Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Way down below in this thread, you had replied to my prior Post and asked for a photo of my Radiated. I explained that I only have a regular digital camera, and that glare is an issue with my indoor photos. Even when I disable the flash, I usually don't get quality photos due to glass reflection.

Here is a photo of my 60-gallon vivarium (biome) housing my male Radiated. He is a young adult now, at about 57 inches. His biome contains 3 major hide spots, large soaking water dish, and 9 species of plants represented, one of which is a natural plant sprig.

Anyone else love the Alert, Inquisitive & Highly Active nature of Radiateds?
Did I mention that they can be VOCAL, and sometimes make clicking sounds??

0.1 Lampropeltis getula californiae (Los Angeles County Coastal Banded morph)
1.0 Coelognathus radiata (captive-bred, Vietnam origin?)
Link

"Did I mention that they can be VOCAL, and sometimes make clicking sounds??"

That is an awesome vivarium setup you have for the snake! However, the "clicking" sounds you hear are not the snake being vocal trying to talk to you, but rather it is telling you it might have a respiratory issue that needs to be addressed. Clicking, popping, and any other sounds are not good signs to hear from snake, and are very typical of respiratory infections.

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

I understand that NORMALLY those symptoms indicate a respiratory issue.

Not so with Radiateds. It is not commonly documented yet, but they ARE known to be vocal. This has been documented by several persons, and I have seen a handful of online references.

Thanks for the concerns, but my Radiated could not be healthier.

That's interesting Ameron. Could you lead me to were others have mentioned radiated rats making vocal clicking sounds. I would like to read of others who have noticed this.
I spoke to a friend who kept a couple of pairs and bred them for several years and he never noticed this with any of his during the years he kept them.

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Randy Whittington

Have you heard about the albino trinket found in India? You can see a pic at the Ratsnake Foundation - I don't think I can link to it here. I think Sue posted it in the full members forums under Coelognathus...

BTW - nice trinkets...
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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

Thanks for the info. I haven't heard about it. I'll go the website and check it out and check with Sue if I can't find it. I'd love to get a true ablino trinket.
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Randy Whittington

I understand the raised eyebrows. I would have been among you, thinking the same thing when hearing of symptoms, until a few weeks ago…

Randy, I'm sorry, but my recent searches are no longer finding my prior references. Days ago, I did many Yahoo searches on "Radiated Rat Snake, "Copperhead Racer" and the scientific name. I pored thru many links & references - way past Wikipedia and the usual ones.

I finally found 2-3 sources mentioning the clicking sounds, and one of feigning death. One site even mentioned that this previously unknown trait would be better documented in the future, but did not state how.

I'm aware that snakes can hiss at times, and how they can communicate. THIS IS DIFFERENT. I only experienced it once, when my male was excited and upset with me about ending Playtime and going back into his biome.

Relatively well behaved for a Radiated, at his worst he has only lightly nipped me once or twice previously, and never musks. On the recent occasion when I went to put him back into his biome, he began with a subtle hiss, but then I heard it: he CLICKED several times!

A Click is the best way to describe it. I heard it. So have others. One day, maybe you will, too.

At the Kingsnake forum years ago, a man named FR shared much insight with forum members. His years of herping near Prescott, AZ and other places gave him tremendous insight into reptile behavior. He found that they are often social creatures, some highly, and much more intelligent than previously believed.

I think that we have much to learn about Reptiles, and animals in general, and that the Clicking sound is just one more of those things. (It is even possible that several species of snakes can make sounds if they choose, but simply rarely choose to do so.)

Thanks for listening.

0.1 Lampropeltis getula californiae (Los Angeles County Coastal Banded morph)
1.0 Coelognathus radiata (captive-bred, Vietnam origin?)
Link

I was curious to read in what context the comments you read were mentioned if you found them.
While I can appreciate your enthusiasm I'm afraid you might be reading too much into what you are hearing. You will hear many unusual sounds from various species of snakes when they are upset. Especially from species of ratsnakes and pituophis which often hiss loudly.
The sounds they make can vary greatly depending on how upset they are, how long they continue threatening at one time and other things. At times they make clean hissing sounds and at other times when they are more upset or upset for longer periods time, the sounds they make can get much raspier including clicking type sounds.
What I'm getting at is that the more snakes you keep and the longer you keep them you will realize that they don't intentionally make paticular repetitive sounds.
I've heard blue beauties, trinket rats and cape gophers make some sounds when they are really pissed off that you wouldn't believe. The longer you hear them do it you will realize that it varies every time they get upset. They don't try to make exact sounds.
There are several guys with lots of experience who post on this forum regularly that will hopefully add their thoughts.

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Randy Whittington

....yours is "laughing" at you there, "telling" you........"yeah bud, go on and just TRY IT and see what happens"

HAHAA!!

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

I acknowledge that you likely have much more Snake experience than I. I've kept maybe 8-10 species across the years, of several individuals, but mostly Kings and Gophers.

That's a beautiful Blue Beauty! I have yearned for one in the past, more than once. Hard to not like blue anything, especially a snake.

Interesting that a Trinket was one of your most vocal & irate snakes. They are supposedly more docile & meek than Radiateds, but I suspect that categorically they are much the same, and that Individual matters more than species for temperment.

0.1 Lampropeltis getula californiae (Los Angeles County Coastal Banded morph)
1.0 Coelognathus radiata (captive-bred, Vietnam origin?)

Hey, thanks for the pic - and nice vivarium setup!

I am looking forward to keeping some species within the Coelognathus genus myself - maybe some C. subradiatus soon...

I have to agree with Doug on the respiratory issue re: the clicking sounds. The only normal vocalization from any ratsnake, that I am aware of, is hissing - which is used as an aggressive warning. With most snakes, respiratory issues are usually due to too wet, too dusty, or too dirty conditions. - But with some of the tropical Asians from moist habitats, too dry conditions can cause respiratory as well as shedding issues.
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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

Understood, and again, NORMALLY this is the case. Please see my reply to Doug.

My setup not only has a large water dish for soaking, I mist twice daily. It is neither too wet nor dry.

The only time Radiateds usually exhibit the clicking, which mine has only done once with me, is when they are Excited, either by food or unusual activity.

Okay - just trying to help... I don't have any hands on experience with Coelognathus snakes yet - but I hear they are quite a different kind of snake from what I am used to. Beauty snakes are probably the closest to them that I have kept.
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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

Interesting topic, Ameron, and radiateds certainly are interesting and unusual snakes. However, I know of no species that has vocal cords.

I've been trying to think of how it could make a "clicking" sound. As one responder mentioned, they can "hiss." I've also heard several species, such as kingsnakes, coral snakes, and hooknose snakes making clicking noises by a method called, anal popping. Maybe they can rub up against something to make a click. They might rub their coils together to make a noise. I have heard of a cave racer making a "meow" type of sound, but don't know how they do that. I'd be very interested hearing about the mechanism they use to make this sound.

PS: Radiateds have been reported to have enlarged rear teeth and to have saliva that is somewhat toxic. They can also feign death, which is unusual among the colubridines. I believe they have a mechanism for crushing eggs too, which has to do with a vertebrae pointing inwards which they push the egg against. Who knows how many other unusual things they have going? Hope you can figure this one out.

Terry

>>Understood, and again, NORMALLY this is the case. Please see my reply to Doug.
>>
>>My setup not only has a large water dish for soaking, I mist twice daily. It is neither too wet nor dry.
>>
>>The only time Radiateds usually exhibit the clicking, which mine has only done once with me, is when they are Excited, either by food or unusual activity.

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