MHS Newsletter Volume 16 Number 2 Page 10 aquarium will work or you can make your own. Astroturf or newspaper will work for a substrate, but many specimens will hide under these materials or push them around and scrunch them up. Try using aspen shavings if turf or newspaper does not work. Always provide fresh clean water, but the bowl must be heavy otherwise large adults will spill the waier. Ventral heat is useful and a dome light on one side of the cage is recommended to keep the temperature in the upper 80's Fahrenheit during the day. Climbing branches are useful in this case, as many Black Rat Snakes will spend time using them. A Rat Snake's body is flat on the bottom (many references say it is shaped like a loaf of bread) instead of being rather round as in other species of snakes. This allows them to grip bark easily and scale large trees effortlessly. This also allows them to find their way out of cages easier, so make sure the lid is secure. These snakes may have a real problem with noserub, just like the other Minnesota Rat Snake, the Fox Snake, Elaphe vulpina. A secure, dark hide box will often times take care of this. If it does not, try making the snake's enclosure bigger or smaller. Unlike many Fox Snakes, however, Black Rat Snakes will usually eat readily and consistently in captivity, especially young captlve produced specimens. Black Rat Snakes are usually afforded some type of protection where they occur in the wild, but fortunately they are readily available from breeders or pet stores. Breeding may be carried out in the same manner as with many other Minnesota snakes. A hibernation period of about three months at 500 F is recommended. Warm them up and feed them a couple times, then (if possible) place two males together. They mayor may not combat. I have never seen nor heard or read of wild Black Rat Snakes combating, but I have had them do it in captive situations, although not often or consistently. AIl have resulted in successful breedings with females. I usually put both males in with her. After breeding, all snakes are separated and the female is fed heavily until she stops eating. I watch for the pre-egg laying shed. After this shed (sometimes before) I introduce a hide box. I use plastic shoe or sweater boxes full of damp sphagnum moss with a hole cut in the side. After the eggs are laid, I move them to the incubator where they are kept at 82° to 84° F. After 50 to 60 days the young hatch. They usually feed well on pinkie mice and even stubborn ones have all eaten pinkies scented with Gray Treefrogs, Spring Peepers, or Chorus Frogs. You will notice that the young will rapidly get darker, especially after their first year. There are also a couple of albino Black Rat Snake strains - all of which are attractive. These keep their young looking pattern throughout their lives. They will be ready to breed at three or four years of age.
Oldfield, B. L. and J. J. Moriarty. 1994. AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES NATIVE TO MlNNESOTA. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN. Rossi, John V. 1992. SNAKES OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA: KEEPING THEM HEALTHY IN CAPTIVITY. VOL. I, EASTERN REGION. Krieger Publishing Co. Malabar, FL. Staszko, Ray and J. G. Walls. 1994. RAT SNAKES: A HOBBYISTS GUIDE TO ELAPHE AND KIN. T.F.H. Publ. Neptune City, NJ. Vogt, Richard Carl. 1981. NATURAL HISTORY OF THE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF WISCONSIN. Milwaukee Public Museum. Milwaukee, WI.
California Zoological Supply has been serving the globe w~h cold·blooded animals since 1977. We are always interested in purchasing quality captive~bred animols. ~"'rm ,i
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Bibliography: Roger and Collins, Joseph T. 1991. A FIELD GUIDE TO REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH AMERICA, 3rd edition. Houghton Mifflin. Boston, MA.
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