Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've mostly been a lurker on this forum, checking in from time to time, oogling photos and such, but I've decided it's finally time to act on my growing curiosity. I posted once quite some time ago about being interested in Drys. Since then, I've gotten in contact with the man by the name of 'epidemic' on these forums and had some in depth e-mail conversations about the various subspecies (species now?) of Drymarchon. Even though I lucked out and just happened to reside in the same state he does, I still have yet to feast my eyes upon his collection. I digress. After a couple years now of wanting a cribo or indigo, and just never really having the space or means to get one, I've finally decided to go for it. I just called today to place my order for the young adult male unicolor Ben Siegel has on the classifieds. I chose this animal because he already had some decent size to him (between 4 and 5'), and because he supposedly has a great temperament. Knowing that cribos can sometimes have less than flowery attitudes, I wanted one that had already been well-socialized as my first. They'll likely be shipping him out on Monday for Tuesday arrival, and I'm pretty anxious to see him. It'll make for a good week early on....womas on Monday, cribo on Tuesday...lol. I used to be a venomous keeper before I decided to refine my focus onto my pythons, but I've always been a fan of elapids and elapid-looking snakes. As it has been noted here on many occasions, you just can't get much more cobra-looking than a cribo, without getting a cobra itself. Anyway, I'll post pictures when he arrives.
-Chance
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Chance Duncan
2.2 Retics (1.0 Tiger Het, 1.0 Lavender, 0.1 Dark Lavender, 0.1 Normal Het)
1.1 Olive Pythons
1.1 Ball Pythons (Het Albino)
http://www.rivervalleysnakes.com

WElcome to the club. Lots of folks consider Dry's "Honorary Cobras" but I like to think of it more as cobras are just "Indigos that can Kill You".

You did luck out having Jeff, a.k.a. "epidemic" nearby. He's got as good of a collection of Dry's as anyone on the planet.

I've enjoyed your commentary on the venomous forum and I think you'll be able to add a lot to this group.

Doug T

>>I've mostly been a lurker on this forum, checking in from time to time, oogling photos and such, but I've decided it's finally time to act on my growing curiosity. I posted once quite some time ago about being interested in Drys. Since then, I've gotten in contact with the man by the name of 'epidemic' on these forums and had some in depth e-mail conversations about the various subspecies (species now?) of Drymarchon. Even though I lucked out and just happened to reside in the same state he does, I still have yet to feast my eyes upon his collection. I digress. After a couple years now of wanting a cribo or indigo, and just never really having the space or means to get one, I've finally decided to go for it. I just called today to place my order for the young adult male unicolor Ben Siegel has on the classifieds. I chose this animal because he already had some decent size to him (between 4 and 5'), and because he supposedly has a great temperament. Knowing that cribos can sometimes have less than flowery attitudes, I wanted one that had already been well-socialized as my first. They'll likely be shipping him out on Monday for Tuesday arrival, and I'm pretty anxious to see him. It'll make for a good week early on....womas on Monday, cribo on Tuesday...lol. I used to be a venomous keeper before I decided to refine my focus onto my pythons, but I've always been a fan of elapids and elapid-looking snakes. As it has been noted here on many occasions, you just can't get much more cobra-looking than a cribo, without getting a cobra itself. Anyway, I'll post pictures when he arrives.
>>-Chance
>>-----
>>Chance Duncan
>>2.2 Retics (1.0 Tiger Het, 1.0 Lavender, 0.1 Dark Lavender, 0.1 Normal Het)
>>1.1 Olive Pythons
>>1.1 Ball Pythons (Het Albino)
>>http://www.rivervalleysnakes.com

Thanks for the welcome. I'm glad you've enjoyed some of my posts in the venomous forums. It seemed like, more often than not, they only succeeded in sparking new flame wars. I guess that's probably one of the other reasons I decided to exit the hot club. One of the most enjoyed parts of this forum to me, besides the pics of course, is the professional attitude most everyone seems to share with each other. That's a rare thing among most of the other herper groups. I only hope I can become a productive part of this one.
-Chance
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Chance Duncan
2.2 Retics (1.0 Tiger Het, 1.0 Lavender, 0.1 Dark Lavender, 0.1 Normal Het)
1.1 Olive Pythons
1.1 Ball Pythons (Het Albino)
http://www.rivervalleysnakes.com

Congratulations! on the acquisition of your first Drymarchon!
You are entirely right when you speak of the professionalism of the members of this forum,but I will also add that another side benefit is that there is such a strong movement here AGAINST hybridization of Drys with any other type of snake or breeding the diffrent subspecies. I beleive that the Pitouphis forum has similar beliefs, much to their credit.

