Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a Easter chain king and i was looking around the indigo forum and relized that they are very nice looking snakes...But i never see anyone selling them. Where could i buy an indigo if i wanted one?

I assume you are talking about the eastern indigo?
They are great looking snakes but they are much more than that.
They are a federally protected species...require lots of cage space, and are very unpredictable breeders.

They are among the most intelligent of snakes, and therefore make interesting captives, but do not do well at all in small caging.

There are also several central and south american "indigos", known as cribos, and of course the Texas indigo as well.

Some of the south and central american forms are bred at least somewhat regularly, but they are also a lot of work and expense to care for and breed, and therefor the babies remian relatively expensive.

As for the eastern and Texas indigos, there are a few of us who have success breeding them, but the numbers are always a guess and most of us have a waiting list. Thedemand is simply higher than the amount of babies that can be produced.

I suggest you check out www.indigosnakes.com and read up. You'll learn a lot about indigos and cribos there.

The legal issues are there as well.

...after you read up there...come back if you have more questions and we will try to help.

Dean Alessandrini

How available are they?

Travis

There are only a few that I know of...Dan Felice (a forum regular) has produced them for the past couple years.

You can also try contacting some of the importers in South Florida. W/C specimens come in on occasion (that's how I got mine).

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

Steve Fuller, also a regular, produced unicolors this year. It was all I could do to NOT buy one. (wife won this time, but watch out next year) I don't know if he has any left, but if you look through this forum you should be able to find him.

Do you know how much they were going for?

Travis

As Dean mentioned, there are few people who have dedicated themselves to working with this species. When I acquired my first pair quite a few years ago, i knew i would be one of them...they truly are the most spectacular snake on the planet and well worth the many headaches and heartaches that one experiences when trying to consistently breed them. my waiting list, like Dean's and many others, is quite long due to high demand and low availability. If indigos bred like corn snakes or ball pythons everyone would be doing it....but then throw in the volumes of red tape and meticulous record keeping that it takes to work with couperi, you begin weeding out a lot of would-be breeders. But for those few who have worked hard at consistently breeding them, it is truly a very rewarding and worthwhile endeavor. Although i think of myself as a couperi specialist, i am constantly learning new things from teh many talented folks on this forum and indigosnakes.com I do work with other herps (such as various crotalids, atheris, gila monsters and olive pythons), it is the eastern indigo that brings me the most satisfaction. Rob Carmichael