# Sticky  Stuff and thoughts and maybe even a fact or two



## loxocemus

so to preface this, i don't own any of these pics, some are marked with the photographer's and/or owner's name, i might know/add the owner, most i don't, many of the pics are older and iv long forgotten their source. if any belong to you and you object to their inclusion please contact me or a mod and they will be immediately removed with my sincere apologies.

(All the pics are thumbnails)

mutations in venomous (except cobras) are rarely given the attention they deserve, these are t+ vipera s seoanei from france



a beautiful head study of xenodermus ("nightshade" has two ltc pairs that may go next year, her secret, not trying to bend them to captivity, but rather forming captivity around them.



an albino blond transpecos, of one of the wild lines, you can tell by the absence of headscales, the original animal was the same. transpecos are, im trying to think how to put this, BETTER THAN MOST OTHER U.S RATS, their slow, calm, easy keepers, low yield breeders, they do very well in desert caging, a grit type substrate, they don't do well on big prey even though they have big noggins.










a beautiful head study of the eyelash boa, a cousin of tropidophis, they are almost always found near water, very little is known about there biology as very few keepers have them










those eyes, those beautiful eyes










The elegant whip snake (P.elegantissimus)
Credit: Osmium Titroxide










thats gotta tickle, Tantilla semicincta feeding on a Scolopendra



another t- diones line from liaoning province




tbc (to be continued)


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## loxocemus

the devils spawn, not pretty or anything..... ultramel supercornduran



ditto



this will interest a particular member, doing work few others will do. Striped kukri (𝘖𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴) from Singapore










one of my dream species though maybe not in this form though its damn nice, they were gaining traction in numbers then the plague happened (regius) theres a morph but my brains blanking, genetic tangerine/aztec?, anyway, the andean milk, one of the calmest milks there is.



not long ago @2015'ish this animal was described, it has the most elaborate lure in the known serpent world. Pseudocerastes urarachnoides from iran, its a mimic of a spider or centipede, to lure in birds especially, below is the captive development of the lure

a beautiful video of the lure in action Little animal hunted in a most bizarre attack (UHD/HDR) | Seven Worlds, One Planet - BBC Earth - YouTube (i didn't see the head till it struck)


this was wildcaught as a neonate i believe, not that long ago, less than five years, i don't know if it still survives. a two headed southern black racer. i believe a local wildlife museum took it in



















a nocturnal rarity, from around the amazon and nearby larger islands (at least) Siphlophis cervinus



such is life, i wince when i see snakes getting eaten, especially still alive, the people who revel in such events, other keepers i mean, are, nope il leave it there. Sinomicrurus sp feeding on a dinodon in captivity










a scaleless carinata, not for me this one



tbc


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## loxocemus

a scaleless wandering garter, im sure this one was wild too





this is special, a scaleless neonate berus, germany 2020, in situ and left there.



a neonate boeleni, so if food forces them to descend does food size force them to ascend or do they have a hardwired thermal need to ascend





all the triggers got pulled





we barely know them here anymore but in asia (and recently the US/italy thanks to chinese etc keepers work) they have been slowly working away with wc morphs and have reached the point of crossing them ie a snow etc, this is a bowl of dinodon/Lycodon rufozonatus. i can see t- and paradox lucy (there are many others)



this morph goes back a ways but its another of my dream must haves, a tangerine t- hondurensis



i "think" these all originate as wc, i think there's 3 lines at least, one found in a lady's back garden, they are something few will see for a while , t- Aesculapian rats










tbc


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## loxocemus

i remember reading a paper on breeding waglers in the old vivarium magazine, the setup, the detail, the hydration system, impact on defecation, all had a huge impact on me, to think outside the box










well exactly (cape coral)



xenodermus after lunch, there's an evolutionary story here, and its not an oversized meal, but what is it...










scaleless garter head study



a pied braz rainbow, their not an extreme pied like regius, and many are no white but funky patterned





a pied Mussurana with her eggs, this is a codom and the super is virtually all white apart from the head and sometimes neck, this is a naturally occurring population morph. introductions for breeding have to be supervised or you'll get one fat Mussurana



