Two New Snakes!
 

After years of searching websites, I finally got lucky and found a pair of pink-phase(also known as red-phase)Western Coachwhips(Masticophis flagellum testaceus) at the South Carolina Exotic Animal and Reptile Show today in Columbia! These snakes are really rare in captivity, as are most Coachwhips, owing to a bad and undeserved reputation that strikes fear into even venomous snake keepers. In some parts of the southern United States, there is a widely-believed wives' tale that these snakes will chase a person down, wrap around him, and beat him to death with their tails, and a LOT of folks believe that! Even people who know better still can't help but feeling a bit of fear when faced with one of these snakes, who also have a reputation(again, not deserved)for being nasty-tempered and difficult to care for in captivity. Only recently has there been any interest in keeping and breeding these non-venomous snakes, which can exceed 8 feet in length. Western Coachwhips normally are light tan in color, but sometimes can be pink or even red. The female, who is about six feet long, is in the first pic, and she's actually the more colorful of the two. The male, who is not as pink as she is, is in the second picture. He has a horrible and deep scar on top of his head, which shows up nearly black, and probably was from an encounter with a hungry bird, like a crow, which attacks snakes by stabbing at their heads with its beak. The darker brown snake at the top of the pic with the pink male is a male Eastern Coachwhip, but he's in shed and looks pretty rough, so I will have to get pics of him after he sheds his skin.

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/DSCF4992.jpg

I also picked up two new tarantulas at the show, and will post pics of them later when one of them settles down. She's a HUGE Avicularia braunshauseni, large enough to cover a CD, and right now she's got a bit of an attitude problem, but considering that she was in a 3x3inch plastic cup when I bought her, I can't say I really blame her, either.

pitbulllady

Aw, poor speeder. :P

Are you going to breed these guys?

beautiful snakes, PBL.

wonder if the male grabbed the crow and scarfed him down. That would be pretty righteous.

Cool snakes! :D

Awesome snakes! :bloogrin: They're really cool!

They're beautiful:bloogrin:

Coachwhips aren't big enough to eat anything near the size of a crow; even a large one can barely manage a big mouse! They do not have venom, and they aren't constrictors, so they do not have any means of killing large or potentially dangerous prey(and crows are large birds, and powerful predator/scavengers in their own right), so they have to be content with small rodents, lizards and the occasional small bird, like a cactus wren or sparrow. Coachwhips are long, but very thin snakes, built for speed rather than power. I guess that's why most adult Coachwhips in the wild are a mess of scars, since other than running away(or crawling, actually)they really have no defense against predators and often get chewed up by their own prey while attempting to eat it!

pitbulllady

They're cool looking,but I could never touch them. To quote a famous movie line:

Snakes why'd it have to be snakes.

I can look at them & not be scared, even if they're in a cage. But when they're out...I'll back off.

Why is that? Have you ever actually TOUCHED a snake? Most people think that the snake will feel cold and slimy and gross, but that's not the case at all.

pitbulllady

oooh, they're warm and have the greatest texture to them!

the little baby ones are so cute, too!:D