Description:
Scientific name: Coelognathus helena
Life span: 15+ years
Medium-sized, slender body with shiny, smooth scales. Crossbands with black and white boxes on a chocolate brown background are seen on the body’s first half. Two black stripes go from the posterior half of the body all the way to the tail. White is the underside.
Native Region/Habitat
Sri Lanka, southern India, Pakistan (Shangla), Nepal, and Bangladesh are all home to C. helena. C. helena is a terrestrial snake that inhabits termite mounds in addition to preferring low elevations, old trees, wood piles, areas near old homes, dense foliage, etc.
Behavior:
The nocturnal, extremely active C. helena is known for having a short fuse and will strike out repeatedly if provoked. This species’ males seem to be more aggressive than females. Because to its teeth facing inward, it frequently bites quite destructively.
Care As a pet/In captivity:
Housing: Because females can get up to twice as big as males, the type of adult housing you need will vary on whether you have a male or a female. While we would advise a large enclosure for a female such as a 36x24x24′′ or a 48x18x18′′, we would advise a smaller enclosure for an adult male such as a 30x18x18′′ or a 36x18x18′′. But, you may be a little creative with the size and add some height if you wish. This is due to the fact that, despite their small size, these snakes are extremely active, therefore the more room you can provide them the better. You can begin with much smaller enclosures for hatchlings and upgrade as they grow.
Feeding Trinket Snakes: Trinket snakes have substantial appetites for little snakes, but they won’t consume a substantial meal. When they are young, they will eat regular, little meals of defrosted mice, progressing from pinkie mice to medium-sized mice, as they get older. For hatchlings and adults, feeding every 5-7 days or every 7 days is acceptable. Use feeding tongs and always wash your hands after feeding to prevent any misunderstandings between your fingertips and the mice.
Humidity: Trinket Snakes are native to regions with humidity levels between 70 and 80 percent, yet they can also thrive in drier scrubland settings. To increase the humidity in your tank, we advise watering it once daily. Nevertheless, you should avoid getting the substrate too moist to avoid mould growth. They are perfect for bioactive setups because they have a higher humidity demand than some colubrids.
Temperature: Like with any reptiles, you must designate a hot and a cold end of your tank for your Trinket snake. This enables them to thermoregulate, or decide between hot and cold environments based on their body temperature. With all of your heating on one side of the tank, the temperature should be between 26 and 28 C (78 and 82 F), with a hot spot of 30 C just beneath your light (86F). The ambient temperature inside the tank should be around 24C on the cool, unheated side (75F). You can set the thermostat for as low as 21C (70F) at night, although keeping it at 24C (75F) is also OK.
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