Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just aquired a pair of adult males from a dealer at a show. he gave them to me for $20 for the two as they had come to him highly desicated and parisitized.

The good news is I have the meds and have an very good chance of bringing them back to health.

Does anyone have experience with this sbsps? I need info on temp, enviromental conditions etc....

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

You are very lucky to get ahold of Sonoran Coachwhips at such a good price. They are very hard to get ahold of. I can get almost any kind of coachwhip, but I don't think I can get those, due to the fact they are in extreme southern Arizona. Right now don't worry about putting them in a big big cage. A 20 gallon will work for the both. At the moment I would line the cage with newspaper, just until they are parasite free. You don't want to set up a nice cage, and then mites spread and you have to dump it. Give them some meds for internal parasites and look for mites. If they get to be too much for you, please email me. I will work with them! When they get well you can use a nice sand, with a hide area and water at all times. Use rocks and desert looking plants for decor. And have a heat lamp on them 12 hours a day. They are heat loving snakes and will stay on the warm side. However you will know if they are real sick, they may stay on the cool side. As I tell a lot of people, please avoid lizards. Unless you can get frozen ones. Because you are feeding the snake more parasites. When they are frozen it kills the parasites in the lizards. They will need to be fed a mouse every 3 days. And you will see they will start to fatten up soon. The only thing i'm worried about is its hibernation time for them. They may want to hibernate, which means you will have a hard time trying to feed them. And they may never make it. Well enjoy them, and keep me updated! And if you want to get rid of them, maybe I can trade you something else for them? William H.
GPM

Thanks for the info. I just medicated the pair by injecting panacure into rat pinks and then force feeding them to the snakes. That was two days ago and they both kept the food down and are looking much more alert. I get my food shipment today so I will try them on hopper mice.

Temps here in S. Fla are in the 80* (day) 70* night right now. We never get cool enough for natural hibernation so it can be tricky when it come to feeding.

As its two males I will likely part with one once they are fully established and healthy again.

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

Does anyone have photos or a key to the Genus? The pair refered to above have eluded positive ID and the info I have is outdated.

They appear to have charactoristics of both Mfc and Mfp. Head markings are in line with both but strongly contrasting red-brown wide bands alternating with pale pinkish gray extend most of the way down the body. The chin is spotted with black and minor black spots on cheeks only. Will try to get photos next week.

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