a xenodermus eating fish meat, do not expect most imports to do this










it could have been force or tease fed or its just a greedy xenodermus










now take this or leave it, but i think these are a problem in the making and mostly the fault of social media (ps the pic is of a lavender breeding a norm or het but im talking about FWC's) so fwc's are the new must haves, social media has fed this craze by sharing cute neonate/juvenile pics and talking about their sweet little hoods. THEY DO NOT show 7ft 9pound adults giving you a blk eye, an arm like a zeppelin and a shit show of a cage when they zip around on a freakout. THEY DO NOT mention their hefty giant colubrids that need big, BIG spacious caging, preferably one per cage. i kept some of the first uk cb fwc's, dave lester got me a pair, loved them, great snake, but they ARE work, and this mass production that's ramping up of a large potent back fanger is trouble in the making, mark my words

anyway pic


ridleyi, the pic says it all, often referred to as the cameron highlands form, though iv seen new locales recently, now anyone who says their as calm as a cornsnake is blind and heavily scarred. they are trigger tense, not aggressive as such but they frighten easily and you have to bring them down.










a rhino holding onto a mouse for its owner. iv had five of these, and they are the classic beautiful adults but god the babies are a pain. IF YOU ARE BUYING ONE as a pet either buy a yearling or seek an absolute guarantee they voluntarily take plain mice. saying all that their easy keepers (once feeding) and good to handle.





a tense juvenile lavender fwc (false water cobra), fwc's will eat anything, literally anything, from hotdogs to chicken legs to whole fish, inc ur hand if it gets in the way.










tbc


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## loxocemus

please remember to click the thumbnails i didn't realise how much they would be cropped/messed with

the super form of a mussarana mentioned above



off topic i know but i love this pic, the love of a mother for her cub and the love of a cub to be with its mother



off topic but less so, i know i should have locked the bird cage...

 (its a yemen i believe)

love them or hate them but their here to stay, its a scaleless corn obviously, an -albino, okettee maybe



"point him out to me son, it was him dad!"

 (hamadryads)

so how tame are oxy's? (Gonyosoma oxycephalum)



albino whitelip viper i believe, (of south african origin? the mutation not the species), their sexually dimorphic if i remember right



well, i mean you know its



the best picture you will see of a moellendorffi hatching from the polar end of the egg, ask a breeder but id guess less calcification at the points, a dream species for me, i believe member "sidewinder" has bred these










tbc


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## JustABeginner2

Some cracking interesting stuff here! I'd sell my soul to get my mitts on those striped Kukri snakes with the orange dorsal!

I'll admit that I'm on the recent FWC bandwagon. I'd met some years ago and I'd always been mildly interested, but when I learned about the Lavenders I decided it was time to get in on the FWC game. They are brilliant snakes, I love them for their appetites (I find finicky royal pythons a bit rude for not eating their dinners 😂).

Have you seen the scaleless False Water Cobras? Apparently they first cropped up in Europe in the 90's and now there are stealthy hets floating around in the population. This chap in Hungary hatched out two scaleless babies this year.




















__ https://www.facebook.com/178645632332024/posts/1751225515074020



I'll contribute a Quite Interesting picture I raided off the Internet - a head and neck morphology study of Mexicana kingsnakes.


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## loxocemus

the breeder of these got and is getting a lot of crap for them, they are, amazingly, scaleless fwc's, they have scutes, they are as healthy as any of the thousands of scaleless corns out there. he is being more open about the project than anyone iv ever known working on something new (cough!, spider ball, cough! bug eyed palmetto's cough! scoria tremor yada yada ad infinitum)





































ickle little hood









a scaless carinata goddess










i am poisonous and venomous (they store toad toxins in the neck, hence the warning colour) its Rhabdophis tigrinus of course. we used to handle these like corns back in the day (but not for the fun of it we were just ignorant of their biology back then)










neonate, they are cute though when nice and healthy cb with a fresh skin










if i kept dwa it would be waglers and these Ovophis makazayazaya (and the other ovophis) ovophis are odd in that they can constrict including envenomation , the picture sp is from taiwan and is big for the family. think of them as little blood pythons, moist leaf litter denizens, slow feeding slow defecation, some leave the eggs with the mother as they show some maternal behaviour. its just an amazing all rounder










this nxt series is of a very rare hybrid, it is timorensis x retic, enough said i suppose




























this is, i suppose best called a white side mutation, but in the lucy family, its ptyas mucosa, this one from vietnam










this is possibly the most beautiful albino in the world (iv a couple other pics il scatter somewhere), this is a wild male Oreocryptophis pulchra, mother nature and her heathen mutants, she's killing the hobby!!!










another wild mutant, another ptyas mucosa, a paradox lucy, u also get the idea of how big these get, their very large colubrids



















a bone white lucy mucosa


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## loxocemus

t+ mucosa bred by a very talented canadian breeder














not all scaleless are scale"less" mucosa again























a dream species of mine, i believe member "snakebreeder" had these back in the day, they have virtually disappeared from the hobby which is a great shame. babies are completely different from the adults. little psychos with intricate patterns, adults are uniform in colour, they take on the colour of their habitats soil, so they can be yellow thru red to jet black. they are live bearers often having huge litters, i know of two, one 95 the other 101 i think. livebearing in large colubrids is very unusual. adults can become very tame. they are of course mole snakes Pseudaspis cana












their kind of bullsnake size, some smaller some larger.































