Put a Real Beauty in your Tank: Taiwan Beauty Snakes in Captivity Series V

For lighting I use a regular fluorescent shop strip light, purchased from most hardware or home improvement stores.  I place a ceramic heat element at one end of appropriate size that will maintain the 85-degree hotspot.  Since the Taiwan Beauty Snakes O. t. friesi are a diurnal snake and very active during the day I like to provide them with a regular daylight and nighttime cycle that match the outside environment.

Decorating the Taiwan Beauty Snake O. t. friesi enclosure is not a huge undertaking in itself.  You need a large water bowl that they can not knock over during their excursions.  You must also provide hides meaning one on the cool side and one on the warm side.  Being an arboreal snake, we definitely want to provide a lot of climbing apparatus to the enclosure.  Personally, I use sand blasted grapevine and some of the rubber coated wire forms, made to look like vines.  Place a lot of plastic plants throughout the enclosure to offer the snake a sense of security this will benefit their psychological behavior in the end.  I don’t recommend trying live plants unless they are tree type plants as the snake will crush them through their daily wanderings.

Taiwan Beauty Snakes O. t. friesi can be a demanding reptile to house, but in my opinion they are also one of the more interesting snakes to own.  They are constantly active and curious to discover things within their environment.  So if you’re tired of owning the same old colubrid snakes then I would definitely suggest getting one of these snakes they will undoubtedly bring you many years of enjoyment.

Put a Real Beauty in your Tank: Taiwan Beauty Snakes in Captivity Series IV

Taiwan Beauty Snakes O. t. friesi seem to prefer smaller prey items so multiple smaller meals are advised.  In other words instead of feeding 1 medium rat feed 2 small rats instead.  When feeding, I highly advise that you remove the snake from the enclosure and place it into another receptacle of some type.  A trashcan, bucket with a lid anything as long as you are not feeding in the enclosure.  The reasoning behind this is that the snake could soon associate the opening of the enclosure with feeding and you will get a handful of teeth.

Temperatures for this snake are still quite debatable due to such little information about their habitat in the wild; in my personal experience, I have always given the Taiwan Beauty Snakes O. t. friesi I keep a gradient of at least 10 degrees between the cool and warm side.  I usually shoot for a basking spot of about 85 and leave the cooler side at about 75.  Most of the Taiwan Beauty Snakes O. t.  friesi come from the western part of the island which is primarily wet and tropical.  I keep the humidity in my enclosures at about 70% at all times.  Daily misting early in the morning and allowing the enclosure to dry out during the day easily does this.  Presuming most of the snakes purchased today are in fact wild caught snakes it is better to have them examined immediately after purchase by a veterinarian who is qualified to treat herps.

Put a Real Beauty in your Tank: Taiwan Beauty Snakes in Captivity Series III

Taiwan Beauty Snakes O. t. friesi are found where the name implies, Taiwan.  Therefore, as keepers we should try to replicate the area they come from.  Most of what I have studied of their natural environment states it as being a forest type region.  While they are primarily seen in forested areas, they also have been found in open woodlands, swamps, suburban areas, and even the rural countryside barns of their native homelands.

Given such a wide range of environments, it may be hard to decide which would be the best substrate.  Personally, I have always gone with the old stand by.  Groundcover bark from a home improvement center,  quite a few consider this dangerous due to ingestion hazards etc, I have personally been using it for years and never once had any issues with mites, ingestion or any disease being introduced to my animals.  It works just as well if not better than the pet store brands and is about half if not more than half the cost of the “reptile” barks.

As with many forest dwelling snakes they are arboreal but will go to ground when hunting.  Their main sources of prey in the wild are rodents.  They have also been known to take birds and their eggs as well.  Hatchlings mainly feed on lizards and tree frogs.  In captivity however, they do not in my experience retain such an exotic diet.  Simply feed the appropriate sized frozen thawed mouse or rat accordingly and they will be happy.