Egg eating snake

[Mix]

I know a lot of folks on this forum have knowledge about more than garters, and wondered if anyone has any experience or knows much about egg eating snakes? In particular the East African (Dasypeltis Medici).
I have tried researching these guys, but have found that information is limited and many times conflicting:
Some said they are the most docile and 'nice' snakes they have come across, while another said they were aggressive and not easily handled.
One said they do not breed captively, so most specimens for sale would be w/c, while another article said that they breed year-round. :confused:

I will of course continue to research, but thought it worth a shot to see if anyone here had any words of wisdom. ;)

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Keeping these snakes is tricky. A lot of them won't feed in captivity unless they are treated just right and that's why I have seen vendors selling them with a "free feeding kit" that includes a syringe. That involves you sucking the contents out of an egg and syringing it down the poor snakes throat. To me, them selling the snake with a syringe is a huge red flag. in my opinion, if you have to force feed a snake every meal, what is the point? The snake is not happy and is suffering immensely. So, the most important aspect of keeping these guys is to get one that is feeding, and/or to provide the perfect habitat for it so that it will feed. For egg eaters, that pretty much means providing a cage with height as well as length, and providing a fake birds nest up at the top. You simply need to make the snake think that it has climbed up this stick and happened upon a bird nest.... and then place a small egg (quail eggs work) in the nest at feeding time. They are nocturnal and prefer to eat at night under the cover of darkness. I have read and been told that this is the standard way to start finicky egg eaters but once the snake gets into the habit of routinely eating eggs.... it will probably accept them just by you laying them under a dark hide. I myself plan to keep egg eaters some day, and since there is a bird farm down the road that sells quail and budgies I will not have trouble acquiring fresh eggs. As far as breeding in captivity.... I am pretty sure it's ben done, but you'll have to get healthy specimens and it will definitely be a long term project. I do know that they are very aggressive snakes and do not tolerate being handled. They are really a look-at pet only. They usually eat 3-5 eggs in a sitting and then not eat again for a month or so. They can only eat fresh, un-developed eggs. Egg eaters can even sense if an egg is bad and will not eat rotten eggs!

[Mix]

Thank you!
Most of that I had found in my research, but it was verifying whether they were agressive (or whether that even varied by sub-species) that was of most interest to me. I know they don't have teeth, but the last thing I want is to be stressing out my snake, and I guess it would be easy to do with one that is already agressive. I have since come across forum posts on RFUK (reptile forums uk) with photos of people handling their egg eaters... but that could be misleading. I'm not so worried about handling, as I really do enjoy just watching them, but of course, handling is essential when cleaning or quarantining etc.

I didn't intend breeding at all, but was interested to see the different messages being given out by different people! This is why I've been confused on the entire 'characteristic' of the snake. Some people saying they're aggro, some saying they're their pride and joy and so docile... Go figure.

I had heard about the tube-feeding thing, and it had been stated that this was an emergency measure and should really only be carried out by a vet or professional - so I am surprised to hear of people selling them with a tube 'kit'!! I agree that that raises a red flag. Perhaps those sellers are not housing them properly and so have unhappy guys?
I haven't gone as far yet as researching finch eggs locally available, but I can get quail eggs no problem. I would definitely make sure it was egg-feeding already.

I just think it's so important to have all the info you can get hold of before deciding to actually go get one.
I'm looking at getting a 51-inch tall viv in about a week's time, and thought that would be the perfect home for an egg eater - but it will be put to good use regardless :D
And I'm still hoping to find a melanistic garter ;)

Thanks again so much for all the input! I have a lot to think on. xx

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

There is a BEAUTIFUL melanistic egg eater for sale on KS right now. If I wanted an egg eater right now, I'd buy her. She's solid, shiny black!

[gregmonsta]

Stop it Shannon :P .... not fair taunting us Brits like that!!!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I seriously have considered buying her! She is so beautiful, I just am not sure I am ready to take on an egg eating snake yet. I am looking into a pair of captive born calabar burrowing pythons. call me crazy, but they are certainly one of the oddest looking snakes out there! And I do plan to be the queen of oddball snakes....

[Mix]

Oooh, that's like the one I found for sale in the UK! I have an incredibly large soft spot for melanistics! I guess it might have been tempting me more than if it were a regular brown or grey one... I guess it helped it to catch my eye!