Psammodynastes pulverulentus papenfussi of taiwan (inc orchid island at least) is i think the only known (so far) snake with both front fangs and rear fangs, properly grooved, though not efficiently so. their small live bearers, litters being @10 or less, babies around 6", as you can see they can be rather tense...











a beautiful oddity, most of the family come from western africa senegal gambia nigeria cameroon etc, you can tell just from their physiology how they should be kept, look at the eye size, look at the head shape, rostral form. this specimen is Prosymna meleagris











so, a dream species with an angels touch, the first and probably only lucy rubber boa





























tbc


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## loxocemus

can you imagine how hard it was to get all those snakes to stay still for that photo 😃

rgds
ed


I'll contribute a Quite Interesting picture I raided off the Internet - a head and neck morphology study of Mexicana kingsnakes.


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## loxocemus

a genus iv never heard of, Plagiopholis styani, It is found in southern and central China, Taiwan, and northern Vietnam (totally didn't google that) its small, like @400mm, eats earthworms and the like. sounds like an ideal captive, if only










can you believe this is a pied stimsons python










the most extreme pied lodingi iv seen, there's usually just some pigment loss around the head and neck, even then not much.



















another mystery snake to me Phytolopsis punctata, look at the head, the eyes say aquatic even if u just got it in a bag in an import. their from indonesia borneo malaysia that kind of area












Phrynonax shropshirei, one of the rarest captive species, if u know it, then you know



















mother nature loves to tinker, even with the rare, this is a wild caught molurus, indian python, caught in Karnataka, in southern india










no its not a ridleys! its Orthriophis taeniurus helfenbergeri










the wild male -albino pulchra getting to work










the rare eating the rare, Ophryacus smaragdinus preying on Abronia graminea, both mexican highland species 










the ring necked coffee snake _Ninia diademata from_ southern mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras (a google special)










tbc


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## loxocemus

a dream species of mine Natrix schweizeri, our very own andrew grimm breeds these, look for him on facebook










natrix oh how you do surprise










a lucy goddess, i dont care if she stinks










Malayan blue coral (𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴) preying on a pink-headed reed (𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘪)



















so what does this resemble... *‘*Lushai hills dragon snake Stoliczkia vanhnuailianai, the third species of Stoliczkia from India, only known from one type specimen and therefore up there for worlds rarest snake, the distribution il bet anything on, is tiny.











a no white pied braz rainbow but beautifully patterned 










T neg albino Aesculapian 










Liophis/Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus, a genus i had high hopes would be widespread by now, the genus has a large range across south america, easy keepers, like garters really.










a group of lucy dinodon










tbc


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## loxocemus

blackwater mudsnake 𝘗𝘩𝘺𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘢 from malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo, as of 2014 from singapore, very fond of tanin rich waters, the 2nd picture is just awesome



















"Juvenile copperhead eating a Luna moth caterpillar. Observation made in August"










does it get anymore beautiful, juvenile Cope's Snail Eater (Dipsas copei)










one of two frenatum morphs axanthic frenatum, the mutation was a guess at hatching, hypo was also considered, green or blue snakes are always difficult to pin down



















Hypo het T+ Elaphe dione on the left, T+ ph Hypo on the right










some times their horns break off, or their born with a nub, but they heal fine, iv seen this more often in P.baroni










FASCINATING PICTURE House snake embryo 1 day post oviposition (Boaedon fuliginosus), the advanced development when just laid is amazing










tbc


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## ian14

Some seriously beautiful snakes there Ed, thanks so much for sharing them.
There are a small handful in there that I'd love to keep.
Oh, OK, all of them.

Now I've finished drooling I'll get back to cooking my Korean sweet chilli chicken


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## JustABeginner2

It really is grand to see some of the more wierd and wonderful stuff that's going on in far flung corners of the hobby. Morphs of snakes I'm barely even aware of the existence of!


