Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here he is, eating after his fast.

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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

You're lucky. At this time of the year (and with the species I mostly keep) getting them to eat is a major feat. I'm downsizing prey animals and enticing them with pinkies to get any but the heartiest to eat. Oh well, fall in New England. But before you know it I'll be putting them to bed for the winter and writing my wish list for next year.

One of these days, I've got to get into the bairdis. They really are different. Love those colors. Must be the country they come from. Very cool indeed.

Any special twists to keeping them?

Regards
John

As far as putting them to sleep already, its still in the mid-80s here, and wont really cool off 'till November, most likely.

bairdis' colors do mimic their surroundings amazingly well. They are often found in a red or yellow dirt area, and the grey looks a lot like a weathered stick.

>>Any special twists to keeping them?
Well, interesting you asked...Others I've spoken to will disagree and say that their bairds are great eaters and require no special care, etc. However mine are very shy and rarely eat when I'm watching. Its been a test of my wits to keep these guys on a regular feeding schedule, but all in all, looking at my records, yeah, they are pretty easy.
I think they need a bit less humidity than some other ratsnakes.
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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

Still in the mid 80's you say. We're hitting the 40's and 50's now and it won't be long till frost. One of these days I'm gonna move south (and west).

Well maybe the more trouble you have getting a snake to eat, the more you value it. But personally, I think I just develop resentment toward the picky eaters and take it as disloyalty. I mean, I'm providing them with free room and board, and protection from predators and this is the gratitude I get?

Well, except in the summer, humidity isn't a big problem for me. It's really really dry round about January. So far I haven't had any trouble with the subocs I've got, but we'll see.
Nice to hear from you
John

It's hard from the pic to think he was a picky eater for awhile. Are they breeding this coming season?

Terry Parks

>>Here he is, eating after his fast.
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>>...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

I think I'll breed them this coming Spring. They'll be almost 3.
I'd like to get some more size on them first, but from what I can tell, they appear big enough. There are still some real husbandry questions out there about these guys, though, huh?
It will be interesting to see, in any case. Maybe they wont be interested.
Several folks this year had poor results with them.
-Shrug-
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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

too nuch. IMHO. I've always waited the third year to breed any of my snakes, but I see where some people will breed theirs at the second year. I just haven't seen very many 2 year old Bairds breed that second year even if they are big enough. I also think people try to rush the breeding. Bairds are a semi late breeder. They aren't as late breeding as subocs, but breed later than most other snakes. They breed in late May up until mid June in the wild. People try to breed them after brumation in March which they donb't seem to want to do that often. Hurley's bairds did breed parctically out of hibernation this year. The brumation schedule for my snakes is all my snakes go down over Thanksgiving weekend and most come out on Super Bowl weekend. I don't know how many days that is, but it is two events that I use to schedule and they are easy to remember since there is a big build up to them. I keep some breeders down a little longer because they probably won't breed if I bring them out and/or require a longer brumation.

Terry Parks

>>I think I'll breed them this coming Spring. They'll be almost 3.
>>I'd like to get some more size on them first, but from what I can tell, they appear big enough. There are still some real husbandry questions out there about these guys, though, huh?
>>It will be interesting to see, in any case. Maybe they wont be interested.
>>Several folks this year had poor results with them.
>>-Shrug-
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>>...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

Randy W.

thanks. I recently was able to go behind the scenes at a well-respected zoo herpetarium. They had a trio of bairdi, and in my opinion, mine was better-looking than any of theirs. Giving credit where it's due, I thank Tim Gebhard for working with these guys and producing such stellar stock.
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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."