Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am in Connecticut and we have finally had a slight break from the heat. I have tried to get my eastern indigos out for some exercise in the early morning or late afternoon.

They enjoy basking in the sun. I use the hose to mist them. They will drink the water as it beads over their faces. Then they slowly move from sun to shade, periodically popping their heads up to look around. As a bonus, they often relieve themselves outside. This saves time on the cage cleaning!

I often take this chance to feed them. They sometimes get live mice, and it is fascinating watching them hunt for them. One of my females actually chased a mouse for about 20 feet before it ran it down. When I give them frozen thawed food, I will pull the food by them using tongs and they will chase after it - quite the active hunters!

The enrichment seems to be good for them and natural sunlight can't hurt. I am curious to see if the exercise will help strengthen the females as they get ready for their first breeding season. Time will tell! Enjoy!

Chris

The first picture is of my large female. She was born in 2009 from Vick Herrick, and is about 6.5 ft long. The second picture is of my large 2009 male from Steve Fuller. He is quite the monster at little over 7 ft in length.

That is interesting. I thought I was the only one to take their indigos out in the yard. I have a large, secluded yard and watch them closely, but it is a lot of fun to watch them telescope and survey their surroundings. Mine even crap outside, which is great for obvious reasons. I would never let them out if I had close neighbors, but I have lots of land for them to explore, but only one at a time. Also, I only let adults or sub-adults out to crawl. Babies are too fast. Those are beautiful indigos, by the way.

We live on almost three acres and our backyard is as open as a football field.

I don't openly advertise that I have them....You never know how someone will react. People see a snake this large and panic!

I will say this, I live about two miles from a house where a woman was killed a few years back by her black mamba....yes...a black mamba! When police came, they removed about fifty snakes from the house, with the majority of them venomous. You always hear about stories like that, and think it never happens around you.

Most of the year, the snakes are in my high school biology classroom. I can't keep them there over the summer....it gets too hot and would most likely kill them. I will keep them home this year through the breeding season. This will be the first time breeding them. I am giving the females extra exercise to help improve their muscle tone. I am hoping that this will help avoid any egg binding issues. Who knows.

Thanks again for the complement about the snakes. They are great animals. I will post some more pictures soon.

Chris

That is the same reason I exercise mine. Don't really know if the brief time I have them outside will help with potential egg-binding issues, but I believe it is worth trying.
Sure cannot hurt.

Awesome!
-----
Gerard
"How awesome would it be to deny the prophecy?"
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