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## loxocemus

a bloke that can cook, is that legal? 

rgds
ed



ian14 said:


> Some seriously beautiful snakes there Ed, thanks so much for sharing them.
> There are a small handful in there that I'd love to keep.
> Oh, OK, all of them.
> 
> Now I've finished drooling I'll get back to cooking my Korean sweet chilli chicken


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## loxocemus

i think you know the nxt thing to make a splash.... cough! lamprophis 

rgds
ed



JustABeginner2 said:


> It really is grand to see some of the more wierd and wonderful stuff that's going on in far flung corners of the hobby. Morphs of snakes I'm barely even aware of the existence of!


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## JustABeginner2

loxocemus said:


> i think you know the nxt thing to make a splash.... cough! lamprophis
> 
> rgds
> ed


I've seen some lovely wild caught albino Aurora House Snakes on African snake advice groups. So far, as far as I'm aware, none had been retained in captivity. Just lots of posts along the lines of "I found this snake trapped in my swimming pool, I let it go again but what was it?" _insert photo of a white snake with a yellow/orange stripe down it's spine_.

Looks a bit like a stripe albino Cali King at first glance.


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## loxocemus

i have a pic of one, a juvenile, pinkish white with the orange stripe il add it later, their so picky to get to adulthood a lot of the time though, i think the blue 👁️‍🗨️ crosses will rival them. 

rgds
ed



JustABeginner2 said:


> I've seen some lovely wild caught albino Aurora House Snakes on African snake advice groups. So far, as far as I'm aware, none had been retained in captivity. Just lots of posts along the lines of "I found this snake trapped in my swimming pool, I let it go again but what was it?" _insert photo of a white snake with a yellow/orange stripe down it's spine_.
> 
> Looks a bit like a stripe albino Cali King at first glance.


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## JustABeginner2

loxocemus said:


> i have a pic of one, a juvenile, pinkish white with the orange stripe il add it later, their so picky to get to adulthood a lot of the time though, i think the blue 👁️‍🗨️ crosses will rival them.
> 
> rgds
> ed


I've got a pair of Cape Housies that are double het for Blue Eye and T-Albino. Only a year old at the moment but I can't believe how fast the female is growing!


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## arwen_7

Some truly stunning animals here! I've said we won't get any more snakes, unless our local rhino rat snake breeder has one up for sale 



loxocemus said:


> I'll contribute a Quite Interesting picture I raided off the Internet - a head and neck morphology study of Mexicana kingsnakes.


This is actually why our MexMex is called Johann... Johann Schmidt as in Red skull


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## ian14

I had a breeding shitstorm this year.
Female red phase x male albino diones rat.
Thermostat packed up leaving me with the mum and a hatchling. 3 viable eggs, just one made it. Dad was an absolute nightmare for feeding and sadly I lost him.


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## loxocemus

the granite form?

rgds
ed



arwen_7 said:


> Some truly stunning animals here! I've said we won't get any more snakes, unless our local rhino rat snake breeder has one up for sale
> 
> 
> 
> This is actually why our MexMex is called Johann... Johann Schmidt as in Red skull
> View attachment 355414


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## loxocemus

sorry ian that its a  of a situation (global geckos has an adult amel pair for sale..)

im sure snakes and adders has at least one (yep 2019 male, chersky form)

rgds
ed



ian14 said:


> I had a breeding shitstorm this year.
> Female red phase x male albino diones rat.
> Thermostat packed up leaving me with the mum and a hatchling. 3 viable eggs, just one made it. Dad was an absolute nightmare for feeding and sadly I lost him.





ian14 said:


> I had a breeding shitstorm this year.
> Female red phase x male albino diones rat.
> Thermostat packed up leaving me with the mum and a hatchling. 3 viable eggs, just one made it. Dad was an absolute nightmare for feeding and sadly I lost him.


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## arwen_7

loxocemus said:


> the granite form?
> 
> rgds
> ed


Yea he is. Lovely little snake. Always been so calm and docile, unless there is a mouse about !


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## Thrasops

loxocemus said:


> this was wildcaught as a neonate i believe, not that long ago, less than five years, i don't know if it still survives. a two headed southern black racer. i believe a local wildlife museum took it in


That is Dos the southern Black racer, caught last October in Palm Harbour, Florida when a cat brought it into a house. It was taken in by the FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute but I have never seen any further update on it so I assume it died.




loxocemus said:


> Psammodynastes pulverulentus papenfussi of taiwan (inc orchid island at least) is i think the only known (so far) snake with both front fangs and rear fangs, properly grooved, though not efficiently so. their small live bearers, litters being @10 or less, babies around 6", as you can see they can be rather tense...


