Drymarchon pictures

Hi Scott!

Thanks for sharing! I really need to get some new pictures up!

I'd like to share a story.....
Yesterday, my youngest male (~5+ feet) shed....but didn't shed either eyecap, or the skin under the chin.

I saw the fresh shed when I got home from work, and, as always, checked the snake and the skin. I immediately removed him from the cage, turned on bright lights, grabbed flat=bladed tweezers and wet paper towels. It took maybe twenty minutes of restraining, wetting and rubbing with the wet towels, and grabbing the edges of the unshed eyecaps with tweezers, before the shed was complete.

I never tried to prevent him biting me...never even considered it. Sure, I held his head steady, at times, for use of the tweezers....but HE UNDERSTOOD that I was helping him - I am absolutely positive of this. When I used the wet paper towels, he actually pressed harder against them, because he could feel their gentle wet friction.

When I was using the tweezers, my finger was often directly against the side of his mouth, fully vulnerable. My hold was NOT anti-bite, in any way. His body was very loosely restrained....I was doing this alone.

And as that last eyecap came off, and I released my very gentle restraint, he turned in my lap, and actually came up towards my face, and looked at me, from a foot away. Yeah, I know that part is very weird....I was there. And okay, I'll refrain from saying that he was thanking me, because we all know snakes can't do that.

Two minutes later he was back in his cage, and ate 2 chicks from long tweezers.

As for eating habits, Scott, all my snakes have slightly different preferences as to how they want their food offered. I use foot long tweezers.
A couple snakes prefer to have food waved in front of the hole of their hidebox. One attacks vigorously from there; one likes the prey to "run away" slowly by my backing the tweezers away.
Another responds to having the prey animal thrown eight inches in front of her. Yet another backs away from the prey animal....until I hold it still, half an inch in front of her.

And the behavior varies,sometimes a lot. I've had the shyest youngest girl launch herself out of the cage a few times, thinking my hand was the food...hell, she bit me once, accidentally, because my finger entered the hidebox while removing the lid. But she's really so shy, and, like all of my babies, exceedingly gentle. But I'm always very careful at feeding time, to prevent confusion.

For over a year, one girl would only eat quail and frogs. After last winter, she won't touch quail, but loves chicks. (Can't seem to get frogs now)

I hope you're doing well, my friend! I'll try to get some pictures up soon....maybe this weekend?

Chris

Interesting story, but not at all surprising from what I have seen of these critters.

I loved the heck out of my indigos when I had them. They were so incredibly personable and just fun to have.

As for my own stories, once I was feeding one of my adult females and got a little bit careless in how I was holding the small rat I was feeding her. In her excitement, she grabbed me by the thumb by accident. She only held on for an instant and then released looking for all the world horrified at what she had done. You know, she would NOT take a meal for the entire rest of the day. It's like she was too embarrassed to even take a meal. By the next day she was fine again, but did seem a bit more cautious taking the meal.

Another time I was cleaning the cage of one of my males (Duke), and he seemed bound and determined to go out the door of the room and explore. This was a LONG time ago, when I lived in a townhouse in Maryland, and kept the animals all in a small bedroom upstairs. Anyway, when changing his cage, I would just lay him on the floor and he would normally just hang around keeping me company. But that day he wanted to see what was outside the room. So he would keep on slowly moving out the door, and I kept on just using my foot to pull him back in. My hands were busy cleaning his cage. I was in my stocking feet, btw. After a few iterations of this game we were playing, he finally had had enough, and just reached around and bit my big toe. Not hard, and immediately released, just enough to tell me that he wanted to explore, and that was all there was to it. He didn't act embarrassed about it, neither. So I let him explore.

Awesome stories, guys. They're certainly unique snakes.

Chris, at feeding time, I've started gently opening tub/hide and laying a mouse near him. Then sitting still until he takes it. This has worked pretty well for the past few feedings. I've tried all sorts of presentations in the past with mixed results. I think Loki is just shy. And, while he's eaten all sorts of food in the past, he most consistently eats rodents.

Anyway, here's another photo. I had the camera out again yesterday.

DAMN, that's a handsome snake, Scott....and you're a talented photographer!

Rich, thank you SO much for adding your experience with our beloved couperi! I am honored, truly. I know how much dedication it takes to mark up 16K posts on a forum.... THAT is a labor of love.

Um, I suck as a photographer....and I'm pretty bad at computers, too. But maybe some of these will be okay. This is Scarlett; she's almost seven feet.

She's a beauty, Chris. I hope Loki makes it to at least 7ft. How old is she?

She was born in 2010. My 2012 male (Maharaja) is about 6 1/2 feet, just a tiny bit smaller than Scarlett; he'll be bigger than her by winter breeding season. I put them together several times this past winter, to no avail. Maybe I didn't chill them enough; I did shorten "daylight hours" per the season.

Maharani, my 2012 girl, is maybe 5 1/2 feet, about the same size as Samraat, my 2013 all-black boy. Actually, I haven't measured lately, but I think Samraat has probably surpassed Maharani's size now) Samrajni is my 2013 girl, she's about five feet.

I'm jealous of you guys that have multiple couperi. Sounds like you have a nice collection, Chris. Hopefully, someday, I can at least get a female to pair with Loki. But, the way the genetics are in captivity, I'd be very choosey about finding a mate.

It's amazing just how opaque these guys get.

Hi Scott,
How's your boy eating, in summer? My youngest pair, Samraat and Samrajni, are absolutely VORACIOUS!

I mentioned earlier that Samraat let me peel off his eyecaps with apparently complete understanding and absolute gentleness. That said, he bit crap out of me yesterday....my own fault, of course.....he knew it was feeding time, smelled the mouse I just waved past his tongue, on the long tweezers...

And then he saw my hand move, outside the door of his cage -- looked like a big sweet mouse to him apparently; the 2 foot lunge was instantaneous. I redirected him to the mouse, then went to wash the blood off.....

Officially, his feeding record states: Aug 12: 3 XL mice, 1 chick, and my finger..... (OK, I retained the finger - he did let go immediately.)

Samrajni is very blue, but ate 2 chicks anyway.
Scarlett ate 3 chicks.
Maharaja ate 2 chicks and a mouse
Maharani ate 2 chicks, although she is also very opaque.

And Othello, my oldest cat, , got the leftover mouse. He likes that, he's 20 years old and almost blind, but Dad gives him his special treats.....

Hi Chris. Loki's appetite has definitely picked up over the summer. He still probably doesn't eat like it sounds like yours do, but he's been a lot less picky.

On a related note, we just bought a new house and moved. I have Loki in a temporary enclosure. I was initially worried that I wouldn't be able to get his enclosure up the stairs to my new "reptile room". But, I did some measuring, and I think it can be done if I get a couple of guys to help. But, now I'm a little worried that all the weight from that big bio setup might come crashing down through my kitchen ceiling. So, I'm going to do a little more research and some weight estimates before I try.