Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a yearling pair of this species, and while being a native colubrid hobbyist,I find these snake interesting.

How many other hobbyists keep house snakes, and how do you rate them to kings/corns/Pituophis?

The elliptical eyes are intriguing, and the huge fangs make them even more appealing to me. Their wide variation of brown shades are beautiful. I can't wait to breed mine when they get to adult size.

Also. if anyone wants to post house snake pictures, I'd love to see them.

Thanks, and look forward to your posts.

i have a redish brown pair and am expecting eggs at any time. My female is over thirty inches and growing. Great little snakes.

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

Cool!

The red ones are gorgeous!

I have a cinnamon female w/some brown scales and a brown male that has retained his pattern on the first third of his body. Both are about 20 inches, and slam hoppers!

At what length did you put your snakes together to mate?

Also, have you ever raised hatchlings?

Thanks.

My female (as it turned out) was gravid when I purchased her. This morning she laid 5 eggs. Now here is the strange part. One of the eggs (though perfectly formed)is uniformly LIVER COLORED!

The rest are a mixture (but more stained looking) except two that are solid white.

I have never seen this in a clutch.

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

Wow!

What do slug eggs from house snakes look like?

Good luck on incubating them.

Chris just answered the question on the WHAT KIND forum. Seems house Snakes make unusual slugs.

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

Slugs were my thought as well.

Do your animals take prey items readily?

I always have to put my house snakes in opaque containers with their prey for them to feed. They are active when handled, like a racer, but don't like to be touched aroung the head.

Does the fact that I am considering naming them Hoover (after the vacumm cleaner)give you an idea?

Most snakes slow down on their food when gravid. I was watching to make sure the eggs didn't go back in the other end (lol).

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

LOL!

My pair just slammed a hopper each. I feed them in separate containers from their cage, but they don't seem to like me watching them eat. Perhaps they will grow out of this as they mature.

I'm very interested to see how their colors change as they mature.

Also, is there a market for this species in the pet trade? They seem to be a great pet, especially in certain states outlawing native colubrids of similar size.

Nice conversing with you.

Neil

Should be no problem marketing them. The price varies with availability but usually they are inexpensive.

The shyness in feeding should stop...Personally I check my fingers with mine to make sure they only get the mouse.

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

Hey Frank shoot me an email. I am intersted in gettting some house snakes and I have not found any cheaper than like $30. You think you could make me a deal?
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Justin

I keep 4 currently (1.1 black green phase and 0.2 red brown phase). I think they are super easy to keep, eat readily, occasionally tempermental though (of the 8 or so I've had, I've had 1 who always bit and 1 that was usually defensive). I'd recommend them for anyone who's interested in breeding egg layers because they will certainly give you a lot of practice with incubation! I like them for their eyes and the great irridecent sheen they have.
Here's a pic for ya...
Lora

The snake that you pictured looks a lot like my female.
She is jumpy when handled, especially when she is hungry.

I'm excited to raise mine to adults, and breed them.

Does the female store sperm like some other snake species do?

Thanks.

Neil

I had a pair of adults, which bred often, and the female laid 3 clutches but none of them were fertile. The male died around 4 months ago (undetermined cause unfortunately after $400.00 worth of tests and a necropsy) and the female hasn't laid since, so in this case I wouldn't think she's storing sperm. I've still got a pair of black/green phase to raise up (they're yearlings now)and hope to have some success with them.
They are great little snakes and you definitely have to watch your fingers feeding them!
Here's the black/green phase (this pic is about a year old...)

Lora

Now that's a dark looking house snake.

I have a friend who had an adult that looked like the animal you posted a picture of. It was gorgeous, but had the temper of a green tree boa, with teeth to match.

On another note, my passive female just plucked a fuzzy from my hand! Looks like her shyness is over! The male eats rat pinks, and needs some "quiet time" in his deli cup with his food until he eats it. Maybe he'll come around soon!