So excited - finally getting snakes!

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They are all beautiful. The water snake sounds really cool.

Fed mine tonight, Spike ate but Dru didn't. She looks like she may be getting close to a shed, though. Last night I noticed that they both are developing more pink coloration. The guy I got them from said they were possibly corals, and Dru is definitely getting more pink on her head and body. I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow.

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There's one of Dru.

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Oh wow, I didn't realize your pair were corals, I thought they were regular albinos. They're really going to look awesome when they're grown out.
The wee water snake is cute, but really flighty when handled. Otherwise the bugger has a greedy appetite for endler's, and I usually find him/her in the water bowl/"pond" even though there aren't any fish in there. Drop a few in and they're quickly devoured. I'm thinking to grow it out bit, and once it's a decent size send it to Tennessee with my sister-in-law when she comes up for a visit to be released somewhere suitable.

Now I'm definitely overloaded with snakes. Three weeks ago I ran across a fauna classified post for 5 sub-adult DRMB's for the same price (per snake) I paid for yearlings. I immediately responded and said I'd take them. Got to thinking "where will I put them, really should just get a pair". Still in the process of clearing out some fish to make way for building enclosures for snakes. Well, I'll house them in tanks temporarily...
We drove 2.5 hours to pick them up today (Saturday) and were very pleasantly surprised to find the snakes that I was told were easily 3' were actually over 4'. If not mature enough to breed this year then definitely next year. Not high reds like the yearlings, but they will still produce some high red offspring along with the less colorful variants typical in a litter.
The seller also gave us a 6th, no charge. He had gotten 12, sold 5 at a couple shows, and kept the best pair to breed. The male of that pair has a prolapsed hemipene, and won't eat until it's been taken care of. The seller has literally thousands of snakes, and among those are 2 leucistic and 2 het Brazilian rainbow boas from Germany. Top end snakes for breeding, and some incredible diamond/jungle/chondro python crosses that were jaw-dropping colorful, yellow tinged with green, and successive generations will just get better.
On one hand I can understand him not wanting to bother with taking the snake to a vet. He literally has thousands of snakes, rows upon rows of racks/bins. On that scale what's one snake? Even if the prolapsed hemipene (been that way for a month now) is amputated the snake is still capable of breeding because they actually have 2 hemipenes. Also, there's no guarantee the snake will live in any case, though I think it's more likely to than not he will live if cared for.
On the other hand, I cannot agree with having responsibility for an animal and not taking better care of it than that. Needless to say, I'll be taking the poor guy to a vet Monday in hopes of getting him on the road to recovery one way or another. The seller told us if we didn't want him he'd be going into the freezer. :(
 
"I'm thinking to grow it out bit, and once it's a decent size send it to Tennessee with my sister-in-law when she comes up for a visit to be released somewhere suitable. "

This is absolutely illegal and unethical. It doesn't matter if the snake is native to that area. You do NOT release captive animals without Fish and Game permission.

There are pathogens that can be transmitted. Some areas may have a unique population.

http://tnherpsociety.org/reptile_review.pdf

"Releasing Long-term Captives: Why you can't do it.
It is illegal to release non-native wildlife into any area. Nonnative is any species that is not native to the area you are thinking of releasing it in. Many people do realize that there are many species of box turtles, for example. Just because there are box turtles where you live in Texas does not mean that they are the same species as the box turtle you brought back from your trip to Virginia.

It is illegal to release native wildlife without a permit. Even wildlife rehabilitators require special permits and licenses to operate.

It is morally unethical. Assuming you want it to live, giving it to a pet store for resale is probably not an option. The reason the California desert tortoises are under threat of extinction is because those populations not disturbed by habitat destruction are being decimated by a viral infection spread into the wild populations by sick former captives who were released into the wild to either live or die - the former owners didn't particularly care which, and had some foolish notion that if they were meant to get better, they would.

In addition, long term captives may be carrying organisms against which they have developed immunity but against which wild populations have not - thus a release such as you plan could be devastating to the native turtle populations. And, conversely, the wild populations may have immunity against organisms against which your foundling does not - again, a release could be lethal. Other animals may be affected as well, as many of the infecting organisms will happily inhabit many different types of hosts.

Releasing long term captives outside their normal range, even if it is in similar habitat, may also prove fatal as many of them fail to learn to feed, hide and generally survive. (One study of wild rattlesnakes resulted in most of the study group dying, despite the fact that the biologists released them into what they considered to be prime habitat for that species, an area which was devoid of any other rattlers.) Also, they have little natural defenses against predators which may be different than the ones in the locale in which they evolved.

The best thing to do is to contact your local herpetological society (or turtle and tortoise society, if applicable), and give the reptile to them. They will check them over to assure they are healthy, treating them if they are not. They will then be adopted out to people who will care for them properly."

I'm a former member of the Northern California Herpetological Society. This was taught to us all. Releasing long term Captives or Captive Born snakes is wrong and can endanger wild populations.

So many people do not realize this.


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Ah, good info there. I never considered releasing it in an area it wasn't native to, I was thinking it would be essentially the same as catching/keeping a native species for a short time them releasing it again.
 
Got a pic that sort of shows some of the pink hues they are developing. They get prettier and prettier every shed. I was told they were potentially corals when I got them but I was skeptical. I can't wait to see how they look a year from now.

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Ya, they're definitely showing more pink, going to be really nice when they're grown out. Those two should make some awesome looking babies too. (y)
We took the DRMB with the prolapse to the vet last week. The night before, he was soaking in a tub of warm water for a couple hours and passed a poop that seemed to be mostly fur. I had seen something white actually in the dead tissue of the prolapse, and that must have been it. Makes me think it was an intestinal prolapse rather than a hemipene like I was told by the seller. In any case, he got the dead tissue removed and a stitch to hold things in place while it heals, goes back Thursday to get the stitch out. I'm waiting until then to try feeding him, still giving him antibiotic shots every 3 days.
 
I hope the surgery works out. It's a shame they were just going to kill him if you didn't take him.

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Hey Alyxx, how are your beautiful boas coming along? The male DRMB has healed up nicely (as far as I can tell anyway, lol) and seems to be back on track with eating and growing along with the rest. It was several weeks after the surgery before I was able to get him to eat, finally used a tiny brown anole laid on top of a freshly killed mouse to break the ice. The following week he took another small mouse alone, then I had to use pieces of another brown anole (picked up 2 at a reptile show some time back and froze them for such contingencies) to get him to eat for a couple more weeks. Now he's taking fresh killed mice w/out the anoles, which is a relief, because I don't have any more on hand and haven't been able to find anyone online to sell/ship some. Even the lfs hasn't had any green ones for months.
The wee water snake and the Okeetee corn snake escaped from their enclosures, and I'm guessing they found their way out under the basement door. :(
Last reptile show we went to I was looking to pick up a Mexican black king snake, but Becka found a '15 pair of thayeri kings she loved, so they came home with us instead of the MBK.
Female, she has the irregular spot on the neck:

Male, sibling of the female, both are chow hounds and growing quickly:


Next Tuesday I have a '15 pair of Kunashir Island (Blue Phase) climacophora aka Japanes rat snakes coming.

Here's a pic of "Red", not the greatest name but when I took him to the vet they wanted a name, and that's what I came up with on the spot:

The other larger DRMB;s aren't as colorful, but they all have the same mellow disposition. Great snakes to handle, couple pics:




 
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