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.

Thank you all for your kind words! Hi Justin, yup, these are indeed Rhinechis (syn. Elaphe) scalaris. What would you like to know about them? They are a hardy, easy to keep species. Not especially friendly mind. 11 eggs... not quite sure if she's finished, giving her a little peace then will inspect her. She moved away from the clutch which is usually the sign that she's done, but perhaps it was my ageing eyes playing tricks on me, I could have sworn that there was a lump or two more in her. Its possible it was the way she was positioned though. We'll soon see.

Thank you, she hasn't yet finished laying them, I'll be checking in the morning as its getting quite late here now.

The Ratsnake Foundation have launched there sister site yesterday www.reptilesurveys.info a site specifically to run a series of surveys, on various aspects of the hobby, ratsnake husbandry, breedinig etc. The site is open to anyone, anywhere to participate in, as, that way, we feel we will get a broader audience and greater participation. There is a simple captcha to complete before taking the survey, this is in place soley to stop spam bots from submitting there junk through it (not to test your maths ability ). The results of the surveys will be published on the Ratsnake Foundation and also in other herpetological societies newsletters who are co-operating with us. Please take a moment to visit the site and take the survey your participation is greatly appreciated - Thank you The Reptile Hobby Survey

we are having a hot spell here in the UK, 36C today, its now quarter to ten in the evening and its still 29C inside, around 24-26C outside.

Unfortunately I couldn't give a locale, these are captive bred and many generations in captivity. Two of them have come from Tula (in Russia), they were bred there. The rest are from captive stock without locality data too I'm afraid. I'll be waiting at least another year, maybe two before I'll try to breed from them. I do love them, but not like me Rhinechis scalaris I plan on taking over the world with!

They are indeed. A couple of them are had unusual patterning when young, but they are colouring up as you'd expect Elaphe schrencki to do so as they mature.

My pleasure, many thanks for the warm welcome. Hopefully I'll be sharing some more pictures of some Ladder snake eggs soon ... I hope!

Merci! I think mine are No.s 2 & 3, they have the most yellow and cleaner blacks, which will only get more pronounced as they age on all of them. Many thanks.

Some before and after pix showing the development of pattern and colour from juvenile to adult Russian Ratties... Ruskie 1 Before Now Ruskie 2 Before Now Ruskie 3 Before Now Ruskie 4 Before Now Ruskie 5 Before Now [img]

In the mean time, here's some of the male Here's one of him in mid hiss... Here's one of the female doing the same... One of her flattening her head, really exaggerating the dimensions of the head, presumably making them appear larger, possibly making them appear to have a 'triangular head' shape, maybe to give the impression that their bite is more dangerous than it actually is (totally harmless). A profile and body shot Once in a while, female scalaris can retain or partially retain their juvenile patterning and to varying degrees, their colouration. Many are born silver, only later to complete the ontogenetic transformation into the usual adult colouration and patterning seen above. Here is one such female that I had, she passed away at around 14 yrs old, due to smoke inhalation from an electrical fire I had. I really miss this snake. ...and yes, she really was a silver as she appears.