My House Snakes

Anybody that remembers me around here probably could have told you that if I got back into the hobby, I would get African House Snakes first.
So here they are my pair of dark phase fuliginosis. I've dubbed them my "Weapons of Mouse Destruction." House Snakes have quite an appetite.
The pics don't do their color much justice, but that's always how it is with House Snakes. They are actually darker than these pics are showing... olive green to black. When the weather warms up a bit I'll take some outdoor pics.

Here is the male. He is VERY shy. He's not looking as pretty because he's just starting to go into blue.



Here is the female. She'll probably be up to breeding size within a few months. I've had females her size lay for me, but I prefer them to be bigger. Oh, and she just shed.

Her coy, over the shoulder shot...



Giving me the stare down...



And this one is my favorite from this shoot...

TREVOR!!! *HUGS*

Your housesnakes are lovely. We also have an Olive housesnake these days. She's a terrible feeder for us-- she is on a 104 day fast at the moment. I've got her in with a live ASF and am hoping she'll take it tonight. Glad yours are doing well for you and living up to the bottomless pit reputation.

Also super, super happy to see you back!

Do you still have Sir Jumpy Bumpy Green Thing??

Your snakes are beautiful! I love the shiny iridescence of the one who just shed .

Hypancistrus said:

TREVOR!!! *HUGS*

Your housesnakes are lovely. We also have an Olive housesnake these days. She's a terrible feeder for us-- she is on a 104 day fast at the moment. I've got her in with a live ASF and am hoping she'll take it tonight. Glad yours are doing well for you and living up to the bottomless pit reputation.

Also super, super happy to see you back!

Do you still have Sir Jumpy Bumpy Green Thing??

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I'm SUPER happy to be back.

A couple of years ago when I sold my collection, Sir Jumpy Bumpy Green Thing went with it. He was HUGE when I sold him. He is one of the animals I miss most. I will get more pyxies though.

This pair was actually listed as Olive's, but they aren't true olivaceus. I'm pretty certain they are fuliginosis.
Do you mind me asking where yours came from?

Irish Eyes (Mrs.Z) said:

Your snakes are beautiful! I love the shiny iridescence of the one who just shed .

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Thanx.

Their iridescence is one of my favorite things about House Snakes.

Very beautiful!! I love house snakes.

lefty_mussolini said:

This pair was actually listed as Olive's, but they aren't true olivaceus. I'm pretty certain they are fuliginosis.
Do you mind me asking where yours came from?

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You can ask, but I am not real sure. Tara bought her off a local guy via Craigslist. He was getting out of housesnakes and had her and three others. We're not even 100% sure she's a she.

Here is a pic:


She did not eat her ASF fuzzy today, either. So tomorrow will be 105 days without food. I am at my wits end with her, and my sand boa too. He constricted and killed his live hopper today and then left it in the aspen. He hasn't eaten in 103 days.

Beautiful house snakes. I would love to have one of the green phase ones. Just have not been able to track one done yet. @ Lauren I hope both your non eaters decide to eat soon. Good luck!

Hypancistrus said:

You can ask, but I am not real sure. Tara bought her off a local guy via Craigslist. He was getting out of housesnakes and had her and three others. We're not even 100% sure she's a she.

Here is a pic:

She did not eat her ASF fuzzy today, either. So tomorrow will be 105 days without food. I am at my wits end with her, and my sand boa too. He constricted and killed his live hopper today and then left it in the aspen. He hasn't eaten in 103 days.

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Looks like you also have a fuliginosis, which is the common brown... but they aren't as common in captive collections as previously thought... and they aren't always brown.
We probably have snakes from around the same area in Africa.

As far as it's sex, it should be pretty easy to tell just by a look at the tail. Males have a ridiculously long tail. It's hard to miss. Females will also get much bigger than males, but at the size of your little one you wouldn't be able to tell.

If you haven't tried this yet, you might wanna give it a shot for feeding...
Leave her alone for a week. If possible put her viv in an area with no foot traffic. After a week, get an undersized food item. The next size down from what you'd expect to feed a snake her size. Wash the food item with unfragranced soap and water and rinse real good. Dry it off real good. You could, for good measure, lizard scent the rodent too. Just rub it on a lizards vent or mouth. The vent is usually easier. Leave the food in with her, in her viv, overnight. Don't even put the rodent in until it's dark. And don't check on her until the next day.
This handful of tricks has worked for me with non-feeders in the past, sometimes with variations. When lizard scenting didn't work, sometimes chicken or tuna scenting did. Once you kick their appetite into gear, you can usually wean them off of the scenting pretty quickly.

And your male Sand Boa is being a male Sand Boa. I had one go off food for 5 months and then pick up like he never missed a meal. Didn't lose much weight either. It's cause they are SUPER horny. They stop eating cause they have one thing on their mind. Watch his weight and as long as it's not dropping too much, he should be good.

Kethryanne said:

Beautiful house snakes. I would love to have one of the green phase ones. Just have not been able to track one done yet.

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Thanx.
The GREEN green house snakes can be VERY hard to find. For a really green you either have to get olivaceus which is rare in the American pet trade, or a stunning example of green phase fuliginosis. But most green House Snakes are on the darker side like mine. A dark olive which is almost black. Again, the true colors of mine didn't show too well in these pics but they have a fair amount of green to them.

Yeah, I am not too worried about the sand boa. I've had him since 2007 and he's a fat little thing that never seems to lose weight and goes through this from time to time.

But the house WAS feeding okay on f/t when we had her in QT in our bedroom in a critter ranch. Then we got uppity and decided she needed a nice rack... she's not been feeding well ever since. I may just move her back into the critter ranch and give the rack to someone else. She is a 2009, and she is not much larger than that photo which was taken summer of 2010 I think.

She just doesn't eat.