They're not the only snakes that have anterior and posterior grooved fangs. Some _Boiga_ such as _B. cynodon_ also do, as well as _Aparallactus_, some _Psammophis_, _Oxybelis_ and I think _Ahaetulla_. This is still a very interesting feature though and may shed light on the development of front fanged/ proteroglyphous species to the point these have been labelled 'protoelapids.' (Certainly _Psammophis_ are closer to Elapidae than to 'true' Colubrids).

Anthony von Plettenberg Laing shared an image of posterior and anterior fangs in a _Psammophis schokari_ about ten years ago. I have appended it here.










Dan Fryer, who used to breed them, also shared some cool images of _Psammodynastes_ dentition in 2008 too, I cannot seem to find it though.

What is also interesting about _Psammodynastes_ is they have three rather than two hemipenes! Very cool little snakes and one of the most common snakes you see around Hong Kong and Southern China.




loxocemus said:


> a beautiful oddity, most of the family come from western africa senegal gambia nigeria cameroon etc, you can tell just from their physiology how they should be kept, look at the eye size, look at the head shape, rostral form. this specimen is Prosymna meleagris


Sadly easy to keep, very hard to feed as _Prosymna_ tend to mainly eat reptile eggs. We had some come in a few years ago with a shipment of _Psammophis_ and surprisingly enough I got them feeding on giant land snail eggs. Gifted them to a friend who lost them, but was an interesting discovery. And fortunately the experience allowed me to suggest the alternative food to Ross Deacon when he ended up with some.


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## loxocemus

the het form of the lucy grayband, u can see its often visual, look at the orange bands, il be honest i don't like the lucy, its often bug eyed (leucistic and bug eyes go together in various species), the attraction of the graybands is well the obvious, that slate grey, that orange, but the lucy is a dead end, how many white snakes are there now (i will be a complete hypocrite about this in other sp.)










another t neg diones line, from hebei province near Beijing (sorry again ian mate.)










the genus gonyosoma is a beautiful genus, no dirt brown earth worms allowed, but this species is its queen 👑 . this is Gonyosoma margaritatum the royal tree snake from se asia










this handsome devil is Gonyosoma jansenii (leucistic), likely one of a very few ever found










this is the gonyosoma frenatum t+ (from above when a newborn) now older and called a t+ albino










those who know me know this species cleaves my heart in two. aaanyway its a nice photo of loxocemus bicolor, its maybe a year old, i kept dropping them as babies because their so soft i was afraid of squishing an organ (repeated drops being apparently preferable). their from southern mexico down into central america, their light shy and rarely seen. i know of two mutations, the late and very much missed frank schofield had a white specimen, it was normal, it shed, bingo, white, it died young sadly. loxos mature very slowly, possible as much as 7yrs old. they are a "python" in the new world! they are an enigma and they speak to me because of that. their life span is measured in decades.










i just love the perched neonate and the other peeking out. these are Ghost Whiteside Florida kingsnakes. florida kings and their many beautiful mutations are excellent captives, they tick all the boxes a snake needs to be ideal, including the occasional little nibble that you cant remove (spray a tiny amount of diluted isopropyl or vodka, mouthwash ) they can be cannibalistic (mainly because their not very bright) they love food so watch their waistline, they suit virtually any setup, their great really.










so this an interesting blk head, its not albino, its happened to several captives progressively after each shed. this specimens origins are unknown. they have black heads because they use other animals burrows and in the cold mornings, they stick their black noggin out to absorb the suns heat and staying hidden, they are then able to shunt the warm blood around their body. captives are very prone to obesity, unusually so (i suspect because of the rodent diet and not just the actual food volume), they can get very large, 10ft is not unusual but 7-8ft is a good'un.










the true t neg albino originated in europe i believe, but its a problematic/weak gene, often producing deformities and dead in eggs.










i let out a big sigh when i look at this photo because i wish they were mine, a group of tropdophis melanurus, their from cuba and nearby islands, they eat mainly small lizards. juveniles especially will caudal lure. captive neonates can be difficult, often requiring extended force feeding, their live bearers with small decent sized babies compared to the mum (but still small). ps there's quite a few sp distributed around the islands surrounding cuba. when stressed they will auto haemorrhage from their eyes and mouth.










very true










these just make me smile, a litter of caramel Brazilian rainbows 🌈










t neg 🌈










i think this is amarali, the bolivian short tail consuming an unfortunate 🐦










oh my! chinese beauty snake "Snow" (captive combos)










tbc


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## loxocemus

yet another albino form of dinodon










another dream sp (though not in any mutant form) this is a "hypo" moellendorfii, the hundred flower snake, a species with a tragic and shameful captive history, thousands imported, most would die of a combination of dehydration parasite load and starvation, but enough wild neonates and gravid females survived to establish the captive population. only buy cb










jesus tap dancing christ, my eye's!








