Posted by Tim Brophy on August 14, 2000 at 17:06:01:
In Reply to: Tim, you are the bravest indigo keeper in North America:-) np posted by Doug on August 13, 2000 at 21:29:07:
: :
: : : SO SLOW!?!?!?!? hahaha...
: : : seriously lets spice this forum up some!! anyone have any ideas to get more people here??
: : : maybe put a link with any drymarchon ads on kingsnake.com etc.. with a link to here...
: : :
: : : anyhow lets try and boost some interest in here... this group of animals is so much cooler then kingsnakes (blah!) why is this forum so slllooooowwww....?
: : : lets change it.
: : : sorry rambling again (damn I do that alot)
: : : Jordan
: : It is not really all that slow, particularly when you consider that there are possibly 1,000 or so kingsnakes in captivity for every Drymarchon. At any rate, just for the heck of it I tallied up my male eastern indigo's food consumption was from August 1, 1999 to August 1, 2000.4 (I was just curious)
: : He ate 201 adult mice, 1 rat, 1 red-headed woodpecker, 1 rufous-sided towhee, 3 robins, 1 brown thrasher and 2 mourning doves! All birds were well-frozen/thawed roadkills. He is nearly 7 ft. long
: : My large female ate 164 adult mice, 12 rats, 1 cardinal, 1 meadowlark and an American toad. All birds (again) well-frozen/thawed. The toad, I am kind of embarressed to admit, she caught herself. I had her outside for photos and exercise. Before I knew it she had discovered and grabbed the toad. I made a half-hearted attempt to remove it, but she was not about to let it go! She is about 5 1/2 feet long and growing. I have a large, secluded yard and frequently let an indigo crawl around while I watch closely. Know it sounds a bit strange, but they seem to enjoy the exercise and never, ever tear off to escape.
No, not really brave. Actually, I am extremely cautious. I have a very large yard and watch them closely. Also, my yard is very secluded. This is one of those things I would never recommend anyone doing, (but I do it myself). Also, I only have one out at a time. Believe it or not, my large female actually sometimes crawls back up to me and coils under my lawn chair! I swear, these snakes have brains like mammals. Another good result is that they always defecate outside. No clean up! I would never try this with Lampropeltis, Elaphe or Pituophis. Those snakes are just too unpredictable.