Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone here know anything about the ground snakes of Arizona? Mainly the species sonora semiannulata. I have been looking for someone who sells these gorgeous little snakes.But so far I haven't found anyone at all who sells or even keeps this species. As pretty as these snakes are its a wonder why they are not much more popular. I know they are nocturnal,eat crickets, and borrow, but what about their needs in captivity and breeding. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I don't know much about Sonora, and it looks like nobody else on this forum does either. So your next step is a Google search of the web. And then a trip to the library. I'd check Dr. John Rossi's Snakes of the United States and Canada: Keeping Them Healthy in Captivity (vol. 2, the western USA). Good luck.

Paul Hollander

Thanks for the tips. I'll check into it. Thanks, Lance

Easy snake to keep "usually". They eat grasshoppers, crickets and other insects. They love to burrow so a substrate of sand will do fine. Give them a couple of rocks to crawl on/shed on, provide them with a water bowl and you have your ground snake setup. Their colors vary, from coral snake "like" to stiped to ringnecked to plain jane. Easy to find after a rain in some places...JP

ground snakes

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Snakes of Hudspeth County, Texas

If you live in Arizona, you will not have luck buying a ground snake. They cannot be sold or purchased in this state. With a hunting permit you may collect up to 20 in a given day, but the maximum you may have in your possession is 20.

I have three phazes of ground snakes. I have two that are banded from Prescott AZ (a friend caught them for me and gave them to me, as per AZ law), I have one I caught in my classroom (my very first snake) and I have another 4 that were given to me by students I'd taught to have respect for reptiles... they brought them to me rather than killing them.

The ones I got at school, with one exception are the orange striped on a gray green background. Two of the littler ones will be like that as adults but at the moment they loook like Tantilla Hobartismith... gray green background, black head, (CREAM belly, tantilla has an orange belly).

I feed them crickets, 2 week old ones, keep all 7 snakes in a 15 gallon, they have AZ dirt as substrate, with logs and rocks to hide under. The first one I found in my classroom two years ago is still with me, the rest are acquisitions from this spring. If you are in AZ and my snakes ever have any offspring, I will GIVE you some. I do not know the genders of the seven ground snakes, and only four are fully mature.

They are very fascinating little guys. I know some who have a lot of problems keeping them, but I've never had problems.

~Sasheena

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~Sasheena

Wish List:
0.1 adult Whitewater Rosy Boa
1.0 CB Spilotes Pullatus
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python

np

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~Sasheena

Wish List:
0.1 adult Whitewater Rosy Boa
1.0 CB Spilotes Pullatus
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python

Are they sand burrowers?

Are the laws in Arizona particularly strict about keeping and collecting herps, or are these just rare in Arizona?