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    Care Sheet - Diones Rat Snake

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    John Gamesby
    Elaphe dione, commonly known as the steppes ratsnake, is a species found across parts of Asia. In captivity, it can be housed in a vivarium or plastic tub with climbing greenery, hides, and a water bowl. A substrate like aspen with a moist hide is suitable. The temperature should be between 22-28°C with heating from a ceramic heater, heat mat, or both. Diones eat rodents, lizards, frogs, snakes, insects, birds and their eggs in the wild, and can be fed mice, rats or small birds in captivity. They are primarily terrestrial snakes that are generally easy to care for but can sometimes be shy or nip without

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    Care Sheet - Diones Rat Snake

    Uploaded by

    John Gamesby
    702 views2 pages
    Elaphe dione, commonly known as the steppes ratsnake, is a species found across parts of Asia. In captivity, it can be housed in a vivarium or plastic tub with climbing greenery, hides, and a water bowl. A substrate like aspen with a moist hide is suitable. The temperature should be between 22-28°C with heating from a ceramic heater, heat mat, or both. Diones eat rodents, lizards, frogs, snakes, insects, birds and their eggs in the wild, and can be fed mice, rats or small birds in captivity. They are primarily terrestrial snakes that are generally easy to care for but can sometimes be shy or nip without

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    Care Sheet - Diones Rat Snake ( Elaphe dione)

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    Elaphe dione, commonly known as the steppes ratsnake, is a species found across parts of Asia. In captivity, it can be housed in a vivarium or plastic tub with climbing greenery, hides, and a water bowl. A substrate like aspen with a moist hide is suitable. The temperature should be between 22-28°C with heating from a ceramic heater, heat mat, or both. Diones eat rodents, lizards, frogs, snakes, insects, birds and their eggs in the wild, and can be fed mice, rats or small birds in captivity. They are primarily terrestrial snakes that are generally easy to care for but can sometimes be shy or nip without

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    702 views2 pages

    Care Sheet - Diones Rat Snake

    Uploaded by

    John Gamesby
    Elaphe dione, commonly known as the steppes ratsnake, is a species found across parts of Asia. In captivity, it can be housed in a vivarium or plastic tub with climbing greenery, hides, and a water bowl. A substrate like aspen with a moist hide is suitable. The temperature should be between 22-28°C with heating from a ceramic heater, heat mat, or both. Diones eat rodents, lizards, frogs, snakes, insects, birds and their eggs in the wild, and can be fed mice, rats or small birds in captivity. They are primarily terrestrial snakes that are generally easy to care for but can sometimes be shy or nip without

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
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    Care Sheet Diones Rat Snake

    Elaphe dione Picture by Crystal Palace.com


    Scientific Name
    Elaphe Dione
    Common name
    Steppes Ratsnake
    Range
    Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, North Korea, Russia,
    South Korea, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
    Size
    60 - 70 cm
    Life Expectancy
    In excess of 20 years
    Captive Variants
    T- Albino, T+ Albino, Hypomelanistic, Lemon, Orange, Nigrita (Melanistic), Striped, Sunrise,
    Sunglow, Tenebrosa, Tiger, Red
    Habitat
    Largely a terrestrial species which is found in a wide range of habitats from dry to wet with sparse
    to dense vegetation.
    Housing
    Vivarium 24 is suitable for one adult or plastic tub.
    Diones enjoy hiding/climbing through greenery on the floor of their enclosure.
    Dcor
    Suitably large water bowl for them to drink and bathe
    A minimum of 2 hides (1 in the cool end and 1 in the warm end) to one put some damp moss.
    Substrate
    Most substrate would probably be suitable for Diones. I use Aspen with a moist hide with some
    damp moss inside.
    Temperature/Humidity
    22C (72F) to 28C (82F)
    Heating
    1

    Viv - Guarded Ceramic heater or heat mat


    Tub - Heat mat
    Whichever method is used, a suitable thermostat should be used and monitored using a digital
    thermometer.
    Ceramic heater a pulse proportional thermostat should be used.
    Feeding
    Their natural diet is rodents, lizards, frogs, snakes, insects, birds and their eggs. They are also
    known to be cannibalistic.
    I feed mice, rats of a suitable size and a chick or quail now and then as a treat.
    Comments
    Primarily a terrestrial (ground dwelling) species and a member of the colubrid family of snakes.
    Diones are fairly easy to keep in captivity and come in a variety of colours and patterns.
    They can be quite shy but normally fairly docile although the odd one can be unpredictable and nip
    without warning. Chinese Diones, in particular, are known for their nervous disposition.

    John Gamesby

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