Drymarchon care
Description:
Drymarchon is a genus of snakes known as Indigos & Cribos. They are a relatively large non-venomous snake from the Colubridae family.
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Lifespan:
In captivity, Drymarchon commonly live around 15-20+ years.
Origin & Habitat:
They are found in Southeastern United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America.
Drymarchon meaning 'Forest Ruler', they inhabit Hardwood Forests, Open Fields, Pine Flat Woods, Tropical Rainforests, Marshes. Eastern Indigos will often be found in the burrows of Gopher Tortoises which they use for shelter.
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Temperament:
We generally find the temperament of Drymarchon very good, although Yellow Tail Cribos are known to be the most aggressive of the genus.
Drymarchon are highly intelligent, very alert & very food orientated, so care must be taken, especially around feeding time.
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Housing:
Drymarchon are an active species, most keepers/breeders advise keeping adults in around 5-6ft enclosures, some prefer larger. Our adults are housed in 5-6ft Long x 2.5ft Deep Wooden Vivariums.
We house babies/ juveniles in plastic tubs of various sizes (starting from a 3ltr Braplast as newly hatched & moving up in size as they grown). We keep them in tubs in snake racks until they are around 2.5-3ft long, at which point they are moved into 4ft Wooden Vivariums until they are then big enough to go into their adult enclosures.
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Heating:
Drymarchon require a warm & a cool side to their enclosure for them to thermoregulate their body temperature.
Heat can be provided by means of a Heat Mat, Heat Cable, Ceramic Heat Emitter or Deep Heat Projector depending on the setup. Heat mats should cover between a third & half of the floor area. NB: The heat source should be controlled by a suitable thermostat & the temperature checked regularly with thermometers. If you choose to use a Heat Lamp or Ceramic Heat Emitter, a suitable Heat Guard Cage will be required to fit over the heat source to stop the snake from coming into direct contact with it & potentially burning itself. Check that the snake cannot fit through the gaps in any heater guards, so that they do not risk burning on a lamp.
Temperature & Humidity:
Drymarchon should have an ambient temperature around 70-80F (21-26C) with a basking area around 78-85F (26-29C). Temperatures exceeding 90F (32C) can be fatal for Drymarchon.
Humidity levels should be around 60-70%. Some keepers like to mist the entire enclosure to raise humidity, others, ourselves included, like to add a moist hide in the cool end of the enclosure. We do this with damp sphagnum moss or dampened coco coir. The benefit of this method is that the snake can choose to take itself into the moist hide when it is in need of extra humidity, especially beneficial when the snake is in shed. You also don't run the risk of over saturating the whole enclosure.
Lighting & UVB:
Drymarchon should have a distinct day/night cycle.
If you are providing vivarium safe lighting in your snakes enclosure, it is recommended to do a 12 hour on, 12 hour off cycle.
Although UVB is not essential for your Drymarchon, more recent studies have shown that it is beneficial for the snakes health. Drymarchon inhabit Ferguson Zones 1-2, meaning they are Crepuscular, Partial or Occasional Baskers, a UV index ranging from 0-3.
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Water:
Drymarchon drink a lot compared to other reptile species. It is important that they have access to fresh water daily as they can dehydrate quickly. Dehydration can lead to serious health implications.
It is advised to use a fairly heavy water bowl to prevent your snake from tipping it over.
If your snake toilets in its water bowl, be sure to replace it for fresh clean water immediately.
Shedding:
All snakes go through the shedding process, sometimes also referred to as sloughing of the skin. The shedding process will happen periodically throughout the year, with hatchlings & younger snakes going through it more often as they are growing.
Throughout the shedding process your snake will exhibit different changes to its normal appearance. This will include a dulling of your snakes’ skin colour, general inactivity often staying in a hide and their eyes will turn a bluish grey colour. At this time your Drymarchon may refuse a feed. Whilst your snake is in shed it is advisable to not handle it as their vision is obscured by the bluish grey membrane covering its eyes and they may feel more insecure than usual, therefore more likely to be defensive.
As mentioned in above, we like to add a Humid Hide in order to aid our Drymarchon with shedding.
When a snake starts to shed its skin, it usually starts by your snake rubbing its head on hides or decor to loosen the skin. Once it has worked its head free it will continue to crawl its way out of the old skin by rolling it inside out as it moves until it is completely free of the skin. The skin usually comes off in one piece but it is not unusual to have breaks in it or find it in a few pieces. Once your snake has shed its skin, the skin should be removed from the enclosure along with any faeces that usually accompanies the shedding process. You should check your snake to ensure that the shed skin has successfully been removed, taking particular notice that the eye caps and tail end have not been retained. If necessary bathe your snake and remove any patches of skin that have not been shed, to avoid infection or death of the tissue below it. If you are worried about removing any retained skin, please contact us so that we can help get this off for you.
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Feeding:
Although some keepers successfully keep their Drymarchon on a Rodent only diet, in the wild they actually have a very varied diet consuming birds, amphibians, fish, lizards, rodents & other snakes. We believe it is important to offer them as much variety in captivity also. We feed our Drymarchon Chicken Necks, chicks, quail, ducklings, frog legs, fish, squid, with Rodents being the least offered.
Drymarchon are known for not being able to tolerate large meals. Firstly they don't have large jaws compared to other species of similar lengths, Secondly if fed a meal that is too large for them, you run the risk of them regurgitating the meal or them being completely inactive leading to obesity. It is much better to offer smaller meals more regularly.
We feed our Drymarchon every 4-5 days.
Frozen food items should be defrosted either at room temperature or in luke warm water. Never defrost frozen food items in boiling water or the microwave as it is likely to start cooking the food item which could put your snake off of feeding on it or you will end up with a horrible mess when the snake attempts to eat it.
We recommend not handling your snake the same day that you are going to feed it as this can sometimes put them off of feeding. Likewise, you should not handle your snake for a minimum of 48 hours after feeding in order to reduce the chance of it regurgitating its meal.
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