There are unfortunately not more than three different bloodlines from the Vietnamese mandarin ratsnakes (still more than the single bloodline of Thai bambooratsnakes, but alas). I would really like to see some new blood enter the captive population. I'm actually already considering going to Vietnam myself in the near future! Hahaha! We all can have our dreams, can't we?

I really wanted a second species of snake next to my mandarin ratsnake. I chose for the broad-banded bambooratsnake for a couple of reasons: 1) Bambooratsnakes stay small in size, 2) Broad-banded bambooratsnakes are easier to care for than mandarin ratsnakes are, 3) there are several bloodlines (I reckon about 8 to 10) of the broad-banded bambooratsnake in captivity and last but not least 4) all broad-banded bambooratsnakes in captivity come from the same locality in Malaysia. Add to that the fact that we're talking here about another beautiful species of ratsnake, so the choice was easily made. My male has already fed twice on frozen/thawed babymice without a problem (I just have to wiggle the mouse in front of him with a pincet), so I'm already loving it! The snake is, however, more feisty than my mandarin ratsnake, but I think that it will become more calm as time progresses.

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