Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This guy is already 3 foot and 300+ grams Tom Stevens

I liked this pic, he looks so friendly. He is a nice docile snake. Tom Stevens

I love the colors Tom Stevens

She just fed, when she thins down she is all muscle. Tom Stevens

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That's an AMAZING looking "normal"... her "green" is freakishly awesome!!!!! now i gotta have a pair of these

Thanx for sharing

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What in the H*LL are you feeing him!!! i need to know your secret... (i'm serious... i need to know)

very nice snake... i wonder why Rainer calls them peanut butter your snake looks yellow. (or am i wrong?)

~ZF

Glad you like him. Rainer has nice healthy snakes and if they're set up properly Kings can grow unbelieveably fast. FR[who posts here when we're lucky] recently tried to explain that having a large temp gradient is really a huge factor in keeping your snakes healthy and growing to their best potential. I am in TX, and this time of year it is already very hot. I use an AC unit to cool my room, down to as low as 70. However I still run heat tape. I check my temps often with a temp gun and like to see a minimum of 5 degrees difference from the warm side to the cool side. If I am lucky I can see as low as 70 on one end and 82 on the other. If I could I would have it even more drastically different from end to end but after all my 04s are in 15 qt containers and they're not long enough to have much more of a difference in temps from end to end. I have seen my snakes sit on the cool end after feeding....which does not seem right to me?? But the bottom line is if the snake has a choice he will be where he feels comfortable. If you read the article Breeding Colubrid Snakes by Steve Osborne[which is linked on the top of this page] you will see he says feeding a snake 100-150 food items in its first year is mandatory to see growth like you can see in many of my snakes. Some snakes grow fast with much less food but if your snake is willing to eat, poops soon after and has good muscle tone feed feed feed. My snakes who eat like crazy sometimes do not want to eat as much as I offer, and once again it is the snake who really decides what is best for it. Also, when feeding so heavily they shed quite frequently, thus giving the snake a break from meals during these periods. I have a few 04s over 300 grams and roughly 3 foot long. I also have some shrimpy ones who do not want eat much even though they're set up the same exact way as the others. Some friends and myself feel that if your snake does not feed voraciously as a hatchling, it will need 2 winters of cooling before breeding the following spring. If you have some growing at the rate some of mine are, they can stay awake for the first winter, be cooled the second and breed that spring. The only downside I see is the cleaning aspect, which can really be a lot of extra work. Some feel it is overfeeding and harmful to the snakes health, I myself do not. If a snake is regurging, and getting obese it is not meant to be. The het female Peanut Butter looks fat as hell in the pic. I garuntee she will poop within 2 days and look dramatically thinner and will want to eat again. I should also mention adult females will gorge during breeding season, but males will not eat half as much, even if they ate like pigs as babies. The main things I look for are fat deposits and small heads. If I do not see that let the feedings begin! Tom Stevens

Thanx for the info Tom... one more question, what are the dimensions on your Brooksi enclosures??

~ZF

Well I currently have 15 Brooksi. I basically start everything in 6 quarts as babies, then move them to 15s. As they get some size up to at least 27s and then for now I fall short of my goal. That is to have all female breeders in cages with 6 square foot of floorspace. I have some 56 quart containers too, which is good for my large male, it is about 12 inches tall as he does not like being in a container without the extra head room. My breeder female[most of mine were not old enough to breed this year] is in a 3 foot Boaphile cage and she looks awesome. Rack systems are great and do thier part but display cages are really a hell of a lot better for enjoying your snakes. I feel large cages are beneficial in numerous ways. They may not be mandatory but stress is bad for snakes and they really are a lot less stressed when they have room to roam about. This time of year they can have a large hide, large water bowl, and large egg laying box and still have room in the cage. I have 4 large female colubrids in those cages now and as i mentioned I want many more but money talks. Males tend to be a little smaller in many cases[but not all] and they get to spend time in the big cage with the female too so I think I will keep most in 56 qt containers. ttyl Tom Stevens

I just snapped this pic after weighing her at 360 grams on a half empty stomach. I got a male from Rainer in 03, he is not much bigger but was not fed as much seeing he did not have a potential mate at the time. She was a stocky hatchling when I got this one, and as you can see she loves to eat and looks quite healthy. I know people who have even seem similar growth in Corns with no regurging or other problems. I had a baby Corn 10 days old who shed and took 2 live pinkies for it's first meal. It went on to grow twice as fast as all the others just from that one extra initial food item. It is not a given, but many colubrids are very capable of such growth. I do not want inspire people to start stuffing their snakes....but you may want to fine tune your set up if you had hoped for better results? Take it easy Tom Stevens

What do you fee your snakes more of... i.e. (F/T or Live) or do you "mix it up?"

~ZF

it's your brother MUTTLY!(prolly not out of the same clutch tho)

Cross or not, these snakes are so cool. I love everything about them. My male is VERY aggressive but the female is cool, both eat like pigs and never puke. Sharp looking too, I hope I get some Hypos next year. Tom Stevens

no-one but a narrow minded so-&-so would think otherwise,imo.
KUDOS to Rainer for bringing them into the hobby!