Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all,

I'm new to the forum and relatively new (last May) to Vietnamese Blue Beauties. Got to say that their a real joy to keep and are normally problem free. Yes, there is a 'but' coming - all 6 of my Blues went off-feed about 3 weeks ago. I have 4 (1.3) juveniles, 1 adult male, and 1 sub adult female so breeding and age do not appear to be a factor. I had fecals done over the Winter and everything came back negative. My Tiawan Beauties are eating like pigs. All of my snakes are currently in outside enclosures (Reptariums) for the Summer in shade. My question is has anyone who has kept these snakes for a long time noticed that they won't feed above a certain temperature threshold? Our days hover in the high 80s and our nights drop to about 70F. I know for a fact that they are alert, active, and hungry at 58F with no instances of digestive problems. I've heard that they come from the mountain areas of Vietnam, but I haven't been able to confirm this, so maybe they require cooler temperatures?

-kick_baal

"Vietnamese" Blue Beauty is a misnomer. According to Schulz's Elaphe book, blues are primarily found in Thailand (his range map shows one population in Burma, and two in Thailand, which might be a little outdated, but I'm still pretty sure they aren't found in Vietnam). He recommends daytime temps of 25-28 Celcius. I'd say upper 80's (F) is probably too hot. I used to have a pair that was very docile (some people say they are temperamental but I didn't have that experience). I was able to breed them both with a winter brumation and without. I provided a warm spot of 82-84, and the rest of their enclosure was cooler. They never went off feed.

Good luck!
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Ronda Van Winkle
Northwest Herpetoculture

Thanks for the info, particularly the part about their locality. I've often wondered about the name because Vietnamese Blue appears to be a particular color for plate china.

-kick_baal