Meet Leviathan the watersnake

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...e/100_3126.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...e/100_3125.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...e/100_3123.jpg

I found this guy in mid to late May. He was lurking around the hand dug pond that was dug for the goats. I think the massive amount of tadpoles had attracted him. He didn't complain when I got him out of the water and had no problem being in captivity. If it's in his water dish, he'll eat it.

The pictures above are after his last shed on June 25th. I'd have recent pictures, but he's in shed again. When I last measured him, he was about a foot long, but I think he's grown quite a bit since then. As it stands, I'm attempting to find a decent fish diet for him, I have about twenty frozen guppies of various sizes in the freezer, so I have a supply of food, along with access to breeders. He'll eat pinkies (I tossed a thawed one into his water dish out of curiosity along with two guppies. The guppies got ate first, but he left the pinkie. I decided to leave it in until bed time. When I came back about an hour later, no pinkie).

He's still not a fan of being handled. He prefers to run and hide, but calms down once I have him in my hands. What's great is that he doesn't hide when I'm looking into his tank. Instead, he sits there watching me, occasionally tilting his head, almost curiously.

wow hes cool looking!

the way they watch you... that's what I LOVE about water snakes and garters!

yeah, they have some crazy patterns and colors.

He'll eventually turn a dark brown/black when he gets his adult coloring. Not as colorful as the pythons/boas, but still a pretty snake. I'm still trying to figure out what subspecies he is. For all I know, he could be a hybrid between two species :rofl:

It'd be nice to know for at least a size estimate. At least all the species eat the same things. I went fishing today and caught two decent sized bluegill (I love having three ponds on the property). When I get some time, I'll be slicing them up into chunks for Levi. If I can get him to eat out of a bowl/hand feed him, I'll go with the garter snake diet that's stickied. 'Cept I'll probably substitute one of the fish for bluegill, more than likely, the more expensive one/whichever I can't find.

After he sheds out, I'll see if I can get a length measurement on him. When I last measured him he was right at or slightly over a foot (by slightly, I mean a few centimeters).

yeah is he going to darken like the one in your avatar.?

Haha. I have no idea what the one in my avatar is, lol I'm guessing he'll end up looking like this guy:

http://www.fototime.com/%7B624D0D6E-...7D/picture.JPG
Random picture I found online, btw.

Levi shed today. I pulled out the skin and measured it. And the length is..

18 inches.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...e/100_3209.jpg

My boy is growing like a weed. :partyon:

image is deleted, but the link one that snake looks so cool!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...snake/Levi.jpg

Is the right picture.

pretty long!