows, and knife making.

but then again the spousal unit would miss it if I didn't bleed on the carpet on a fairly regular basis.

Regards,
J.

OBTW our little Y/T has yet to take a pinky (aside from the wife's that is).

The FIRST time she took my pinky. Most recently, she took my thumb followed by my forefinger and the side of my wrist. BIG atitude for such a tiny snake.

They are definitely little hellions. It's amazing how such a little snake can be so damn sure of itself....no fear whatsoever.

I'm taking F/T little feeder fish and cutting their heads off. Then I'm squeezing out the insides and rubbing it all over a live pinky. (kinda nasty but it works) I leave it in the hidebox with the YT and it's usually gone in a matter of minutes. If it smells like fish and it's moving they seem interested but they won't eat in front of me.
I plan to scent a little less with each feeding until they're eating unscented. I did this last year with my uni hatchling and it didn't take long to completely switch him over.
Chris

I've got baby Indigos that I produced and some yearling YTC's from Phil Blais. My YTC's aren't aggressive to me and let me pick them up without any issues. BUT....They aren't much like the indigos, which seem to tolerate handling much better.

I would say that the differences are pretty simple: Easterns are all black and more reliably mellow. YTC's get huge, come in various levels of yellow and black and are more nervous. I don't expect any problems from my YTC's as far as attitude as they get older. They put up with me now and since most snakes mellow with age, I expect that I'll be buddies with my YTC's.

With YTC's, I think that if you start with mellow babies, like mine, the chances that you get mellow adults are great. I'm really looking forward to having a monster, 10 foot long cribo.

The odds of having an aggressive YT are much higher than having an aggressive Eastern(almost unheard of). However, a 10 foot long, mellow YT has to be one of the most impressive animals in the world.

Doug T

www.tmereptiles.com

I have extensive experience with w.c. YT Cribos and I can tell you that for the most part they are not as aggressive as everyone thinks and of course c.b. YT's are pussy cats.
Last year I got 25 w.c. fresh import adults and sub adults.
All, but 3 were aggressive and tried to bite. Most of the others were wary and nervous at first which is to be expected from w.c. snakes, but after they acclimated they calmed down and weren't as squirmy when held. There were a few that were so passive out of the bag that I thought they were sick!
The 3 that remained aggressive eventually calmed down to the point where they took a defensive position only when you entered their cage, but would not strike or bite. I did sell one of those and I hear from his owner that he has been mauled a few times! LOL
While in my care they quickly grew accustomed to being around people and I only handle them to clean their cages so it's not like I was actually working to tame them down on a daily basis.
Today I got a 5 foot w.c. female and she musked me once and tried to bite me once when I took her out of the bag to put her in the tub to clean her off. After that I held her for about 30 minutes looking her over and she was as calm as a kitten. No striking or musking.
I find that the w.c.'s are very easy to acclimate and make excellent captives/pets as long as they have good body weight when you get them. Of those 25 imports all but 2 took f/t rodents the first time I offered them and the two snakes that didn't are now feeding for their new owners. (The stubborn ones LOVE chicks)
I have 2 more w.c. YT's coming in the next 2 weeks and I expect those to be no problem either.
I also have several c.b. YT's here and they are all very tame, even my c.b. babies.
Someone wrote that YT's seem less tolerant of being handled compared to Eastern and Texas Indigos and I have found that to be true, especially of my 7 and 8 footers. i also find that the BT's, Unis and YT's are pretty much the same in temperment with the YT's being only slightly more wary or high strung, nothing major.
If you are thinking of getting a YT I suggest a c.b. snake that is taking f/t rodents on a regular basis unless you can get a w.c. YT that has been treated for bugs and is feeding on f/t rodents.

Good Luck

If so that guy is one cool dude. I spoke with him at the San Diego show and he gave me much insight on herp breeding and introduced me to many breeders.

Cool Cat
-----
0.1 Rubber Boa
1.1 Eastern Hognose Snakes
1.1 Western Hognose Snakes
1.0 Durango Mountain Kingsnake
1.0 California Kingsnake
1.1 Woma's (new!)
Spadefoot
Black Knobbed Sawback
Northern Diamondback
Florida Redbellied Slider
Australian Redbellied Side Neck
Western Painted
Southern Painted
1.0 African Hedgehog
1.0 Sulcata
2.1 Leopard (Babcocki) 1.0 borrowed (thanks Bobby)
2 Plecos
2 Silver Dollars
3 Bosemian Rainbows
2 Clown Loaches
1 African Dwarf Frog
1 Khuli Loach
1 Cory Cat
1 Upside Down Catfish
2.0 Fire Guramis

uhh... I think that is it.

Yes, that is the same Fred and it doesn't surprise me that he took the time to hook you up with some folks and give you some great info. He'll be back, rest assurred.

He's given TONS of great advice over the years to folks on this forum and seems to take impeccable care of his personal snakes.

I only regret knowing he'd probably rather not have parted with those awsome serpents you now own.

Good luck with them!