Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are these easy to take care of? Is ther anything I should know about them before purchasing a pair? They look realy cool to me and yet I don't see to many at shows ect. so I figured ther must be a downside to them.
Thanks for any info.

They are awesome snakes. Standard colubrid husbandry applies.
All the best,
Perry

The key, in my experience, to successfully keeping subocs is the humidity. You have to make sure the humidity is low, which means you need to provide well ventilated, dry caging. Other then that, I agree with Perry, subocs are great and easy. They're my favorite snakes!
Cheers!

They are very popular and an excellent choice. Earlier this year I went to the Carolina reptile expo, where I only saw two Trans Pecos in the whole building. I purchased one, and someone else picked up the other within thirty minutes of the show opening.
This is my 03 Van Horn, Tx locality female I picked up at that show.

Steve

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I live in maryland near the chesapeke bay the baltimore area is extreamly humid most of the year and I'm quessing that that may be the reason I don't see a lot of these for sale at locale show.any thoughts on this?

I much prefer the bogeys from northern parts of their range from Van Horn north and west. I just like that greenish coloration and the cleaner pattern.

I have a cb female and a wc male (caught as a hatchling) from the Baylor Mts just north of Van Horn (where most Van Horn snakes are collected).
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Chris Harrison

Thanks Chris, both parents of my 03 female were caught 12-15 miles north of Van Horn. Very interesting info on specimens north and west of Van Horn. This is my first Trans Peco I've ever owned, but I like her for her nice H pattern and size.

Steve

I recently was given a juvenile(less than a year-old) wild-caught.
I am keeping it just like my other ratsnakes.
It fed right away, but when it ate a F/T pink, it regurged. I left it alone and waited 9 days and tried again. It ate, but regurged again.
What gives?
I plan to try again in 9 or 10 days.
-Jack
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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

That happens when the humidity is too high! Obviously it could be something else, but the first thing you should check is your husbandry. What's the snake in? If it's in a plastic box of some sort, you can almost bet the humidity is too high even if it seems like you have lots of holes for ventilation. What about the room in general? I once had one in a room with low ambient humidity, yet I had the snake on the top shelf near an a/c register. It turned out that that particular spot was more humid then the rest of the room. So I moved the snake, and it has never regurged or skipped a meal since.
Cheers!

That means remove the water bowl, I guess.
Thanks
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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

If you have enough ventilation, you shouldn't have to remove the water bowl. In fact, according to some of the reading I've done, offering water only for short periods of time belongs to the old line of thought regarding care for subocs. Don Soderberg set me straight on this stuff a few years ago; maybe his website could offer you some further tips. I believe it's cornsnakes.net.

I simply need more holes in the box
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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

>>I simply need more holes in the box
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>>...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

try more holes and a smaller water bowl.
I always recommend larger water bowls to help increase humidity so why not smaller water bowls to decrease humidity.
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Remember, My posts are MY opinion only!
Jimmy (draybar)

Jack,

I (as you know) live in College Station, which is a fair bit more humid than your neck of the woods. My bogeys eat fine and keep food down. I keep mine in Freedom Breeder cages with the open screen top now, but I kept them for years in normal lidless melamine racks. And I left the water bowls in at all times.

My plastic shoeboxes do look like swiss cheese (many holes) and my rack doesn't have a back, so maybe that provides enough ventilation. I guess my point is that you can get them to thrive without water rationing.

Chris
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Chris Harrison

The cage needs to be dry, and the humidity level in the cage needs to be low. I live in the Northeast where the humidity is relatively low in the spring, but high in the summer. My subocs were fine in the spring, but began to puke as the weather got hot & humid (the puking eventually did them in).

If you're in a humid location, you'll need to lower the humidity in the room. The people I know who kept them & haven't had problems with them, either live in an area with low humidity, or keep them temperature/humidity controlled area. If you can't control the humidity, limit their water intake. (don't let them drink after meals).

Paul B