F2 crossing Moellendorffi x Taeinura

extreme gene albino plus a new gene (lamprophis)










Enhydris plumbea lucy, that hopefully found a better owner, often found in the rice paddys of se asia.










the new (to science) and possible mimic of _Protobothrops jerdonii, i present Elaphe xiphodonta 








_

another caramel rainbow neonate










the enigmatic xenodermus javanicus, the dragon snake. they need cool moist dim quiet conditions, and the kicker, a supply of ideally cb parasite free frogs (like young whites). forget conversion, maybe later in the f2++'s, but just now if you can't get frogs don't buy any, some will take small live fish from a bowl, but ur rolling the dice on that. there have been 2 mutations a t+ (crystal palace reptiles, likely dead) and a t- current status unknown.



















i mean seriously, more dinodon morphs (this is not unusual in species with very high population density's and large geographic ranges), they could be the next corn (well with a pinch of salt) if keepers can get into them.























































yes please










tbc


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## loxocemus

one of the bronze backs, kopsteins in fact. (Kopstein's Bronzeback - Dendrelaphis kopsteini (ecologyasia.com) )










a pissed rhabdophis, but isn't she beautiful










if you could move over a bit (ball python clown combo)










Coral snake preying on a Caecilian










the japanese rat, climacorpha, great captive, easy going, bold calm, and available in T- also










a juvenile copperhead preying on a cicada










just lovely, the t+ "nelsoni", (which interacts oddly with the t-), easy going but nervous babies, 1000mm to 1200mm, an ideal captive










hello there mr caramel 🌈










ditto










a fellow members dream snake, a t- x blue 👁️‍🗨️ capensis Produced by the talented Laetitia BX )










Calliophis bivirgata from indonesia, unusual in that the venom glands extend waaay into the body @25%, preys almost exclusively on other snakes in the leaf litter, has caused human fatalities 










a calico king (rat), u tell it otherwise










Bothrops moojeni male neonate with reduced pattern 










Boiga saengsomi a rare bioga from southern Thailand 










they do exist, a blue rhino










id betray any one of you in the squid game for this, a blue eyed capensis










tbc


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## loxocemus

a hypo maybe, no maybe t+, of the Timber rattler, found in Mississippi










the belly of the king of the pines, lodingi, iv kept them and would like to again, they can vary from calm to tense but all are beautiful (with one exception il address later, dun dun dunnnn!)










possibly the most colorful bairdi ever born










ul never friggin guess! its only a ball x carpondro










apparently its ugly brother










only a handful of people in the world can say they have done this, a baby tentacled snake _Erpeton tentaculatum_










whats the wifi password?








Baby Red Bellied Black Snake taking its first breath

baby death adder taking its first breathe










amel B.d.gemmicincta










seriously! axanthic Eirenis modestus, to the keepers of this species Kudos!



















Axanthic and Axanthic Blonde Trans Pecos Ratsnakes, subocs breed, lay, hatch much later than other US rat species (it must be to take advantage of and/or avoid a natural event, drought, prey etc). the blonde "morph" is naturally occurring in the population like the alterna "phase" of blairs.











Bellissima! Archelaphe bella, a good choice for mandarin keepers










an anerythristic Baird's Rat Snake










im conflicted, id need to keep one before making up my mind (unlike facebook trolls who decide on.....) anyway its undeniably beautiful Anery scaleless female corn










ptyas korros amel


----------



## loxocemus

T- braz 🌈 










an Albino western coachwhip that was caught i think last year (maybe this year) its growing and doing well














































i mean forget the shovel nose is albino and probably the only captive of its type, its eating a friggin scorpion, one would assume venom immunity 










tbc


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## loxocemus

a lucy'ish T- frenatum neonate










t+ ptyas from canada 🍁










its only a t- (maybe'ish but red pupils ) albino oxycephalum










wow, what else do you say










Albino Northern Watersnakes juveniles (Nerodia sipedon)




























they don't look it but their going to be mini monsters, 👾 t+ mucosa











ah now the touchy one (to me, remember that,_ to me_) albino blk pine...










