Cave Rats vs Blue beauties?

hi...would like to know what would be the difference in caring for these 2 species of beauty snakes? what would be the ideal temps? i've heard that they prefer cooler temps. Any difference in temprement and size between the two??
Im planning to get one of them, havent decided which yet, they're both such beautiful types of beauty snakes. Tips anyone??

Thanks
Jin

i keep mine very basic.... i use newspaper substrate and then have a humid hide inside the enclsore... if you give them branches they will climb . they eat like mad and grow quickly. i keep them at room temps and they get no higher than 85 and i do not let them get below about 73. they are very easy to breed. my male is nearing eight feet and my female seven. both the blues and caves are kept pretty much the same... same temperments and deminoour (sp?)... i can handle my female fine (until she decides she has had enough) but my male is insane LOL... i really love the beauty snakes... they are very alert move extremely quick and have an intelegence to them... they are a joy to work with in my opinion... the asians can be very underrated because of their agreesive behavior but i find them extremely fascinating. if this will be your first asian go for the blue beauty, the are less expensive as the caves and after working with the blues you will get an idea if you like this kind of animal,before spending more on a cave... just my opinion though

Blue Beauties and Cave Rats

I have an adult pair of Blue Beauties, a lone adult male Cave Rat, and a lone(HUGE)adult male Tiawan Beauty. Each has its own personality. The Caver is a pretty friendly snake, and I can handle him pretty much as I would a corn snake, even out in public. He's never hissed, struck, musked or vibrated his tail. My female Blue is pretty typical for a rat snake-defensive in her cage, but fairly calm once picked up. The male, on the other hand, who is close to eight feet long, is pretty much what I'd call "psychotic"! He'll lunge up at your face as soon as the cage is opened, and never ceases trying to nail you! He is the only Elaphe I've ever messed with who'll bite the hand(though he really prefers faces-LOL)holding him; many rat snakes will strike readily at everything BUT the person holding them! The Tiawan is also corn snake tame, and a pure joy to handle, despite the fact that he is over eight feet and a very heavy snake, much thicker in build than the Blue male, even though they eat the same thing. In general, the Asian rat snakes have VERY healthy appetites, and VERY strong feeding responses, comparable to a Retic! These guys will pretty much eat as much as you can afford to give 'em! My three larger ones all eat f/t large to jumbo rats, while the Caver, who'se right around six feet, eats about five large f/t mice at one feeding. They tend to like it rather humid, especially the Caver, who will have trouble shedding if he's too dry. They also really love a hide box. I use newspaper substrate for mine, with no problems. All do fine at normal room temperature, around 76 degrees. I don't use any auxilliary heat source, and haven't had any problems with any of these guys. I've read that the Cave Rats tend to be more nervous and "bitey", but I haven't seen it with mine. The male Blue, in contrast, makes a Mangrove Snake look sweet!

Sharon McKenzie

thanks for replying u guys.

Argh im so excited about the prospect of getting one that i cant wait!. But i've still got a couple more questions. Since they've got such an incredible feeding response, how do you guys feed them? tongs? and that blue beauties tend to be more aggressive? or that just depends on individual snake personalities. secondly in what size viv/ container do u keep the adults? do they need a large space to move about? a hide box and water bowl is pretty standard right?
feeding schedule and amount? i.e how many rats/mice per feeding? are cave rats in general smaller?
thanks guys, would love to see pics of your snakes!
Dawn

I posted some info in response to your post on the "other" forum as well. Definitely use tongs for feeding. I always use tongs, but sometimes the ridleyi will fly right past the tongs and nail my hand anyway. Ouch!

I keep mine in 3-foot by 2-foot enclosures, and they are fed weekly throughout much of year (every other week during the winter).

I have some photos of Cave Dwelling rats in the photo gallery on my website... nwherp.com.