Scott,
...What we see here on kingsnake.com is only a part of the reptile hobby and business. I think there must be at least a few other people breeding them in the US. I have produced less than 70 babies from a couple pairs I had back in the 90s and the pair I have now. If you looked at all the small shows and the Reptile shops all over the country I bet you would find more than a few available. They used to be imported fairly commonly and so there is plenty of genetic diversity in the US. I have not checked the CITES website recently and so do not know if any are still being imported. My gut feeling is that few are imported these days. David Fabius from Uraguay produced some last year and I think a few of the litter were imported including one or two chocolate phase ones. They are not commonly bred because their litters are small and demand is also small resulting in little potential to make money breeding them. I like them because they are easy to care for and are very hardy. Their care is more like that of the common colubrids than just about any other boid. They seem to have more personality than Brazilian or Colombian Rainbows. When I open their cages they move to investigate what I am doing. In the PICs below the Argentinian was exploring and moving around and her movement caused the Brazilian to spend most of the photo session with her head hidden under her body. They will not eat meals as large as similar sized other Rainbow subspecies. The only problem people have with my babies is that they regurge if fed too large a meal or too often. They eat much less and so grow much much slower than Brazilians. The Brazilian Rainbow and Argentinian Rainbow in the PICs are both adult females. They have both produced several litters of babies and are between eight and ten years old. The Argentinian is 54 inches long and weighs 2 pounds 2 ounces. The Brazilian is 75 inches long and weighs 5 pounds 8 ounces. Fist PIC is with flash and second PIC is without.
Jeff

[ Hide Replies ]

• Frustrated Argentinian question - SRX, Thu Dec 3 06:53:03 2009
• RE: Frustrated Argentinian question - natsamjosh, Thu Dec 3 18:37:13 2009
• RE: Frustrated Argentinian question - Jeff Clark, Thu Dec 3 20:26:54 2009
• Thank you both! - SRX, Fri Dec 4 10:39:06 2009
• RE: Thank you both! - Jeff Clark, Fri Dec 4 12:33:45 2009
• RE: Frustrated Argentinian question - natsamjosh, Sun Dec 6 09:49:27 2009