Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

I thought I would post this message here as well as in some other forums, especially since even though Ptyas are called ratsnakes they are very racer-like in that they are not constrictors and their terrestrial habits seem to resemble some racers. I am expecting within the week some Lesser Indian Ratsnakes [Ptyas korros - a.k.a. Indo-Chinese Ratsnake, Dhaman/Dharman Ratsnake]. For those of you who don't know Ptyas, check out this url for photos: http://www.calacademy.org/research/herpetology/myanmar/GetImagesByName.asp?Genus=Ptyas&Species=korros
I'm supposed to be receiving 2.3 of these. Once I've gotten them acclimated and treated for parasites I'm hoping to get them settled in and breed them next year. I'm currently working on getting translations of two articles written in Vietnamese on their captive care and breeding. Needless to say it's pretty exciting to be getting to work with a snake that is practically unheard-of in the trade. A search of www.isis.org also shows that currently only one zoo in the world [at least only one zoo that reports data to isis], houses Ptyas korros. I will of course post photos once they have arrived.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois

Cool!
I was wondering if anybody had any Ptyas; I had some from Thailand, about 15 years ago (unfortunately, only for a very short period of time).
Keep us posted.
Max
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"I may be crazy, but ya know... I can rationalize just about anything."

Max,

Any information you have at all about the Ptyas you kept would be invaluable, even it is all just observational or anecdotal in nature. For example, how did you house them, what did you feed them or if they refused to eat what did you try to entice them to eat, etc. You can either reply with that information here or mail it directly to me through Kingsnake. I'm very excited to be getting a chance to work with a species that virtually no one else has worked with, but on the other hand because of that there is pretty much no information out there on captive care and breeding, so any info I can find, no matter how minor is essential to this project. Thanks in advance for any insights you can offer on this species.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois

Between a friend and I we have a pair.

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

Frank,

What has been your experience with them so far? Have you had any difficulty getting them to eat? Was it you that mentioned them eating the fuzzy mice overnight? It's getting hard to keep track of who all I've emailed and posted replies to over the last few days regarding these snakes. I'll still have no positive confirmation that they will be shipped from Indonesia, hopefully they will. Any info you can offer from your experiences so far would be greatly appreciated.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois

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