Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, my first pet, and reptile,was a ribbon snake purchased for me by my father for my 5th b-day. This started my love of reptiles, and that one snake lived for a good 9 years. He was quite large when he died, and outlived the younger garter snake I had housed with him. I had observed them trying to mate once, but obviously nothing ever came of it. I now have another ribbon snake, and my God is he cute. Well, thats my ribbon snake background, but I do have some questions I'm hoping the folks here could help me with...

1) Since most ribbons are wild-caught, is this straining their population in the wild? I know snakes are secretive, so accurate numbers are hard to come by. Anyone have an idea of the impact of the pet trade?

2) Would it be ethical to breed ribbon snakes and release the young into the wild in various areas to establish a larger population? They are native to my area, and we have some parks with several hundred acres of land. The only ribbon I ever saw in the wild was sadly a victim of the auotmobile. Seen a few garters around though.

3) What do ribbons eat in the wild? Mine isnt fond of worms, and I gather most other peoples ribbons dont like them either. I imagine their favorite prey,amphibians, are in short supply due to climactic changes and habitat loss.

Glad to be here, have several years of experience with snakes and iguana husbandry, so Ill be happy to try to answer as many questions as I ask.

1) Ribbons being taken from the wild doesn't put a significant strain on their numbers. They are not taken that much, and when they are, there are many more to take their place. This doesn't mean that they should be mass collected now that I have said that, but I can go out to just about any given area where they exist and find between 4 and 8 without looking all that hard.

2)It is NOT ethical to release the babies that are the product of captive breeding, in my opinion. MAYBE it would be if you caught a gravid snake. It is also illegal in some states.

3) Fish make up a large majority of their diet. Most of the ones I catch regurgitate their last meal when caught. And most of the time it is fish.
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry