Blue Beauty Snake Questions

[BluuWolf]

I have been looking into getting a rat snake of some sort for a while now and am really interested in the Vietnamese Blue Beauty ratsnakes. They look absolutely beautiful and with handling and care seem to make nice pets, although I'm aware some do have an attitude

I was wondering if anyone on here has one and would like you to share your experiences with it. Also when looking into their care I can't find a lot of info, so any links to good caresheets or tips would be appreciated!

Also what would be the average price for a hatching and what good breeders are there online? I wouldn't be getting one for months yet but I want to prepare

Thanks!

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[Prognathodon]

My husband has a VBB. As you’ve noticed, there is not a lot of care information on them, which makes it important to purchase from a breeder that provides support. Old world rats like temps on the cooler side, I don’t remember the exact range.

We were told smaller more frequent meals are better, but the guy who told us that is a know-it-all twerp, so take with a grain of salt - OTOH, not power-feeding is generally good. Ours is a reliable feeder, only skips if he’s deep in blue. He won’t take off the tongs, though, just leave it in the usual spot. When he was little he’d wait to eat until we weren’t obviously around, he’s not that shy now.

My husband’s is in a 2’ x 4’ x 3’ tall AP cage with a shelf and a jungle gym we built out of PVC, festooned with artificial vines after this picture was taken, and uses all of it.



He’s not a cuddly lap snake like some BPs - active and feisty. He’s getting in his adult colors and looking gorgeous.


He was bred by Rob and Amy Zerkle/Zerkle Reptile, along with my husband’s King rat snake. The Zerkles are great, if you want an old world rat snake, you can’t go wrong with them. They’re from Ohio, minimal web page, mostly FB. They’ll be at Tinley this weekend, I think they usually share booth space, and post on FB where their booth is at.


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[BluuWolf]

My husband has a VBB. As you’ve noticed, there is not a lot of care information on them, which makes it important to purchase from a breeder that provides support. Old world rats like temps on the cooler side, I don’t remember the exact range.

We were told smaller more frequent meals are better, but the guy who told us that is a know-it-all twerp, so take with a grain of salt - OTOH, not power-feeding is generally good. Ours is a reliable feeder, only skips if he’s deep in blue. He won’t take off the tongs, though, just leave it in the usual spot. When he was little he’d wait to eat until we weren’t obviously around, he’s not that shy now.

My husband’s is in a 2’ x 4’ x 3’ tall AP cage with a shelf and a jungle gym we built out of PVC, festooned with artificial vines after this picture was taken, and uses all of it.



He’s not a cuddly lap snake like some BPs - active and feisty. He’s getting in his adult colors and looking gorgeous.


He was bred by Rob and Amy Zerkle/Zerkle Reptile, along with my husband’s King rat snake. The Zerkles are great, if you want an old world rat snake, you can’t go wrong with them. They’re from Ohio, minimal web page, mostly FB. They’ll be at Tinley this weekend, I think they usually share booth space, and post on FB where their booth is at.


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Thank you! This info was really helpful! I actually just sent a message to them over at Zerkle Reptiles before I read this asking if they had some info they would be willing to share with me lol. I've heard nothing but great things about them! I know they would never be a lap snake like my ball pythons and I'm fine with that I'm hoping frequent handling will make it to where they will tolerate handling but I would also be just as fine to have them as a gorgeous display animals as well.

I just have two more questions. Do you have a hot and cold side for your guy or a basking spot? I've read on some places that it not needed but others say to have one but don't give any actual temps or anything. And do you do anything to control humidity? Like with the heat gradient the responses are varied, some say there is no need to mess with humidity at all, some say to take precautions to keep humidity low, and some say to mist twice daily to keep the humidity high but none say anything about what it to low or to high XD

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[Prognathodon]

The RHP is installed to one side, so it does create a warm side, and a basking spot on the shelf. My notes say to shoot for 82 F for a basking spot for the king rat, and IIRC the VBB’s is about the same.

When he was in an Exo-Terra-style enclosure we did have a mister, as I’d read to aim for, IIRC, around 70%, and he was on shredded coco coir. His sheds have been good since he moved into his AP enclosure, on aspen, with no special attention to humidity, other than a good-sized water bowl. I’m considering switching to a mix of shredded/chunk coco, though, for more aesthetic reasons.


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[BluuWolf]

The RHP is installed to one side, so it does create a warm side, and a basking spot on the shelf. My notes say to shoot for 82 F for a basking spot for the king rat, and IIRC the VBB’s is about the same.

When he was in an Exo-Terra-style enclosure we did have a mister, and he was on shreddedcoco coir. His sheds have been good since he moved into his AP enclosure, on aspen, with no special attention to humidity. I’m considering switching to a mix of shredded/chunk coco, though, for more aesthetic reasons.


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Alright thanks so much! Also I forgot to say but your little guy looks beautiful


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[Prognathodon]

Thank you! He’s getting pretty big, at around 6’ long, and taking weaned rats.


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[BluuWolf]

Thank you! He’s getting pretty big, at around 6’ long, and taking weaned rats.


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That's awesome! How old it he, and how fast did he grow? Lol sorry for all the questions I'm just super curious

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[Prognathodon]

I have him down as hatched on September 7th, 2015, and we picked him up about a month later at the Tinley Park NARBC, and he was about 23 grams. He’s grown pretty quickly, by January 1st 2016 he was almost 50 grams, early June was over 150 grams, early November was just over 400 grams, late June of this year he was 520 grams. I’m not sure if he’s levelling off, or if the growth just isn’t as obvious as they get larger.


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[chip07]

Zerkle is great! I don’t have blues but I have the Ridleyi and Chinese Beauty. He has been great with answering questions and has some interesting morph projects going on with the Chinese beauty’s.