Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do you know where i could purchase a ringneck, what the price would be, and some general care tips?

Today is your lucky day, I happen to know a guy in New Orleans who is brumating 2 adults that he found about 2 months ago. The only problem with that deal is you have to call him to arrange everything. If you want those ringnecks email me, Helmz614@aol.com. For general care, these snakes are fairly easy to take care of IF you KNOW what you are doing. Ringnecks can be EXTREMELY nervous and it may take some time for them to calm down and get used to captive life. I caught recently hatched siblings in August and they didn't even start eating till the end of October, that can be very dangerous, I wouldn't keep baby snakes for that long without them eating unless you give them alot of water and if they seem to maintain their weight pretty well, but once I got them to start eating they wouldn't stop, the baby male died in Nov. and the baby female is hibernating in my attic.

I suggest that after you get the snake(s), set up a 10 gallon tank(I say 10 gallon tank because I have found them very useful and roomful, although alot of people would rather keep them in something small), a tight fitting screen lid, use soil and/or moss for the substrate, a few rocks that the snake(s) can easily fight under and maybe a waterbowl, Ringnecks don't really need waterbowls, I have found them to rather drink water off of a rock or the substrate than from a bowl.

Leave the snake(s) alone for a while, after you have them setup in their enclosure, leave them alone for about a week and don't disturb them. Then you can try feeding them, ringnecks will eat worms, snakes, salamanders, lizards, ants/ant eggs, frogs, fish, skinks and even small pinkie mice. Worms are the most common food for most of the SSP so you can try them, attempt feeding the snakes at night, when I feed my snakes I waste alot of time, here's my method: as soon as you see the snake(s) starting to move around the enclosure, take the lid off and sit down near the tank, try not to move as much as possible while sitting there, when the snake(s) start to move around again drop a worm near them or near where they will discover it, hopefully it will work. Or you could just leave a bunch of worms in there in hopes they'll find them. With lizards/skinks/frogs/snakes I suggest you keep them in a much smaller tank for feeding time, this will prevent the prey from hiding away from the snake and it could capture it much easier.

Ringnecks at active at temps. as low as 30 degrees(like my baby ringneck while "hibernating" but try and keep the temp. anywhere from 65 to 75 degrees.

They are easy to take care of, give them time. That's abotu as much general care as I can think of that you'll need.

This is to Kingsnake.com------ I am NOT trying to promote my website below, it just has caresheets that will be useful.
Below is the link to my website, it has good and valid info on Ringneck Snakes.

Michael Fedzen
Northwestern Ringneck

FREE carehseets on common colubrids as pets