Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I just purchased a Drymobius m. m. and have read the previous posts. I would like some more details on the care of them. The one I received is beautiful and easy to handle. Here are some pictures I took of him. Mostly I need to know what is the best relative humidity? temperature? Do Males need a brumation period in this species? Whats the best food and where to get it? I basically would like any information on how to keep this guy healthy. Thanks.

I have a small colony of drymobius and I just built them a walk in cage. In case you haven't noticed, they are extremely fast. Every time I would open one of their cages, they would come flying out past my head. I keep mine around 80 degrees in a heavily planted environment with a large water tub. I also mist them about twice a week. All of mine will eat frozen thawed rat pups and fish. Be careful with rat pups because they will become obese. Mine have breed repeatedly without a brumation but I have yet to have a fertile clutch. Either a brumation period or an increase in misting may be needed for males to be fertile. They are a really fun snake to keep if you don't mind having your hands being a chew toy.

Thanks, I will make some adjustments. So far he has shown no inclination to biting when being handled and he is fast at first, but settles some after being held for a minute or two. I'm handling him for about 5 minutes a day to get him use to being handled.

I have not kept this species personally, but have read they are primarly frog eaters in the wild.

If you can't get him going on rodents or fish, you may want to try frogs or at least scent manipulation with frogs.

I have kept a number of (w/c) specimens and mine allways took to anoles right off. Some eventually crossed over to live fuzzy mice. I give them the sme care I give to a ratsnake (the advantage of being in South Florida climate).
Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Hi,

Just thought I'd add my $0.02 in regards to the M. m margaritiferus (jeweled racer)
I have to agree with everything slpalmer mentioned in the previous post, especally about the risk of obesity if proviede a rodent based diet. This species is an opportunistic feeder, and will normally take anything of appropriate size that moves, they predominantly hunt by sight, so movement is critical when attempting to feed a wild caught specimen.
The temps and humidity slpalmer mentioned are a great base, but to induce mating and increase fertilization, a short brumation period is required. Try dropping the evening temps to a low of mid to upper 60's and decrease the humidity and photo period. Allow the day time temps to reach the mid - upper 70's and maintain these conditions for two 6-8 weeks. After which, you should begin increasing the temp, humidity and lighting over a 2-3 week period. During this time, you should heavily mist the cage 2-3 times per day for about 2 weeks. This regimine should increase both the mating response and fertility of the eggs.
Hope this has been of some help.

My females lay two to three clutches a year. They are really easy to breed. All you have to do is decrease the photo period during the Winter and feed them every day during the Spring. If you don't feed them enough they won't breed. I think this is where most people fail, this snake has a very high metabolism and the gravid female are expecially ravenous. Live gold fish are the only economical food choice. If they aren't used to eating fish, you have to let the fish flop around in front of them. They will very quickly learn to eat them from a shallow bowl.

Hi Rick,

Could you give a bit more detailed information, regarding the gestation and incubation periods? Also, what are your average clutch sizes and fertility percentage?

I believe that Gestation is typical for colubrids, I haven't really monitored it. The clutches are usually in April, July, and August. Sometimes as late as october. The clutch size is small, I've read 4-8, but mine always seem to have just four.Fertility so far is close to 100%.I have had maybe 2 infertile eggs in the last four years. Incubation period is 51 days at 80 degrees. You must be careful with the temperature, if it is kept even one degree higher then 80, you will get kinked tails. All the clutches that I have incubated at 80 have a hatching rate of 100%. The incubation substrate is 1/10, water/vermiculite by volume. Keep the humidity high but make sure that eggs do not come in contact with any droplets or direct moisture. I lost a couple early on that drowned in the egg due to exessive moisture. A bad sign is if the eggs start to grow in size, generally they do best when there is enough humidity to keep the eggs taunt, but not enough to cause them to expand, good luck and remember to feed them alot in the spring thats the key.

Actually, we have successfully bred these here in the herp lab, of the University of Arkansas. I just wanted a comparison.
We maintain the eggs between 78-80F, though I have had them up to 83F, with no problems and a 100% hatch rate. Though I wouldn't recommend it for prolonged periods.
We keep the eggs on a peat / sand mixture, the peat being satured 1:5 water / peat and a relative humidity of 85%.
I have witnessed mating as early as April and as late as October, with approximate gestation periods of 70-80 days. We normally have hatchlings between day 50-55 of the incubation period.
Sounds like fairly basic husbandry requirements here. I would be interested in knowing the male to female ratio you normally produce utilizing your methods. We tend to be a bit female heavy, typically 65-70% of each clutch being female.

Keep up the great work,
Jeff

What color phases do you have? I have both the blue and the green and one yellow phase. The blue phase seem to be the dominant color when mixing the two. I have not yet produced any yellow phase I am not sure he is mating. I concur with the high ratio of females, also the females tend to be more aggressive. I've notice a really interesting behavor in these snakes that explain there unusual color scheme. Once one was hang out in branch, my dog approach and got a strange reaction. The blue phase snake, held his head perfectly still while undulating his neck. The effect was some what mesmorizing and created the illusion of a rather long snake beating a haste retreat in the opposite direction. Have you seen them do this?