Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi
If you know how baby dione looks like, try look at this "little" guy together with some bimaculata at the same age (less than 1 month)

This type of dione do get somewhat bigger than normal ones, but they really are big as babies.
Locality for this dione is:'4 km N. Village Tschernjaevka, at river Kalgyr (Kalgir), E.
Kazachstan (N 48° 41,984'; E 85°02,410'), 218-327 m altitude'
Best wishes
Søe
Reptilia-Denmark

Soe,
Wow--that is one BIG baby snake! The baby bimaculata are beautiful as well, but...well...I'll say it again: that is one BIG baby snake!

How large will this dione get as an adult? Would you mind posting pics of an adult? I guess that I've never considered e.dione to be that large. Thanks for sharing!

rgds,
althea

Hi Althea
I have seen many types of dione, but I was a little surprised when I saw the wild caught grandparents to this one. A friend that caught them and bred them before they entered a preserved collection of reptiles from Kazahstan.
These animals were HUGE. The females like an adult schrencki in length and volume. My animals are not that big. They are well above 1 meter approaching 120 cm both males and females. They grow so fast, that you cannot imagine how fast. Newly hatched they are small, but prey on Natalmice as their first offering and hairy mice as their third meal. Jumpers after 5-6 meals I believe. After a year they normally have bred for the first time and are about 80-90 cm.
Adult coloration:

Hope you like them.............. I DO

Best wishes
Søe
Dione from Reptilia-Denmark

Now that would be a monster.

Søe,I checked out the updates on your site. I think the gloydi hatchlings you show are nicer looking than the hatchlings I have this year. Keep up the good work!!

Regards
John

Hi John
NO NO NO. My gloydi babies are monsters compared to yours. Next year I really hope to breed pure "Toledo, Ohio" which is the the nicest ever seen. I really owe that nice american alot for giving me a pair of those
I think of him daily when looking at my little pair.

Not many of my hundres of snakes has given me so much pleasure.

About the dione from '4 km N. Village Tschernjaevka at the river Kalgyr (Kalgir), E.
Kazachstan (N 48° 41,984'; E 85°02,410'), 218-327 m above sealevel. Yes they are something special. Strangly enough there are practically no interest in them ower here. I wonder if they are not placed in a new species one day.
Best wishes
Søe

Reptilia-Denmark

Eventually the splitters will make a bunch of species out of dione. And then the lumpers will put them back together as one species again. We have a similar situation with obsoleta. Currently they've split it up geographically instead of by color and pattern. Next year they'll change their minds and it'll be one big happy species again.

Either way it's okay by me.

How was your breeding this year? Mine wasn't so good.

John

>>Hi
>>If you know how baby dione looks like, try look at this "little" guy together with some bimaculata at the same age (less than 1 month)
>>
>>This type of dione do get somewhat bigger than normal ones, but they really are big as babies.
>>Locality for this dione is:'4 km N. Village Tschernjaevka, at river Kalgyr (Kalgir), E.
>>Kazachstan (N 48° 41,984'; E 85°02,410'), 218-327 m altitude'
>>Best wishes
>>Søe
>>Reptilia-Denmark

Hi, Soe. That is a very big dione.

Remember my Seoul, S. K. dione were large. The female got up to almost 46 inches, and her second clutch had 16 eggs in it. I'm working with the F1 generation now.

Regards...Terry

Hi Terry
Nice to hear from you again
46 inches should be 115 cm Right? I have a male from the animals from Kazahstan at that size, and it is not fully grown yet. I really wonder how big they can get. Far bigger that is for sure but how big? I just heard that someone had a dione at 180 cm. Wouuuuh I would like to see that animal.
Anyway I just enlarged my collection with another type of dione from Hamm (saleshow in Germany). Couldn`t help it so aditional animals in the barn....hehe fortunately I have an understanding wife.
Next stop is Snakeday in Houten (The Nederlands)Hopefully I will be able to sell some offspring there. Hamm in Germany was a disaster. Way way to hot and some animals died of owerheating. Maybe it is the biggest in the world ( oh yes bigger than Daytona and so ) but the Autum saleshow is too hot for many animals and especially for many of the ones I keep.
49*C ( I think that is 120 F) was messured on a table. I had a better place with some flow of air, but still I needed to moisten all the colder species because they were owerheating.
All my animals survived, but I have heard of some that have lost many or very pricy animals. Really sad.........
Anyway it will soon be Autum here, and I should prepare for the hibernation. Right now we have the warmest September for decades, so I might be able to keep them up for a while yet.
Maybe I can limit the hibernation to 4 months in stead of 6-7.
Anyway nice to know that soon there wil be a brake in the work, and one should only concentrate on next year.

Best wishes
Søe
Reptilia-Denmark

Greetings, Soe.

Sorry to hear about Hamm being so hot. I'm glad your animals were not harmed. It has been warm and droughty here this year too. My dione are still going, but slowing down. My Seoul, w/c female was about 117 cm. I can't believe a dione could be 180 cm, or 5 ft. long. It will be interesting to see how large your big ones get, and how many eggs. For now, the largest dione clutches were 16 eggs.

