So this happened yesterday....

So yesterday I get an email from the local shelter posting they have a "special needs" snake.

Well some of you know that's my thing, adopting snakes needing a good home.


So I send them an email (I'm at work) and they call me back 15 minutes later saying the snake is being transported to their

satellite adoption store which is Pet Smart a half a mile away from my work. They give me the number to Pet Smart.


I call the store talk someone and they say, they don't know if the shelter is transporting or not. I said no worries, I just talked to them

and the snake is on it's way, and could you please hold it until 7pm I'll be there before then, I'm working and right around the corner.


I explain I can take care of the snake with no issues, and have every thing I need to do it. They took my name and said it will be waiting for you.

So this came home with me last night, They gave me the 20 gallon long tank with everything inside (Lego's included).


Of course no belly heat of any type, I did get a package of food, I took the stick on thermometer out already (that was some sticky tape)

I put a couple small reptile basic hides in there for the night and left him? alone. I'll redo the enclosure today and add a heat mat / thermostat.

I'm sure most of you can guess what it is. (in the 2nd pic) So it would probably be wild caught?

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...630-191024.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...630-191130.jpg

Northern Mole Kingsnake? I would imagine it's likely to be wild-caught (w/c)- not knowing the legalities of captive-breeding the local snakes in Virginia? I hope he's okay- what are the "special needs"?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Northern Mole Kingsnake? I would imagine it's likely to be wild-caught (w/c)- not knowing the legalities of captive-breeding the local snakes in Virginia? I hope he's okay- what are the "special needs"?

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It's a Dasypeltis (Egg Eating Snake),

Quote from the shelter......

"Special needs. this is an egg eating snake and will require a special diet and housing to adopt to her needs." They estimate 1 to 3 years old

Ah, you sort of implied it was a local when you asked about it being w/c, & very hard to tell much from that photo, as to your local "candidates". Very interesting addition (I have zero experience with these) & I hope he does well with you. Very likely a w/c then- I think your guess is likely correct. Funny they built him a Lego-hut- at least they knew he needed "something" to hide in, lol.

Sorry didn't mean to imply it was a local breed.

The reason I ask about WC was I found the following info "Captive breeding is virtually unknown, so almost all specimens available are wild caught"

Housing requirements seem to be 90* hot side / 70* cold side, that's quite a swing over a 20 gallon long.

and I have quail eggs but even those seem huge compared to it's head, but..

"They have extremely flexible jaws and necks for eating eggs much larger than their head"

so first feeding should be interesting if I can catch it eating

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ltis_atra3.jpg

Never had an egg eating snake but I do know that quail eggs come in a variety of sizes and I have raised quail. Coturnix seem to be the easiest to find of course. Might try to find someone who raises button quail if he can't manage to eat coturnix eggs.

That's a pretty cool find! He sure is pretty. Glad he got to end up with someone who will take great care of him :)

Well I cleaned out his enclosure (I'm guessing it's a male due to his size, females look a lot larger).

I hope he wont get mad because I took all his legos out. He now has a proper thermostat controlled heat pad and 4 small Reptile Basics hides

2 on the hot side 2 on the cold side, various sticks and plastic leaves (I'll never find him in there). I'm going to find a small birds nest at the

pet store and put it in there for his eggs, hopefully that will be kind of realistic, and maybe I can catch him eating and get a few pics.

I have some Coturnix Quail eggs they gave me but they look huge, I'll look for button quail eggs at the Asian markets around me, there's a couple

I looked for mites, checked him over, checked for eye caps ect with a 10x jewelers loupe I have, he was very patient with me.

1st pic is all the legos they had in his enclosure (owned by a kid/young adult I guess) the second picture is his new enclosure

You can see him in the pic, in the center of the sticks going to the left.

I'll try to get better pics of him in a few days

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...701-185800.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...701-185452.jpg

Sweet set-up for him. Somehow, I don't think he'll miss the Lego's...:cool: I sure hope he eats okay- you'll know soon enough.

I bet he will be much happier with his new enclosure design and heating. He probably doesn't care much between legos and pvc, but surely will like that he has more than one hiding spot now.

Put a coturnix quail egg in Saturday night, and no go still hasn't touched it. I have no clue last time he ate so might not be hungry.

The egg looks HUGE compared to the snake but they gave me 1/2 a carton so hopefully he eats. I did order some button quail eggs I should

get them this weekend so maybe a smaller egg might help. I let the egg warm up to room temp then put it in his enclosure and let it in there for him at

his convenience. I'll try a different egg, once he eats one then I can get a schedule going for him.

I found 3 different stores that carry coturnix quail eggs near me so supply is not a problem. And button quail I can re-order if needed

(Well I put him back in his enclosure and he got a big drink of water hanging off my arm, so hopefully thats a good sign)

Here's a few pics I got of him when we had him out for a short time.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...6-141634-1.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...6-143855-1.jpg

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