Tantilla, sonora species

[Marcel_h]

Hi,

Someone offerd my some snake that arent commonly kept around here.
Does anyone here have any experience with the following species?
Tantilla nigriceps
Sonora ssp

Thanks in advance

[GarterGuy]

Hey Marcel,
Well I haven't kept the Black headed snakes (Tanitlla nigriceps), but I have kept ground snakes (Sonora ssp.) before. They're very cool little snakes, but they are burrowers and most often come out at night. I kept mine on dry sand with one moist spot in a corner, with the water dish, for shedding and such. Mine fed well on crickets, freshly shed meal worms and wax worms. Only had them for a little while though, lost them....literally...they got out of the tank (who would have thought a little burrower would climb up a thermostat cord?????) and I never found them again. Very cool little snakes though and if you put a night light on them, you can watch them come out and cruise around at night. Hope this helps.
Roy

[Marcel_h]

Thanks for your reply! What was the temperature you kept them at?

[Ameivaboy]

Only had them for a little while though, lost them....literally...they got out of the tank (who would have thought a little burrower would climb up a thermostat cord?????) and I never found them again. Very cool little snakes though and if you put a night light on them, you can watch them come out and cruise around at night.

well i have never kept tantilla or sonora i can relate to that qoute, i had a sharp tailed snake that one of my old customers brought to me that was stuck to some packing tape on a box in his yard, so i freed the lil fellwo and kept it for a while till one day it just disappeared from the tank, i guess it got out of a hole that was about a quarter inch in diameter in the top of a faunarium

oh the only thing that I know about tantilla is that they eat beetles and their larvae and grubs....

[GarterGuy]

I kept my Sonora in the mid 80's with a "hotspot" in the mid 90's. At night they went down to the low 70's with out any worries.

[crayguns]

I've never kept the T.gracilus that lives here in Missouri, I've read they eat millipeds. Tantilla do have tiny rear fangs that secrete a very mild venom. This is too mild to make a person sick. The miniscle fangs, I've read are too small to prick a finger. They seem interesting.