S'N'A Intermediate Series : Episode 32 - Tiger Rat Snakes (Spilotes pullatus)

[@joshcresswell3793]

Everyone wants to see more of these videos. You really hit it on the head and these are absolutely missing in the last few years. Please come back with some of these Chaz

[@saw292]

I came across a 6 or 7 foot long tiger rat snake in Costa Rica by accident this past April. My husband and I were hiking along a lesser travelled path in the jungle, and I was distracted by a sound of a volcano vent in the distance and took my eyes off the trail. I felt the heel of my foot roll over what I thought was a large stick but it had felt different to my heel, a little squashy, so I figured it was a decaying stick. I looked down and exclaimed, "Oh! Oh! That's not a stick, that's a snake!" The snake remained still, but I noticed its tail was rattling (we did not hear it because of the background sound of a waterfall or a volcano vent). It was beautiful. I was strangely calm. My husband took a photo from a distance, and gave the snake a wide berth as he walked around behind and we continued on. The snake was gone upon our return, an hour or two later. I have been trying to learn more about the tiger rat snake since then, especially reasons why it remained so docile and did not lash out with its tail. It did not move, except for the vibrating of its tail tip while we were in i's presence....despite me almost stepping on it. I am wondering if it had just eaten (but I did not notice a bulge... would I?), was it not well (maybe infested with small ticks, as we were, but we got them off... very tiny), or something else. (having two large humans on either side of it?)... it was quite the experience. I am unable to attach a photo here. I came across your video as I was trying to find a video of a tiger rat snake eating...swallowing really; to see if there would be a bulge as it digests its prey and if it stays quiet, as I do not know. Quite fascinating seeing you holding one. Our snake did not inflate its head. It just vibrated its tail, kept an eye on us and remained calm.

[@samsessums2730]

My favorite snakes are the large colubrids and the snakes native to texas, where i live. Not enough videos about the tiger rat snakes. Thank you so much.

[@TesseraCraft]

Oh man big arboreal colubid that eats well in captivity, and beautiful. I live in the Houston area. I bet I could get these captive breeding, and could get Mexican localities. And you say the adults do ok incohabitaion. I would love to have a huge display enclosure for 1.2

[@BigBass-xf5yi]

An absolute gem.

[@barebonesbrisco3954]

Thank you!!!! I found this video to be well delivered and thoroughly informative! I just recently aquired what I believe to be a field collected Spillotes. I want it to acclimate successfully. Before I run any worming meds I feel I should be sure the snake is hydrated. It is feeding on nomal size mice atm frozen thawed.

[@pascalpalinkas8134]

Good to hear from you again! Just wanted to leave a comment regarding their "aggressive" reputation. As you said, they are very alert and in my experience rather nervous. So they tend to enter a defensive state quite easily, through basically any kind of disruption (which can just be unexpected movement on your part when interacting with them). They definitely get better with time though, however, they're very slow at adapting to those interactions and will take a while to get comfortable. I'm talking about weeks/months here. They definitely get used to you though and it's very rewarding to see them slowly accept your presence. The aggressive reputation mainly comes from their "territoriality". They're VERY defensive when inside their enclosure/territory (I'd assume that could become more than their enclosure, say if you let them crawl on a tree in your flat or something alike on a regular basis) and will puff up and strike when you intrude, even though that also gets less with time. Usually, they're a lot calmer outside their enclosure. Some individuals however will never "calm down" and remain very nervous/defensive anywhere. Well, to be honest, all of them will remain nervous and defensive but to varying degrees. They're not the kind of snake that will just "chill with you" and interactions with them definitely are an activity. Also, they're FAST. And can crawl backwards almost just as fast as forward, which really is incredible. When you interact with them, make sure their tail has something to grab onto like with all other arboreal species. A final disclaimer: They will always prefer to be left alone, so any interactions should be kept to a tolerable level for them. As mentioned before, they're very nervous and can easily get stressed out, so it should always be baby steps with them. Also, since they're so fast, you have to have hands on them at all times (not constraining their movement once they've calmed down, but you need to be able to stop them in case they go somewhere they shouldn't). So the "I'll just lay in bed and let the snake climb over me and explore the surroundings while I watch a video"-approach doesn't work for them. On a sidenote, this does work really well for boas. This ended up slightly longer than expected. I hope it's helpful.

[@deekay1310]

nah mine were wildcaught and once out of the enclosure they were sweet... you just dont know how to handle them in a way that keeps them calm..

[@Nezgog]

Thank you for these videos! Since finding your video on blue beauties, I know exactly which way to go for care. Keep them coming, the hobby needs more like these.

[@johnschlesinger2009]

Good to have another video from you - that's some snake! Re reptiboost: I use this occasionally as a supplement, which I inject into prey items. The manufacturer quotes mg per kilogram for the vitamins, and other ingrediants are listed as percentages, which seems a bit weird. Also, they don't give a recommended amount for a specified volume of water. I've always used minute quantities, and it would really help to know how much you use!

[@SnakesNAdders]

One scoop per pint glass. Should be 1:500ml and a pint is something like 568 so near enough. I often double dose for new arrivals.

[@jdssurf]

One of my top five favs easily. Just waiting for more room.

[@ArcadiaReptile]

another fantastic resource, thanks for posting.

[@dillardc81]

Glad you're back

[@jacobsieber7755]

Know it's been a a while but I thought I'd still ask. Would you say that care for S. sulphureus is fairly similar to pullatus? Had my eye on those for a few years and hope to aquire one, once I move to a larger place that can accommodate an appropriate sized viv. However, I found fairly little about them, most was just about pullatus. The few things I did sounded fairly similar to pullatus, with the main difference being a warmer hotspot (100f+, almost 40C, mentioned by different sources)

[@jdssurf]

Would love to see an episode on Rufous Beaked Snakes

[@chroniclesofab6206]

8:43, what do you mean by "central keeled lines" on the males? I just picked up a pair and on the male i can't figure out what you are speaking of lol

[@SnakesNAdders]

I will reload it.

[@MrJakeypakey]

Hey Chaz, great video once again! I just have to ask what happened to the rhino rat video? Don't mean to nag, but I have a personal interest and was really looking forward to it 😁

[@SnakesNAdders]

Life in the shop happened. I have got another subadult in this week so will try to get it sorted.

[@AustinTaOnYoutube]

Yesssss

[@Jt-lp9ki]

Do scrub pythons!

[@tristanlidenmarkothzen2413]

Am sorry to say this to you but your audio i think is almoast un existing so you now

[@c0dy1287]

I thought it was KZbin for a second but nope, zero audio for me as well .

[@SnakesNAdders]

I sat an listened to it and i can hear me no problem

[@c0dy1287]

@@SnakesNAdders working great now!