keelback

[ashley_morris22]

hi all
i am almost 100% about to buy a keelback. i own 2 macccies and a murray, and i fell ready for something different. now does anyone have information that i shoud know that might change my mind? i have email snakesnt for a little info. and thats who im buy off.

so is there a reason i might not want to get this snake.
any help will be great

Thanks
ashley

 

[Tommo]

brodie cant post for some reason so he says-

"Keelbacks are great snakes, and if you dont mind feeding them fish you should have no hassles with keeping them"

 

[Guest]

can they be weined to mice?

 

[ashley_morris22]

what sort of fish

 

[ackie]

i suppose they could but they would be very difficult as most frog and fish specialists are. Even if u did wean them onto mice they would more than likely obtain to much protein. And make sure u dont hold em by the tail coz they can drop it.

 

[ackie]

most people feed em small bronze goldfish called commets, they r cheap and all petshops hav em usually.

 

[ashley_morris22]

thanks mate

 

[eddy]

they dont bite but they do let off a pungent odour when there unhappy :shock:

 

[africancichlidau]

Don't Bite ?!? The wild ones bl**dy well do

 

[hey_im_sam]

Dont' get them if you plan on weaning them to mice, IMO.. Feed them fish, it's great having at least one or two snakes in your place that eat fish anyway, for something a bit different! No guarantees, actually doubtful you'll wean em to rod=entsand have a healthy snake.

 

[ashley_morris22]

now the fish do i feed as i would a mouse or do i put in a small tank in the enclosure?

 

[jimmy_the_kid]

Re: RE: keelback

they dont bite but they do let off a pungent odour when there unhappy :shock:

ill second that

 

[Fuscus]

Re: RE: keelback

Don't Bite ?!? The wild ones bl**dy well do

I've never let any wild ones get close enough to bite me. They are too simular to the rough-scale

 

[ashley_morris22]

RE: Re: RE: keelback

im going to get it of snakesnt so they know that the snakes ok ha and wont be a rough scale.
( i might sound dumb but i just dont want to do the wrong thing by me and the snake)

thanks
ashley

 

[Sdaji]

RE: Re: RE: keelback

Keelbacks are awesome snakes, but a little bit of a hassle, being fish feeders and all. Wild caught keelbacks are often really nasty to keep, they will possibly be close to impossible to get feeding on dead food for quite some time, if at all, although that's not a huge problem if you can get lots of live fish. Mine are captive bred and readily take thawed fish, they were very easy to get onto them. Wild keelbacks will also likely have parasites from their froggy diet and won't grow as big as a captive bred one. Keelbacks are generally really bad handlers (I've found that they almost never bite, and I've seen literally hundreds, although others say that they are snappy, which perhaps means that different populations have different temperaments). They're prone to going quite crazy and if startled will often leap around, even right off the ground. I don't believe that they are capable of dropping their tails (ie, through autotomy, like a skink or gecko) but their tails will come off if you hold them by it and they're frantically flipping around, just as any other snake's will. This seems to be a well propagated myth, probably based on one person handling one inapropriately (someone correct me if you know otherwise). They're really easy to keep and if you don't mind not being able to handle them and getting peed on if you do, they're probably a good choice.

 

[pythonkisses]

RE: Re: RE: keelback

Hello All

Am posting this for brodie as he can not get into site.


"I have also caught 100's of these in the wild, and played with a large number of captives. I Have seen their tails drop first hand, and no, they werent being handled inappropiately."

 

[Sdaji]

RE: Re: RE: keelback

I have also caught 100's of these in the wild, and played with a large number of captives. I Have seen their tails drop first hand, and no, they werent being handled inappropiately

I find that astonishing, as after seeing literally hundreds roughly handled, including being tailed I've never seen it happen. I assume yours were mostly in NT, perhaps they are different over there, I've never seen one in NT, only in the east.

 

[pythonkisses]

RE: Re: RE: keelback

POSTING FOR BRODIE

"I have seen a few QLD ones, but yes, your right, the ones I saw dropped their tails (not a huge number) were all from the NT. Before I saw this happen first hand, I used to tail them ooops hehehehe. Luckily none ive handled dropped their tails. I would feel bad hahaha"

 

[ashley_morris22]

RE: Re: RE: keelback

ha Sdaji, thanks for the help. but can i bother u with one more question. how do you keep yours. (ie. how much land, how much water, how deep water all the ins and out if you could it wold be a great help. sorry to bother you about it i just like them for some reason and i dont want to stuff it all up.

if for some reason you dont want to post here my email is
[email protected]

Thanks
ashley

 

[Sdaji]

RE: Re: RE: keelback

I keep mine with about 2/3 'land', water is maybe 2" deep. They don't seem to need terribly high humidity and with all the water you'll probably provide keeping it down will be the challenge. They like to have frequent swims (perhaps they are looking for food when they do), but spend most of their time in dry hides. I keep mine heated with a heat mat.

No worries about 'bothering me', it's always nice to talk about keelbacks, I like them too