Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Always a pleasure to find in the field, I fould this one a couple of days ago in Illinois.

Third Eye

I live in NYC, so I'm always jealous when I see or read stuff like this. I'd give anything to lift up a rock or a pile of garbage to find a beautiful snake like that.

Great little O.aestivus find Tim!..

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

I think I just picked up one of these from Petco, they called it a Florida Green snake, quite a stunning animal but I know nothing about them yet. It was an impulse buy of $10, any advise? and no I cannot release it into the wild up here in southwest WA state

They eat insects like crickets, grasshoppers, cockroaches/palmetto bugs, caterpillars, etc..

Give it an enclosure that isn't real small that has more height to it, and put in a climbing branch and maybe a bit of fake foliage so it will feel secure and well-hidden as they naturally would prefer. I used to have a few wild-caught Rough Greens decades ago, and they would take insects right off the end of a pair of long tongs when it was slowly put in front of them without spooking them. Also, if you use long tongs to feed it the insects won't crawl off into the substrate or foliage and disappear so they won't be found by the snake.

A good substrate would be something like shredded garden mulch to help hold in some humidity. You could also lightly mist the cage once in a while to try to maintain around a 50-60 or so percent humidity level. A basking light at one end that will allow a temp of around 85-90 would be good for the snake to thermoregulate itself as well. Just make sure it is set up so the snake can get cooler as needed too. All of these things are very important if the snake is going to thrive well.

I would also HIGHLY recommend that you do some researching about them on the net too, but also get an inexpensive book or two that you can refer to whenever you want. Making sure things are optimum is always FAR better than waiting for problems to arise, and then wonder what to do to correct them. Only the snake suffers the consequences as you can imagine from many impulse buys.

......Good luck with it!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Thanks Doug, I have done some online research and think I got it set up nicely. It may have been an impulse buy But I always find out whatever I can about whatever I get. I set it up in what I think is a 20gallon tall (tall tank with a 12" X 12" footprint and about 24" tall aprox, I misplaced my tape measure) anyways it's set up with a few kinds of fake plants branches and climbing vines. temp 78 and 65% humidity. I have been feeding it a couple crickets every few days. It seems very tame, always watching what I am doing and while flighty and fast it does calm down quickly.

Yeah, that sounds and looks like it will work okay there. Looks like it could use some fresh water in the bowl there..

cheers, ~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com