Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone know if there are any breeders, collectors or distributors of coachwhip snakes? I would love to get my hands on a western coachwhip or any other kind for that matter.

Thanksss
Jason

I have a few coachwhips and racers that I have collected myself in hopes of having captive bred next year. But to answer your question I have not found anyone that is actually breeding them. I see wild caught offered every once in a while but nothing captive bred. If there is any one out there I would like to know about them as well. Good luck with your search.

Allen Sheehan

HI there!
Talk to the guy who replied to me on the post about breeding black racers, he mentioned something about breeding coachwhips. jodscovry is the guy/girl's user name. Good Luck!

'Glades Herp has some pairs of pink Texas coachwhips they've been breeding for the last four years or so. For the first few years all were pre-sold but that market has become satisfied and now a few make it to the price list. Best to call and get on a waiting list, and find out if they plan to produce any this year.

Baby coachwhips are among the most difficult snakes to get feeding and established. Far more die than survive. Be sure you have plenty of alternatives as far as prey options to offer, especially small snakes like baby garters and small lizards like Tree Lizards and baby fence lizards. Small lizards are the most promising option. I have several pink coachwhips including two very large males I raised from hatchlings. Luckily, they settled into eating rodents years ago. I have one adult female red phase that insists on live fuzzy mice even though she's over five feet long. She never really bulks up and if I didn't have a rodent colony I would never be able to keep a snake like that.

Some baby coachwhips will accept small anoles but those climb out of reach and don't taste the same as the snakes' native prey. Tree, Side-Blotched and Fence lizards are best. If you find a source of baby western coachwhips be prepared for a lot of work.

Its good to know Glades is working with the pink coachwhips. I also really like the picture of your pink one a few posts below. That thing is awesome. Mine are all a brown ground color with some white tipping. I caught my coachwhips as yearlings locally in the Dallas area and like you say they were difficult to get feeding on rodents. I had to hunt down lizards as a food source for the first several months. After many attempts and scenting rodents they all finally switched. But what I find interesting is that once they switch there is no more issues. They will eat rodents with gusto after that initiall one. The adults I come accross in the wild I just let be as they make really bad captives at least for me. They never eat and thrash and run like crazy. I have a trio of youngsters that are actually calm and I hope to grow into nice breeders in a few years. Below is a picture of my favorite girl. I hope more people work with these guys in the future.

Allen Sheehan

You're right about them eating rodents as if they had discovered the Next Great Food. Mine are about the same, although a few babies have gone back and forth just to grind me. Evil little things.

For some reason, I've had almost all my wild-caught adult coachwhips accept dead rodents from the getgo. Wild coachwhips have been seen eating carrion and even trying to eat dead rodents caught in snap traps during wildlife surveys. I can't explain my luck with feeding w/c adult coachwhips other than to say it's probably just that--luck.

If you live in the Dallas area, you don't have a lot of options for finding wild lizards. Earless lizards live in the area, and I don't envy you trying to catch those--very nervous lizards. Of course the other option is whiptails, which are worse. But all that is behind you now.

That's a nice looking female in the photo. Pretty good body weight and no nose rub. My big pink male ate a dead rat yesterday and I was trying to get a pic of him basking today but no good angle. He's a beast. I swear he thinks he can fit my head into his mouth. I have no intention of letting him try--what if he's right? A humiliating obituary: "Snake Collector Pulled Into Cage and Beaten to Death by Pet Coachwhip".

Where's the dignity?

Thanks for the response I will get in touch with Glade herps to see what they got but to be honest I dont know if I want to force feed ANOTHER snake for a few months :-/ maybe I should consider some other alternative.

I do have 19 eastern eggs ready to hatch in Aug. I collect bulk brown anoles every season and force feed all 15 - 20 babies nearley daily till their around 30 inches long and eat on their own, which takes about three months, but this way none die, or atleast only a few, and the ones that do thrive can get 90 inches due to the abundant food supply right out of the egg, also my customers dont have problems with feeding, I do all the work, and to be honest even though $60.00 each may sound like a high price to pay for a coachwhip I feel like thay are worth 150.00 each with all the work required in rearing alone...