Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Any info on these snakes (Care/temperment/pics/etc)? Saw a pic of a hatchling and was in love...

This is what info I've been able to dig up online, after ALOT of searching:

"It's commonly called a Chinese Ratsnake, or Wasu Ratsnake. They're not at all common in the pet trade, which means any you see pop up are likely wild caught. In China, these snakes are commonly used for medicines and in the food trade. They can grow up to 7ft long, but remain slender bodied. Personality wise, they seem to be more like a racer than a ratsnake...somewhat nervous and nippy at times. They do seem to feed readily on rodents and birds."

If anyone here has had any experiences with them, or actually knows of a breeder, I'd love to hear about it!

* this pic was NOT taken by me...it was found onilne.

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- JENN ROSE -
0.1.0 classic corn~ "Pumpkin"
1.0.0 leucistic texas ratsnake~ "Worm"
1.0.0 ball python~ "Pickle Bunny"

Well, it's one of those tropical racers, not a ratsnake. Feeds chiefly on amphibians, no rodents, no birds. Nasty temperament to go with. So if you like to be challenged, go for it. On the other hand, if you're just looking for a good pet, then do yourself a favour and look for something else.

Regards,

Herman Bronsgeest.

Honestly, I'm not looking to buy ANY more animals any time soon. I'm more or less researching the animal for the sake of researching. I love how they look, and just wanted to learn more about them and educate myself. The fact that there was so little info out there made me even more hungry to learn. I love that there are SO MANY varriety of snake out there that I've probably never even heard of...and when I run accross an image that amazes me, I instantly want to know EVERYTHING about that animal.
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- JENN ROSE -
0.1.0 classic corn~ "Pumpkin"
1.0.0 leucistic texas ratsnake~ "Worm"
1.0.0 ball python~ "Pickle Bunny"

Jenn,

I can totally understand where you are coming from. While Zaocys are similar in some ways to what I keep, I'm not really interested in actually keeping them but do like to read about them.

On that note, this species was somewhat recently included in the Genus Ptyas and most of the literature still uses that name. I think if you do a lot of research on the genus Ptyas and also Ptyas dhumnades you'll find a lot of information.

I have been interested in that genus since seeing a P. mucosus in a German herpetological book. A scientist friend of mine from India talks about catching them as a kid in the rice paddies. Over there they are a common snake, the gartersnakes of India if you will, albeit very large. I loved hearing him talk about that stuff.
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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Malaysian locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)