Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Thought some of you guys that frequent this forum may like to see this neat photo of baby mud snakes that recently hatched. The mom was a wild caught anery and she mated with a het anery in the wild and these babies are 12 anerys and 12 hets. There are several posts aboutt them on the water snake forum.

Dan

First of all, extremely cool. Secondly, I thought I read that mud snakes were almost impossible to keep. (I might have read that about some other obscure north American snake, so correct me if I'm wrong). I've seen several of your posts about these snakes of yours, and you seem to be doing it effortlessly. I was wondering what your set up is, and what you're feeding them. Anyway, outstanding work, and the pics are great.

I have kept them for many years on siren scented rat pups. Look at the several week/month past postings on the water snake forum for a variety of pics of them eating and other information on them.

Dan

Wow, amazing color. very beautiful snakes. Are you a full time professional snake breeder, I would like to think so.

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SnakeSense

It's just a hobby but does take a lot of time to care for them all.

Dan

....cool shot, hey when those mudsuccers do their ventral display, do they coil up at all....ala Diadophis? Do they do anything else when you pick them up, such as bite. Is their variation in the display or is it always executed in essentially the same manner. Do you know if theyre Opisthoglyphs (mebbe examine a DoR's head?)? Do you always have to scent their food or can they be moved on to f/t? Those are really beautiful snakes

hey when those mudsuccers do their ventral display, do they coil up at all....ala Diadophis?

I have not seen them exhibit a ventral display, although I have seen PICS of them doing it. And I am not settled that someone did not simply just put them in that position with their tail turned upwards to show their colors? Seems that it is easy to do and they pose for PICS pretty good. You can about turn them over and they remain that way for a second or two. At least some do.

Do they do anything else when you pick them up, such as bite.

No biting usually, however I have seen one get nippy before in its cage when it did not want to eat, it bit at the pup to say leave me alone. They have a very sharp tail and solid looking scale at the tip of their tail and poke your hand sometimes when you pick them up. They try to cause harm, but it feels like a pen poking your skin.

Is their variation in the display or is it always executed in essentially the same manner.

I guess if you found one under a board they might flare their tails? I am not sure as I find them crossing the roads as dusk and they don't do much if anything when I pick them up to move them off the road.

Do you know if theyre Opisthoglyphs (mebbe examine a DoR's head?)?

I don't know but I guess I should throw in a water snake to see if they eat it? Someone else told me they drank egg yolk but I tried once and my mud did not take to it. I will add that I knew a fellow that kept a ton of eastern coral snakes and he voiced that their (the coral's) favorite food was small mud snakes. But these are not headed to my coral snakes enclosure, so no worries or photos or timing events with that. lol.

Do you always have to scent their food or can they be moved on to f/t?

I have gotten them conditioned to accept washed defrosted rat pups without scenting, however after a few months, they seem to ignore it and want something scented again. If you keep a siren alive, all you have to do is dip the defrosted pup in the siren's water and that sometimes is enough to scent after they have been conditioned to accept pink rodents with siren slime.

Those are really beautiful snakes.

Yep, and very friendly and interesting and perhaps the most intelligent snake I ever met. They easily recognize the person feeding as a source of food, and they raise up to the tops of cages to eat much like any snake. They are known to build nests and remain on the nests with the eggs for months until they hatch like a king cobra. Now the mother anery is a bit different and she has to be put in a tub of water and rubbed with a big dead siren to get stimulated and then she eats but if she feels the legs of the pup, she lets go. It would figure the one I really need to keep and breed to be more difficult, but in time I will have her hopping for pups.

By the way, I examined the jaw of a road kill specimen. These muds have special teeth it seems and a second inner line of bones or something in their upper jaw to hold onto and grab slippery prey like sirens. I fed my adult mud a siren and it tore it up with its mouth although it never seemed to use its tail to pin it, although other keepers have told me they witnessed the use of their tails to hold prey while fighting with it. And I could see why because when they hit something to bite it, it is a very serious and hard jab and hit. I am just glad they don't bite or else I would wear gloves as it seems they have trendous crushing power with their jaws. I was gonna see if they would take a scented walnut to see if they can crack them during Christmas time for me.

Look at this fellow raising up to eat when it sees me approach its enclosure. This one in particular took right away to scented pups and has never thought twice about eating them. It eats two pups and two days later is looking for more. They must have a large stomach to hold a big siren and I need to get more pups all the time as it seems they are never satisfied after eating and want more but I am fearful to stuff them and make them barf and then be weary to eat rodents again, so I keep their meals small but often.

Dan

Thnx-U sir for the comprehensive response...very intrstg... esp. re the dentition! What a lamename...they otta be called the "glossysnake" & leave our desert colubrid as the fadedsnakes...