Please post numerous pics of your cribo when he/she arrives. We love to see em. I think you'll find this a positive forum and we ALWAYS welcome the input of new members and also questions and occasionally off color jokes(My specialty)

Sincerely,

Fredrick Albury

Aztec Reptilean

Hey Fred. Thanks for the good words. Actually, I just thought of this, when I get the cribo, I will be posting numerous detailed photos in hopes that someone can positively identify him. He was sold to Mr. Siegel as melanurus, but he very much appears to be unicolor, even to my untrained eyes. The ad is currently still up, so if you or anyone else sees this and wants to take a look to give me your opinions sooner than when I post pictures, here it is: http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=6&de=279266 .

As for the hydridization thing, I have noticed exactly what you mean here. I can't say that I don't enjoy the look of certain hybrids ('carpondros' and especially 'bateaters' for example), and I certainly do enjoy my retic python morphs, though they are not hybrids, but the buck absolutely stops at potentially or critically endangered species for me. I cringe even when I hear people just joking about crossing an indigo with a Pit, or for that matter, a ball python with an Angolan python. I think hybrids have their place in the hobby as occasional odditities just to keep things interesting, but only, and absolutely only, when they involve species that are very commonly bred in captivity and are under very little or no threat in their natural environments. Anyway, that's a whole other conversation for a whole other matter

I hope that ad is still up long enough for some of you guys to take a look. I'd like to hear some preliminary thoughts on him.
-Chance
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Chance Duncan
2.2 Retics (1.0 Tiger Het, 1.0 Lavender, 0.1 Dark Lavender, 0.1 Normal Het)
1.1 Olive Pythons
1.1 Ball Pythons (Het Albino)
http://www.rivervalleysnakes.com

Hmmm, maybe an intergrade?

Eric
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If Jesus is your co-pilot, you'd better change seats!

chance, that is a unicolor cribo no doubt, and a pretty nice one at that. if you can find a similar looking female, you'll have some killer clutches down the road!! good luck w/ him........

Yep...UNICOLOR..no doubt. Nice looking snake. Congrats! and welcome! I agree with Dan....would make nice breeding stock.

take care,

Fred Albury

Well, I'm glad to see the general consensus is that he is most likely a unicolor. When he arrives here and I begin to take pictures to post, what areas are best to focus on for you guys to make a more accurate judgement? That is, if those pictures in the ad weren't already enough I suppose. If a detail side on head shot is needed, or belly, etc, just let me know. We have a digi that takes very decent close up shots, so I should be able to get whatever necessary.

Anyway, thanks again for all the great posts.
-Chance
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Chance Duncan
2.2 Retics (1.0 Tiger Het, 1.0 Lavender, 0.1 Dark Lavender, 0.1 Normal Het)
1.1 Olive Pythons
1.1 Ball Pythons (Het Albino)
http://www.rivervalleysnakes.com

Almost makes me want to go out and get a Unicolor or other Cribo just to be a part of it. Maybe someday......You know ,I do have two 6' Neodeshas that I've had Leucistic black rats in for 12 years. Yeah that would be...... no... no.. stop... remember self control...breathe..exhale...ok later DRY GUYS.

hey chance,

welcome.

while you're building your dry collection, check out this one.

http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=6&de=280038

i'm assuming this one is wild-caught. are they usually loaded with parasites? sin't that one a uni as well?

matt

Hey Matt. Thanks for the welcome. I don't think I'll be acquiring any more cribos until I get this one and keep it for a while. I guess I'm sort of getting my 'feet wet' with this guy, which is why I wanted to get one with size, not a baby, and one that had a good attitude. As far as the one in the ad you mentioned, to this Dry layperson's eyes, it appears to be a melanurus. However, it could also be an intergrade or even a unicolor, but I'm thinking it is probably labeled correctly. And at that price, I'm sure it is wild caught, and would need to be treated accordingly. He looks good though, you should go for him yourself The unicolor I'm getting was w.c. as a juvenile and raised for a couple years in captivity, so I'm not too worried about what his insides look like. Even at that though, he will be getting a fecal done upon arrival with my herp vet, just to make sure everything is in okay. I know Ben has had him for at least 2 months, but there's really no telling if the story given to him was accurate or not, so it's better to be safe than sorry. I once had a w.c. adult Oxyuranus s. canni (PNG taipan) that arrived in pristine condition, no scars, nicks, noose marks, mites, anything. And he was fresh. I decided I didn't want to treat him yet and stress his system needlessly (much less put myself and my herp vet at more risk than necessary...lol) unless he started acting like he was under the weather, and so I left him alone. A month later, that $500 beauty, in the period of 1 day, went from fine, to dead. I will not be making that same mistake again. Anyway, I'm babbling, so I'll go now
-Chance
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Chance Duncan
2.2 Retics (1.0 Tiger Het, 1.0 Lavender, 0.1 Dark Lavender, 0.1 Normal Het)
1.1 Olive Pythons
1.1 Ball Pythons (Het Albino)
http://www.rivervalleysnakes.com