lodingi in the wild are on the edge, one of the U.S rarest snakes. the captive population almost died out during the plague (regius). lodingi frankly don't need an albino gene mutating the tiny captive population that's trying to come back. people treasure lodingi largely because their jet black. this albino lodingi look can be gotten for a fraction of the price in northerns, southerns or bulls. frankly (_again my opinion_) their not 3k snakes, that 3k could buy al stotton some gold pants and you'd have a damn nice bunch of pituophis in return. there i said it.










albino lake chapala garter t+, originated i believe by the garter king stephen bol Garter Snakes by Steven Bol - Steven Bol Garter Snakes










albino Boiga dendrophila gemmicincta, i believe their offering hets now










i saw these a few years back, but russians have never been widespread, "albino" black russian sand boa female










albino aurora house snake, the nice got nicer










double mutation chequered garter, t- and granite










off topic, this woman went back in time and picked up a t-rex neonate









a parsons

10-day old captive born Thamnophis eques with a nematode mass on the mid body, the big question is how, there is a case of parasites passing from mum to neonates in a small aussie lizard (the species escapes me) but they were present in the brain 🧠 case. this garters could be a simple environmental infection, or.........










a beautiful top view of a wish list, g. oxy










some of matt most's work. its a neonate....... Epic Collection Tour - Matthew Most - Old World Rat Snakes! - YouTube










tbc


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## loxocemus

a female waglers, their sexually dimorphic










garden trees are coming back, id take one over a gtp or etb any day (pffffft green meh!)





































ah ridleyi love in a nice size cage, ridleys are famous for cave dwelling bat snatching, which makes their coloration hard to explain....



















the second time iv seen this, the 1st was a young retic wrapped around a large king cobras neck, the retic killed the hamadryad before the venom took effect and then dying itself, nature is full of aberrations like this. *important edit for the below pic "
*Pat LorenzKgalagadi Sightings*

*2 October 2020* ·
We spotten the two snakes in the bush. It looked like the small darker snake (







) was trying to strangle the Yellow Cobra. It almost succeeded. Entangled they eventually fell out of the tree. The Cobra then bit the smaller snake. The smaller snake let go and they both disappeared into separate holes on the ground. We are quite sure that once we left the Coba went back to look for the smaller snake. Can anybody identify the smaller snake for us ? We think Mol or Brown House Snake. April 2019
"










going, going, nope still there, aberrant coxi



















tbc


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## loxocemus

say aaah! (neonate moellendorffi) keep them cool 78 hot, in a long cage, no night heat, moist hide.










notice the shell....



















albino neo copperhead found in the wild










remember those natures aberrations i mentioned. a xenopeltis consuming a juvenile retic, xeno's are stupid strong. this meal could kill the xeno though, or cause a regurge










a cottonmouth consuming a neonate snapper










ungaliophis consuming a lizard species, their main prey, they have very small litters of relatively large young, two breeding's i know of both produced twins, id guess their bi-annual breeders










egg cutting good, ur opposition stupid  a yellow neo chondro, chondros have all been split up, its crazy hard to remember










so this one is a classic example of money corruption bending the law, years in hiding, the lucy western hognose. its not a £3500 hog, can you imagine the hogs £3500 would buy. its a classic dead end white snake, and a damn pretty one at that.




























tbc


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## Thrasops

loxocemus said:


> ah ridleyi love in a nice size cage, ridleys are famous for cave dwelling bat snatching, which makes their coloration hard to explain....


Nice snakes. That one is easy to answer... despite the common name 'cave racer' _ridleyi_ (and the other subspecies that come under this common name like _grabowskyi_), they don't live only in caves; they have quite a large range across Thailand, Malyasia, Tioman Island and possibly Singapore (one specimen from Palau Ulbin) and are often photographed outside of caves well away from them.

It is isolated populations in caves that are easy to find, so herpers often visit them at places like Batu Cave (for _ridleyi_) or Ben Hapu cave in Borneo (the type locality for _grabowskyi_) and from there the assumption has spread that these are the _only_ places they occur. Of course if the animals really were restricted to cave systems they could not be as widely distributed as they are, and in fact they occur in forests and rock slopes outside caves too. We sometimes get photos of them sent in to various South East Asian herp identification groups, taken in Malaysia in Thailand.


This also explains why they seem to enjoy basking and UV exposure so much when it is provided.


