Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

Never posted here although I come for the pics and info! Long time herp keeper in South Florida. How hard is it to go about getting permits for c.b.b. eastern indigo's? I've seen one in the wild and from that point on I've wanted one! How messy are they? I've kept large retics and they are pretty messy! Regardless whatever it's like I'm willing to put up with it for such a beautiful animal! Currently I have 1.1 Fort worth zoo stock timor pythons which are just as bad as the retics if not a bit worse. These are babies (born sept 22nd) so it's only going to get worse LOL. Anyways I was looking to possably pick up a pair of diamond pythons at Daytona. Indigo's run about the same price wise and are just as hard if not harder to get. So I have begun looking into a pair of eastern indigo's. Thanks for your advice in advance,

John

You can dream...But that is about it. Permits are next to impossible to get and they are given for educational purposes ONLY.

Fish and game has a certain passion for going after illegal Indigos so don't even consider that.

The best you can do is to try for Texas Indigos that are legal in Florida. Or try a black Milk. Not the same thing but their black and get big.

As to care. Indigos are notorious for massive feeding and pooping.....

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

The difference between indigos and timor pythons is that indigos are one of the more tolerant species when it comes to human interaction. Timor's have consistantly been described to me as "pee & flee" by those that have kept them. Perhaps yours are more tolerant than others. Indigos on the other hand will put up with handling more than most species of snakes.

As "Rearfang" told you, permits in Florida are very rare and considering your options probably not worth the effort. Black Tail and Unicolor Cribos are a good option along with Texas Indigos. They are different subspecies of the same species and are "generally" as reliable in temperment as Eastern Indigos.

Go to www.indigosnakes.com to see lots of pic's of the various indigos and cribos, as well as caresheets, links and breeders.

Doug T

>>Hello,
>>
>> Never posted here although I come for the pics and info! Long time herp keeper in South Florida. How hard is it to go about getting permits for c.b.b. eastern indigo's? I've seen one in the wild and from that point on I've wanted one! How messy are they? I've kept large retics and they are pretty messy! Regardless whatever it's like I'm willing to put up with it for such a beautiful animal! Currently I have 1.1 Fort worth zoo stock timor pythons which are just as bad as the retics if not a bit worse. These are babies (born sept 22nd) so it's only going to get worse LOL. Anyways I was looking to possably pick up a pair of diamond pythons at Daytona. Indigo's run about the same price wise and are just as hard if not harder to get. So I have begun looking into a pair of eastern indigo's. Thanks for your advice in advance,
>>
>>John

I'm going to go on about timor pythons for a bit before I go back into the subsect. I've had my timors approx 3 weeks now. Most timor pythons out there are w.c. imports which are "pee and flee". My c.b.b. timors have yet to do that. At night they seem to be looking for food as that's when they get a bit testy when you reach in (so far only one strike, wasn't paying attention). Besides that they don't stop moving while in your hands much like retics. They remind me very much of scrubs! Anyways just wanted to get that out there as I don't believe it's carried over with c.b.b. individuals. We will see as they grow up. Back to the indigo's I guess I mine as well give up on the FL's. I have to say it really sucks how they are dealing with this (the gov't and wild life commission!) The home range should be able to keep them much easier then those out of the home range imho. Anyways I've been looking into some black milks and that may be the route I go. I'm still looking into others. The cribo's don't appeal to me much and I was looking for a big solid black FL indigo. I'm stubbon as when I can't have what I want I won't just get something else to be happy. Anyways thanks for the info.

John

Maybe a rubidus would fit the bill? They are big solid black (except for the cheeks and throat) drymarchon. My male is over 7 feet and about 9 lbs. now. They are about as close as you can get to an Eastern without getting an Eastern. They tend to have a whitish/cream/salmon suffusion on the cheeks and throat. Rubidus are, however, much harder to find than Easterns but they should be legal in Florida if you can find one. The only problem I can think of would be that the Fish and Game folks might have a harder time determining that it's not an Eastern if there should ever be a question than they would with a Texan.

There are very few people breeding rubidus right now, I have a waiting list that it will take me a couple of years to fill. But there are a few (very few) out there...