Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all, I have been lurking for a couple months. I have been researching indigo's, as I plan to purchase one when I can find one. (know it's not easy) My question is, for those that have or have had Indigos and Cribos, how do the two compare in temperment? I have always wanted an Indigo since I was a kid, but think a Cribo would be cool too, though I love the all black of the Indigo. Anyway, if you could tell me how close they are in behavior, I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

John Bortel(Eaton,OH)

Lots of folks on this forum have FAR more experience than I do, that being said it depends on the type & history of the Cribo. Anything WC tends to be more nervous & you need to deal with the parasite issues. As far as species I've handled Unicolors & Blacktails are very mellow & beautiful snakes,Of course there are always exceptions with any species. From what I've read WC Yellowtails can be downright EVIL & arent recomended for a beginners, again there are exceptions. My advise would be a CB Uni or Blacktail, hope this helps.........

I've found that Easterns usually have very nice temperments as do BT's and Unis. I have a latge collection of YT's and most are w.c. All but one of the YT's are docile.
Anything captive bred and socialized will make a more handleable speciman to work with and most w.c. animals, including the YT's will be or become docile.
YT's tend to be a bit more active and move more when handled than the other Drys from ny experience.

you have awful goof luck with YTs!

I know you've had a lot more than me, but of the 8 adults I've had, only one (CLEOPATRA) was docile, and of the rest, 3 were wc and 4 were cb. One of the meanest ones was a cb elliott line.

I LOVE yt cribos, but I just really think they are inherently more high strung than any of the other Dry's.

Granted, with a large collection I had almost no time to handle mine, but I don't think it would have mattered.

I have never raised one from a baby...they would be MUCH better I'm sure if handled gently from a neonate.

I can honestly say a couple of my yt's were the most aggessive snakes I have ever seen, and I was a reptile keeper at KY reptile zoo!

Meant to say "good luck", not "goof" luck !!!

I Train Falcons and raise high strung snakes, yes there is a connection. The hand raised Falcons have no respect for the trainer where a wild falcon never attacks trainer. My wild adult Spilotes will bluff but usualy never follow through. My hatchling Spilotes are a wreck they challenge me at every turn no fear no respect. Handeling makes no difference.

I didn't realize you were the person form the GCHC. I am John, the guy that works in Dayton that emailed you. When you get a clutch let me know. I plan on puttin my reserve in for one if I can get on the list! I think I will wait for the indigo. Thanks for the replies everyone.
BTW, I still plan on making it down to some meetings...

Sounds like you need to get some w.c. YT's from where I get em! Luck had nothing to do with why my docile YT's are docile.
I only handle my snakes when it's time to clean their cages and give them their periodic once overs that's it, so I didn't really "tame" them down. Those particular snakes are what they are. Regardless of the amount of handling, my w.c. YT's temperments stayed the same. If they were aggressive, they remained aggressive. The snakes that were docile were that way to begin with. I believe in 2004 I got 3 c.b. snakes. 2 were from your Elliot line and those were semi aggressive and remain that way to this day. In 2003 I got 23 fresh, impoerted, w.c. YT's ranging from 30" juvies to an 8 foot male. Of those 23, 4 were truly aggressive and the rest were very docile. Of those 4, I know of one that was still aggressive last I heard and Jeff in Florida has that snake. Dan Felice got another male YT that was aggressive and his actually calmed down. I also got 6 c.b. YT's from Dr. Phil and 9 or 10 c.b. from Don Bordner. Maybe 2 from Dons snakes are a bit snappy and one from Dr Phil is also snappy. The rest are docile. This year I got 5 w.c. YT's and of those, one 7 foot male is truly aggressive, the rest are docile so I think I have have some knowledge on these snakes. They are definitely more active, than the other Drys when handled some flighty, but to say they are just pure evil snakes or "the most aggressive snakes you've ever seen? I just don't see it. I've had Racers that were 10 times more aggressive than most of my YT's. I've had Cobras and Pit Vipers that were more aggressive than YT's. Cleo is doing good by the way although age seems to be catching up to her.

I have also found that even the most aggressive YT's w.c. or c.b. will tolerate being handled somewhat if you work with them, but it take a lot of work and they still will bite you when the get tired of being bothered.

Sorry Bobby,

Didn't read far enough.

Regards,
J.

Too true,

IMHO, I've lost more blood to Y/T's than anything else. To include W/C animals that I found...

Not to say they are all bad, some are calm. But as you allude, Bobby seems charmed somehow. Or maybe he doesn't freehandle. I'm one for three thus far. One wonderful lap snake, and two that you can't trust no matter what you do.

Regards,
Jeff

Nice picture Jeff!
I free handle all of my snakes, even the super aggressive 7 footer I have, but I'm always holding the dangerous end with a secure grip. I forgot to mention that I fairly recently sent epidemic a fairly good size fresh import that I had for a very short time. He'll tell you how docile that snake is. It had a super disposition the day I took it out of the bag and it ate a few hours after arrival! I should have kept that one! That seems to be the same m.o. that the majority of my w.c. YT's follow. Maybe I am lucky, or charmed. Either way I'm happy and scar free.....so far!

classify as the "dangerous" one!!!I'm not sure that I wouldn't rather be bitten by a dry than "spewed" on, having many experiences with both!!!
-----
Carl W Gossett
Garage Door Herps
Monument,Colorado...northern territory of the Great Republic of Texas

Agreed.

Rather be bitten than shat upon. Dunno why exactly, just seems more "manly" somehow. LOL.

J.

Wowwwweeeeee! How did you ever survive that one? The ER must have had their hands full that day, lol. By the way Jeffy, you ran away from the Felice thread on the BOI without disclosing the whereabouts of the crosses Felice sold you, which apparently you dumped on some other poor unsuspecting sap. Or did you sell them back to the person you bought them from. I would hate to think you let them further infect the Texas Indigo gene pool.

Correction! Fuller sold them to you as well as Bobby Lee. In any case, where are those crosses now? Will you be keeping your seedy mouth shut and maintaining your status as a dishonest creep?

Geneticaly mellow animals may be the answer.