Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, after a summer of no success of finding any wild N. taxispolata(spelling?), I ending up with two by accident. I had a table with friend at the Columbia, SC show with my wife and two daughters in tow. Well my 2 year old just had to have a snake to play with(she loves them and is particularly gentle with them under, under supervision of course), so my wife went and got her a couple of snakes for $3. Turns out she got her a couple brown watersnakes! Well, I don't know if they are stressed, or just not settled in yet, but they don't seem interested in the food items that regular Nerodia that I'm used to (erythogaster, fasciata) seem to inhale, such as feeder fish and small amphibians. They are small snakes and I'm wondering how large juvies of this species are. They are about 8 or 9" in length and fat as mud! Are they a little different than the species that I'm used to or am I just being impatient...which happens from time to time...lol Thanks.

Juvie taxis should feed on fish pretty readily. You may want to offer them different kinds, possibly native guppies, minnows, or small sunfish that you catch. Adult taxis eat catfish almost exclusively so you might want to try scenting with a frozen catfish.

Most importantly, make sure you have the snakes set up properly. Taxis are a basking species and so need an overhead heat lamp and large water source. Make sure they have plenty of places to hide as well.

Michael56 - where are are you? - we need you on this one.
-----
Pierson Hill

Herpetology and Herpetoculture

Sorry about that, It's getting cold up here! I'm preparing for the winter, lots of nuts to store.
So, we have a new "Taxi driver" in our midst. Happy days are here again ... and he has a pair of newborns to boot! (He) meaning you 'cause I'm responding to Piersons' "where did I put that boy?" call.
OK, my browns are about 2 years old now, approx. 14"-15" long and still quite slim though the female is clearly more bulking than the male. As Pierson has stated, Browns are baskers and primarily (if not entirely) piscivorous.
NOT INTENDING TO CONTRADICT MYSELF ...
My observations of a captive pair; newborn to 2 years:
a) primarily nocturnal OR very secretive as youngsters.
b) do bask in branches but have retreated when I'm seen.
c) recently basking more openly, the female in particular.
d) will accept swordtails, minnows, big guppies, goldfish and whole frozen/thawed trout also trout strips.
e) seem to prefer food in the order above. (trout is usually offered on forceps and is taken a little less "forcibly" than live fish.
f) I have not had the opportunity to offer them catfish however, I'm truly confident that these would be the food of choice!
g) they have "snapped" at me once or twice but have never bitten me. They're calm once picked up but occassionally go a bit snakey if restrained.
I suspect that I may not be providing them adequate height for their liking since there is so much documentation including Piersons' field reports/photos to support this habit. In all likelyhood, due to their age/increased size/confidence they would "transfer" to perches duing the day rather than hide if/when I correct the set-up to "outside river bends, sloping access to the water with adequate perches". This is paraphrased from a research paper on Taxispilota that I read some years ago.
Wow, I just made up for six months off-line in one response!
Michael
By the way (Pierson), those mangroves have doubled in size!! Also, that one green in particular shed two days ago to expose the sore - which I thought was just about healed - not! Have not, but will get and try, sulfazine.

They feed almost exclusively on catfish as adults? I want to know how they avoid the spine. I am very curious about that(got a young cat stuck in my foot this past weekend lol). Andy
-----
Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

Often times, they don't. Taxis are often found with catfish spines protruding through their sides, which doesn't bother them too much, interestingly enough. The spines either come out or they are pulled back inside the stomach once the fish rots sufficiently. Most of the time, they hold the catfish out of the water long enough for it to die and relax the spines before swallowing.

-----
Pierson Hill

Herpetology and Herpetoculture

Interesting. The spines hurt like nothing else, so I am glad they can handle them (I sure can't lol). Andy
-----
Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

Does anyone know of a good supplier of Taxi's in California. I was wondering if thier is a breeder out here anyone knows. I am primarily a boid and deserts enthusiast, but I have been reading all of these water snake posts and figure I might be intrested in getting one myself. Any help would be great.

Well, I've got one that has started eating really well on feeder goldfish. It will even take them off of the tongs now when offered. The other has eaten, but not "in public", had to leave the fish in the waterbowl and then only ate one and the others just died. I also had to remove their waterbowls as they were developing moisture blisters from never leaving the waterbowl. I currently have them on bird and reptile litter, should I switch to cypress mulch to raise cage humidity and keep them out of the water so much?

Good to hear they're eating at least. I'd suggest getting them on cypress or coconut husk (I'm liking this substrate) and giving them a waterbowl to drink from 3 days a week or so until the blisters clear up. Blister disease can kill baby Nerodia very quickly. I'd give them a basking lamp over one end of the cage to promote them to come out from hiding and dry out. Offer food every 2 or 3 days (maybe while offering water?). Hope this helps.

-----
Pierson Hill

Herpetology and Herpetoculture

I'll try that, I've got a bunch of cypress that I use for some of my other snakes and lizards. It's nice to finally have Taxi's to go with my N. erythogaster and N. fasciata. Which brings up another question. A friend brought me what appears to be a young fasciata except it doesn't have the band back from the eye like the normal fasciata that I see around here. He also is darker marked without the normal amount of pattern on the belly also. Subspecies maybe?
-----
Conrad

Too Fast Reptiles

Where do you live? There is no way for me to tell you exactly what it is unless you posted a picture. Sounds like a neat snake.
-----
Pierson Hill

Herpetology and Herpetoculture

I'm in eastern NC, Onslow county to be precise. I often come across N. fasciata, but this little guy, even though he has the same banding, lacks the normal eye band and the normally heavily patterns on the belly. If I can borrow a camera from a friend, as mine is broken, I'll try to get a couple for you. Crazy thing is, I offered him an unscented pink today and he snagged it! I've never had fasciata take rodents before. Erythogaster usually converts easy, and like most garters, when they get used to eating are total dumpsters, eating anything handed to them(including a test chunk of cucumber!). And bad news, I went to change the set up on the Taxis and the one that had only eaten once was dead...very sad find. The other is loving the new set up though and will be fed again tonight, and every three days from here on out.
-----
Conrad

Too Fast Reptiles

Sorry to hear about your taxi. They can be tough and I had a nice male WC suddenly die on me this summer.

I'd love to see pictures of the mystery snake. It's great that he took a pink. I have a small male that nails scented fuzzies. I need to get some pics up here soon as he just shed and is looking really nice.
-----
Pierson Hill

Herpetology and Herpetoculture