Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I caught and decidied to keep wut i think is a scarlet snake about 3 weeks ago. I had snakes durring my entire childhood so i have experience with them but i never had a snake this small, i have always had rat snakes and racers. I think i was succesful in getting her to drink some egg and water. She hasnt shed yet but she looks kindof leathery. i have been sitting her in a warm bath about a 1/4" deep but she doesnt seem to like water. She is only 6" if that so im guessing she is probably less than 6 weeks old. Anything i need to know about these snakes beside how much of a pain they are to feed?

Can you put up a picture so we can confirm the ID?

I haven't kept scarlets, but they are dedicated burrowers. You might give her a sandy setup, kind of like you would for a sand boa.

i have sand in her 10gal setup. how do u post pictures? all i see is a url link.

You can go to the Photos tab at the top of the page and set up a gallery account, or you can just use a general image host like photobucket.com or imageshack.com.

here she is, i think i count 6 scales o the upper lip, so i assume its a northern not a florida.

They can often be tricked into eating egg scented anoles, pinks, small snakes, and relish anole eggs. Larger ones can also be tricked to eat pinks with egg scent. But as is the case with a small one, they demise quickly without a heavy amount of food supply so its a hard decision to hold onto one for long unless its eating well. Here is a photo of one of the many I have conditioned to eat pinks but usually they resort to wanting reptile eggs in their diet and need to be released. Also, a small area of wet orchid moss keeps them moist as they dehydrate easily so an area of wet moss is recommended as is a water bowl as they drink often and often seach for food in the morning. I have offered food in cages at night (scented pinks) and found them in the cage at 10 AM but by noon they emerged and ate them at that time for some odd reason? A saw a field herp post where a guy bagged a scarlet snake and a dead corn snake and the next morning checked the bag to discover the scarlet snake had the corn half swallowed but it was way too large for it to consume so baby snake parts also work. I have also taken snake eggs that have hatched and filled them with chicken egg yolk and they drink the yolk so try to get a snake egg shell and keep it frozen to use it several times. Another method is to not offer water and just put them in a jar with water/egg mix each week and they will drink until they bloat like a beast filled with the mixture. But that is dangerous with a tiny specimen to deprive it of water in its cage that long, so not recommended at that stage or should be done every other day. They also like to be misted in the morning and will often come out to drink the droplets formed on the sides of the glass on the tank.

Dan

Where can i find anole eggs this time of year in N Florida? She is way too small to eat any pinks or anoles that can be caught this time of year.
She has not burrowed in about 4 days, she has been sitting on her rock and hanging out in the branch that is in her tank. Isn't that odd? why might she not be burrowing like usual?

That is the problem with keeping them - a good year round food source. You can try to catch adult anoles and check if they are gravid and wait for them to drop eggs but either/or is going to take up too much time to get a reliable food source for the baby scarlet snake.

Another option is carpenter ant eggs which can be dug out of rotting trees or found under garbage. Scarlets will eat the large bull ant eggs also but you have to be skillful to collect the eggs without being bitten to many times by the ants. If all fails, perhaps release the snake where you found it before too long.

Did you have an under the tank heater? I cannot figure as to why your scarlet remains in the branches unless the cage it too warm. They do not require and heat source usually if kept room temp.

Dan

there is a small heater under the tank, the rock is sitting ontop of the heater, but she has been sitting on the warm rock so i dont think its too warm in the tank, there is not even a top on the tank to trap heat in.

well if kept too moist, their skin gets blisters/swelled and they will try to bask but that's my only other guess as to why a ground snake is sitting in the branches.

Dan

would add also that they live in the cool ground and a heater is not required and they need cool/moist dirt to reside in. Almost anywhere their range is, its 70 degrees or cooler underground.

Dan

there is no water at all in her tank, i think the only success i have had in feeding her is dunking in water and egg, but im not positive she drank. in the tank on the opposite side of the heater is about 2" of sand which is close to 70. today she has been curled up ontop of the sand out in the open, in the middle of the day. is there any way to tell if she has eatin by holding her up to a light since she is still transparent? i can easily see her stomach but im not sure how big it should get from egg and water.

put in a small cup/cap of a bottle in the corner of the tank with egg mixture and keep an eye to its level and perhaps you can put in such a small amount to notice it going down if it drinks some. Sand is not recommended as it dehydrates them unless you mist the sand to replicate the morning dew like in nature or better yet to use moist dirt or mosit orchid moss.

Dan

i will change out the sub tomorrow, i put a folded wet washcloth in there and put her between it. She hasnt come out and seems pretty comfortable.

Why keep it if you have no way of feeding him/her it will die. I live in S.Florida I have caught few small snakes but never kept any.
Looking at them for a minute was enough. Its to soon for anole eggs however they are mating now as have seen plenty in my yard "paired up"