Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was told this is THE place where the spilotes folks hang out. SO, I thought that I would ask here if anyone knows of any good care sheets and/or can tell me anything I will need to know. Hubby saw a picture of the Spilotes and wouldn't rest until he'd purchased one! She'll be here tomorrow and I know absolutely NOTHING about them. I plan on surfing both this forum, and the archived old forum and seeing what I can learn, but anything anyone here can tell me will be very helpful. What I know about her is that she is an '02, she's captive bred, and she's pretty. That's about IT. Since I'm having a small building custom made that will include rodent racks and hatchling racks and so forth, and since I've heard that spilotes is a large snake that likes to climb?, I'm thinking that I'll devote one corner of the custom building to an arboreal type cage which will have to be custom built. Any advice would be wonderful.

And for those who will say it, I KNOW that I should have learned more about the snake before purchasing one. No need to tell me that, because I do know it. But she's been purchased and will be here tomorrow, so I guess it's time for me to learn all I can about this snake.

Specific Questions:

Does this snake have a "common" name?
Is the care needed much different from a california kingsnake and/or corn snake? (at the moment I have 0.0.7 insectivorous ground snakes, 2.4 cal kings, 1.2 corns, 1.1 appalachicola kings, 0.1 rosy boas, and 0.1 arizona mountain kingsnakes, plus I'm getting a jungle carpet python with tomorrow's spilotes)
Is there a website caresheet that I can peruse?

Thanks in advance for any help on this issue. I know that with the invaluable assistance of the people on kingsnake she will be fine.
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~Sasheena

Kit, Kaboodle, Tantilla, Tantillas, Lightning, Kinkee, Maple, Licorice, Castle, Bishop, Queenie, Jester, Pandora, Phantom, Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes, and Lady

tiger rats, although they are not rat snakes. closer to a racer in many ways. an arboreal set-up is the way to go [provide horizontal branches for laying out], high heat [upper 80's basking area], and large water dish to provide moderately high humidity. mist occasionally and that's the basics....good luck!

Since I'm getting a Jungle Carpet Python at the same time, I'm thinking that I will be making two arboreal cages one on top of the other, the dimensions of the floor would 2.5 feet by 2.5 feet, and the two cages would stretch from the floor to the ceiling, one on top of the other. I know that the JCP isn't "totally" arboreal, but it will be nice to have. Are there any care sheets for these beauties?

Thanks for your response.
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~Sasheena

Kit, Kaboodle, Tantilla, Tantillas, Lightning, Kinkee, Maple, Licorice, Castle, Bishop, Queenie, Jester, Pandora, Phantom, Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes, and Lady

Just recieved a smokin high yellow Spilotes today.
Beautiful snake.
I may not keep him long, but I have to say these are beautiful snakes and I'll enjoy it while he's here!!!
This is the dealers picture. I'll get a better one when he settles in.

Why wouldn't you keep him long?

Gorgeous though. Very beautiful. We wanted to get a male, but the person who had the male had two females and didn't want to let the male go without a female, so we just got the female. We'll be on the lookout for a male later this year or next year.
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~Sasheena

Kit, Kaboodle, Tantilla, Tantillas, Lightning, Kinkee, Maple, Licorice, Castle, Bishop, Queenie, Jester, Pandora, Phantom, Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes, and Lady

If I find a nice female to go with him he'll stay, but if not I'll let him go.
I won't keep anything here if I'm not going to try to breed it and nice Spilotes are difficult to find, never mind a nice female Spilotes.
He ate 4 rat pups just now and wanted more! Not bad for just getting here a couple of hours ago.
I almost bought a really nice looking Spilotes from Cold Blooded Creations, but the snake pictured on the ad didn't look like the same snake that was in a closer shot that I requested from them prior to buying.
I asked for another shot showing the entire snake at a close angle shot, but they didn't send one???
They still have the snake and the ad is on either page 3 or 4 on the classifieds.

