Not-Really-Colubrids: African House Snakes! Discussion and Show-off

Yes, I had a bunch of healthy 5-6 g babies this season in one clutch from a young mother with 21 eggs. That’s on the smaller side but not unusual with larger clutches. Most hatch more like 7-8 g. One clutch this season was more like 9-10 g. My smallest were around 3 g. Those were twins, and one who was in a truly tiny egg.

I can’t imagine this at all! :rofl: :joy: :rofl:

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GOODNESS it’s been a while.
Sangfroid is quite large now, and I am again struggling to keep that dang enclosure gardeny. I figured out where His Squiggliness likes to hide- under the base slates of some of his decor. I intend to put little feet on those so that they sit a half inch off the ground medium and provide him with a perfect hide of the very very low flat kind he likes.

He’s still on Live. Sigh. Sometimes, once in a long while, I can get him to take F/T. But he’s still eating fuzzies. Finally got onto the local reptile shop’s preorder scheme for Live food so now I don’t have to worry about getting them.

Pic tax! It is Spring, and the garden needs WORK but here is Sangfroid in the African violets.

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Sangfroid!! Love you little guy! Or not so little guy – I’m glad he’s been putting on weight for you. Picky man, but at least he’s eating.

He looks so perfect in that african violet. Nice to see his cute face.

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Yay for Sangfroid continuing to grow and occasionally deign to pose for adorable pictures! He’s so ridiculously cute, peering out among those fuzzy stems and blooms. :heart:

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So I should break my silence too and talk about the new little lady in our house. I’ve been holding off until I can get some good pictures of her, which has been a slow, slow process. She came to us darty and afraid of humans, and we’re taking our time acclimating her – sitting outside her tank when she’s active, getting her used to us messing with her quarantine tanks a little bit, only handling her for rare weigh-ins (and one vet visit where this little charmer farted on and bit the vet.)

You probably have seen her before in the Recently Purchased thread, but here she is: Andromeda the blue-eye boaedon capensis.


These were taking during her monthly weigh-in. She was certainly less darty this time than she had been last time.

She came to us a little over a month ago, from a breeder in Quebec who got her from someone else, but whose breeding plans had fallen through – so we’re her third home. She’s about two years old and 100 grams, but an absolutely awesome eater.

She’s extremely suspicious of humans and will run if I try and scoop her, but I am also beginning to get the sense that her personality, when she’s not spooked, is incredibly curious. She roams around her enclosure all night, hangs out on all the decor, checks out anything new we put in thoroughly, and has been absolutely fascinated by the camera the few times I’ve had her near it. If she can get over her dartiness, I think she’ll be a really fun little companion snake. I cannot get over how interested these snakes are.

Speaking of other housies, Chester tax:

Hangin out playing Mass Effect with us.

In slightly unrelated news, I am beginning to expect from how her tail has begun to look as she’s growing, that Chester may be male rather than the female she was sold as. Time will tell. I will laugh, though; that’s what we get for getting cheeky about naming her Chester I suppose.

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Adding insult to injury, what a little sass! :joy:

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Right? Using all the weapons at her disposal! My vet is a champ, she just laughed and told Andromeda to calm down. Barely even noticed the bite. I think she’s used to working with larger snakes. XD

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I’d certainly take a fart and bite (new fight or flight category??) from an AHS than something like a retic, with their powerful bite and coils and insane urine spray :joy: :joy: :joy:

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One of my 2024 corns tagged me this past weekend. Normally, most of mine are totally chill being handled before, during, and after feeding. This one was apparently extra hungry and grabbed my hand when I went to pick her up. She then started backing up, trying to drag her “prey” along with her. She was very determined. When she didn’t let go, I dribbled some water in her face and that worked. I had to laugh. She didn’t even break the skin except for one tiny pinprick. And she tried SO HARD! :roll_eyes: :rofl: :joy:

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The stuff of nightmares. I used to catch garters with my dad when I was a little, and their teeny tiny little musk was enough. Bite’s bad enough but absolutely miss me with the biological weaponry :joy:

you have GOT to admire the chutzpah, lmao! Chester gave me one such bite really early on and I ran to my wife afterwards to show her the teeny tiny pinprick single-tooth puncture. I was proud this 20g snake had broken the skin at all.

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From my own admittedly limited experience, garter snake musk is stanky!

Right?? Like, what was her actual plan here? :laughing: :rofl: :joy:

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One of my house snake girls I named Spitfire specifically because she bit me 11 times in the 5 seconds it took me to transfer her from her shipping box to her QT enclosure. :rofl: They have surprisingly long teeth for little snakes! But she’s been super chill ever since then and has never bitten me again.

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If she was gonna go down, she was TAKING YOU WITH HER :joy: :joy: :joy:

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Figured I’d give final updates from 2024! I ended up getting 18 babies total, and I was able to get every single one eating unscented frozen/thawed except for one baby who needed to be assist fed once and then picked it up! And they have gone like hot cakes. I haven’t even been advertising them for the last 4-5 months because I was trying to save my remaining babies for colubridfest, and even after doing that, I only have 4 left out of 18! I did wholesale 5 of them to Snake Discovery to sell in their store - I normally don’t wholesale but I agree with their ethics and they always check to make sure people have good enclosures, which is great.

I’ve started pairing Spitfire for this year and am hoping for some more clutches this year! I’m interested in a potential trade for one of my girls for a KZN red HET T- albino - I would love to get some variety and not just hatch visual T- albinos.

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That’s quite a success story! I wish you another fantastic year in 2025. :pray:

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ahh thanks for the compliments about Sangfroid. I will tell him, and his ego will only grow. Little Noodle Prince.

Congrats @kabre ! what a gorgeous beauty.

I come bearing another Sighting! He was right up at the front of the tank in his NightTime colors, olivine and grey.

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I showed this to my wife and, verbatim, “nighttime colours? It’s like he has pajamas! Aww I love him so much!!”

Sangfroid continues to be a hit. His PJs are very fetching.

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Wait, what? Nighttime colors?? That’s wild!!

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I didn’t know this would be that dramatic but yes indeed, Night colors! Black/Brown House Snakes (fuliginosus) tend to change color depending on the hours. By daylight they’re black, and at night they fade out.
I theorize that MAYBE by day they’re black to be able to heat up or cool off quickly, which black can do, and daylight causes darker harsher shadows they can blend in with.
Then by night maybe they’re greyish to blend with dusky nighttime colors, and again not be a visual contrast to their surroundings.

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Well, butter my top and call me a biscuit! How absolutely cool is that?! Thanks for the clarification. I had no idea that their colors changed with the hours. Fascinating.

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