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Posted by Jack DeRyke on February 02, 2001 at 14:59:44:
In Reply to: Royal diadem rat snakes, s. Diadema, more info please. posted by Matthew on December 13, 2000 at 16:25:11:
: I'm looking for information on the species s. diadema. Please help out with anything you can.
This animal, also known as the Pakistani Jewelled ratsnake, starts off as a baby looking very much like a common gopher snake. At about a year or maybe more, they begin to develop either a salmon-pink or yellow ground color, in scattered patches. Their pattern fades except in a a few spots where it gradually turns into shiny black blotches. At 2 years, the whole snake is salmon with intense black blotches. The whole head is black similar to a Woma python. These are true eating machines- mine eat mice or small rats, as many as I'll give him, dead or alive- doesn't matter. Currently, he weighs 2+ lbs, is just under 5 ft at 3 yrs of age. Handle-able except that he REALLY doesn't like his head/neck restrained and hisses louder than my bullsnake if I do. He has never bitten a human, even as a baby. Feeding strikes are unusual: he will move his head so he faces head-on whatever prey is in sight, and invariably bites such that the rodent's mouth is engulfed and can't bite him back. No constriction is done, although he may throw a coil on top of prey to pin it while he swallows. Extremely aggessive when feeding, tense and 'racer-like' at all other times. Someone coined the phrase 'rat-racer' for these guys, rather than rat-snake, and it fits. Bill Gillingham at Great-Valley Serpentarium in Lodi, CA has been breeding the salmon variety for years with great success. A spectacular, handle-able animal as an adult.