I must say I have kept snakes for 30 years and love the Tigers but I wouldn't keep one. Sure there are some that are sort of handleable but many people who keep them told me they are very high strung. It is far from a corn or a king. I am shocked at how many Tigers and Cribos are in the classifieds. Makes me think there's gonna be a lot of unhappy snakes and keepers out there who think that this is just another average snake. I always spend quite a lot of time checking out the ones at the San Antonio zoo and their enclosure is enormous.....and they seem to use all of it too! Better bust out the band aids just in case. Tom

as in so many cases, their rap is worse than their bite. spilotes are actually pretty smart and settle in w/out too much fuss. i'd say the main thing they require to ease the transition is a high resting place......it's the equivalent of giving a dry a good hide. they feel safe and natural high up in an enclosure where they can keep an eye on things and a hide is not necessary as long as they can climb. their vision is apparently excellent as you will notice that they notice everything!! it's true, they are not lap snakes but they are really impressive display animals that do well on captivity as long as you respect their space.....

Alert and intelligent, yes. High strung or difficult to keep? No. It's been a lot of years since I kept Spilotes, but I don't recall them being particularly difficult to deal with either. I'm sure that Indigos, Cribos and Tiger Rats aren't for every one, but that probably has more to do with maximum size, level of activity (they need plenty of room as adults) and messy cages than anything else. Tiger Rats do tend to be a little snappy sometimes, as I recall, but no more than a lot of kingsnakes. Not to let any secrets out here but Drymarchon, in my experience, are some of the easier colubrids to care for. I don't really think that anyone purchasing one of these animals is any more likely to be disappointed than anyone else..I may be wrong here, but I just don't see the problem.

Having said that, there is one aspect that could cause someone to be disappointed in a Cribo or Tiger Rat that they purchase as a neophyte snake keeper. That is that you are much more likely to end up with a wild-caught fresh import animal with these than, say, a Cal-King or Corn Snake, especially purchasing adults or sub-adults. Buying hatchlings and neonates should be safe enough. The wild-caught adults can be snappy and they tend to carry a pretty heavy parasite load.

My Cribos are dog-tame, healthy and never fail to feed. That's not to say they won't ever bite...anything with teeth can bite. But, I've been bitten by corn snakes.

tells me that this is the perfect snake. My husband likes the snakes, but especially prefers it when they are out climbing all over the cage furniture. I've set up a 15 gallon for the moment, I'll take pictures and post them in a few minutes. This snake (and she IS captive bred and hatched) was moved "up" from a shoebox a month ago, I was told. I figure that the 15 gallon will keep her for a little while, whilst we construct the appropriate large arboreal cage for her. Of course once I see her (and she's on the delivery truck now, according to UPS tracking!) I might change my mind about the adequacy of the 15 gallon.

As far as nippy snakes, I've been bit plenty of times by kingsnakes to know what it's like. Had one snake who was puppy dog tame but one day I went to take pictures of him, and, well, my hands smelled like mouse.... he nabbed me five or six times before the photo shoot was over! Thing about snake bites... they don't really hurt... especially not compared with mouse bites. Makes me wonder if they have some sort of "topical analgesic" in their saliva, because I've been bitten unknowingly more times than knowingly. it's only when they start chewing and trying to position your finger to swallow it that it starts to feel uncomfortable.
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~Sasheena

Kit, Kaboodle, Tantilla, Tantillas, Lightning, Kinkee, Maple, Dreamer, Castle, Licorice, Bishop, Queenie, Jester, Tigris, Euphrates, Pandora, Phantom, Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes, Amulet, and Lady

.

Texas Ratsnakes make these guys look like great big old pussy cats!!!
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Carl W Gossett
Garage Door Herps
Monument,Colorado...northern territory of the Great Republic of Texas

cb, wc, whatever....texas rats seem to like to bite no matter what. tiger rats settle down eventually at least!

I agree with both of you guys. I have a Texas Rat and it is the snippiest snake I have. I do not own a Spilotes but I can testify to the temperment of the Texas Rat.

Greg