Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

I am posting this annoucement here since Ptyas are actually solid-toothed rear-fanged snakes. Most sources will consider them "non-venomous" however if you're familiar with Dr. Bryan Fry's recent research into colubrid venoms you'll know that Ptyas are one of his favorite snakes and in fact possess 3ftx [three finger colubritoxin - if you're not familiar see www.venomdoc.com for details]. So anyway, 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

I like very much these big colubrids... but in Europe I've never seen them !

Here is a pic of a small specimen (female) I had captured in the evening near my Hotel in Negombo (Sri Lanka).
It's Ptyas mucosus.

http://utenti.quipo.it/palawan/Ptyas_mucosus.jpg

Here's a big (maybe 3 metres?) and bad tempered Ptyas/Zaocys carinatus from Negeri Sembilan (Malaysia).
By the same person I've seen a couple of very beautiful Ptyas/Zaocys fuscus... but, sorry, I've no picture of them !

It would be interesting to keep and breed these snakes....

http://utenti.quipo.it/palawan/Ptyas_carinatus.jpg

Great pictures! There's so little information about this species out there, either in print or on the web it's always good to see some pictures of them. The best pictures I've seen of P. korros are actually ones that were taken in Sri Lanka and they actually resemble the fuscus you had a picture of. I was originally searching for the the P. muscosus or carinatus, either of which are the largest of the Ptyas species, however the importer was only able to get P. korros, which in retrospect is probably a good thing since dealing with 5 of them is going to be easier probably if they're no longer than 6 or 7 feet than dealing with 5 of them that are 11 or 12 feet long! I do hope to have sucess breeding this species - so a year or so from now, we'll see.
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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

Good luck with those. As I posted in Ratsnake I have one (was offered another). Seem to need privacy (a low hide box) to get them feeding.

As to three finger toxins...I have allready been nipped by them and Ptyas m. as well. No effect. This is another snake that the venomous warnings (I feel) are way too exagerated.

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

>>Good luck with those. As I posted in Ratsnake I have one (was offered another). Seem to need privacy (a low hide box) to get them feeding.
>>

Which species do you have?

>>As to three finger toxins...I have allready been nipped by them and Ptyas m. as well. No effect. This is another snake that the venomous warnings (I feel) are way too exagerated.
>>

I don't think he was putting a venomous warning on it, merely commenting about the research. There is only very small quantaties of venom produced, that like most other colubrine venoms, it is rich in 3FTx, very potent. The potential medical implications are absolutely trivial, enough to contribute to prey capture but thats it. Absolutely nothing to be concerned about. The very large, strong-jaws with big teeth however are nothing to take lightly!

Cheers
Bryan
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Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Australian Venom Research Unit,
University of Melbourne
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Population and Evolutionary Genetics Unit,
Museum Victoria
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.venomdoc.com

I have a lovely "Bluish" Male P. Korros.

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

What was very interesting was comparing him yesterday to a juvenile King Cobra. If you ignore the head and neck the rest of the snake is close enough that you really wouldn't want to reach for one in the wild unless you had a good view of it first.

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

Hi mate

Yeah the king cobra mimicry is fascinating, particularly on the big Ptyas carinatus. They are eerily like a king, particularly when they are also four meters long! In a lot of respects, a big wild P. carinatus is harder to work with than an equivalent sized king!

Cheers
B
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Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Australian Venom Research Unit,
University of Melbourne
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Population and Evolutionary Genetics Unit,
Museum Victoria
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.venomdoc.com

Bryan,
I've never seen a live Ptyas of that size. Must be quite impressive! As to personality, I have seen even my little korros tends to be nippy. it's sad that we don't see more of them here.

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

Ptyas hard work? Too right. Caght a largish (6-7ft) Ptyas on Sulawesi. Easily the most mental thing I've ever had to deal with. Wild retics of the same same length are total pussycats in comparison. Managed not to get but but it was far more luck than judgement. I'll say it again, they're mental. And a tailed 6 footer can get from the ground to within inches of your face faster than you can swear at it. If these were dangerous S.E. Asia would be uninhabbited.

Lee.