Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I haven't seen any reference to these guys. Somebody must be breeding the Ecuadorians.

Brian

Brian,....

Nobody in this entire country has any pure micropholis. Decades ago there were a few around, but they have all but completely vanished. There have been many milksnake buffs I know who would LOOOOVE to have some(including me), and would have gotten their hands on some by now even if there were ANY known to exist at all,...their just isn't any. Same with a few of the Latin American milks...dixoni, smithi, etc...

Anyway, you would have better luck finding a treasure chest of gold coins on the beach to be quite honest.

There are some Popayan micropholis x andesiana in the hobby, but that is IT....period!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

Doug you know what I was curious about? Were these Milks in the hobby at one point and hobbyists let them disappear, or they were never available?

If they were in the hobby and fell victim to getting traded away and/or general apathy that is a huge, huge shame.

Well, I have seen some photos of absolutely AWESOME true-blue micropholis adults from many, many years ago, including an anerythristic specimen, but back then the breeding of snakes just wasn't like it is today. To be honest, most people never even thought about breeding, they just liked owning the snakes.

Like so many other kinds of rarities that HAVE popped up here and there over time in more recent years, like amel Eastern milks, amel Scarlet kings, genuine amel Eastern kings, etc..., so many things have seemed to have happened that prevented these from surfacing in the mainstream hobby. Either they don't breed, have firtility problems, and of course I have also heard about extremely rare snakes dying in rack fires before they could be bred and all sorts of things.

There was a guy a couple years ago that posted about his micro's that were acquired from a western zoo just before Ecuador stopped importing. I also know of a guy that got rid of his micropholis because it kept biting him..LOL!

Man, I would actually OFFER to get bitten on a daily basis if I were lucky enough to have pure micropholis..

Anyway, heah, it is a bummer about all the stuff that interferes with cool stuff ever getting established. Back in 1996 at the Expo in Orlando, I had the chance to buy a pair of 100% het amel Scarlet kings that were offspring of an albino elapsoides male that a guy discoverd while raking his yard of leaves!!!. But at the time, I thought it over, and had too many other projects that I neeeded to buy mates for. These have never surfaced into the hobby after that time either. Sometimes weird fate just intervenes and nips things right in the bud..LOL!

I did see a photo of a guy's albino Scarlet king a year or two ago that posted it here, so maybe he can get some going into the hobby. The problem with those is that they can be dificult to get feeding, and are sometimes tough for even well-seasoned keepers. Then they have very small clutches, and the tiny babies can be very problematic to get feeding too.

Anyway, yeah, it seems that there can always be factors that make certain things virtually unobtainable to us in this hobby. Sometimes many things have to fall in place just right for this to happen. Same with Shannon's very sad dixoni story........RIGHT SHANNON!!..

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

How much was that het albino pair of scarlet kings going for? Almost sounds like a good project, except raising those things up to breed them can be difficult sometimes. And there is someone who has an albino scarlet king that they're trying to breed because I remember seeing a pic of it on here not too long ago..

And your post reminded me of how many albino ringneck snakes have been found in the past 10 years that I've had access to the internet, lol. I've easily had at least 30 people contact me about albinos, and not want to give them up, only to have them die later. Bad stuff always seems to happens to the good stuff before someone can make more good from it.
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Mike
KingPin Reptiles
www.kingpinreptiles.com

Hard to remember exactly, but I "think" the guy wanted like $300, or $350 each for the tiny hets, which really wasn't bad at all considering what they were. I saw the adult albino male there that he caught too!. Gosh, it was like looking at a brilliant hand-painted piece of indian artwork for chrissakes..LOL!

I have always wondered if I would have gotten a pair of those, if there would be any in the hobby by now........

Your right Mike, it always seems that something always happens to the very rare stuff........ARRRGH!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

Thanks for the feedback.

Not the response I was hoping for, but you're right, it's been decades since I've seen or heard of any.

Has anyone checked with collectors in Europe to see if someone there may be keeping them?

"Has anyone checked with collectors in Europe to see if someone there may be keeping them?"

You bet Brian!. The "feelers" have been out for any in Europe as well for years, but none to my knowledge have ever surfaced there either.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

Thanks Doug.

Looks like we'll have to put together an expedition to Ecuador! LOL

Brian

Be sure to bring enough back to go around... others besides Doug would like to get their hands on some.

Gerry

LOL!,.....yes, wouldn't that be fun to go capture some ourselves?.

We could nicely ask a friendly heroin/cocaine cartlel to bring them back over here for us..LMAO!!!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

seriously...would it be that impossible for some people to actually go there , and to collect, and to import some back to the USA....???...I know....a reason would be in order..as in we want to,, or , we want them ,,and we have cash...?...we can improve them by making them available to the market so noone has to illegally take them anymore?...they don't have to know it isn't happening...at least not as micropholis anyways...they may be imported as those expensive "hondurans" or something???...maybe not....it will make your country known better to the outside world...tourist money will come your way???.....let us show people what is there so they want to visit......?

might work?....

Brady Barr?.....where's he at when we need him..............

....I can see it now....4 guys.....walking in the jungles.....BIG cigars in hand....weird big hats......and maybe some sun screen>?>...
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........JY

A friend of mine has a reverse trio he got from a zoo in Russia via Bushmaster, but it is unclear if they are from the same lines here in the U.S. They probably have another year before they are breedable.

I have a large male I got from Jeff Hardwick a year or two ago, that is from the micropholis x andesiana animals that are around.