Re: Russian rats

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Posted by Ratsnake Haven on October 04, 2002 at 17:12:57:

In Reply to: Re: Russian rats posted by bruce b on October 03, 2002 at 18:33:19:

::I would have to disagree with Marcel as to 25 C being the maximum temperature they can stand I kept them and breed them in Miami, Fl with no problem. They seem to go on feeding frenzy in the spring and fall. they also would actively feed when the weather was in the 50's thats around 10C. As a friend pointed out corns might feed when it was this cold but they wouldn't keep it down.
: The neatest thing was the female laid a clutch of eggs while I was out of town being sort of busy I left the eggs in the cage with her. Then I noticed during the day she would be basking in the sunlight coming through the window and at night she would be wrapped around her clutch. Everybody who saw this said she was brooding. Wish someone else could confirm this behavior. BTW this very snake is pictured in John Mehrtens LIVING SNAKES OF THE WORLD.

I think the temp should be a little higher too. My summer temps range from about 74-82*F (28C). During the spring and fall we usually ave. around 68-78*F, depending on outside temps. We can vary the temps in our herp room also, by using overhead lamps and moving cages higher or lower. The room has electric heat too, but I don't like to turn it on unless it's really cold outside, because it reduces the humidity.

My Russians have been eating since early April and probably will feed until Halloween at least, but that also depends, because they seem to want to hibernate earlier the older they are. If your snakes are close to being wild caught, they'll want to hibernate even earlier. One pair I got would go off feed in late August. Captive born do much better.

It wasn't mentioned what age the Russians in question are. If they are youngsters, pinks are fine. If they are big enough to eat adult mice, here's a good trick. When they start to go off feed, switch to smaller mice, live. My adults go nuts when I put live crawlers in their food jugs. Then they get to eating again. Good luck.

BTW, very cool observation about the brooding, Brian, and neat snakes in Mehrtens. I've never left eggs with the snakes long enough to witness this, but they do bask a lot, as the sun passes their window in the early morning when they are wanting to warm up :)

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