Finally, a Taiwan Beauty of my very own!

[Floof]

Now that she's settled in a bit and taken & digested her first meal with me, I figured it was time to share!

I went in to the Seattle reptile expo last weekend with no plans for a new pet. Strictly beardie food and window-shopping. Well... Enter the one snake that could make me break that rule. I've been dying to try Beauty snakes again for a couple years now, and this little gal fit the bill perfectly! She's a yearling Taiwan Beauty Rat snake, bred by Lance Portal Reptiles.

Here she is... My new little pride and joy! She's still nameless right now... I'm torn between "Kialandi" (a character from the Inheritance cycle) and something more dragon-y, like "Wyvern."

And this is her enclosure for right now. It's a 12x12x18" Zoo-Med terrarium. A wee bit small for her, but it does the trick until I'm able to upgrade.

 

[RobbiesCornField]

Congratulations, and a lovely animal!
I'm partial to the name "Wyvern", but that's just me.

 

[Floof]

Thanks, Robbie! And yes, I'm quite liking "Wyvern," too...

 

[Nanci]

I like Wyvern, too. Favorite series of all time. Her viv looks great! Does she climb?

 

[halicorn]

Beauty, there are 4 forsale around me. I have wanted one for soooooo long. I hear that they need alot more care than cornsnakes, that they are extremely fast and can not be handled alot.

Any information you have or even a link to a care sheet would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[Floof]

Nanci--I haven't seen her climb much yet, but I'm expecting her to start once she settles in some more. They're said to be a relatively arboreal species, which is why I went with the zoo-med instead of a tub.

I'm starting to think her name will be Wyvern...

PAIN--My experience with these guys is pretty limited, but from all that I gather, their care isn't actually all that more complex than corns. David (Carinata) would probably be a better person to ask, he's worked with these guys MUCH more than I have.

Anyway, from what I gather, the big differences between these guys and corns is A) They like more height/climbing space and B) they get a LOT bigger. My last Taiwan Beauty was around 6.5 ft (rough estimate), and I've heard they can get bigger yet. They can have an attitude, but it seems to be more of an individual snake thing. Though they have a reputation for being hyper-defensive, I've heard of more tame Taiwans than I have "mean" ones. My last one was convinced everything was food, to the point that I could only actually handle her if she was in blue (which, for obvious reasons, didn't happen often). So far, this little gal is proving to be perfectly docile. A little jumpy at times, but no more than I'd expect from any little baby snake.

Vietnamese Blue Beauties have the worse reputation. I haven't heard of many, if any, tame VBBs... Though if I do well with this little one, I'm tempted to try it. They are so gorgeous!

Anyway, I have to get going--have a flight to catch, ugh. I'll see about wrangling up a couple caresheets when I have a minute. IIRC, Ratsnake Foundation has some good fact sheets that cover the basics (temps, humidity, adult size, temperament)... It says the site is down for maintenance right now, but it'd be a good place to start when they're back up. I think they have a forum, too...