This months Articles including one for Registered Members too

Acclimation and Captive Husbandry of the Giant bird snake
Author: Roy Blodgett
The Giant bird snake, Pseustes sulphureus, is a large colubrid species native to much of northern South America - throughout the Amazon Basin.Generally, they are known to inhabit heavily forested areas, but are also be found in disturbed habitat with some regularity. They are moderately built, and can grow to immense lengths, with adults sometimes exceeding ten feet in length. Most specimens exhibit striking coloration, and two color phases are commonly seen, green and yellow or black and yellow. I suspect that these two color phases distinguish between the two valid subspecies of the Giant bird snake; P. sulphureus sulphureus, and P. sulphureus dieperinkii .....

First record of the four-lined snake Elaphe quatuorlineata (Lacépède, 1789) in Serbia
Authors: Nemanja Ristic, Ljiljana Tomovic, Rastko Ajtic, Jelka Crnobrnja-Isailovic
This paper presents the first record of Four-Lined Snake Elaphe quatuorlineata in Serbia. In Serbia and Montenegro, according to the literature data, this species was found only in Mediterranean and submediterranean Montenegro. We present here data about founding site and suggest conservation measures for this species in Serbia ..... * Full Article also available to Registered Members*

Asian Ratsnakes of the Elaphe genus: quadrivigata
Author: Klaus-Dieter Schulz
The Japanese Fourlined or Red Eyed Rat Snake is one of the most frequently imported Japanese snakes. Even though here we are dealing with a true Rat Snake, in appearance it is much more reminiscent of a terrestrial Coluber species. On the many Japanese islands E. quadrivirgata has evolved numerous colour variations. The two best known of these are the normally coloured variety and the melanistic variety which has also been designated as Elaphe quadrivirgata f. atra (Jan, 1867) ......

BENEFITS OF JOINING THE RATSNAKE FOUNDATION (online non profit Society)

The use of this site is three tiered. The first tier is that of guest with limited access, the second is that of registered user with certain privileges and lastly, for £8 (GBR) per annum, as a subscriber with complete interactive access to all parts of our site. All tiers are described further below.

Guests
1. Access to a General Ratsnake Forum.
2. Access to Ratsnake News.
3. Access to our Distribution Maps of species included in the Monograph. This will be expanded on in the future to include other species often referred to as 'ratsnakes'.
4. Access to the Photo Gallery (viewing only).
5. View only to the 'General Ratsnake Forums'.
6.. Access to the Introduction to Ratsnake Species.
7. Access to Article summaries.


Non subscribing registered members
1. All the benefits of Guests as outlined above.
2. Occasional articles that will become available to non-subscribers.
3. Access to read and make posts on the 'General Ratsnake Forums'.

4. View and Post classified adverts.
5. Access to Ratsnakes Digest our monthly newsletter containing articles and much more.

Subscribing registered members
Many of these features are seen as ever growing, with new content being added to the site on a monthly basis, which will include at least two new article features. Feel free to make suggestions for any additions via email, PM or on the Suggestions forum to any of the Admin or Committee members for future inclusion.

1. All the benefits of the non-subscribers as outlined above.
2. The facility to participate in species specific forums for all species included in the Monograph.
3. The facility to participate in forums for all other species not included in the Monograph, depending on its popularity, this may be added to for the discussion of specific species.
4. Access to the Photo Gallery (viewing, uploading pix and able to post comments).
5. Access to links of pdf articles.
6. Articles written and submitted by our members, providing an ever increasing body of reference for our subscribing members.
7. Book reviews, again constantly added to.
8. Etymology Dictionary.
9. Polls & Surveys - participation & their results, also ever growing.
10. Classified section for members' sales or wants regarding ratsnakes.
11. Herpetological Events.
12. Your very 'Own Page', where you may inform fellow members about yourself, perhaps place non-ratsnake related classifieds or for anything else you wish. So long as it's not deemed offensive, libellous or otherwise unsavoury, we wish this to be your platform and we will not interfere here.
13. The ability to 'Bookmark' internal pages for your easier reference.
14. Glossary, which again will be added to as we go along, ever expanding to provide an increasingly useful reference for users.

For queries about membership, please contact us by email membership AT ratsnakefoundation.org or post at: The Membership Secretary, The Ratsnake Foundation, P.O. Box 810, Taunton, TA1 9EA.

WELCOME TO THE RATSNAKE FOUNDATION

Welcome to the Ratsnake Foundation, we are an online society for those interested in all aspects of this fascinating group of animals described as ratsnakes.

We hope you enjoy your stay, find the content of the site to be of interest to you and hope you will engage in discussion about these animals. No one knows everything; we can all learn a little something from each other, we hope you come away from the site at least slightly richer in knowledge.

Please remember that this site is in its infancy, the more people contribute, the more our potential shall be realised. If you have any material, time to write something for us or wish to discuss something on our forums that you feel will be of benefit to fellow ratsnake keepers/enthusiasts, feel free to do so. It’s why we are here. Individuals submitting three articles or more (totaling three thousand words) throughout the year, will be granted free subscription for the following year.

WHAT THE RATSNAKE FOUNDATION IS ALL ABOUT

We hope to provide a platform for open discussion and a cross flow of information about all aspects that exclusively concern 'ratsnakes'.

The term 'ratsnake' is obviously one of dubious taxonomic value, an artificial pigeon hole that certain groups of animals may fall into. Some people would describe some animals as racers while others would happily proclaim them to be ratsnake. The Foundations definition of 'ratsnakes' are all animals that are currently or have been described as such, primarily concerning all species formerly described as Elaphe in the tome written by Schulz, 'A Monograph of the Colubrid Snakes of the Genus Elaphe (Fitzinger)'. We are however, also open to the discussion of any other snake commonly described as 'ratsnakes', such as Rhynchophis boulengeri (Rhino ratsnake), Ptyas, Spilotes & Spalerosophis species etc. in our eyes these snakes are also 'ratsnakes'.

If you have a desire to learn more about these species, we believe the Foundation will be a benefit to you. If you have experience, data, observations of captive husbandry, taxonomy, field work or anything to do with ratsnakes that you wish to share with like-minded people, we hope this site encourages you to do so. We hope to learn from your experience whether via posts on our forum or by submitting an article. Knowledge is power!

After the second year, any money raised over the annual running costs that aren't required for future projects by the Foundation, shall be donated to a specific ratsnake conservation project decided on by our membership. This we feel is a way we may give back a little something to the natural world.