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Ribbon Snake Help.....

L

Leahv1

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Hi I have 2 ribbon snakes and they mated 2 days ago. (2-1-04) and I was wondering how long it will take them to have there babies. and I was wondering how long after the babies are born do i wait to Hold the babies and get them use to people. Any suggestions will be appreciate.
Leah
 
About 2 months, in general. It depends on the species.
As far as ribbon snakes go, I haven't heard of many that actually calm down to be held. In general thay are nervous and flighty. However, it certainly could happen. I'd say it might take a good 6 months to calm one down to complete docility, mostly because baby snakes are all nervous and scared for a while.
 
feeding baby ribbon snakes

:( I came across this thread and needed some help. I have no idea as of yet, how to use this web sight so I had to ask my question this way. How and what do you feed a baby ribbon snake? Me and my sister walked upstairs to our room looked at the cage and saw that our ribbon snakes had babies. We want to keep them but we have no clue how to take care of them, especially how and what to feed them. We have 15 baby snakes that may be starving. PLEASE HELP! I hope someone who can help me comes across this soon and replys. We dasperatly need it. Also when can the babies be separated from the mother and sold or given away.

Thanks much,
Robyn:D
 
OK, calm down, little Wiccan.
Ribbon snakes eat fish. Go to a local tropical fish shop and buy some feeder guppies.
PLace them in a fairly shallow water container and when the babies stumble across them, they will likely go for them.
Baby snakes don't necessarily need to eat for a few weeks, though.
You an sell them when they are eating regularly.
 
Baby snakes don't necessarily need to eat for a few weeks, though.
Click to expand...
originally posted by: Shaky


Im not positive because ive never had a ribbon snake, but most snakes feed off of yolk sacks that they are born with until they adapt and are ready to start feeding.... Someone let me know if im wrong, dont try to turn it into an argument please....:flamethr:
 
my babies

i had a ribbon snake drop 13 babies on me . it hasnt been easy keeping them all alive . i traded off a few babies and now six months later i am down to 5 left . some of them were too small even to eat feeder guppies , and some of them died for no apparent reason . but hte ones that i have left are all in good health . i feed them feeder guppies every week or two . i also discovered last week that they will eat small tree frogs . i have had a number of food types in with them as it is a communal cage with 4 ring neck snakes ,several geckos and a leopard geckos .so its possible that they have eaten meal worms or crickets as well , but i havent seen it happening . the biggest shock i have had is how slow they grow . 6 months old , well fed , and not much bigger than birth size :bolt01:
 
Lonermon, you may want to consider separating out some of your animals. I've got both garters and leos. Most of the garters/ribbons, and I'm sure your ringnecks are wild caught. They can harbor parasites that can be very nasty to species not adapted to cope with them. Leopard geckos tend to sample their environment a lot with their tongues and will pick these up. Unless you're very lucky you'll wind up with a sick leo, and a single vet visit can more than pay for a new set up. Not to mention the radically different care requirements leos have. I'd get him out of there asap before he picks something up.
-Alice
 
Often Natricines and Thamnophids will gorge themselves.
Try feeding him larger or more numerous prey items.
If you simply don't offer food every day, it should be fine.
Another option is to lower temps by a few degrees.
 
I wouldn't recommend lowering the temps since your snake still needs to be able to properly digest its food. I do, however, think rationing is fine. Try feeding larger meals offered at longer intervals.

-Alice
 
I've never heard of ribbons eating mealworms and crickets regularly. Many will, however, eat earthworms / night crawlers. Some can also be "tricked" into eating pinkies. You can scent pinkies by rubbing one with your snakes favorite food, in your case this would probably be fish.

-Alice
 
I might try pinkies when he is older he is only 20 inches long i will try earthworms
 
I need some help! I have read everything all of you have posted. I have two baby ribbon snakes probably about five weeks old. I put some crickets in the terrarium, but I'm not sure they are them. I still see some moving around. I tried to feed them red worms cut up yesterday and they didn't seem interested. I know some of you suggest guppies, but they're two dollars a piece. They are too small for pinkies. A pinky is like six times the size of my baby snakes head. These snakes were born in captivity, and my daughter and I are really attached to them. Any advice on how to keep them alive would be greatly appreciated.
 
You need feeder guppies, not the "pet" guppies for sale in the display tanks. Here they are 10-20 for $1. They are very small, plain guppies. Places that sell reptile food and turtle food should have them.

Call around to the different local pet shops and make sure they understand you want feeders.
 
janettesuzy said:
I need some help! I have read everything all of you have posted. I have two baby ribbon snakes probably about five weeks old. I put some crickets in the terrarium, but I'm not sure they are them. I still see some moving around. I tried to feed them red worms cut up yesterday and they didn't seem interested. I know some of you suggest guppies, but they're two dollars a piece. They are too small for pinkies. A pinky is like six times the size of my baby snakes head. These snakes were born in captivity, and my daughter and I are really attached to them. Any advice on how to keep them alive would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Ribbon snakes don't eat insects and really they're adapted to eating small frogs and fish they find at water's edge. I'd be surprised if they eat earthworms. The feeder guppy idea should work - particularly if you put them (1 or 2 at a time) into a shallow water dish so that the twitching and flopping of the fish will attract the snake's attention.

Additionally, I feed garters and other natricines in separate containers. I've had the experience more than once of having to separate baby snakes that both were trying to swallow the same prey item, and I think one of the snakes could get chewed up that way.
 
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