Rough earth snake:
I have concluded that contrary to popular belief, if one wants to encounter a wild rough earth snake, they should look in dry areas, during dry weather, in habitats like forests that are not near water. A sawdust pile could be the perfect natural habitat.
I have concluded this because when my single juvenille specimen of Virginia striatula was kept in moist soil like a Carphophis, it refused to burrow, and rarely even hid beneath the slabs of cork bark offered as a shelter. The snake, which had originally been kept in wet soil, had actually become very sensitive to this substraste, which caused it to develop blisters.
The snake currently seems most at home on a 3-inch-deep substrate of completely dry shredded aspen, in which it burrows regulary. Earthworms are offered from a seperate container of moist soil, which the snake has never been seen to enter, placed atop the aspen.
Brahminy blind snakes:
I have found possible evidence that individual snakes have their own substrate preferrences in captivity, and possibly even in the wild. When two Brahminy blind snakes, a completely subterraneous speciers, were both placed in a small container of sandy soil in which to burrow, one snake instantly burrowed directly to the bottom, as one would expect such a species to do, while the other refused to burrow, instead slithering about on the surface for days, yet still appearing quite content, resting under a piece of cork rather than burrowing, and even finding an arboreal route to escape! A large amount of moistened sphagnum, mixed into the soil like layers in a trifle, proved to be a far more suitable substrate, as both snakes, when placed in it, behaved normally.
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DAVE
All specimens marked with an asterisk indicate a species being bred. Single specimens are rare species that are kept for behavioral and natural history studies.
1.0 Western green toad
1.1 green treefrogs *
1.0 Florida blue garter snake
1.0 Mediterranean gecko
1.1 Oriental fire-bellied toads *
1.0 American bullfrog
0.1 Spanish ribbed newt
0.0.1 Eastern ribbon snake
1.1 red-cheeked mud turtles *
0.1 Dubia day gecko
1.0 Sonoran gopher snake
1.1 rough green snakes *
1.1 giant African black millipedes *
1.0 Okeetee corn snake
0.1 Albino African clawed frog
1.0 Kenyan sand boa
0.0.1 Argentine flame-bellied toadlet
0.0.1 African bullfrog
1.0 yellow * Everglades rat snake intergrade
1.1 Western hognose snakes *
1.2 fire salamanders*
1.1 scarlet kingsnakes*
0.0.1 scarlet snake
0.0.1 Argentine horned frog
1.1 Southern ringneck snakes *
0.0.1 night snake
0.0.1 Florida brown snake
0.1 Pine woods snake
1.0 rough earth snake
2 (all of them are female!) Brahminy blind snakes *
0.1 Northern brown snake (GRAVID!)