I actually would want to message the seller though, since there's no info on the snake itself (no age, sex, feeding, c/b or w/c etc), or advice on keeping - which kinda makes me question the site. Just an 'add to cart' button. :(

Is 'KS' a US site? Sorry for my ignorance ;)

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

kingsnake.com..... it's got a really large classifieds section. Here she is...

kingsnake.com Classifieds: Black Egg Eating Snake: $125 (http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=6&de=811327)

[Mix]

Ooooh!! :D Lovely!

OK, I think I have confused different sites, because the one it's for sale on does include some info. I think my head's spinning with gathered information today! :P

Here 'it' is:
Egg Eater Snake - £59.99 : Junglebugs!,, online spider and invert store (http://www.junglebugs.co.uk/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=36_41&products_id=45&zenid=20324b88594a3f360f3d23576b8d0b8d)

I just want to pop my hand in there and remove that shed! :)

I notice the seller says at the bottom that they AREN'T aggressive... This is why I've been so confused and undecided. That and the possible difficult feeding, of course.

[Spankenstyne]

I have a medici & it's one of the most docile snakes I own. Strangely confident too, it won't shy away when someone approaches the enclosure or puts a finger near it's face. Even if they were aggro they have no real teeth to speak of & don't get very large so they aren't capable of doing any damage even if they wanted to.
Mine seems to do best with med-high humidity & cooler temps, ambient basement temps with no hotspot. Around 65-75 winter (usually around 70 though) and 75-85 summer during heat spells (more often 75-ish though). I've found that sometimes it takes a few days of leaving the eggs in there before it'll decide to eat, but usually they're gone the next morning when I feed. This might be where people have feeding problems, they haven't waited it out. I've been told they tend to binge eat which makes sense as they would raid a nest and likely go without for a while looking for another opportunity in the wild, but that said I've had success feeding weekly a couple of eggs and also with feeding several eggs with a few weeks between feedings. I haven't had troubles getting mine to eat while the previous owner did have some issues. I believe that most of those problems are likely husbandry related & people trying to keep them like they do the rest of their snakes. I set up an Exo terra type enclosure with real and fake plants, some fake vines to climb & hang out on, & a cork bark slab "tree" with a fake birds nest up top made from one of those peat pots from the garden store. I tore a piece off and shaped it like a nest. It's pretty dry here so I mist it most evenings with the odd day off here & there for some variance.

I find the biggest problem is securing a regularly available food supply. I'm lucky to have a friend with connections who supplies me with finch & budgie eggs most of the time but winter seems to be a problem getting eggs.

Couple of pics from June of last year (haven't taken any recently)
Unfortunately these shots don't show much of the back pattern but it has the typical white cross bands along the back.

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/Colubrids/ea1bjun2010.jpg

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/Colubrids/ea1cjun2010.jpg

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/spankenstyne/Colubrids/ea1ajun2010.jpg

If you have a food supply and enjoy something a little different then I say go for it.

[ConcinusMan]

She I am looking into a pair of captive born calabar burrowing pythons. call me crazy, but they are certainly one of the oddest looking snakes out there! And I do plan to be the queen of oddball snakes....

Those things are so fugly! :eek:

[Mix]

Spankenstyne, thank you so much for that info! I had read about using the fake nest, and as I said before, I'm (hopefully) getting hold of a rather tall viv, so there'd be plenty of room for a fake 'tree' area to put it in.

To be honest, I was starting to think that the dangers of non-feeding might be cause to give it a miss, but your experience has shown it may not always be an issue. I too had suspicions that husbandry and unhappiness on the part of the snake may be the reason some of them do not seem to eat. I also read that eggs could be left in for up to two days?

I really have to think on this one, and also check what size eggs it is currently eating, as I don't yet know of a local source for the smallest eggs (finch etc).

[Mix]

Oh, and the calabar pythons are strangely cute! They look like earthworms made out of mahogany.

[Spankenstyne]

No problem. I had heard the same thing about the eggs and early on would throw them out after 2 days. It was after accidently leaving some in for just over 3 days and then having both eaten that I decided to ignore that.

Now when I feed I pretty much leave the eggs in until eaten. If it takes a couple/few days to eat then I normally skip the following week's feeding since it's around mid-week by then. If they started to look or smell obviously bad then I would certainly throw them out, fortunately I don't recall having had to do that yet.

