Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First, two horribly over-exposed pics:

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I was hoping for much better, but due to a low battery, clear skies, and a very stressed snake, I called the quits, and they told me to quit. Point and shoot cameras are too hard to work with
Here's a better pic of the snake:

To the eye, it's a shiny, deep-black serpent. I really like the contrast on the chin scales.
Anyway, here's some unorganized husbandry notes I've gathered:
It's not a difficult snake (e.g. basic care, and feeding), but not a "pet" by any stretch of the imagination (a racer isn't a pet). I suppose that my dealings with this snake could qualify as good mamba and taipan training
It's incredibly alert! I suppose that it has gotten used to my presence to some degree, but if I move too close, it's gone in an apparently well planned zap into its hide box. I assume that this is basking behavior, as when I move too close when it is prowling the cage, it zaps about erratically.
Feeding wise, no real problems. I first tried to feed it in an active environment (I offered the food). That didn't work; probably too much stress for this particular snake. A few days later, I just dropped a f/t fuzzy into it's hide, and the next morning, the fuzzy was gone. I've been sticking to the same tactic since, and I've yet to find a rotten fuzzy, only feces. When I decided to keep the snake, I was a bit worried that I would have to provide it with frogs, or at least do some scenting. Luckily (pheeeewww), despite my cynicism, it's enough of a ratsnake to deserve the title
Here are some more pics of quadrivirgata, from a previous post:
http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=892996,892996
Shane
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Shane's Herp Lifelist
http://www.geocities.com/shane77@sbcglobal.net/my_page.html

Really glossy black. Looks like what a perfectly black obsoleta would look like. Keep sending us those Japanese herp pics.
Best regards
John

Thanks John. I'll keep the posts coming.
Shane
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Shane's Herp Lifelist
http://www.geocities.com/shane77@sbcglobal.net/my_page.html

Amazing snake, absoulutly beautiful
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1.0 Albino Corn "Lucky"
1.0 Snow Corn "Snow"
0.0.4 Southern Ringneck "Collar", "Bc", "Lazy", "Biggie"
1.0 Green Amevia "Gizard"

Thanks, it is an attractive snake.
Shane
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Shane's Herp Lifelist
http://www.geocities.com/shane77@sbcglobal.net/my_page.html

Shane, thanks for the insight on this very cool snake. That first pic is incredible, nine upper labials with an interesting arrangement? That huge eye. Beautiful serpent.

I always assumed they would be most closely related to carinata from the mainland, but with that subocular scale in front of eye it looks like it might be in the taeniura/moellendorffi group. Taeniura also has a lot of racer-like qualities as do many of the Asian ratsnakes.

Thanks for posting

Terry

Thanks Terry. I can see the taeniura and carinata relation, but I have a hard time putting quadrivirgata on the same branch as moellendorffi, and therefore I also have a hard time relating moellendorffi to that group. Ahhh, evolution is so fun
Shane
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Shane's Herp Lifelist
http://www.geocities.com/shane77@sbcglobal.net/my_page.html

Someone actually published the groups, I think when Elaphe was separated from Orthriophis, etc...haha. Oh, well.

TC