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This is an '02 female Chinese Dione I held back.

Ophidiophile Farms

Very nice head pattern and line coming through the eye and across the snout. Pretty snake. Do you have any more Chinese dione? TC.

>>Very nice head pattern and line coming through the eye and across the snout. Pretty snake. Do you have any more Chinese dione? TC.

Right now I have 2.2 Chinese Diones and those are the only geographic variants of Dione in my collection. I got my original c.b. Chinese Diones (at that point identified as Bimacs!) from a guy named Dave Nielson, who if I remember correctly was a graduate student in Biology at UC-San Diego. I went down to IRBA in the early 90's (maybe '92?) to pick them up and was just floored by how beautiful they were (not to mention how cheap they were). Just over 2 years ago, I sold off all my Diones (and most of everything else in my collection) because my international travel schedule became inconsistent with being able to maintain a large collection and giving the animals the care they deserve. About a year ago my travel schedule slacked a bit, and simultaneously, my herpaholism started rearing its beautiful head again. Fortunately, a guy I sold my Diones to in Madison WI wanted to part with a pair and I was able to obtain at least part of my original Nielson stock back. I also held back 1.1 babies last year.

That's the long-winded answer to your question!
Ophidiophile Farms

I like the long-winded answer. It tells me a lot about the dione in your collection. You have some very good starting stock there. You also have a very large collection. I was looking at your site today. They must keep you pretty busy.

My collection, reversely, is getting smaller. My main ratsnakes are schrencki, dione, bimaculata, mandarina, conspicillata, and guttata (at this time). I'm also partial to a few kingsnakes.

I wish you luck in the future, and hopefully you'll keep some of those great ratsnake genes going for a long time.

PS: Did ya know some of those Chinese dione get reddish heads when they mature? I don't keep the Chinese form anymore, btw. Later TC.

have the Chinese diones Terry. Your love with them would have had me thinking you would keep them if you had them. I know you keep your collection to a certain base quantity and in a certain direction with what you have and work with.

>>I like the long-winded answer. It tells me a lot about the dione in your collection. You have some very good starting stock there. You also have a very large collection. I was looking at your site today. They must keep you pretty busy.
>>
>>My collection, reversely, is getting smaller. My main ratsnakes are schrencki, dione, bimaculata, mandarina, conspicillata, and guttata (at this time). I'm also partial to a few kingsnakes.
>>
>>I wish you luck in the future, and hopefully you'll keep some of those great ratsnake genes going for a long time.
>>
>>PS: Did ya know some of those Chinese dione get reddish heads when they mature? I don't keep the Chinese form anymore, btw. Later TC.

Ter, I'll post this here for the info value. I think the Cen. Chinese dione are pretty handsome, but when the chips were down, and I had to decide which form to keep, I went with the South Koreans. Call it personal preference, but I like the personality of the Koreans better. I just had way too many snakes and couldn't afford to keep so many of one species. Now I have two pairs of S. K.'s, a darker form with large spots, and a lighter form with smaller spots. So, I could end up with two strains just of the South Koreans. They both handle very well and are super easy to maintain, as you know. Hope that helps. TC.

too. It isn't my intent to ask or have someone post their personal way of how they handle their collections. There are parts though that have informational value that can be a part of a forum discussion. I agree (we're allowed since we have or had both) that the S. Korean dione is a nicer snake regarding husbandy and other aspects of working with a species or subspecies. The S. Koreans are out of their hideboxes more than the C. Chinese ones I have. Now you have two bloodlines going from the wild caught Seoul, Korea ones you have. Good locality data doesn't hurt things or their value. I made menton that you keep your collection more specific with regard to quantity and species than most herpers. That's not normally forum discussion subject, but I wanted to use it to start on the Chinese dione vs the S. Korean dione discussion. Besides, it also falls inline with the "what snake should I get next" posts. How many you can keept and how they fit with you and the other snakes in collection are part of the answer. I know I ask too many questions. I ask one or two more questions than I probably need to in alot of discussions. Bad habit I have developed over the years.

