Due to its immense popularity, we are continuing with our 50% OFF ALL LIVESTOCK when purchased with one of our full starter kits. This covers any animal/group of animals up to £300 in value, for animals over £300 you still get £150 off their standard price when purchased with a full starter kit. Offer valid 01/6/26 until 30/10/26.

The Unicolour Cribo (Drymarchon melanurus unicolour) is native to Central America including Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It used to be classified as a subspecies of Indigo Snake (Drymarchon corias) but unlike the Indigo snakes it is an attractive gold colouration with black neck bars rather than uniform glossy black.

This large colubrid (potentially growing to more than 9ft / 2.7m) is diurnal and terrestrial in terms of activity pattern. Found in a variety of habitats including marshes, forests and fields. They are not picky feeders and use their size and power to eat a range of different prey including rodents, birds, amphibians, fish and other reptiles, including venomous snakes. They have an unusual predation strategy where unlike many other colubrids (which coil and constrict their prey) “Cribo’s” overpower their prey and simply crush it into the floor rather than coiling round it. These are a strong and powerful snake for their size but are generally placid towards keepers and direct aggression from them is rare. It is worth noting though that they have a phenomenal feeding response and can become overexcited at feeding time so care must be taken when feeding simply not to get an accidental bite.

Cribo’s have a massive cult following amongst snake keepers and rightly so, their level of intelligence is difficult to match. It’s rare that you can look at a snake as it looks back at you and you really get a sense that it is checking you out just as much as you are it.

They are not difficult to keep but do consider their size as they will need a very large enclosure as an adult, even a 6ft / 180cm enclosure (the largest standard “off the shelf” vivarium) is too small for a full grown adult. They are active and alert and will make use of all space provided to them.