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of two of the lyre snakes I received recently. I've wanted to work with lyres for a long time and finally have a couple. There's a couple people holding lyre snakes for me until I see what sexes I have so I will end up having a pair.

Quite a bit smaller than the other one.

Terry Parks

Terry,

I have never understood why these are not more popular. They are beautiful snakes, not any trickier than hognose snakes or grey-banded kings, and offer a different look from the NA Pantherophis, Lampropeltis, and Pituophis - all of which are popular.

Of course I say the same thing about Coachwhips, Patch-Nosed Snakes, and Glossy Snakes so I maybe I'm just strange

If I ever give up on working with Gonyosoma I'd be perfectly happy to work with all of the oddball NA colubrids.

>>I have never understood why these are not more popular.

I love Lyre snakes - nice snakes Terry!

But my understanding of why they are not more popular is that, like many small rear-fanged colubrids, they tend to be lizard feeders. I know people are sometimes successful getting them to eat rodents, but many wc Lyres hold out for lizards and nothing but.

I'm assuming that yours Terry are rodent feeders?

I've heard they're not that bad. I knew one guy who had a huge collection of Trimophodon and he said he had little difficulty.

To be fair, of all the snakes listed in my previous post, Lyre's are the only one I have not kept.

Lyres are definitely crevice lizard eaters. The 2 lyres pictured were switched by the person that I got them from. I have worked with a third lyre that I've converted myself. Actually, one will eat unscented pinkies and the other two lyres still require a scented pinkie. I wasn't having any luck switching the one I got from the wild. The person who switched the other two told me to use geckos for scenting if I was able to. My wife breeds leopard geckos and madagascar geckos (she got a nice pair of breeders from you Dave). The guy told me if you put a gecko in with a lyre, he will attack it almost instantly. So I've been using the substrate from the gecko enclosure to scent pinkies. This works to get the two lyres to eat and the third will doesn't require scenting. The next thing if I get them to unscented will be to get them to go for thawed/frozen.

The lyres pictured are California lyres. There's a Sonoran lyre and a Texas lyre. My understanding is the Texas lyre is awesome looking. Unfortunately they are protected in Texas. I was told it's not because they may be rare, but rather because they only inhabit a small part of southwest Texas.

Nice. I like lyres too and plan to work with them in the not too distant future. Of course, I'll probably go with the Santa Ritans, like this...

Saw several last summer. I think it's a good intro to the rear-fanged snakes. I think they constrict too. I've heard of them eating bats and other snakes, as well as lizards. Hope they'll switch to mice. Are yours CA lyres?

TC

Yes the lyres in the two pics are California lyres. The ones I have are eating gecko scented pinkies. That Santa Rita lyre you posted a pic of is real nice looking.

Terry Parks

I have both California and Sonoran Lyres in my collection. I have gotten Sonrans "usually" to eat mice, but it was a hassle. Fortunately my California Female took fuzzies imediately.

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

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How long do they get? Do they stay thin bodied? Arboreal? Just curious. I'm not too familiar with them. Thanks and take care!

Jeremy

Jeremy -
Lyres are usually 2-3 feet with some approaching 4 feet. The Texas lyre snake seems to be the longest ones. They are protected in Texas. The California and Sonoran lyres are the ones that run in the 2-3 foot range. They are a slim species with a slender neck and broad head. They are rock dwellers that are nocturnal and secretive. This shows by their nervous behavior. They hiss and vibrate their tail when annoyed. Lyres are mildly venomous with rear fangs. They prey mainly on lizards, but also eat birds and mammals. The venom is not very effective on birds and mammals so they can also constrict their prey. I imagine that is why some take time to switch to mice when captive. My California lyres have switched to scented pinkies and one will eat an unscented pinkie.

Terry Parks