I usually get a bunch of eggs at a time and put them in the fridge & take a couple out at a time for feeding (or more if you're leaving a couple/few weeks between feedings). Sometimes mine will only take an egg one day then the other a day later but a couple of eggs weekly worked well all last summer. I was concerned about keeping eggs for too long but had some in the fridge for a month at one point and they ended up getting eaten no problem, so you can keep them for a while refrigerated. I found that it seems to work better also to not clean off the eggs too much even if there's a bit of bird poop on them. I've seen some places say you have to wash the eggs beforehand, which made little sense to me since nobody is washing them in the wild. They're equipped to deal with it & I think the stronger scent might even be more attractive to them.

On a side note... Calabars are awesome. Richard just hates anything that doesn't have the word concinnus in the name ;)

[Mix]

That sounds good.
After reading the info about the snake, it says it is an 80cm female, so I'm guessing that would be adult (or not far off)? It also says she is eating quail eggs, so that would not be a worry.
I think we're edging toward getting it. :) Just want to make sure I can get the tall viv, and then that it's definitely the right decision.
Thanks so much for your advice, it really has helped to clear things up!

[Stefan-A]

Can't you freeze eggs?

[Mix]

I don't know, but there is a store about 10 minutes from home that sells quail eggs, so it hopefully shouldn't be a problem.

[Spankenstyne]

Can't you freeze eggs?

I don't know, haven't tried. I would be worried about the liquid expanding and cracking the egg. They don't seem to take already broken eggs.


Mix, sounds like it's already well established & an adult or close to which should make things easier. I don't know that the "nest" is necessarily needed, but I do tend to feed from there mainly and mine spends most of it's time near there. I've had some eggs fall out and still get eaten and I also have put some at the base of the plant and have them also get eaten. It's not as picky as I was expecting.

[Hornets23]

Looks pretty cool!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Oh my gosh!!! Those pictures just brightened my day. Your snake is SO cute!!!

[ConcinusMan]

Richard just hates anything that doesn't have the word concinnus in the name ;)

Hey! Not true.:confused:

After all, it doesn't have "Thamnophis" in it's name so strike one...

One look at it took care of strikes two and three.:p Looks like a turd. No, wait, I've seen turds that looked better.

[kibakiba]

I think it's strangely cute. I even like legless lizards, which my mom thinks are oversized mutated slugs.

[ScarletteSerpentry]

7692I just picked this up yesterday at a local expo, as a "yellow egg eating snake." I know that's not a species. She has been eating budgie eggs, and I was told she ate last week. I have seen documentaries about these, and have been trying to find info on them all day, but yes, there is a lot of conflicting information. This one is extremely friendly though, and seems to LOVE attention. She's also very yellow, and I think she's gorgeous. I have a store that's not too far away, that sells quail eggs, and we also have 6 budgies. 5 female, and 1 male. I am still not sure how many eggs to give her, or when or how often, but I guess if I keep reading, I will eventually figure it out. I know this is an old thread, but any more information would be helpful. :)

[ConcinusMan]

I think that's a Pseustes sulphureus you have there. If I'm not mistaken, they are not restricted to just eating eggs. People feed them chicks and rodents too. They just get the reputation as an egg eater from their habit of raiding bird nests in the wild. Also, when they "puff" as a threat display, it makes them look like they swallowed an egg. I hope you don't mind large snakes. They are one of the largest colubrids and length up to 14 feet has been recorded.

[Selkielass]

Very pretty!

14 feet? Wow. If she were mine id start watching craigslist for one of those 6 foot tall cabinet style chameleon habitats, just yo be prepared. She's going to be magnificent, but wow. That's big.

I met a big colubrid (crevice maybe?) At a local reptile show and he was well over 6the feet long and a total sweetie. Not intimidating at all. Just as calm, curious and friendly as our little guys, but scaled up. (( pun intended.)
Good luck with yours. Id love to see updates as she grows.

[ConcinusMan]

I met a big colubrid (crevice maybe?) At a local reptile show and he was well over 6the feet long and a total sweetie. Not intimidating at all. Just as calm, curious and friendly as our little guys, but scaled up.



Sounds like a cribo. (South American relative of the Indigo snake) Their personality is just like that of a sweet, smart garter snake, but they're somewhere in the range of 6-9 feet long.

http://imageshack.us/a/img28/9656/gedc1566.jpg

People buy them at shows when they're like this because they just can't resist their sweetness.

http://i45.tinypic.com/20jh8pf.png

Then five years later they're like "holy ****!"

http://thereptilereport.com/assets/Screen-Shot-2012-08-25-at-5.23.12-PM.png