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Posted by Raven01 on September 17, 2002 at 13:30:08:
In Reply to: Re: Feeding schedule & size posted by patricia sherman on September 17, 2002 at 09:28:49:
:Actually, your snake is a very young adult, maybe a three-yr-old. The biggest recorded E. o. spiloides, was 18.25 inches (2.13 metres) long.
I've emailed the couple I bought him from and asked if they could let me know the gender and age since I forgot to ask while I was at the show. I'm glad to know that he is probably younger than I was guessing. I must've misread on the size because I thought the average was 4-5 feet on the rat snakes. Bigger is not a problem at all though. :) With 4 boas ranging in the 6-7 foot range and 5 more boas that will reach those lengths as adults, I'm definately not intimidated by big snakes. lol
:That slenderness is one of the features that I find most attractive about the colubrids. They're also much swifter movers than the boids.
I must admit, the slenderness is one of the many attractive features to me about the corns and rats. And they really do move a lot faster. It keeps me on my toes! lol
:At four-ft+, he could actually take an adult mouse or two very easily, or even a small rat. The bulge should last for about 24-hrs or so. By this age, a once-weekly feeding is quite adequate, and he may even be okay to go eight or nine days. My creamsicle corn is a 3-yr-old, measures 45.5 inches, and weighs just over 450 grams (16 oz.). He eats an adult mouse or a weanling rat each week to ten days. My old E. o. obsoleta pair (15+-yrs, each abt 7-ft-long), feed on adult and/or small adult rats, every ten to 14 days.
The weanling mouse I fed him was one from rodentpro.com (weanling for them is a small mouse anywhere else). I only gave him one for his first feeding to see how he did, but will most likely feed him 2 mice every 7-10 days or so. The only other f/t mice I had on hand were jumbo adults from rodentpro and felt they were really too large for him. The dumerils boas I have that are feeding on the jumbo adults still show a nice bulge after eatting them, and they are considerably thicker than the grey rat. The weanling he ate left a nice bulge that was just visible the next evening.
:We'll enjoy seeing the pics.
My brother forgot to bring me the camera today, so whenever he remembers is when I'll get to take the pictures. :D
:I was recently looking for "white-oaks" rat snakes, and I was surprised at how difficult it was to find them. Mine are a pair of yearlings, bred by Ric Morales. Presently, they're residing with Dwight Good in Kentucky, awaiting their long trip into Ontario, and eventually to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (just below the Arctic Circle). I'm a great fan of colubrids. Not only are they extremely pretty snakes, but they have such accomodating husbandry needs. I especially enjoy the convenience of them brumating each winter, enabling me to take a worry-free winter vacation.
I've not seen the White Oaks for sale at the local shows at all, even the grey rats are pretty rare. In my area (central Virginia), it seems that the more brightly colored colubrids are what is 'in'. While the coloration is one of the things that realed me in. Their temperment, ease of care and overall beauty were the clenchers. I imagine that being as far north as you are, the brumation factor is quite a plus. In my household, I doubt they will ever go into brumation - I'm too cold natured and rarely let the ambient temps in the house get below 70-75 F. :)
Raven
