The Cold Blooded News The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society Volume 28, Number 9;   September, 2001

Ribbons in the Terrarium

by Al Winstel

Most herp keepers started off with a garter or ribbon snake either captured in the wild or purchased in a local pet store. Then we moved on to a rodent-eating species, perhaps a black rat snake or a corn snake or, in these days of massive reptile breeding facilities, a captive-bred tri-color milk snake or pine/bull snake. Eventually we were keeping boa constrictors, rosy boas, and a wide variety of other, more advanced species. What next?

More and more as I look through herp magazines and newsletters, I find information on planted and landscaped vivaria. These enclosures, designed to be a little slice of nature, work well for small lizards and frogs, but they tend to have their contents rearranged by turtles and snakes. Recently I grew tired of snakes that spend most of their time lying inside their hide boxes and began to research species that might be set up in a reasonably sized cage with some landscaping and observed as they went about their daily business.

In search of diurnal (day-active) species, I investigated the racers and whip snakes (active, but large and in need of a large space), patchnose snakes (desert dwellers that often insist on lizards for food), and members of the pine and bull snake group (again, large and requiring quite a bit of space). Eventually I arrived back at garter and ribbon snakes (rough greens were another possibility, but their capture in the wild is difficult locally, and state law [Ohio] prohibits their sale in pet shops). Ribbon snakes seem much more active than garters, and the western species (Thamnophis proximus) is not native to Ohio, making it legally available in local pet shops. . I eventually wound up with four western ribbons in a 30-gallon tank with a gravel substrate, a commercial water bowl in the shape of a rock, a large piece of cork bark, a plastic hide log, and a variety of plastic plants. The tank is covered with a screen lid and illuminated by a high UV reptile bulb and an incandescent bulb in a reflector. I am considering placing a water-grown or potted philodendron in the tank, but have not gotten that far yet (the plant is being rooted in a container of water on the window sill).

Watching these animals has taught me a lot about ribbon snakes that I didn't already know, having always considered them skinny garter snakes that were too fast for my aged frame to capture. For one thing, they are much better escape artists than most commonly kept colubrids. I eventually had to use weather stripping foam to seal the crack between my homemade screen tank cover and. the glass tank frame. Then I taped strips of brown wrapping paper to the inside top edge of the tank with the bottom edge of the strip curving away from the glass to form a baffle for snakes leaning against the glass side. Prior to this, two specimens did escape, but I recaptured them (something that thin isn't easy to find, either).

Ribbons don't climb up stems so much as drape their bodies over them, distributing their weight so that they can ascend very delicate plants with little damage to the stems. Most of the time, the ribbons are visible only as glimpses of a striped pattern under an artificial "bush" that I placed on the tank floor. When hungry (usually two or three days after being fed three or four rosy red minnows per snake), the snakes tend to poke their snouts through the stems when I enter the room, but will quickly withdraw if approached. I have yet to be bitten when handling the snakes for cage cleaning, but they do thrash wildly about, making them poor subjects for a close physical relationship.

The dropping of live minnows into the water bowl elicits an almost immediate reaction from the ribbons. The first animal out of hiding will approach the bowl and then rapidly thrash its head and neck back and forth under the water in search of a fish. Successful contact quickly stimulates a sideways grab, and the fish is a goner. By this time, one or two other snakes are at the bowl and reaching for the already captured fish. If the original captor is quick enough, he or she will withdraw quickly to the end of the tank to swallow the fish in peace. If not, a tug of war ensues. I have yet to witness a smaller snake swallowed, but several times I have had to place my hand in the tank to encourage one of the combatants to let go. Within five minutes, each snake has eaten three or four minnows, its ration for the next two or three days.

A couple of the snakes exhibit a slight spotted pattern between the longitudinal lines due to the extension of the skin after a heavy meal. Sometimes the smallest snake doesn't get much of a meal, and I have to feed it in a separate container. Fish that do not move are usually ignored unless they are in the water with live fish; then they are often caught inadvertently while the others are being chased. The snakes digest their meals amazingly quickly, and a snake that goes without food for a week will begin to look undernourished.

If I observe the cage shortly after midnight, all of the snakes are hidden. However, by six a.m. one or two snakes are often lying elevated on a piece of cork bark near the cage top and beneath the incandescent bulb that has not yet been turned on for the day. I doubt there is much heat left from the previous day by that time; instead, I believe the reason for this behavior is that ribbons may sleep up on vegetation to avoid predators.

As of this writing, I have been keeping these snakes for nearly eight months. One of them looked heavy last spring, but it was a false alarm and no young appeared. Assuming I have at least one pair, it will be interesting to see if the snakes can be cooled this winter and will breed in the spring. I imagine they will need to get down into the 50's to avoid starvation. I also tried to add some Anolis to the tank, but the lizards have not done well, seeming to be stressed by the snakes. I haven't witnessed any actual attempts at predation on the anoles by the ribbons, but I wouldn't be surprised if this occurs.

Ribbon snakes and other day-active snake species promise to be as interesting as tropical fish when set up in a well-designed vivarium. There's also a lot less water to change!

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