Slaty-Grey Snake Q's

[croc_hunter_penny]

Hi everyone, a mate of mine is buying an adult slaty-grey snake. it is about 5 feet long, not sure of it's age but it is apparently very placid and it feeds well on chicks and mice. So here's his questions that I couldn't answer:

1. is $500 a fair price for this snake? (i said it sounds good, but he wanted more opinions)

2. what is a suitable tank setup for it? He wants a display tank so newspaper and a hide won't do. I suggested a half land half water type set up, but I wasn't sure. Any suggestions or pics of similar setups would be fantastic. also what size tank is suitable for that size?

3. Where in brisbane can he buy day-old chicks?

4. If he does a half water setup can he also feed it fish, and if so what are good feeder fish for reptiles?

I think there was another question but i can't remember it for the life of me, I'll post later if I remember.

thanks in advance for your comments!
-Penny

 

[Tiliqua]

Hi Penny,
I used to have one a while back. They are an amazing snake with skin like a water pythons.
I kept mine in a large tupperware tub about 2 foot square. He was about 3 foot when i had him.
I kept the setup simple with a large water dish, fine bark mulch sucstrate and a medium exo-terra hide. It ate large fuzzies from the day i got it so never bothered with fish.

1. Yes i think $500 is a fair price for one. They do not come up often, especially captive bred adults.

2. As stated i kept my setup really simple. Although they are often found near water their habitat extends into forest and woodland as well. Looking back i would have probably included some low branches to explore on. Although they aren't as strong a climber as say pythons, they do get about exploring as much as they can. A large water dish seems to fulfill any aquatic habits.

3. Dunno im in Sydney

4.Uncoloured goldfish are readily available from most aquarium/petshops. If its only small try Rosybarbs /feeder barbs

hope this helps

Tiliqua

 

[Dan123]

$500 is a bit more than i was priced 2years ago but i have not seen them around so i guess its fair if your mate is keen on a slatey.
slateys are a very much keep to themselves kinda snake so a 3/4 ft enclosure with lots of hides is ideal.
no idea on the day old chicks
if it takes fish he can by all means feed it fish same as a keelback or common tree snake. i have herd they are not as good for a snake as rats but that is for your frined to decide.
just on a side note if it is placid i would take it as i have never herd of a placid slatey in my life but i have not had a lot of experiance and ive seen more in the wild than i have in collections
i am by no means a slatey expert but i have been interested in getting one for a few years and done alot of reaserch on them.

 

[croc_hunter_penny]

thanks for the quick responses! i'll pass all the info along.

any other keepers with suggestions?

 

[Jonno from ERD]

G'day Rosey,

$500 isn't ridiculous, but it is top dollar.

If he wants a pseudo-natural enclosure, he is going to spend a great portion of his time cleaning it, and I think he will get sick of that after about a month. A lot of people don't realise how often colubrids soil their cages - literally every day, sometimes twice!

However, if the fancy enclosure is a "must have", then I would suggest a 4 or 5 foot fish tank, consisting mainly of land, with a shallow water section. If you introduce some fish into the water section, they will normally eat them.

If the snake is eating mice, I would continue feeding it mice. The waste created by day old chickens is copious and sloppy!

The market for Slateys is small - they are a plain looking colubrid that not many people have heard of, but they are a great snake to keep in captivity.

Take care,

Jonno

 

[Wrasse]

just on a side note if it is placid i would take it as i have never herd of a placid slatey in my life but i have not had a lot of experiance and ive seen more in the wild than i have in collections

My Slatey is placid, and curious. But easily scared and they do musk then.

1. A price is something you are willing to pay, if your friend wants this snake, then $500 isn't unreasonable.

2. Mine is kept in a tub, with a large water bowl, foliage and a bowl of wet spagnum moss for humidity.

Later I plan a 4 foot display tank, this will be set up with 3 foot of land and 1 foot of filtered water. Lots of foliage and hides. I expect that cleaning this tank will be a pain in the butt. But I will give it a go.

3. Pythoness has posted numerous times on APS that she has day old chicks for sale. Try a search on her name for her threads.

There is not a lot in goldfish to keep a snake fat and happy. The keels remain lean and hungry and go through a lot of goldfish. Financially, mice are better for the pocket and my Slatey feeds well on them, without the need to constantly top up fish supplies. Chicks are messy coming out the other end and do go through a snake pretty quickly and the Slateys can be a little messy to start with.

If this feller is used to mice, then I would suggest keeping that as the main food source, with a chick every few months and a goldfish or two on the off months. I certainly wouldn't want to be feeding golds too often.

4. Goldfish are suitable, although Platys, Mollies and Barbs are also good.

 

[croc_hunter_penny]

thanks for the input Wrasse and Jonno, he's very excited about getting it. I think he will experiment with the land/water tank and see how it goes. he might do what i have done in one of my tanks and fill the land section with polystyrene and then expanda foam over the top for a realistic terrain, so that it looks nice but is easy to clean (hopefully lol)

just wondering, why do they soil their cages so often? do they eat daily or is a mouse (or whatever) a week enough?

-Penny

 

[Jonno from ERD]

G'day penny,

I'm not 100% sure on why exactly they create so much waste so often, but most peoples hypothesis, including mine, is that they have a much higher metabolism and are also a lot more active than pythons.

Cheers

Jonno

 

[croc_hunter_penny]

well that makes sense. do you need to feed them more often to fuel this metabolism?