Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all - I'm new to the world of snake ownership. Two weeks ago I purchased a young Sinaloan (not sure how old he is, but he's about 2 feet long) named Juan Carlos. I've been reading Melissa Kaplan's site but I still have a few questions.

I have hide boxes for Juan Carlos but he prefers to hide in his substrate. Is this normal? Would he prefer more "furniture" in his cage? (I just have hide boxes and a rock for him to rub against, and a water dish.)

My cat is very intrigued by Juan Carlos and keeps pawing at the wall of his tank (despite my efforts to keep her away from him). Could this be bothering him or harmful in some way?

Although I change his water every day, I've never seen him drink. I've also never noticed any poop in his cage. Maybe I'm not looking closely enough?

Thanks in advance... Juan Carlos is a great snake (very friendly, has never musked me), and I want to take the best care of him I possibly can.

Kingsnakes and milksnakes like to hide allot. They get more active at night. He has probaly pooped in the substrate somewhere. A 2' snake has small ones, so you'll have to look harder for them. I use cage carpet with hides in their enclosures, but some of them like to hide under the carpet. They will go where they feel the most secure. Derek

i hope to find a nice female hypo like that someday...

~ZF

Thanks... I've noticed that my cat gets more excited about the snake in the middle of the night (and wakes me up), that's probably when he's moving around.

Pretty Honduran!

I forgot to mention that I also have 3 cats that love to sit and watch my snakes, too. They sometimes will watch them for hours. I got this tangerine hondo het for hypo from Paul Weaver of Carolina Herps. He should have a bunch of hondos this season. Look him up. He has real nice snakes. Derek

Welcome to ownership...

Normal behavior ranges include hiding in the substrate or hides or being fairly bold,climbing...if your snake is new expect him to be shy awhile...

No new food means no new droppings! Expect a deposit 1-2 days after a meal (one reason folks say to wait 1-2 days after feeding to handle, often the activity of handling encourages the snake to go).

They drink, just when you're not looking! Changing every day is cetainly better than not, but unless your snake is soaking/pooping in the dish you can relax about it some.

When he is more at home he will be out in the evening/morning if the room is not superbright, and you can tell when he is hungry by the level of activity/prowling. Feeding at about the same time every time will encourage your snake to make a habit of coming out to seek food about that hour of the evening...

My Sinaloan Pedro is in the bottom shelf of my "bookcase/rack"- our (3) cats (0.3 felinus mindus nottus) love to try to smack him, he ignores them, lies in the front of the tank right against the glass while they go nuts.

Very few of my snakes even register the existence of cats...but a couple do, so the question is to you, does your snake flee when they approach or stare at them cooly through the glass or just not register them?

A spray bottle is the best weapon to discourage cats from any particular activity, and it's handy for misting the tanks, too...LOL

Hope you enjoy your snake! Sinaloans are awfully beautiful when they have balled peacefully all up around your hand and they suddenly start to move and the pattern goes in all different directions at once...stops my brain every time.

My 1.1 are very nervous by Sinaloan standards, occasional muskings occur, but they've never offered to bite. Here's a 6-month old pic of Pedro:

Hey, thanks for responding in such detail. Pedro looks just like Juan Carlos (i.e., in terms of size) - they are probably about the same age.

Juan Carlos pretty much ignores the cat, except once when I was letting him crawl on the bed and the cat batted at him and he jumped onto the floor and zipped under the bed. Fortunately I found him before he got too far.

He's still a little shy, I think, but a couple of times now I've found him curled up under the substrate with his head sticking out. He has never musked or bitten me, but sometimes he gets pissy when I'm holding him and tries to get away. I've noticed this happens more in the evening.

Today he seemed very intrigued by my hair. I wonder if he thinks my head is the largest mouse ever.

Don't know about the mouse...

A few nights ago I was holding Pedro and one cat (felinus verticalis maximus) made a surprise leap into my lap- that scared Pedro pretty badly even though the cat had no interest in him, I jumped up cat went flying one way, snake another...took awhile to calm everybody down...

Pedro is as blue as I've ever seen him, will try feeding tonight anyway, he has never refused food...

Pedro has white bands and mostly black belly, he is 2 years, about 30"

Here's my yearling female Conchita, she has yellow bands and a red belly, maybe 20" long...

I like how we all decided to give our Sinaloans Hispanic names - it makes sense since they're from Mexico. One of my friends actually suggested I name my snake Pedro, but I liked Juan Carlos better.

I actually do not know if he's a male or female - but I decided to give him a male name because I already have a female cat.

Post pics of the top/underside of it's tail with a request for sex ID and folks will guess- of course all the guesses will probably be contradictory, tho, LOL...

In truth Pedro has never been probed so I should do that to be sure...

We have a caecilian (type of amphibian) which some folks pronounce Sicilian so I wanted to name it Don Corleone but my daughter overruled so it is "Muddy"

Pedro did eat even in that state of blue!

Hi, I to have a Sinaloan. I got him about a month ago. I'm used to handling my boas, it different handling my sinaloan. Je is such a wiggle worm. I was told that he is around 3 years old. I'm just wondering what the max size of a sinaloan is? And if you have any more info that you can offer on them or stories about them I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks james.

From what I've read, Sinaloans get to be about 4-5 feet long. I'm really looking forward to mine reaching his adult size.

Yeah, they are wiggly, they don't sit quietly like pythons and boas do. The guy at the pet store told me that kings and milks can chase down their prey, and I can believe it.