Very strange tentacled snake behavior

[dkspftw]

So I've got a large swamp setup with 3 tentacled snakes in it.

Came home today to one of them above the water entirely, laid out across some branches and pothos. I think this one is the "explorer" of the trio, and is constantly on the move, but never seen anything like this.

I actually thought he was dead, because he looked totally dried up, except his eyes were clear. Never seen one intentionally dry up like this. I began to mess with him with a pair of tongs to sort of do a pokey-inspection and see if I had to remove him from the tank, and he spazzed out and jumped back into the water.

He seems fine now. Did I just observe basking behavior? There used to be a heat lamp in the enclosure but I removed it when I added some small treefrogs to the land area, so I'm thinking maybe he was just looking for a new warm spot. He was kinda chilling in the sun. But with the heat lamp, he always stayed under the driftwood under it in the water.

Anyway, should I be concerned? Was super weird, never seen one above water long enough to dry out like that before.

[dkspftw]

Think I may have observed some shedding behavior. I've never actually seen any of them shed, although I've seen the results and they seem to have no problem being water snakes in a tank with plenty of stuff to rub up on. When I checked them out this morning, the snake in question had cloudy eyes indicative of an oncoming shed.

So maybe the drying up and hanging out on the branches helped the snake loosen its skin?

[JLC]

I don't think we have any other tentacled snake keepers around at the moment. Very uncommon! Would LOVE to see pictures of yours and their setup!

[AdamL8]

I'd love to see the pictures of this setup too. It sounds pretty interesting.

[Neal]

+1 for seeing the enclosure. I wasn't aware of any keepers of this snake as well.

[Rage Beard Reptiles]

Very interested in seeing some pictures! Please share.

[dkspftw]

I'll try to take some new pics soon, I'm having some humidity issues with the canopy so I may change things around a bit this weekend.

Here's my original post setting up the enclosure:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/fo...ht=swamp+thing

It doesn't look much like that now as I've introduced some new curly willow branches and a ton of pothos. So it's way, way overgrown now, like a big green pothos box.

And before anybody gets into it, yes, I know I'm doing something inadvisable here. The tank is 6x2', and about 2/3 of the footprint is water, with a max depth of 1' or so. I originally built it for a reimanni snakeneck turtle, but he doesn't use the land at all, and seems to prefer basking mostly in the water. I added in the snakes, originally just one, as a sort of experiment, figuring that if they didn't peacefully coexist with the turtle it wouldn't be difficult to re-house the snakes, as they don't need much space.

And fast forward over half a year, and the turtle completely ignores the snakes. I'd say he thinks they're branches as he often climbs over them (which really just seems to mildly irk them, they don't generally react much if at all), except I've seen him watch them move. And they ignore him as well. There's actually a bit of an ecosystem going on between them: the food he eats is calcium-laden and since he's a messy feeder, the guppies swimming around in there eat his leftovers and are thus appropriately gut-loaded for the tentacled snakes.

I should note that I've got wet/dry sump/refugium, canister, and UV filtration on here, probably enough for an overstocked 400g tank. I've intentionally arranged the tank and limited the direct water flow in such a way that there's still a ton of mechanical filtration going on (especially in the sump and canister) but the waterflow isn't fast enough to disorient the snakes.

In this setup I've seen no snake injury or unusual behavior aside from the OP here, and I've observed the snakes happily eating, leaving behind sheds, and possibly engaging in mating behavior (a small and large one are always entwined) in the enclosure. I'd assume eggs would likely be eaten before I could find them, unless laid on the marshy land area.

I add alder cones, peat, and indian almond leaves for ph stabilization and a mild swampy blackwater effect.

I'm also presently experimenting with establishing a reed frog colony on the unused land. So far so good.

In the water there's guppies, a couple small fancy plecos that hang out in the driftwood, and some ropefish that use the marsh space like an ant farm. Crazy, I know, but up and running nearly a year with essentially zero issues so far. And because the tank generates so much of its own food (the guppies reproduce, the frogs will likely lay eggs/tadpoles if any survive, tons of algae grows, etc) it is incredibly stable and easy to maintain. I spend maybe 1 hour weekly cleaning and doing a water change, and 5 minutes a day feeding the turtle.

Once you've got a good environment for them, tentacled snakes are incredibly easy to keep. Mine are captive bred, purchased from Ben Siegel. I probably buy a sack of feeder guppies once a month when the snakes start getting ahead of the tank guppy reproductive rate.

Sorry for the rant, but this setup is my pride and joy. I'll try to post more pictures when I get some time to dust off my good camera.

[dkspftw]

He was doing it again yesterday!

I now don't think it's shedding behavior anymore. This does coincide with an increase in humidity in the air (it's very high, although I haven't measured it, I'd guess 80%) and a decrease in ambient temperature. Again, the snake was all up in the pothos and manzanita branches.

Anyway, as per last time, I gave him a nudge with some tongs and he jumped back into the water. But he seriously looked dried up, almost like he got stuck up there. Except that he had no problem getting down.

I tried getting a video but his return to the water was too fast. But, when he ran off he startled one of my frogs, which gave me a great video opportunity.



So if nobody on here is keeping them these days, does anybody know somebody who does? I know they have them at the Central Park Zoo in NYC, but emailing their info address does me no good.

[Pyrate81]

Uber cool setup. Thanks for sharing.

Don't know anything about the snakes. Perhaps giving the breeder a call and throwing some questions his way? Also, I know University of Pennsylvania has some wicked vet departments and know some pretty obscure information, maybe give them a call?

Good luck with them, sounds like they are healthy and you are doing everything right.

[dkspftw]

Uber cool setup. Thanks for sharing.

Don't know anything about the snakes. Perhaps giving the breeder a call and throwing some questions his way? Also, I know University of Pennsylvania has some wicked vet departments and know some pretty obscure information, maybe give them a call?

Good luck with them, sounds like they are healthy and you are doing everything right.

Hah, thanks. I'm definitely taking a few risks, but so far there haven't been any problems. I'll definitely check out U Penn, any source of knowledge is worth exploring!