Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is the first time I hve ever seen a queen snake in person. I was at the tennn. river(wilson dam. We were going up one of the river necks and seting out automatics reels for catfish and it drops out of the tree and my dad said did you see that snake? It nearly hit your arm. I did not see it so we went on and came back to check them and then I saw it on some braches halfway in the water and I said is that the snake you saw? He said no this one was big and I caught it. I thought it was a yellow belly before and even after I caught it. It had no brigt markings no side stripe was noticable till closer observation on the way home. Then I thought queen snake. I looked in my field guide at home and I was right. Most amazing thing ids that it ate a f/t pinky mouse unscented. HHave you ever heard of that? Will that hurt it if that is its diet? It is opaque right now. When it sheds I'll take pic. I saw some yellow bellies today at my neigbors pond. I did not try to catch them though because I have nothing to put thewm in right now. Sadly it is the only ones there 2 or 3. The pond is far from any other ponds and those are the only adult snakes I have seen there. I will release some more down there when I find them. I am not going put anything down there but pure yellow bellys. Don't want any hybrids down there to ruin population. I will catch those 2 or three snakes in a few weeks. It will make me feel bad though but I will give the pond more that I will take in the end. Only 2 of the offspring will stay with me. the rest go back after a meal or two. and I will catch some more somewhere alse and release them there. I will go to luisiana soon and maybe i'll catch some there and bring em back for release.
Sorry for rambling aimlessly bu that is how i am. No grammar or anything just rambling. to lazy for grammar.
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Justin

justin man bad bad idea mixing snakes that u breed and get from other areas i know it sounds good in your head but in real life its super bad ur spreading diseases to other snakes killing off native populations and even the snakes u let go. a queen snake thats awsome i live in new jersey and the queen snake kind of lives here it is reported to live in a 10 mile strech of woods. one has not bin seen since the 70's and was not put on the list of new jersey natives till 2003. but dude dont let snakes go u have breed or cought in a different area no good will come out of it.
Crazycody

They will do fine. I catch and release on a very regular bases. releasing babies that have came from a gravid female of the same small population will harm nothing. There is plenty of food there. small fish particularly a hrbrid bream that is 1000s of them and plenty of frogs.
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Justin

Well...it is illegal to release babies from a gravid female techincally as well as releasing snakes that you have had for some extended period. It really can spread disease, especially if the snake you release back into its habitat has been kept in close quarters with other snakes. You are lucky that the queen took a mouse. That is pretty rare. The problem I had with Regina was not them not feeding (as mine would take minnows and softshell crayfish), it was them developing blisters as they are highly aquatic.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

If you steal in hunger, I will kick you when you try. These stand for me. Name your god and bleed the freak. I'd like to see. How you all would bleed for me.-Alice In Chains

If I catch and release That would mean that I won't even keep them for about a day until I release them. As for the babies being released I was not aware of legality of the matter. I'll take my chances on that because it is just a 1 acre pond that was man made 7-8 yars ago.
I'll keep the blister thing in mind though. What would you recommend keeping it on. Right now I have it one paper towels and so far no blisters, but I have had it for only a few days. How long did it usualy take before they developed blisters?
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Justin

Some of mine didn't develop blisters for a month or two, but the ones I kept did eventually get them regardless. I would recommend aspen as they like to tunnel and it is somewhat absorbent.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

If you steal in hunger, I will kick you when you try. These stand for me. Name your god and bleed the freak. I'd like to see. How you all would bleed for me.-Alice In Chains

Since they are more aquatic, do you think I could just put a little bit of water in there and let it stay in it for half the day or soomething like that. You know do that daily. I did that today. Right now I have it in a large 12" x 7-8" critter keep as temporary. What about a half water and half land aquarium?
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Justin

Taking the water bowl in and out might be a bit stressful for the snake. I would definitely not do a half land/half water tank as that is just asking for skin blisters. What you can try doing as well is making aacidic water solution. There is a recipe in a snake book a friend has that calls for a diluted tea to be used in the waterbowl of the tank. Basically you just make some unflavored tea and water it down significantly. My snakes still developed some blisters when I used it (especially the muds), but who knows...
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

If you steal in hunger, I will kick you when you try. These stand for me. Name your god and bleed the freak. I'd like to see. How you all would bleed for me.-Alice In Chains

Do you think I could use a PH increaser and decreaser to get it at a desired level? If you think that might be worth a try, what would be a good level for it.
It ate another hopper today. They must have fast matabolism. It passed thru in just a matter of a few days. I can't believe it is eating unscented mice. I wish It would shed soon. I thought it was going thru the opaque cycle but I guess that is just the color of the belly or something. I would go ahead and take a pic of it but it is so troublesome to size tem on my computer. Thanx for all the hints and eveything.
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Justin

You really need to post a picture of this snake. I can't believe you have a Regina that will eat mice as that's almost unheard of. As for avoiding blisters, it can be difficult. I'd keep the cage VERY dry (excepting the waterbowl) and VERY clean. Maybe provide a hide container filled with slightly moistened cypress mulch or sphagnum. The pH trick works for species inhabiting tannic acid environments and that doesn't include Queens. Keep us updated on the snake's progress.
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Pierson Hill

Herpetology and Herpetoculture