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Dean,

What a wonderful article in reptile magazine. Well done.

I’ve read it twice.

Good Job….

np

I was very unhappy upon seeing the cover photo and some of the edits that were made.

They used a photo from their archives for the opening page that is incorrectly identified as a yellow-tail cribo (It's a black tail)

Also, there are several things that they changed and made gramatically incorrect in the process. There is even one instance that a change they made made the statement very misleading. It was very disheartening. In the beginning of the breeding section, the sentence in the magazine starts something like, "These snakes breed in fall / winter". That was NOT my sentence and it is not necessarily true, I was referring to eastern and Texas indigos, not yellowtails! The following is the first paragraph as I wrote it. Doug T. will be posting the un-edited version on indigosnakes.com

Breeding:

When I first set out to breed yellowtail cribos, I began with my knowledge of breeding Eastern and Texas indigo snakes (close cousins of the yellowtail). These snakes breed in the fall and early winter. After studying the climate of the yellowtail cribo, however, it was noted that the temperatures and light cycles are almost non-changing year-round in this part of the world. The only major climatic change is in the coming of the wet and dry seasons. This had to be the “trigger"

I don't have the article in front of me now, so I can't quote, but I really "got" that it's the wet/dry season that triggers breeding, that you thought there might actually be two wet/dry cycles in nature, and that actually these snakes could probably be induced to breed at almost anytime of the year in captivity...I know the pain of Bad Editing, but I don't think it's nearly as bad as you think...really, the article came across as clear and very literate--regardless of what the editors did to it...

SR

And yes, those were exactly the points I was trying to make.

Thank you for your kind comments.

I think the pict. of the hatchling for the introduction to the article was a blacktail or unicolor. I read my issue 2 also & I just got it last night. My buddy got his yesterday also & we talked like 2 kids with new toys as he actually has 2.1 of these. For some reason .2 of his died one i think overheated other not sure. that is a big female also.

I mention that in my previous post (and about how upset it made me)

It was an editor mistake.

Your article was good though I didn't read the 1st post until after the fact ....sorry. I still like Dry. C. Couperi more though I also like what I see of the newly found species if they ever become avaiable. Aren't you from PA ?

there are a few breeders in PA:

Dan Felice: unicolor
Steve Binning: Easterns...others too I believe
Rick Printz: yt's, easterns...possibly others.

All of them are from the Philly area.

There is also Mark Henderson in the Pittsburgh area.
I think he has produced some easterns within the past few years...

I'm in Philly do any of you guys come to the Hamburg PA show?

yes, i'll have a table there 4/30. i won't have any drys w/ me however, plenty of pits though among other things.........

Despite the minor editing mistakes, I rather liked your article on the YT's. I have to admit I never thought much of anything cribo prior to reading this article. You've piqued my interest in these snakes. Hell, it's the reason why I'm here in this forum. I'm interested in keeping these Drys one day. Having ample room for a cage may be an issue...but we herpers are known for finding room for that special herp. I have a couple questions though:

1) In the article, you say the cage is 6 feet long, do you mean the main enclosure is 6 feet with the hide area adding another 2 feet to make it 8 feet long? Or does the 6' include the 4' main enclosure and the 2' hiding space?

2) What's the average going rate for a CB cribo (baby and adult)? I don't see very many for sale (seems to be related to problems with breeding that I've read about), so it's impossible to guesstimate an average price.

Take care,
Bry

I'm glad you liked the article. THANKS.

My cages are 4' in the open area and 2' hide, or 6' total.
As adults, the bigger the better. They are very active snakes and don't do well if cramped.

as for prices, I'm going to assume you are talking captive born.

Here's a ball-park on some of the vaious subs:

1 yellowtail: $250- $600 (big range, it depends a lot on color. Some are very drab, others can be spectacluar)
2 unicolor : $150-$250
3 blacktail : $100 - $ 200
4 rubidus (redtail) $750 and up