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Eastern Indigo Snakes and Captive Breeding?

K

kbaker116

Kyle Baker
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I am very interested in the Eastern Indigo Snake. I have noticed while looking on here that they can be quite expensive. Besides them being threatened is their a specific reason why they are expensive? Also do they breed at all in captivity? Thanks for any information!
 
Robert Bruce- probably largest western US breeder, price is because there rare, and hard to breed correctly. If you want one, look for one in your state. Otherwise you'll need a permit.
 
Well, its not that they don't breed well, its that after they breed you need to do something. Do what, I don't know. But from talking to Mr.Bruce it seems like the incubation is tricky.
 
Utta said:
Well, its not that they don't breed well, its that after they breed you need to do something. Do what, I don't know. But from talking to Mr.Bruce it seems like the incubation is tricky.
Click to expand...

Actually, it's not all that tricky at all. You just have to treat indigos differently... ;)

In case this isn't common knowledge they breed in October and November. No, they don't have a breeding regimen like your typical colubrid. The secret is to provide the female a warm spot beginning in February (when most people would actually have them in brumation) for 8 hours a day. In the wild, the female will BASK in the sunlight outside of the burrow she is brumating within. Without this important part of the regimen, the eggs do not develop properly within her body, and then slowly die after laid while incubating in the medium you set up. Therefore you THINK that there is something wrong with the method you are using to incubate the eggs, when in actuality, the mistake you made was with the female while gravid.

Eggs will be laid sometime around April and hatch late July. One of my very fondest memories is while living in Maryland, hatching out my first clutch of these little gems and standing there in my basement with a double handful of freshly hatched baby indigo snakes on my own birthday. :thumbsup:
 
I understand the Easterns can also be subject to egg binding a lot more so then other Drymarchon. Any truth to that Rich?

Learning all I can about Drymarchon, specifically unicolor. Was recently informed by a friend, that eggs were laid, and one has my name on it. My first Dry ever! :D
 
crotalusadamanteus said:
I understand the Easterns can also be subject to egg binding a lot more so then other Drymarchon. Any truth to that Rich?

Learning all I can about Drymarchon, specifically unicolor. Was recently informed by a friend, that eggs were laid, and one has my name on it. My first Dry ever! :D
Click to expand...

Beats me. I only worked with the easterns. The only time I can recall having egg binding was during one of my earliest breedings. And I blame that on my trying to treat them like typical colubrids. I now believe that the basking spot in the late winter months is critical.

Besides, if you have ever seen indigo eggs, you would be amazed that the females can pass them at all. They are R-O-U-G-H besides being B-I-G! They look like they have been sprinkled liberally with salt. They HAVE to hurt coming out! :ack2: I can easily see how a female might give up early if she has delayed laying them too long and they have swelled up.

Speaking of which, when you set up an egg laying box, make sure it is BIG, and make sure the peat moss (or whatever medium you choose) is packed TIGHTLY in there. The female needs to be able to actively BURROW into the medium to make her nesting area. Otherwise she will delay laying the eggs while she tries to find a more suitable nesting site.
 
Rich Z said:
Beats me. I only worked with the easterns. The only time I can recall having egg binding was during one of my earliest breedings. And I blame that on my trying to treat them like typical colubrids. I now believe that the basking spot in the late winter months is critical.

Besides, if you have ever seen indigo eggs, you would be amazed that the females can pass them at all. They are R-O-U-G-H besides being B-I-G! They look like they have been sprinkled liberally with salt. They HAVE to hurt coming out! :ack2: I can easily see how a female might give up early if she has delayed laying them too long and they have swelled up.

Speaking of which, when you set up an egg laying box, make sure it is BIG, and make sure the peat moss (or whatever medium you choose) is packed TIGHTLY in there. The female needs to be able to actively BURROW into the medium to make her nesting area. Otherwise she will delay laying the eggs while she tries to find a more suitable nesting site.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. It will be a while before I breed any Dry's though. I still don't know if I want to go for the Easterns or just stick with the Cribo as far as mating goes. Still have a lot to learn about their care, ect.

Thanks again! :thumbsup:
 
Dang a lot of questions about eastern indigo's were cleared up just reading this thread. I would like one of these snakes but as mentioned before they are expensive. So I got to stay with some of the cheaper colubrids until I can get some money to buy me one.

they are definitely not very common in captivity or at least not that I've seen. I've seen other ones but not the eastern.
 
Keeping them is also a little different. Indigosforever will shed alot of light for those of you looking to get into Drys
 
shedding often

I have bought several adults but the one I raised from a hatchling is my fav. He's six and a half ft. And he still sheds approx. every 70 days. Shedding is done for growth, does this mean he is still growing very very fast? He's eight years old. Can I expect a large snake?!! He seems to put on about two inches a year now. Any opinions? Shannon
 
Wow, Shannon....I saw your all-black for sale, I really wanted to buy her, but you said California only. If you still have her, and are willing to cooperate with permit forms, I'll buy her. Retired hooker, huh? Cool.

Two inches a year isn't going to get you much more than, um, two inches a year. That's definitely not "very fast". After the snake reaches sexual maturity, growth slows dramatically. A baby indigo can grow 3 feet in a year.

At the Indigo forum over at Kingsnake, I put a link to a study on Indigo growth....my own couperi are not even close, because the breeder believes in maintenance feeding, which kept them small. I'm working really hard to correct that, before they reach 3 years old or so, when growth slows dramatically.
 
well cared for girl

This little beauty should please you. Her parents had been bred for black and she's got just a little off white under her chin. She too had been raised by a lady that babied her with the best of everything but fed her only three mice or three fish at a weekly feeding. She eats salmon, most fish, turkey neck, chicken breast, rats of course, quail and more. She might be a terrific breeder, who knows?
 
Hi Shannon -- great to talk with you this evening.. Wish my babies ate like your girl! We'll work this out, and your girl will meet my family of couperi and cats. And she'll be well attended, and have a lovely big always clean cage, with live plants and warm and cold hideboxes.

She will breed, with a varied red throat and all black heritage, and her babies will be spectacular. Unlike some people, I'll prefer to make the strongest species by mixing the COUPERI breeding....not minimizing the gene pool, by breeding for some characteristic. After all, we have a limited gene pool, especially since we're forbidden from wild interbreeding.

Do we not owe it to couperi, to make sure their genetics remain diverse, rather than becoming a toy, of human beings?
 
Well spoken. Today folks seem to use the Planet as though they were going to Heaven and never have to look back. Maybe they can. I certainly don't think of animals as seconded class niggers. No offence intended. It sounds like shes going to be spoiled all over again. I took her to the back yard today for her pooping and sunning. She and the male have been picking up each others sent and are mad to get it on but she's not large enough so there you go. Thank you for calling. Call again anytime you can catch me. Regards, Shannon
 
I'm afraid I have received an "INFRACTION" from the Moderator, for "Inappropriate Advertising and Spamming", for post number 16, above. Anyone else see an advertisement or spam there?

Nice way to thank the guy who spent $50 of his hard earned money, just to sponsor this forum , so it wouldn't be cancelled. I guess I'll have to try to find another site to discuss Drymarchon, where forum participants are treated with just a modicum of respect.
 
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