Reptile & Amphibian Forums

To all
I finally witnessed feeding in my Mud Snake group!
I caught the smallest one slamming guppies, he would lay in wait in one of the clearings and snap at the guppies.
He finally caught several, sliding them down like nothing!!
WooHoo!!!!!
Mike
The Mud Hole!

Hi there:

Let me tell you, I absolutely knew all along that you would soon post this message. I had no doubt that your mud snakes would readily feed on fish. I ordered one too. I knew they would eat like this all along. You should never say something depending on what you've heard other people say. You should make a statement after trying until you can try no more. You tried, and just look at your rewards. Take great care of your mud snakes. I will take great care of mine.
You now have one obstacle left; the skin blister disease. You can get through that. I know you can. The keeping of mud snakes is something that I will charge at with great determination, believing in everything. I hope that you take this attitude as well. Who knows? Maybe in a few years there will be a mud snake forum, and lots of people will keep these guys, and breed them like corn snakes, but NOT in morphs. Just good old fashioned pure mud snakes... the snakes that were "impossible to keep".
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DAVE

1.0 Western green toad
1.1 green treefrogs
1.0 mud snake
1.0 brown Anole
1.0 Mediterranean gecko
1.1 Oriental fire-bellied toads
1.0 American bullfrog
1.0 South American caecilian (Dermophis occidentalis)
1.0 Spanish ribbed newt
1.0 rough-skinned newt
1.0 golden Axolotl
1.1 Eastern ribbon snakes
1.1red-cheeked mud turtles
1.0 dwarf peacock day gecko
1.0 Dubia day gecko
1.0 Sonoran gopher snake
1.1 rough green snakes
1.1 giant African black millipedes
1.0 White's treefrog
1.0 Okeetee corn snake
1.0 Albino African clawed frog
1.0 Kenyan sand boa
1.0 Argentine flame-bellied toadlet
1.0 African bullfrog
1.0 yellow * Everglades rat snake intergrade
1.0 Western hognose snake
1.0 fire salamander

I too am a fan of locale specific classic examples of wild caught animals....you can keep all of the anomolies that are being mass produced! Being in this hobby for over 35 years I've seen the begining of alot of these morphs and have always asked why? The newest thing being hybridization.
Again WHY!? Er a please don't call me a hypocrite, I am the first person to successfully cross Varanus Prasinus with Varanus Beccari.

I would have never bought these had I thought I could not feed them!
BUT I was and am still willing to offer all kinds of prey items...they aint gonna eat guppies forever. I believe they will want larger amphibians as they grow. Don't worry though by that time I will hopeully have figured out some type of homemade prey item for them. Derived from some processed amphibian.

Skin blisters are of no concern right now.
Good luck to you as well!
Mike
The Mud Hole!

I just wanted to say good luck. Glad you got them feeding. A friend of mine bought an eastern mud from glades a year or so back and it was gravid as it turns out. I received 3 of the offspring. All eventually expired. They would not eat even with all the different prey items I offered (falling just sort of aquatic salamanders which I simply couldn't find at the time...even online and at bio. supply companies) and even with optimal conditions they developed blisters a few months later. This is definitely a species I want to come back too though. Keep us updated and if you breed, I defintely want to know about some of the offspring Also I seem to remember your name from a few years back. It either had to do with monitors or breeding feeder roaches...can't remember which. Good luck and happy herping.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: thekingofproduct
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

"Some things will never change. They just stand there looking backwards. Half-unconsious from the pain. They may seem rearranged. In the backwater swirling. There is something that'll never change-The Meat Puppets"

Andy
Thank you!
Your right I do still work with Varanids. I no longer breed Roaches.
Once I get these Muds growing a bit I will sex them. Once I sex them I may sell a few, I'll keep you in mind if your interested.
Mike
The Mud Hole!

Congratulations!!

I've not faired as well as you, but I picked up a syringe and some feeding tube yesterday. I'll put some meat in him and maybe he'll eat later.

How big are your snakes?

Cam Hanna
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"I'm tired of being a wannabe bowler! I wanna be a bowler!!"
-- Homer Simpson

Hello
First my Muds are hatchlings, and yours?

If I were you I would try using a simular setup as mine. Your Mud depending on it's size should feed on it's own.
Tube feeding is VERY stressfull!

In a setup like mine your snake can be offered a wide array of prey items.
Plus it makes your enclosure very lively!
Check ou my simple setup by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post.

Hatchlings Muds will eat a wide variety
of prey items. Think about it, a 6" mud snake what would it eat in the wild?
Slithering thru the choked vegataion teaming with fish, Amphibians eggs and larva, leaches, tadpoles and so on.

A nice sized tadpole was the first noticable prey item this group ate.
I'm sure you can get a tadpole somewhere.

As I stated in prior a post I have had a sub-adult Mud eating native fish in the past. Which is the only reason I bought these.
Good Luck!
Mike
The Mud Hole!

Hello,

At about 2'6" my WC male western mud is a sub adult. From 'The Mud Hole' it looks like you have easterns, is this correct.

I've tried two two types of sutup. My first was fundimentally similar to yours; an aquarium with 6" of have and a floating peat pit. My current setup is a rubbermaid filled with peat / aspen shavings.

I've had green and leopard frog tadpoles as well as minnows frogs and other prey items in my muds enclosure for the last 50 days.

He was slim when I bought him and my mud has not eaten since. He has become rather gaunt and I believe, stressful as it may be, it is time to tube feed him.

How did you get your sub-adult to feed?

Congrats Again and Thank You

Cam
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"I'm tired of being a wannabe bowler! I wanna be a bowler!!"
-- Homer Simpson

I am sorry, I'm sure you know if it's time to tube feed or not.

My Muds are indeed Easterns.
The sub-adult I had was kept in this same type of enclosure.
Same deal, once offered native fish he just started slamming them.

A suggestion, which I'm sure your aware of. Suppliment the "tube sludge" with some vitamins.
Let me know how it goes.
Mike
The Mud Hole

np
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0.0.1 Chrysemys picta picta (Eastern Painted Turtle)
0.0.1 Teliqua gigas (Indonesian Blue Tongue Skink)
0.2.0 Eublepharis macularius (Leopard Geckos)
0.0.1 Nerodia sipedon (Northern Water Snake)
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus (Crested Geckos)
0.0.1 Python regius (Ball Python)
?.?.? Assorted goldfish, minnows and guppies
1.0.0 Ferret
1.1.0 Cats
1.0.0 Aussie Cattle Dog/ Border Collie Mix