Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted a while ago under a different name, i lost that password, but I still have the same snakes, lol. its been about 4 weeks and none of the snakes have shown interest in food, ruby reds or red worms. Unfortunately the largest has had a meal of the smallest. this occurred in the first week, so i dont think it was a last option for the larger snake. I have, of coarse, cared for many other snakes, many of which have gone up to 5 months without eating, but I was wondering how long these snakes have gone without eating so i know exactly what their limits are. any more feeding suggestions? otherwise they are doing great, both have shed and love their backyard themed exhibit. i would post a picture if i could figure out how to fix this camera. thanks alot.

kevin

...ate each other? Interestingly, yo are the first person I know of to post this...

Are you sure the smaller one wasnt just buried, or got loose?

Did you see a lump in the larger one...?

Where are your Ringnecks from (state)?

Even the most ophidophiles...regalis...do not seem to want to eat each other???

Yeah, I actually have 99% doubt that one ate the other.

Southerns, which KJN has, were one of the first sub-species I worked with many years ago. To this day, I've yet to have ANY southern ringneck of any size eat another snake, or even show interest in another snake, and I've tried quite a few different species of snakes and offered them in many different ways.

(I actually had a group of about 12 southern adults living in a 20 rubbermaid container in the spring. None at the other )

KJN, your snakes were around 5-6 inches long, right? That makes me doubt it even more, see, the "common ringnecks" like the northerns, southerns, prairies. They RARELY eat snakes, and the ones that do eat snakes, are usually female, and just about to become sexually mature in the coming year.

Southerns have somewhat of a limited diet, most prefer to eat worms, and their diet consists basically of worms, lizards, skinks, frogs, ant eggs/larvae and fish. I've never seen any documentation of southerns eating other snakes, nor have I ever heard of it happening.

On the other hand, I've had many southern ringnecks escape, and this is likely the case.

Mike

Michael's Place

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A couple of years ago Brendan found a couple in Southern Arizona, put them in a bucket for a better picture the next day and found that one had eaten the other. Ask him about it.

Kerby...

....nothing wrong w/ your memory....I do remember this & in fact covet that jpg like so many of BPO's masterpieces...that one had a ringless w/ a ringed on the Castle Hot Sprngs Rd....as I recall...
I otta re-post it....
Still Ive put a fair # together now...& it sure isnt the norm....
Good 2 C youre out there....hope all goes well... RxR

OK... 1. I read on a website, the florida museum of natural history website, that these snakes do in fact eat other snakes. Prior to reading that, I had read on a gentleman's website, which i cant find right now, i'm sorry, that they can be cannibalistic, however it is uncommon. the chance that the smallest snake escaped is low, mainly because the snake itself was not as long as the exhibit is high. there is a plant inside the exhibit, however even then, as i measured it, the smallest still was not long enough. I thought about him being buried, and checked the soil, didnt see anything. Saying this, it is possible that the snake could have miraculously escaped or i didnt see him when he got buried. i also presumed that he could dig his way out if he was buried, since he would have dug his way in. with what i read, i found it unlikely, but the only logical choice to state that the largest, who shed about 2 weeks after the dissappearing of the smallest, ate the smallest. There was one error in my description of them. the largest is about 10 in. long, the smallest was 5 in. sorry, my bad. the good news is the remaining two ate last night, finally. I had tried 3 feedings of rosy reds w/ no interest shown. Last night i tried putting the fish in the mister first and then mist the cage with the fish scent, then put the fish in the bowl. it worked. two, of the four, were gone today. there was dirt in the bowl also, so i'm pretty sure they did eat the fish, lol. thanks for all the good comments, its an interesting topic and sorry for the exceptionally long post.

kevin

yes, i know i only had a 1 and no 2 or 3 following, lol