devboy

They aren't that popular, it seems internationally that Cornsnakes, Ball/Royal Pythons and Boa constrictor species are at the top of the popularity lists. European ratsnakes tend to be somewhere at the bottom of everyone's 'must get' snakes. It seems that even though in modern days of keeping, we have greater opportunity for diversity in our collections, the tendency for conformity prevails. Its a shame, eventually market forces could reduce people who are interested in the unusual animals in their collections to such numbers that the unusual isn't bred in future.

Very common for my individuals at least, it all depends on the energy resources that can be afforded by the mother for egg production (as in any species), typically for Japanese Ratsnakes it is 4-6 eggs from my experience and correspondence with other keepers. There will always be certain individuals that usually lay more than this, just as there are those that will lay less however the norm is 4-6. I have 4.3 of these snakes and all females this year lay just 4 eggs. It seems only two clutches are fertile this year though. This year I have been somewhat distracted from my snake keeping duties, so I had all my snakes on a 'maintenance' only diet. Had I planned on breeding them, I would have ensured they had been fed more often, which no doubt would have given me more eggs, but I doubt many more.

Thank you gecko4life, I do have some eggs this year as well. So there should be some more baby E. climacophora to add to the 7 adults I already have!

Thank you very much Manu! I shall update you with new pictures once the eggs that have been laid this year, have hatched. The pictures above are of eggs from last year.

Merci Patt, reptilX & lemacho!

Many thanks all, I am so sorry I didn't update this thread with pictures of babies, I have had computer problems resulting in lots of files being lost I'm afraid. So I no longer have pictures of the babies. Here's a couple of pictures of some of the seven adults I keep though. Hope you enjoy and many apologies for resurrecting such an old thread! Please forgive me.

Yes, they do tend to be on the 'berserk' side of normality. My adults are usually a little more so. Glad you enjoyed the post.

Merci!

Last year this old female, laid two clutches, producing over twenty young. There doesn't seem to be many people keeping this species presently, some twenty years or so ago, they were quite popular. I suppose that's a reflection of availability of many more species, morphs and present day interest. Unfortunately, this is seldom in European species, more's the pity. I presently have three adults, 3 young and the other six young are to be sold. I once had many more, I lost them to the effects of an electrical fire, from smoke inhalation. I have a 1.2 trio of adults, the other female so far has not produced any young, or even eggs. I think she will need to 'mature' more first, she will be 4 years old next year. It seems age doesn't present much of a problem with this species. A friend of mine (Roger Butler), has a female of over twenty two years old and still produces fertile clutches. Lets hope your female produces some clutches in the future too! :-) I'll get back to you soon regarding getting a young male to you via Houten, I may pass the animal on to someone who has a table there, so it will be a case of finding that seller and asking for the snake, which will be reserved for you. Give me a day or two to organise this please. Would be nice to help a fellow R. scalaris keeper.

I'm not, but I may be able to find someone who is. Please understand I cannot promise anything at this stage, I shall enquire though. What would you like, a male only or a male and female, to make a trio with your lone female? I don't mind either way! Great to hear from another R. scalaris keeper.

That's unfortunate that you live over the water, I have a few for sale now and some eggs in the incubator. Rhinechis scalaris 9 Rhinechis scalaris 13 Rhinechis scalaris 14 All three are female, Number 9 was hatched on 01/11/08, both 13 & 14 were hatched on 31/10/08. They are still quite small due to being brumated during both winters for around 4 months. They should now start their growth spurt ‘proper’, as they are on small mice and all eat with gusto, if left in peace to eat. Rhinechis scalaris 09/03 Rhinechis scalaris 09/05 Rhinechis scalaris 09/06 09/03 was hatched on 31/08/09 and both 09/05 & 09/06 were hatched on 01/09/09. I have at least 4 good eggs (there are another two that I presume mould will get the better of) in the incubator too, my old female (around 19years old now) laid 13 eggs, unfortunately I didn't discover them straight away (I was away for a few days) and most of them dried out. I hadn't really expected her to lay this year as I hadn't made any concerted effort to breed from them. The male was introduced but only over a few days and copulation wasn't witnessed.

I believed that two of my climacs had reabsorbed their eggs.... :oops: I found both these today, presumably they were laid yesterday at some point after I checked in on them (I returned from a few days away yesterday). This one is from my female called Climac 4 (I know, an inventive name). Next up I checked this females (that'll be Climac 6, for those of you wondering what this imaginative keeper has named the snake) laying box.... nothing... So, before I misted it, as it was quite clearly very dry, I thought I'd better just check underneath in case. Good job I did!

Yup, the carpets will get worn with all this pacing! I'm very glad the Mom is alright too, I've known her since she was a hatchling, she's very precious to me.

I could leave them in the tubs and go to the coast, push them in your general direction and hey presto... Yeah, that sounds like a plan... one of my better ones too. She didn't lay any more and I was mistaken about the additional bulges, it must have been the position she was in. So all is good!

Thank you, we will be having surveys ranging from very specific subject matter to more generalistic on a variety of herpetological/hobby themes. To launch we thought we'd go for something general.