Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are people breeding these snakes or are they all WC? I've heard the stories of finicky eating, but wondered if anyone has sustained a colony. Thanks!

I'm currently working on it. I have 4 WC, but am unable to determine sexes. One seems gravid, but I'm not sure.
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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

so, i guess no one breeds them. Cool snakes, but I can't live with buying a wild caught animal, just doesn't seem right.

It may be difficult to find someone who breeds rough green snakes. They are quite delicate in captivity and stress easy although they eat crickets like candy. Here are 6 eggs I am waiting to hatch. I will release them where I found the mother. As to your comment about wild caught snakes, I understand where your coming from, however many of the snakes I find I move off the road and they only return to get smashed by a vehicle, so I started to pick a few up and put them further into the brush. And it seems that in the next season I find just as many or more smashed, so taking one or two to save their lives in not doing much to hurt the population especially since habitat destruction is what is leading to the demise of all animal populations. States know this and they have set aside lands to protect species. Its not a good excuse to take something from the wild, but I have moved so many snakes from the road and seen them smashed, it feels better to take some and feed them and let them live at least.

By the way, rearing a new born to adult is quite difficult. They seem to be the only snake that requires UV radiation. Also, a babies diet is important as crickets do not seem to be sufficient to sustain them for only a few months and then they become soft and need to be released.

Dan

Do you dust the crickets with calcium and vitamins? When you say the "go soft" could it be something like MBD. I've got mainly lizards so I've got a lot of insect eaters. The commercially available feeder insects are all low in calcium and high in phospherus so to keep the lizards healthy you need a phospherus free calcium supplement.

-Alice

Yea, I think your correct. It must be some type of metabolic bone disease or something similar. Someone else suggested to me to dust the crickets and I might try it? Of course they will need a UV bulb also. I've kept greens on and off for many years and it seems UV helps a lot. And that is weird for a snake. When if found the Mom she was basking in the sun. I swear she felt like 150 degrees when I picked her up. I mean she was cooking but they are known for being able to take the heat in that fashion. Also, they are so akin to looking like a blade of grass or leaf that they sit still on the road. I usually take a picture of them. If they notice me they wave back and fourth like a branch in the wind and do that in their enclosure when stressed. A very interesting a beautiful species.

Dan

Oxyrhopus i appreciate your comments. thank you. I'll continue my quest in finding a breeder rather than taking from the wild. We have smooth green snakes around here, but no rough. The smooth green snakes tend to be more finicky in captivity from what my snake keeper friend says. thanks again.

I really like Rep-cal & Herptivite for calcium and vitamins. Fish food, rodent chow, crushed high quality cat and dog food along with fresh veggies and fruits for moisture make a good gut load for crickets. I've also got a T-rex mercury vapor bulb for my chuckwallas. These bulbs put out a lot of heat and UV. Unfortuneately they're expensive, but they might be worth a try. The rough greens are beautiful snakes, it would be neat if someone could figure out what it takes for them to thrive in captivity.

The snakes that feed on vertebrates get the vitamin D3 they need from the livers of their prey. Diurnal insect eating lizards, need UV from the sun to catalyze the synethis of D3 which is necessary for calcium aborption. I guess that it makes sense that a diurnal insect eating snake would also need UV.

-Alice