Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi

I recently bought a pair of climacophoras from a friend. One of them looks like the picture below. The animals are "juveniles" from 2002. Can you by this picture tell which locality the animals are from?

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Regards

Jan Grathwohl

That would be too difficult to determine based on apperance. Generally speaking, if the snake grows to larger lengths of 4 plus feet, I would assume it was from one of the larger islands. Again, generally speaking, the most beautiful green/blue ones tend to come from Kunishiri. Other than the Kunishiri forms, I do not know of any breeders who breed specific localities -if I'm wrong, please let me know ( :
But if the locality isn't known for sure, I wouldn't label them with one.

There range includes Hokkaido, Honsyu, Shkoku, Kyusu, Okushirijima Island, Kouzujujima Island, Oki Idlands, Tsushima Islands, Iki Islands, Goto Islands,Satsunsyoto Islands and any others that I may have missed.

I would contact your friend to find out if he has any info or find out who he bought his from which may lead to the original breeder who may have information.

Cheers,

Tom
PS best of luck with them; they're great snakes

Hi Tom

Thanx a lot for your long post

I will try to contact the original breeder to find more info.

Untill then they will be marked without locality.
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Regards

Jan Grathwohl

I was checking them out yesterday on Cunninghams site. I plan on purchasing 1 or 2 this year. I read that they have the same disposition and requirements as a corn. Can anyone direct me to a breeder, and give me some more info on these. Thanks.
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SpardaWolf
Corn Snake Addict
"Always Learning"

They are very similar to a corn - enthusiastic rodent feeders. However, they are bird specialists, and as such have vertebral spines to crush eggs in the esophagus with (I gave mine cockatiel eggs and they just loved them)
They also like to be cooler than corns - mine seem happiest no higher than 80F, if that.
They also really do need a brumination period - they often stop eating all winter all on their own, so if you haven't prepared them for brumination they can lose weight
They also start much smaller and grow more slowly than corns. And they love their water dish (they do swim a fair bit in the wild)
They are my favourite snakes I have ever owned. I bought mine from Adam Block, who no longer breeds them. They have some very strange behaviour (my male crawls around backwards much of the time, go figure)
Good luck finding a breeder.

Alex

I'm not an expert on the species, but my understanding is that the Japanese form is plain gray (no green or blue). I have a 2003 Kunsir (of the blue form) and he is far from showing his adult colors.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."