green redtail ratsnakes

does anybody out there have specific husbandry info on these guys. im looking for temps, humidity requirements, cooling, incubation times and temps. any info or helpful links would be a great help. thanks alot in advance, greg

I know Tamara Locke (a person who posts here) works with them.

Tamara, can you help us out here?

I did find this on the net: http://animal-world.com/encyclo/rept...enratsnake.php

yea, sure. my boyfriend bred a wild caught pair about a year ago, and we still have one of the hatchlings. for general care, i would suggest an 88-90 degree basking, the hotter the better, and 70-75 on the cool site. they like it humid. they do well with live plants, and it helps with the humidity, they also tend to burrow in them, which i have witnessed in both adults and babies. multiple basking areas are great, ive seen these guys basking like green tree pythons. babies feed readily on pinks, no scenting needed, and the adults are hard, they require a temperature drop at night for breeding. thats the big secret, which i guess is out. very very few people captive breed these snakes. and most "captive bred" animals you see out there, are usually just captive hatched, importing gravid females. incubation was at 82 for about 2 and a half months.

were actually looking into getting a wild caught group in the very near future and start breeding them again. they are very very mean stinky snakes. but they are also beautiful and awesome to work with, and i would say easily the smartest snake ive ever delt with. it will watch you walk around the room.

hope this helps. any more questions feel free to ask. if youre looking to get any,
http://www.highplainsherp.com is a great place. they really know their stuff, and have an awesome selection of animals. at some point id like to get a pair or trio of janenii from them, in addition to the big group of oxcephalla. they have some of the different color morphs, and very reasonable prices.

Thanks Tamara! That is some great info. I think you one of the few people I have talked to who has these guys or has worked with them in the past.

thanks very much for the information. what kind of drop do they need at night? ive got a great pair now, i just need to get the set right. high plains herpoculture i would watch myself with. i have a series of emails from them where he himself says that he did not have enough time to notice the serious respitory infection he sent mine with. both were dead within a week, the male died within 2 days. just a thought for you to keep in the back of your mind when deciding on green redtails. i will not post the emails here though, im not out to bash or anything, they also refunded my money right away.
it may have been isolated however.
thanks for the info, and if you can think of anything else that might be useful, it would be appreciated. greg

i just turned the heat off at night, it probably got to be about 70-75, not too cold.
When i talked to them, they were pretty straight foreward about that, They said they had been treated, but most people know, and take into consideration, when dealing with, or buying, wild caught animals that arent long term captives, there is a very large change they arent going to make it. because of parasites, infections or just because there is a very real possibility they you may never get them to eat. and its a chance some people are willing to take. and on the other hand, there are some people who know better and only deal with captive bred animals, which, tho they may come with a higher price tag, also come with a fair ammount of security, that there is a good chance theyll make it. i find them to be very respectable people who know their stuff.

I love these they are so pretty. I dont have any or know anything about them though.

i wasnt trying to knock them. the comment in the email stating that they have so many animals and dont have time to check them before they ship really bothered me. how can you not notice a big mouth foaming respitory infection. it was a very serious infection. i think that before you ship you should inspect the animal to make sure it is in good condition to ship in the first place. my animals are always checked before they are shipped. if you have to many to check, then mabey they need to hire help, or make more time. i know that there are risks with wc. i have quite an extensive collection myself. but like i said, they returned my money and they have my respect for standing behind their product.
greg

I have kept numerous Gonyosoma. Mostly oxycephala but also the Seleyar and Celebes Janseni. I currently have 2.2 Seleyara G. janseni and 0.0.1 G. oxycephala. I'm hoping to get my collection back up now that I'm settled into a home and have a designated room just for Gonyosoma.

I pretty much agree with everything one of the first responders said (I think it was Tamara??). I will add, however, that these animals are MUCH easier to acclimate if you initially keep them in relatively small cages and LEAVE THEM ALONE. When I get a new import in I grab them out of the bag, treat them with a vet prescribed "shotgun" dose of panacur and flagyl, and then put them in a cage and don't even look at them for a week. No kidding, not even a glance for a week. If I walk into the room and see a new import cruising around it's cage I walk away. Moreover, I now cover their quarantine cages, which are semi-clear plastic, with newspaper. The cages are 32"x17"x12".

And don't try to feed them too soon. I usually wait until two weeks after receiving them and the offer food, almost always a live pre-weaned rat.

In a nutshell, messing with these snakes too much can really cause problems.

Regarding the night-time temperature drops, the first time I witnessed copulation was at 63* temps early in the AM. In fact I have only witnessed copulation at cold temps, at least for G. oxycephala.

Other notes:

Let the cage dry out fairly often. These snakes need ventilation and frequent mistings. Not sealed-tight cages that never dry out.

These snakes don't always do well with large cages, despite their activity. I talk with Gonyosoma breeders from all over the world and without exception greater stress levels have been observed in large cages. You have to deal with this on an individual snake basis. I also have many translated articles and books that mention this. This is an issue I'm struggling with as I bring my collection back up. More on that later.

This is one species that appears to do well when kept in groups. All of the most successful Gonyosoma breeders around the world keep theirs in groups. It is one of those "without exception" things. Keeping them in pairs or groups can be tough when they get stressed in large cages so you constantly have to tweak things. One thing that worked well for me was to move individuals in and out of a large cage over the course of a month and into the quarantine sized tubs.

The most successful breeders of this species from all over the world consider these to be a tricky species. Almost anyone who has kept a lot of these has noticed that a perfectly healthy specimen can just go downhill and drop dead within a week. I know one place that has bred four generations and they have noticed the same thing, even with the F4's.

Lastly, again regarding cages, I believe that a long and narrow cage is best. These snakes seem to do better when kept in a cage where they can "retreat" to the back. A more square-shaped cage, even with the same floor space, seems to cause them to stand their ground and fight, which can cause them to stress, go off feed, develop respiratory problems etc.

And I think cages with dark sides and backs are better. None of these all-acrylic cages that have three or four sides of viewing.

I hope this helps. These are wonderful snakes that are not all that hard to acclimate, provided you leave them alone. But they can absolutly frustrate you to no end. They are peculiar that way.

Originally Posted by bleeding_sarcasm

they require a temperature drop at night for breeding. thats the big secret, which i guess is out.

I have been trying to tell this to anyone and everyone who will listen. I only find mine copulating in the low 60's. We need more people successfully breeding these snakes. The other key is to incuate the eggs very cool. The eggs of gravid imports are fairly easy to incubate. The eggs produced by long-term captives prove to be much more difficult, for some reason.

Hey, I'd be interested in hearing what sized cages you and your boyfriend used for your adults. Like I said in my lengthy previous reply, I'm struggling with picking that right compromise between too large of a cage which causes stress, and too small of a cage which seems just flat out wrong for such a wonderful species.

I have had some do well in large cages while others have only kept feeding if kept in relatively small cages. In fact the first pair that I bred was kept in a cage only 18"x16"x36". I would not recommend it or care to do it again, but they did great.