Elaphe obsoleta and Elaphe carinata on the way (pics!)

[ashesc212]

Hey guys,

I'm so excited about two new snakes that I have coming my way that should arrive by tomorrow morning. One is a King Ratsnake (Elaphe Carinata) from BHB Reptiles and another is a White Sided Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta) from Ben Siegel Reptiles.

I am particularly interested in if anyone else has these, especially the king rat. There is not a whole lot out there in terms of care sheets for the king rat and stuff but I have a basic idea. I'd love more input from anyone who has one though.

One reason that I am so excited is that I have been obsessed with the beauty of rat snakes after coming across one in Western NJ earlier this year:

He was so beautiful! In my reading I have come across a lot of good words about the temperament of the black rat snake. When I was in Florida I visited Ben Siegel and he had a beautiful white-sided adult rat there and I held it and fell in love right there (this is kinda a bad pic but the only one I have):

Unfortunately, after I purchased it I received a call stating that they made a mistake and it had already been claimed at the Daytona show or something like that. So, they are sending a baby white-sided and I can't wait. I don't have a pic of it yet.

Now I wanted the King Rat Snake because I am also looking to get into snakes that have attitudes. I have heard a lot of crazy things about the temperament of the king rat snake and as soon as I saw this video I had to have one!: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaEGEr5FIwA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaEGEr5FIwA</a><!-- m -->

Anyway, BHB just updated their site to include the king rat babies so I scooped one up! Here is their stock photo on the website:

So let me know if you guys have a king rat! I will take more pics tomorrow!

Here are more of the rat snake in NJ:

 

[chelvis]

Ah man if i knew there was a rat snake lover on the fourm i would have sent all the ones i caught over to ya. I was in Arkansas not too long ago and it seemed like twice a week i was removing large black rat snakes from tiger cages. funny the tigers hate snakes well the black rat ones the ones with rattles on them are toys though... go figure.

Good luck with the snakes and that king rat snakes looks amazing.

 

[Bwindi]

Nice to know there is another avid snake lover on here!

I am the caretaker of North Dakota State University's reptile collection and there are three different rat snakes.

One female yellow
One male black
and one yellow/black (kin of the the female and male)

They are all great snakes, with enough handling of course!

anddd their tongues are black, which I think is really cool. The black rat snake seems to be more arboreal. He occasionally comes down from his branches to eat or drink but other than that, he is usually rooted up there.


That might be another factor to consider when designing the cage. Every snake is different!

Have fun with them! they are beautiful! :-D

 

[ashesc212]

Ah man if i knew there was a rat snake lover on the fourm i would have sent all the ones i caught over to ya. I was in Arkansas not too long ago and it seemed like twice a week i was removing large black rat snakes from tiger cages. funny the tigers hate snakes well the black rat ones the ones with rattles on them are toys though... go figure.

Good luck with the snakes and that king rat snakes looks amazing.

You are lucky! This was the first rat snake that I saw in 2 years of living and hiking in NJ. I've also have only seen one garter snake and one milk snake. It's kinda sad. I didn't even seen any snakes while I was in the Everglades a few weeks ago. I saw one dead cottonmouth on the road.

Nice to know there is another avid snake lover on here!

I am the caretaker of North Dakota State University's reptile collection and there are three different rat snakes.

One female yellow
One male black
and one yellow/black (kin of the the female and male)

They are all great snakes, with enough handling of course!

Wow, that's a cool job! What other snakes do you handle? Any hots?

So the rats arrived and the white-sided is very social, inquisitive, and YOUNG! He is a beauty though. He drank right away for me and has already explored his cage and seems to be settling in quite well. Unfortunately, he requires EXTRA SMALL PINKIES...and I only have regular pinks on hand so I couldn't offer him any food. I'm probably going to wait until the White Plains show this weekend.

But here's 3 pics of him:

Here is a video of me opening the King Rat Snake Box:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDM5BI3xoqs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDM5BI3xoqs</a><!-- m -->

And here's some pics of the king rat:

The king rat is not social at all. He is very scared and has been hiding in the crevices of the hollow zoomed granite rock thing that I have. He did eat 2 of 3 pinkie mice that I left in there for him. Normally I feed outside of the enclosure but he's such a chicken that I am just letting him eat in there for now.

 

[JohnMatthew]

Very cool new additions, it looks like you have your work cut out for you with that king rat! :-D

 

[DMBizeau]

They look great, im interested in hearing how you like the king rat. I hear they can get really stinky if they get scared or agitated. But they are gorgeous snakes.

 

[TeguKid80]

I have a king rat, subadult male that I am selling due to downsizing but he is a pretty good snake. Around 80 degrees is what I keep him at and he does well with that. Stinks like heck when he musks and he's a touch nippy.

 

[ashesc212]

I have a king rat, subadult male that I am selling due to downsizing but he is a pretty good snake. Around 80 degrees is what I keep him at and he does well with that. Stinks like heck when he musks and he's a touch nippy.

Have you had him since he was a hatchling?

Very cool new additions, it looks like you have your work cut out for you with that king rat! :-D

Thanks! I think I do!

They look great, im interested in hearing how you like the king rat. I hear they can get really stinky if they get scared or agitated. But they are gorgeous snakes.

Yeah he already musked me really bad yesterday! They aren't called the "stinking goddess" for nothing lol.

Here's some pics of the little guy feeding. Turns out Petco, not Petsmart, had some ridiculously overpriced extra small pinkies available! He was really hungry and a ready eater.

 

[TeguKid80]

No I have not, and he is not as bad as they are supposed to be =)

 

[Guest]

I have a white sided rat snake. She is very energetic and is always moving around in her tank. When she is being held she is very good, though. We use her as an education animal sometimes because she is so nice. I don't have any good pictures of her though. My friend also has a white sided rat snake and he is just as energetic but also just as nice. They also use him for education.