Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I think a lot of non-indigo owners get annoyed at me when I tell them how indigos have more "personality" than most other snakes. I guess it is hard to understand unless you have one. Almost every time I take mine out (or even just when I feed him) something funny happens. Today a classic occurred, one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I took him in the backyard and let him crawl around the little fish pond I built. It looked like he really wanted to catch some fish, his tongue was flicking a mile a minute and he kept dipping in the water. Then he aggressively dove down in between some rock, maybe 1/3 of his body went down in the water. After a few seconds, he backs up out of the water... with a kitchen sponge hanging out of his mouth! (I guess I left the sponge in there last time I cleaned the pond.) And he wouldn't let go of it! I ran to get my camera (which must have been a sight for the neighbors, seeing me running with a snake that has a yellow sponge hanging out of its mouth), but he finally dropped it on my office floor as I was getting the camera out of the bag. Damn! Would have been a great picture. Here are a couple pics from after the action died down, and also a few random pics.

I agree its hard to understand what indigos are like untill you own them. They like to keep you on your toes for a fact. His fishing trip is classic! To funny, thanks for sharing. Dan

An amusing story for sure "if it smells right, it must be worth eating" applies. I like your choice of words in regard more "personality" and I agree. I am not convinced about intelligence as some claim, as mine often try to swallow items in the least convenient way, "mouth" the scented paper when the prey item is in plain view only inches away, etc. A friend had an indigo back in the '70's, and like you, he took it outside frequently and I liked watching it hunt down mice on the lawn, so great was its feeding response and habituation to the situation. Good luck and thanks for posting...vic

Ed, Too funny-amazing what snakes will do out of the ordinary. Back when I had boa. c. nebulosa, a 7 foot female that we had raised from a neonate brushed against the wife's hair while she held it. It nailed her on top of the scalp; the wife got mad at me, not the snake. Go figure....

Thanks for the pics-really love the couperi. Any plans on picking up the other sex and breeding them?

Best regards,
Jeff
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Jeff Murray
www.boa-subspecies.com
http://s352.photobucket.com/home/boidsonly/allalbums

Next time it will be a fish cool
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Archie Bottoms

>>Next time it will be a fish cool
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>>Archie Bottoms

He's a great fisherman. Occasionally I give him live fish to catch in a bowl, it's a lot of fun to watch.

Jeff,

We are always to blame, that's why they marry us.

No immediate plans to breed indigos. I'm thinking my first venture into breeding, if I take that step, will be with one of my Epicrates species.

Thanks,
Ed

np

My best buddy used to keep a 7-8' Eastern Indigo loose in his apartment back in college (35 years ago). It was dangerous to get out of bed in the morning because it would charge out from under the bed and chase your feet. Before he even had his coffee, no less...

Later in life he had a huge False Water Cobra escape from its cage. It was gone for months until one evening he heard noise coming from the kitchen. The snake was on the counter top eating Kentucky Fried Chicken bones from the garbage can below! I think he said it prefered the hot 'n spicy...

True stories.

Cheers,

Terry Vandeventer

I had a buddy in high school that had a thirteen foot boa that got out while we were at school and it consumed a bath towel that he dried his dog off with.

I’ve posted this pic before, I think it’s the only one I have of my old indigo. I had this one chase me thinking my white tube socks were rats! If you are familiar with the feeding response, you know you will be dancing big time. One thing I noticed with wild ones, if you spot one on the road and it keeps going, you won’t see it again. If it turns around and goes back from where it came, just wait it out because it is determined to continue where it was going. My vote is they are pretty smart.