Reptile & Amphibian Forums

eat fish..
cool water snake

look at his tentacle

Water snake of Asia is very beautiful

That's a sharp looking snake! Am I correct that it is an adult? Do you treat the water in any way (make it more or less acidic)? And also, was it captive born or wild caught?
Michael

This is WC adult,about 40cm.
pH is 6~7.

Great looking snake. I saw a colony of them at zoo I go to they had lots of babies with the adults.
Lots of branches,plants,etc unusual neat snake.

How long have you had it?
Can you show/describe you setup (including filtration and water change regimen)?

I have tried to keep tentacled snakes and other aquatic FW snakes (Elephant Trunk Snakes) and they have always died of a disease chararctersized by small white skin lesions after a few weeks in captivity. Nothing I have treated them with has stopped the inevitable deterioration of the snakes once the lesions appear.

I am still trying to find out the trick. Some people never see these little white lesions, others (like me) get them every time they try to keep these neat beasts.
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Chris Harrison

Those are so cool. I have always thought they were neat. In a few years, when I have more money and space available and more information out there on keeping them, I would like to get a few. So therefore, I too would like some of the information on how you are currntly keeping them so I will be checking this forum more frequently.
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Justin

They are very hard to aclimate. I have tried to keep them once, with no success. They rarely live longer then six months in captivity when wild caught. Once aclimated however they can be long lived and breed quite easily. How long have you had yours? I made the following observations from my experience and from discussions with other keepers I offer them here if they are any help to you:

1. Ph 6.0, temp 75-85, spot light for heat should be used for proper gradient.

2. Algae growth on skin is a sign of health. There maybe some symbiosis going on were the algae prevents fungal infections.

3. Tanic acid, has antedotically been shown to be helpful in keeping them healthy, this can be purchase at any aquarium store as black water extract for discus.

4. Very shy snakes, should not be handled or observed while aclimating 5-6 months. Provide lots of tansanite branches to hide in.
5. treat as you would a fish, a well establish aquarium with algae growth is vital.

I share your enthusiasm for this species. If this is a new snake I hope you can keep us informed of your progress, or if this is a long term captive, I hope you can share your aclimation story with us, thanks and good luck!

I've only seen a pic of this snake once before, in a magazine; where did you get it from; where is it native to? Very neat looking snake

How big do these critters get? What size tank does one need? What kind of filtration system were you using when you tried keeping "tentacleds?" (new word here, folks...) Are these snakes susceptible to vitamin B deficiencies? (I am assuming the snakes eat fish...)

Oh, I forgot... I found some cool pics of more "tentacleds" at this website!
Nice pics, little info

Tentacled snakes are completely aquatic snakes from southeast asia. Rarely available as imports even rarer as captive bred. Not that they don't breed, they do quite readily when aclimated. The problem is that they are considered to be one of the hardest snakes to aclimate successfully. They easily get three feet long. The ones I had ranged from 20 to 33 inches. keeping them is more like keeping a large fish then a reptile. You have to manage the aquarium, just as you would for a fish, PH< Amonia, and nitrite levels have to be kept in check. As far as tank size goes, I would apply the same rule of thumb for keeping fish, one gallon per inch, so one 30 inch tentacled snake should be kept in a 30 gallon tank, two in a sixty. I should mention that they are rear fanged, although there venom is considered mild and they don't bite defensively, they stiffen up to mimic sticks when handled.

I had an elephant trunk in college many moons ago and like Chris' experiences, it died after about a month with lots of white spots that looked like fungus. I never even got it to eat voluntarily I remember reading somewhere that they aclimate better in brackish water and am wondering if that is not the trick for these amazing tentacled snakes. I passed up on one years ago because of my experience with the elephant trunk.

Unlike the elephant trunk snake the tentacled snake perfers low PH 6.0. Basically the same problems occur when acclimating them. The Elephant trunk snake has the added disadvantage of prefering brackish waters to live in, but not for drinking. in the wild they drink the fresh water at the surface during a rain, in captivity, its a little difficult to simulate. Most people slowly move them to fresh water to be safe.They can actually die of dehydration. Your best bet if you are interested in these types of snakes is get one that is captive bred or long term captive. When aclimating the odds of survival are less then 1 in ten from what I have heard, although I would hope that is improving.

Hello everyone:
I come from Taiwan, it is easier to buy the wild snakes of Southeast Asia in Taiwan,they are really not easy to keep,I bought four tentacled snakes and three of them died soon,death because of skin disease all,I think the water quality is most important ,my pH is between 6~7,and I add black water stabilize water quality.
this photo is the tentacled snake's home

they will eat fish and frog...

Glad to hear that you had one that made it. The skin problem seems to be the thing that gets them while they are aclimating. Keep us informed as to your progress with him.

I have kept them in the past. They are awesome snakes.

I had 5 of them. I kept them in a 50 gallon tank. I used a very good filter (Rena Filstar). I filled the tank with lots of live plants.

I used BlackWater extract also, as well as Tetra's Aquasafe water conditioner. I kept the water temperature at about 80ºF and I did water changes about 2x a month (always partials, never full water changes, as that eliminates beneficial bacteria that help break down waste).

Anyway, using these methods I kept 3 of them alive for over a year. 2 died within the first month or two, but after that the other three were doing great.

Eventually, 2 more died, dont really know why. I was then down to one. The last one survived another 8 months or so. So, I had him for almost 2 years.

From what I have read, most zoos cannot even keep them alive for more then 6 months, so I guess I did something right.
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Billy
Reptile World
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