My cold weather animals usually brumate from 4 to 5 months. Seven months would be quite a long time, but I'm sure they do that in the wild.

I wish you good luck with those new dione, and be sure to let us know how they do and any new records they set.

Best to you....Terry

Hi Terry
I was afraid for my animals at Hamm and do consider about being on the Autum show again. I sold NADA, nothing, nix there anyway, but I saw my animals troubled bye the heat......
My dione are preparing for the winter meaning they eat a lot much more than in the summer. As you know I "only" keep coldstanding species, and I prefer to have a long and cold hibernation. I actually almost newer loose any animals in hibernation ( I have more than 200 there for 5-7 months), and that gives me the brake to calm down and gain the strength for another year.
Starting the hobby as a child, I have kept reptiles for 39 years now. I actually believe that the hibernation time has allowed me to stay here and not quit like almost all my friends from back then.
It should be Autum here now but we still have 25*C during the daytime and many animas are active outside. Today I found a "marked" Natrix natrix natrix 2 years old comming back to the place of its first hibernation and place of hatching. This is one of the things I like to study. Noone ever made any investigation about snakes comming back to the place they hatched ( as far as I know) I find that interesting and absolutely something to look into.
To John Inferno:
This years breeding was ok, even I had bad luck with the sex of many species. I couldn`t keep the temperature down in the incubators, and got too many males of most species. Anyway I cannot complain after 3 years of disaster: virus, mites and other problems. This years breeding kept the bills away, so I am happy. Maybe one day I will have another breeding like my mandarins back in 1990. That breeding kept my stock going for decades (and mutch more) Maybe something like that will happen again. I have the animals for it like my Chinese alligators or my Dracaena but who knows what will happen. I am just happy to end the year in ZERO.
One of the ratsnakes very rare here in Europe is Centicolis triaspis intermedia and my pair is now more than fully grown. THAT is a species, I really would like to breed.
I got a baby pair on my first visit to USA (thank you Rex for finding them to me)and they are just gorgeous. Strangely enough they are an overlooked species, and not many people are working with them.
Many animals will be ready for 2007 like locality of P. v. gloydi "Toledo". Oh yes they are still someting special to me. So nice, curious and easy. John they are really someting to be loved, and I cannot thank you enough for that pair.
Best wishes
Søe

Hi Søe:

I'm glad to hear that your collection had a good year. You have many fascinating species and have provided them with a unique environment. Keep up the great work!

As for money, ratsnakes is a hobby that I will never earn any cash from. I mostly trade my offspring to partly offset the cost of new snakes. If I ever get my mandarins into full production I'll be selling the excess hatchlings for reasonable prices. I'll only keep the ones that please me. That way the rest of the world will get mandarins at reasonable prices and I'll refine my line until it suits me.

I like Senticolis too. They are more difficult than some of the more well known ratsnakes but they are certainly interesting and beautiful. A friend of mine in Pennsylvania works with them. Someday I'll have the room to add a pair.

I was very happy for you to have the gloydi. It makes me happy to know that those critters are in the hands of someone who enjoys them and will allow them to thrive.

All the best for the fall and winter.
John

>>Hi Terry
>>I was afraid for my animals at Hamm and do consider about being on the Autum show again. I sold NADA, nothing, nix there anyway, but I saw my animals troubled bye the heat......
>>My dione are preparing for the winter meaning they eat a lot much more than in the summer. As you know I "only" keep coldstanding species, and I prefer to have a long and cold hibernation. I actually almost newer loose any animals in hibernation ( I have more than 200 there for 5-7 months), and that gives me the brake to calm down and gain the strength for another year.
>>Starting the hobby as a child, I have kept reptiles for 39 years now. I actually believe that the hibernation time has allowed me to stay here and not quit like almost all my friends from back then.
>>It should be Autum here now but we still have 25*C during the daytime and many animas are active outside. Today I found a "marked" Natrix natrix natrix 2 years old comming back to the place of its first hibernation and place of hatching. This is one of the things I like to study. Noone ever made any investigation about snakes comming back to the place they hatched ( as far as I know) I find that interesting and absolutely something to look into.

>>Best wishes
>>Søe

Greetings again, Soe.

Sorry it was so hot at Hamm and you didn't sell any animals. We have the opposite problem here in Michigan, it is cold, and I go to a reptile show (NRBC-Tinley) in two weeks. I don't know if I'll sell any, but want to see the show anyway. It's about a six hour drive from my house to Chicago. You live in Denmark, correct?

I love the area I'm in and have enjoyed many years watching reptiles and amphibians on our mini-farm and in Northern Michigan, but I've been living and herping here for over fifty years and am getting ready to retire. I'll be moving someplace where it's much warmer (Arizona), so I'm starting to sell off my cold-tolerant species, and I'm getting a collection started of more warm-loving species, such as corns, GPR's, and kings. What Eurasian snakes I plan to take with me are the South Korean dione, bimaculatas, and situlas. I probably won't have any others left by next summer.

I enjoy your posts and info about how you keep your snakes. Those new dione are very nice. Keep us posted on those.

Best Regards....Terry