The four toed salamander is an attractive, small species that is widespread in geographic area but the populations seem more localized than many other species. I had made plans to specifically search for this species, but as fate would have it before I could do so, I lifted a piece of wood near a small pool at the head of a tiny stream, and there was a four toed salamander. At that time no snakes were seen at this location. During the heat of summer, I took someone with a fear of snakes to this same location having told them there's unlikely to be any snakes there. This proved to be untrue as apparently during the heat of summer the snakes decided this was very suitable habitat and we saw a black rat snake and timber rattlesnake.
I have been keeping and breeding Oreocryptophis porphyraceus coxi for several years now. It is often listed as the Thai red mountain ratsnake or the Thai Bamboo ratsnake. This is one of the easiest species of snake to keep and breed provided you have an air conditioned house. They have great colors and are very hardy snakes but they really are heat sensitive and probably shouldn't be kept by people looking for a shoulder pet. I keep mine in 28 quart tubs in a rack without any supplemental heat. The colubrid room they stay in is between 75-78F year round. At these temperatures they will digest food without any additional heat. If you have an especially cold house, you may want to use some backheat to create a small spot in the upper 70s. Although I've never kept them warm enough to find out, it is reported that they may die if the temperature bumps into the 80s. I can confidently say they will do fine in the 70s. I use cypress as a substrate and keep the back half of the
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