Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My breeders produced the last three years. Acquired my pair from Chad Fuchs of CF Snakes.

Terry Parks

Beautiful Kunasir! I'm so glad I finally got one of these, if she grows up to look anything like yours...
What's the temperament like on yours? My hatchling seems pretty shy, but not really defensive. I don't know if this one is going to end up blue or green as I believe the parents were one of each. At about what age did you notice the coloration change, or was it gradual from shed to shed?
Here's a pic of my little female for comparison, in case people think about passing these snakes up as hatchlings. It's kind of an ugly (though I don't think any rat snake is ugly!) duckling thing.

Thanks,

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Lora

Lola,
I have three hatchlings and two yearlings. All but one of the hatchlings is easygoing, and my yearlings are downright friendly! The minute the door opens to the herp room, their heads are out of their hides, checking out what's happening. The smallest hatchling, however, is feisty as can be--a bitey little girl.

My '03's have shed three times since I got them, and I marvel at how much bluer they are each time! I'm really glad that I chose this species.

regards,
althea

Thanks Althea!
I appreciate the information on the temperament. I think my 04 is still just a little timid. I'll be sure to take regular pics to document the color change too.
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Lora

Here's one of my 02'CB climacs when she was a yearling. She started out about the color of your hatchling. This should give you an idea of when their color transition takes place. My climacs and others I've seen are calm and easy to handle as adults.

Nice hatchling Lora.

Terry Parks

Another great looking snake there! About what size are your adults? I've read they usually run from 3.5-5 feet. I'm considering some arboreal display style cages for the climac and the Rhynchophis, once they get some size on them, and was wondering about cage size.
Appreciate the information!
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Lora

Sorry for the late response. Thanks again for the comments. My adults are a little over 4 feet now. Mine have gone off feed for the winter so I didn't go in and recheck their size. Climacs are comfortable both on the ground and in trees. The neat thing with that is they can be in arboreal and ground type setups. They are about the size of our cornsnakes. Their cage size requirements are similar to that of cornsnakes. I believe an arboreal style display cage should be bigger in size than the ground type displays. I would think about 18" deep X 30"-36" wide X 36" tall would be good for them. I don't have mine in an arboreal style setup, but that would be a reference point for me. I might tend to make display set ups larger than they need to be, but I think you want the display cage to display itself in addition to the snake that is in it. An arboreal display style cage set up is great for climacs for those that have the room. People really like my "green snakes" as they call them when they come by. Here's a pic of my display cage for my spilotes. The display cage is about 18" deep X about 56" wide X about 58" tall for the spilotes.

Terry Parks

Nice set up for your Spilotes. They can be such active snakes, I'm sure they enjoy the extra space you're providing.
I'm looking at dimensions of 30"long x24"deep x21"high. That should give the snake enough room to stretch out and give me room to get some nice branches in there to climb on (I'm hoping to have the Rhynchophis in a similar set up). My little climac is eating frozen thawed pinkies like clockwork and getting ready to shed so I'm sure she'll be growing up in no time. I generally don't cool hatchlings if they're eating well, to give them a winter of feeding. Do you provide any supplemental heating for your climacs? I'm keeping mine very similar to my Mandarins in an unheated bottom portion of my rack, so temps are averaging in the low to mid 70's.
Thanks,
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Lora

The dimensions you're looking at sound good. Spilotes are almost strictly arboreal and like to be up higher than everything else. That's why I put my spilotes cage on top of something so it sets up near the ceiling. Climacs aren't strictly arboreal and are comfortable on the ground as well. They don't seem to need to be up high. Some nice branches will be an added pleasure for them. If your climac is eating good, then I wouldn't brumate her like you suggest. My adults let me know each year when brumation is coming. My black pine breeding pair do the same and have gone off feed too.

Do your mandarins and climac have a temperature change in their enclosure? Is there a warm portion and cool portion? Snakes should have a warm and cool section in the enclosure so they can thermoregulate. You don't need to have a heater if you can do it by the placement of the rack or enclosure. Mine face a window for example which gives the enclosures a warm side and a cool side so the snakes can thermoregulate themselves. Snakes like to be in a warm spot of the tank to digest.

Terry Parks

I've got a mild temp. gradient in the "cool snakes" bottom portion of the rack due to the heat along the back wall conducting from the upper shelves. Front averages 70 and back averages 74 or so (sometimes its more like front 72 back 76 but it's usually a 4 degree difference). It may seem a little cool, but they really seem to suffer if they get too dry or too hot. They feed readily and digest meals in the typical 4-5 day span from what I've noticed. I have seen the snakes select their locations to thermoregulate and when they come to the front of the rack they're either hungry (feed me) or too warm. My Mandarins will soak if they get hot (had an AC break down last year and it was around 80 for a day or so in the house), which is good to know since it's a signal to me to recheck the temps.
Thanks for the suggestions!
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Lora

Looks a little like the Mexican bairdi with that gray head. No wonder you like them..haha. Bet they have a little different temperment though.

TC

>>My breeders produced the last three years. Acquired my pair from Chad Fuchs of CF Snakes.
>>
>>Terry Parks
>>

Nice colors on that one
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Lower Ground Reptiles

www.lowergroundreptiles.net

Nice green apple color. I have a pair. The 40" female is more dark green 'mint' colored, the male I got is supposed to be of the blue phase. At about 20 inches he is similar to the one pictured (except his head is more green on top).

The Florida breeder I got mine from said that the lighter colored babies, seemed to get more blue in them as they mature. Any one notice a relationship between juv colors and adult?

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

still learning...what kind of snake is that? where does it originate from?

Very nice snake also!
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Caligula)... coming soon

Neat snakes!
Elaphe climacophora

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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

is the southernmost island in a volcanic island chain north of Hokkaido. These snakes are found on Hokkaido, as well as one of the few species of animals found on Kunishir, where they are found primarily around volcanic vents (where it is warmer). The Kunishir Islands historically belonged to Japan, which hopes to reclaim them from more recent Soviet domain.

regards,
althea