>>Ter, I'll post this here for the info value. I think the Cen. Chinese dione are pretty handsome, but when the chips were down, and I had to decide which form to keep, I went with the South Koreans. Call it personal preference, but I like the personality of the Koreans better. I just had way too many snakes and couldn't afford to keep so many of one species. Now I have two pairs of S. K.'s, a darker form with large spots, and a lighter form with smaller spots. So, I could end up with two strains just of the South Koreans. They both handle very well and are super easy to maintain, as you know. Hope that helps. TC.

Talk about long winded, I just made a long post and lost the whole thing, probably because there's a time limit for how long you can go w/o posting. So, now, I'll make this one shorter.

First, Terry, it's difficult being a regular on a forum. I think you have to adopt a certain style. Usually, when I say something like, "I hope I don't offend anyone," that's what I'm talking about. There's gotta be people who get tired of hearing me post about my favorite snakes. I wouldn't worry about asking too many questions, however. People don't have to respond. Actually, I think your input is great. You are good natured, humorous, and start some good discussion. I wish there were more regulars. I miss hearing from some folks whom I admire a lot.

As far as managing my collection, I think it's a common problem. Where do you draw the line? I found, especially when my snakes reached adulthood and started producing young, that my collection was infringing too much on my time and the rest of my life. When it isn't fun anymore, then you have to make some hard decisions. I didn't like having to give up some wonderful species, like the moellendorffi and situla, but I don't regret it because the ones I still have I can manage better and can get the most out of.

The South Koreans are my favorite of the Elaphe dione. Of all the various forms from wide-ranging localities, I found these to be the nicest for me. If I would have kept the Cen. Chinese dione, I would have had to give up another species. That I didn't want to do.

There are two phases of the South Koreans, but they are from the same w/c parents. One phase, the lighter color, came from mating an F1 male back to the mother, a light phase. The other phase, the darker one, will come from pairing an F1 female back to the father. They tend to have larger spots, better pattern, and are a little darker. I'm just accentuating the color/pattern variations within the same morph, pretty much the same as what I'm doing with the bimaculata color phases.

As to the rest of my collection, I like the mandarina and conspicillata, which I think are closely related. They are smallish and a little like kingsnakes in being pretty easy to care for. I'm also inclined to keeping a few kings and American ratsnakes. I really like some of the Great Plains ratsnakes and look forward to producing a couple of those lines.

Well, I better post this before I lose it again TC.

>>It isn't my intent to ask or have someone post their personal way of how they handle their collections. There are parts though that have informational value that can be a part of a forum discussion. I agree (we're allowed since we have or had both) that the S. Korean dione is a nicer snake regarding husbandy and other aspects of working with a species or subspecies. The S. Koreans are out of their hideboxes more than the C. Chinese ones I have. Now you have two bloodlines going from the wild caught Seoul, Korea ones you have. Good locality data doesn't hurt things or their value. I made menton that you keep your collection more specific with regard to quantity and species than most herpers. That's not normally forum discussion subject, but I wanted to use it to start on the Chinese dione vs the S. Korean dione discussion. Besides, it also falls inline with the "what snake should I get next" posts. How many you can keept and how they fit with you and the other snakes in collection are part of the answer. I know I ask too many questions. I ask one or two more questions than I probably need to in alot of discussions. Bad habit I have developed over the years. >Ter, I'll post this here for the info value. I think the Cen. Chinese dione are pretty handsome, but when the chips were down, and I had to decide which form to keep, I went with the South Koreans. Call it personal preference, but I like the personality of the Koreans better. I just had way too many snakes and couldn't afford to keep so many of one species. Now I have two pairs of S. K.'s, a darker form with large spots, and a lighter form with smaller spots. So, I could end up with two strains just of the South Koreans. They both handle very well and are super easy to maintain, as you know. Hope that helps. TC.

looks like you are producing some real nice Chinese diones.

>>This is an '02 female Chinese Dione I held back.
>>
>>Ophidiophile Farms