Ophidiophile Farms Home Page
Specializing in Rare and Exceptional Rat Snakes
David P. Tracer
(720) 280-7360
sales@ophidiophile.com
2009 All Captive-Born Current Projects and Potential Offspring List
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list is updated frequently -- last update: 7/2009
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Who exactly is Ophidiophile Farms?
"Available Now" -- This is our list of currently available stock.
Ophidiophile News
If you visit our site at least monthly, you'll know that I've commented for the past several months about our Tokay project. The reason I can't stop commenting about them
in the "News" section is that I'm so jazzed about them. A relatively new project among the many we are working with, we've now had Tokays for about 18 months. In that time,
we've rehabilitated a pair of wild caught calicos back from the brink of death to a point where they are now downright chubby and the female has given us 8 eggs which are
incubating right now. The first clutch of 2 eggs is right at 100 days and should hopefully hatch sometime this month. We also added another pair just about a month ago. The
female is a wild-caught juvie that is best described as a blue-headed green with powder blue spots. The male is a captive-born 5 month old male blue-headed green. This pair has the better
part of a year to go before we'll introduce them for breeding but given how great they're doing already, we anticipate little problem in getting them to breed when the time comes.
Tokays are definitely defensive little buggers so they're not for everyone but I have to say that their size, beauty, and fascinating parental behaviors (our male and female calicos take turns
guarding their eggs and the female will flatten herself down right over them as if incubating them like a bird) make them among the most rewarding reptiles we've worked with. They are
also really hardy and easy to care for and will seemingly eat anything that moves. Well, those are just some brief comments about our Tokays - if you have any other questions about them, feel
free to email and we'll gladly answer. We've also just put a few pictures of our Tokays up in our gallery. Until next month, Happy Herping!
Available Now at Ophidiophile Farms!
We are proud to now offer African Soft Furred Rats (Mastomys natalensis). These prolific african rodents are
about the size of a small lab rat when full grown (~80-90 g.) and are one of the primary natural prey of ball pythons and other african
snakes. As such they can be very helpful in getting finicky african snakes feeding and I know from personal experience
that they can help with finicky feeders from other regions as well. For those interested in color morphs we have dark agoutis, light
agoutis and dilutes. Sorry - no shipping on these, local pick-up only. Many available now - new lower prices! Lone males are $4 and lone females are $6.
Now offering discounts on trios (1.2=$15), quads (1.3=$20), or more. Pinkies and fuzzies also now available at a steep discount - inquire.
COLUBRIDS
Japanese Rat Snake (Elaphe climacophora): Japanese
Rat Snakes or "Aodaisho" are medium sized, green to turquoise snakes that are easy to
keep and breed. A population of albino variants known as "Shirohebi" (literally "white snakes")
exists in Iwakuni City and is protected as a Japanese National Monument. Shirohebi vary
from ivory white snakes with yellow saddles to some that are yellow on most of the dorsal surface.
Our breeding colony currently consists of a male Shirohebi and two heterozygous females that are unrelated to the male.
We are also raising up several new albino and het juveniles to add to our breeding program. We have been one of the only
regular U.S. producers of albino climacs since 2004 and have reduced their price for 2009! 100% Hets: $125; Shirohebi: $250.
Albino Yellow Rat Snake (Pantherophis obsoletus quadrivittata): Imagine if Yellow
Rat Snakes didn't have all the muddy black pigment so that they were truly bright yellow. Well now
you can stop imagining...that's exactly what our albino yellows look like. We have 3 separate bloodlines
represented as well as localities as north as Jacksonville, where the animals seem to have a lot of black
rat influence and retain blotches into adulthood, and as south as Miami, where the juvenile blotches are lost
in favor of longitudinal lines. Lively, beautiful and hardy snakes that stay a manageable size: Albinos: $80, Hets: $40.
Albino Cape House Snake (Lamprophis capensis): These are beautiful tyrosinase-positive albino "Zululand" phase house
snakes. Zululands are among the largest of the house snakes and combined with the albino trait, these snakes are
prolific, beautiful, and impressive orange animals. A hardy and rare South African colubrid: $225.
BOIDS
Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor): In 2004 we obtained
a "Kahl strain" albino, a probable super salmon, and one
salmon het for albino (i.e., het sunglow). We grew them up slowly, but all of these animals are now breeding size.
We spent a lot of time searching for the best of the best breeding stock and spared no expense in obtaining them.
All who have seen them have agreed that these are all truly exceptional animals. In the coming year, we expect
to have albinos, salmons (50% possible het for albino), het sunglows and possibly sunglows. Market Price.
Ball Python (Python regius): One of the most popular of
the pythons, these small African snakes are hardy and very easy-to-breed. After
30-something years of being ball-free, we jumped on the ball python bandwagon
in 2004. We are now working with albinos, pieds, caramels, het ivories and a couple
of other exciting new morphs! Market Price.
LIZARDS
Blue Tegu (Tupinambis sp.): Blue tegus, which presently lack a species designation, are a smaller
tegu and also one of the most docile. They are very tolerant when it comes to variation in
care and feed on a wide variety of foods including rodents and ground turkey. Our T+ albino pair
are gorgeous animals with shades of ivory white, peach and orange. They also may produce
snow tegus. "Snows" are light albino variants that are pink in color and patterned as babies but grow up
to be impressive snow white animals! Albinos: Market Price. "Snows": Market Price.
Calico Tokay Geckos (Gekko gekko): We obtained a pair of wild caught calico tokays in February 2008 and,
after a bit over a year of acclimation and rehabilitation, introduced them. The result? We are now incubating several clutches
of eggs. Tokays are the pit bulls of the gecko world but both cb and wc ones can be tamed with gentle handling. They are
large and impressive, possess a diverse repetoire of calls, and both our male and female exhibit the fascinating behavior of
actively guarding their eggs. Our calicos look like a blue granite phase with splotches of white where the pattern is missing and
peach colored heads. Calico pairings allegedly hatch out normal looking babies, some of which stay normal and others of
which begin turning calico after several months. We'll be holding back our babies until we can tell which ones are turning
calico: Market price.
CHELONIANS
Red Eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans): The humble
red eared slider is one of the best known turtles for both beauty and
hardiness in collections around the world. Now we've gone one step better with
the tyrosinase positive (T+) albino red eared slider. Also sometimes called the "lemon-lime"
red eared slider, these are true albinos with deep ruby red eyes. They have a slight green
cast to them as hatchlings but grow up to have bright yellow shells and greyish to lavender
skin. Unlike the more common T- albinos, these do not have any sight problems and can
also safely bask in the sun or under a UV lamp with no ill effects. Inquire.
Future Projects: African Mole Snakes and more!
THE FINE PRINT: Click here for our terms of sale
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