Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Disclaimer- I do not recomend people collect animals in the wild, especially people with no prior herp experiance, I collected the glossy's Im writing about after having 10 years of herp experience and it was still a learning experience in small prdominitly lizard eating snakes.

I figured I'd post this in case anyone is interested. I picked up a pair of Glossy Snakes one night while road crusing just because they are interesting little snakes and the ones I found where a sexed pair of hatchlings. Mine went 4 nerveracking months without feeding before I got them on scented then unscented pinks. I tryd many different feeding staragies. Placeing piinks in paper towl tubes in the enclosure, making a nest of pinkies, deli cups, etc but none worked for a full 4 months. I learned that glossy snakes need the the smallest pinkie mice you can get your hands on. A day old pink at the most no bigger then a pencil eraser. They cannot eat and/or are intemidated by the larger pinkies corns and kings can eat as hatchlings. It helps to give them a good rinse in warm water then scent them on lizard. I used juvi leapord geckos hoping they the scent was comparable to the banded geckos glossy's eat in the wild. I then put the snake in a brown lunch bag and fold it down to maybe 2 inches tall clip the top and place them in a tub in one of my racks. (IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!) do not place the bag over the heat or near any source of heat glossys are perfectually fine eatiing at room temp as longa s it is not below 70 or so. I leave them about 24 hours and check them. I got both of the snakes to eat within a week of each other this way, and only had to scent the next two pinks beofre they got conditioned to eat in the bag and took unsecented un-washed piinks. My pair have now taken pinks 9 feedings or so and they are still on super small pinks. Both have shedded clear sheds twice and are growing nicely. I dont know if an adult good be conditioned to take a mouse as easily but the hatchlings seem to adjust well. I hope this helps anyone who ends up with hatchling glossy snakes and is having trouble getting them adjusted and thriving.

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Ricky

lots of everything im not gonna list it

Finally, another Glossy owner out there! Great post! I have an adult that I collected as a subadult maybe a year ago. It took me a good 2 weeks to get him eating scented fuzzies (used a local sceloporus lizard) and now he eats unscented small hoppers. Where did you collect yours from? I have an A.e. candida form W. Lancaster, CA. Aliceinwl is another poster on here who also has a candida collected (I think) from the same neck of the woods. I belong to herp club (SWHS)that has a few members that had kept Glossies in the past, and they said that neonates/hatchlings were by far more difficut to get to eat than adults. If I do collect another Glossy from that region, I might also bag and freeze a dead rodent. In the Lancaster/Rosamond/Hi Vista area where I do my local road cruising (can't wait til summer) there always seem to be tons of rodents that seem idiotically all too willing to dash under the tires of your car. As well as banded geckos they've gotta be feasting on those guys too. What sort of heating set up do you have for yours? Best of luck w/ your pair.

reako45

I picked mine up one night while crusing whitewater, (yea i Know white water ..lame) but I thought they were interesting little snkes. Four months was way nerve racking trying to get them to feed. It would be interesting to see all the different glossy across the country and the different morphologys. There not as different as rosys or kings or crotes, but could be interesting. They are a pretty well established snake being spread out accross alot of different states. I;m glad to seeother people keep glossys , I guess 10 years ago or longer they use to sell them in pet stores.
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Ricky

lots of everything im not gonna list it

Don Shores is working with an albino morph of the glossy snake, it is rather striking.
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-J.Hill

Sure is.

I am trying to get involved with that project.
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Mike
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
www.kingpinreptiles.com

Thanks for reminding me of who it was. I saw a photo of it.I wonder where the parents of the albino or the albino itself (if it was found in the wild as a naturally occuring morph) was collected.

reako45

does anyone have a pic of the albino?
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Ricky

lots of everything im not gonna list it

You can find a pic of it(though it's not really a good pic) on Don Shore's site.

Here is a pic of an albino glossy... I don't know if this is the one that Don Shores has or not.

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Mike
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
www.kingpinreptiles.com

Interested to know what sort of A. elegans ssp. that albino is. Not a bad looking snake. It looks better than I remembered. Anyone know the name of Don Shores website?

reako45

http://www.kingsnake.com/shoresenuff/
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Mike
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
www.kingpinreptiles.com

I don't know exactly how correct this statement is, but I got a glossy snake on unscented pinkies after 4 feedings of scented with an anole.. and never offered it lizards. Ate within the first week I had it.
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Mike
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
www.kingpinreptiles.com

I know ive heard of some glossys taking even unscented right away i just think it all depends on where there from. I know captive breds are easier to switch to. No one I personaly know has had glossys switch to mice easily. I know weeve had a bad time with some adult longnose snakes.
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Ricky

lots of everything im not gonna list it

My Glossy was wild caught as a young adult. It has been in captivity for a number of years now. It has never fed on anything but unscented F/T mice. It does eat sporadically, skipping a few meals between successful feedings, but it holds good weight. In fact it almost looks obese. I currently feed it F/T adult mice.
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Randy Hallman
Firehouse Herps

Adult glossies naturally eat mice, but young glossies feed on lizards. Thus, adults should be easy to get feeding, as yours did, but the babies are a little more reluctant.
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"I'll be back at 6 if not 7. 8 the very latest but definatly no later than 9...ish...Moscow time."

That is true but mine was on lg pinks and sm fuzzies when I first acquired it. I was surprised it never required scenting as others I am aware of at that size apparently did. This is the only Glossy I have kept but I have talked with other keepers. I do not normally keep such species but I have considered getting a second since I already have the permit.
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Randy Hallman
Firehouse Herps

Glossys are one of my favorite snakes to find in the wild - for me they've never attempted to bite or get away - they're a really gentle snake. Here's one I found in Vegas in the Summer of 2005:

Vegas Herping Photos

I currently have one glossy and I've found the glossies around here (Mojave) to be kind of pissy. I found Sceloporus worked the best for scenting although one I had ate unscented right off the bat.

The only time I've had any real fasting is during the winter, which seems to be par for the course. My guy is still a baby and it eats small fuzzies about once a week. They seem to be really slow growers, I've had mine for almost two years now. When I collected it, it could only handle day old pinks. They seem more reluctant to take larger meals than other snakes their size.

If I recall correctly I had mine eating within a week or two of collection.

-Alice

Tim, that Glossy looks exactly like the one I collected in Lancaster in Metalpest's (good to see you posting again) neck of the woods.

reako45

i have some very strange localitys, there from an area a hour and a half from Odessa TX, rough country, they have a lot of orange in them, orange banding and the likes, i lost my male he had every fifth scale was nice and orange, but in this link here under 'pets' there is a picture of the female

www.herpzilla.com/eric
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To you im just the crazy snake guy, but to some I'm a 'Herp'.