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## loxocemus

brilliant awesome gony oxy caging










rhino's will drink from a little cup or squeeze bottle, as will baroni, if ur slow and gentle










vietnam to china the alpine feas vipers, theres two, this is azemiops feae The two species are separated by the Red River, with _A. kharini_ to the east and _A. feae_ to the west. (thankyou wiki)




























a beautiful redhead










calabaria mating behaviour (its captive egg season now)



















my my, allbino pulchra male










tbc


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## loxocemus

so what do u get if you remove yellow from green, a blue Gonyosoma oxycephalum 










this isn't the albino (look at the dark tongue), so what do you get if you remove blue from green, a yellow Gonyosoma oxycephalum 










loxocemus with eggs, standard python incubation, neonates present no issues










a big green baroni girl, a younger but blue form p.baroni boy, iv been bitten by a large female, no reaction at all, and she got me good, baroni's fangs are fairly far forward










not meant to be, a two headed p.baroni neonate



















a bunch of auroras 










my ideal blairs 










go on, just reach in, you'll be fine 










so these are either a mutation, a locale or a new sp/subsp but the middle is the classic egg laying saharan sandboa, the neonates are well developed when laid










there have been a few so a population morph? like subocs










you've got her attention p.baroni










tbc


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## loxocemus

mini rant truth nugget first. there are an unusual amount of mutations in this thread, well mutations made the hobby what it is today, the money they brought in, brought in investment, in stats lighting, heating caging u name it. if it wasn't for corn morphs ball morphs etc, these advancements would not exist. simple hobby economic history, truth is sometimes a bitch to swallow (ask the albino shovelnose above).

so the eques group have become readily available in the uk in recent years, thanks in large part to one man, stephen bol. they are the big'uns of the genus in everyway. their very large (females can get a beefy 4ft), the neonates are strong out of the gate, they grow rapidly, will take sizeable rodents readily. and they need large but unremarkable caging. give all garters UV , except t- mutants, never mind all that shade dweller hide with some foliage rubbish, they'll be ok without it, use a quality vitmin and ur sorted. u can keep eques variants in groups, especially if you enjoyed the squid game, otherwise in pairs, same sex if u don't want unplanned pregnancies.

shes hefty, but she's cool with it










even rhinos having moody days, but its a good indicator of adult size (and some nice caging in the background). always own a lightweight hook, doesn't matter what u keep, ringnecks are known for going for the jugular.




















to the modern hobbyist their mind is blanking right now, this is what we used to call applegate caging (after the great man himself, u like tricolors nice pyros, u owe him. the subterranean drawers simulate burrows, i have extensive experience with these designs including my own twists, truth bomb, craft the upper cage in a way bob ross would be proud, uv the lot, they'll still predominantly use the drawers as they have heat tape under them. heat plus small dark cavity, suit you sir!









the occupant is a florida, maybe meansi, that whole taxonomy mess is just annoying


born from unknown hets by the reptile garden in south africa (a great owner, genuinely loves his animals), the only t- gaboons in the world










the (het) mother stopped contracting, exhausted , she needed a caesarean, thanks to a skilled vet she made it, as well as several more live neonates (though i think the mum sadly passed a few months later)










an odd cage design i found, made in asia i believe, i like them, they have potential










hots


















a bill hughes sanzinia basking (he has cool caging)










a stunning sandiego morph beautifully photographed (sorry Al i feel like im betraying you, for all your UK pituophis needs find al stotton and neil little on facebook)










see what i mean, the man can use a camera (and has a collection thats awesome in its tasteful variety) great pics WILL sell ur snakes










bill hughes sanzinia setup









a beautiful brooks/florida, but a bit hefty










the stiletto snake (Atractaspidinae) has fangs designed for limited movement in rodent burrows and a difficult to evade defensive stab, the venom can cause the flesh to die and fall off (nice!)










ah the aurora housesnake, strongly prefers lizards as babies otherwise they would be more common










one of these things is not like the other










imcages make awesome caging (5) IMCages | Facebook










peekabo, thats a normal hide upturned in grooves, a beautifully simply idea, boa isn't bad either










tbc


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## loxocemus

the (amel) micro scaled corn from wyre forest reptiles (if you want a UK corn contact these guys on the facebook), its had a long journey to almost mass production, similar to scaleless but better? if the scaleless offends.....






















the eastern sanzinia, more sought after than the larger brown'ish western sanzinia










a hypo everglades, i had a childhood friend, now sadly passed on, who bred everglades but he was scared of the crazy babies, so i had to go down regularly to feed and clean the nutcases.












handy










a neat idea, 3d printed cage doors u can add to well, anything (theres a uk guy that does similar (Tub Conversions doors & vents | Crestie Jungle Conversion kit for baby tubs | Crestie Jungle i believe he does custom work too)





















bullsnake morphs have come on in leaps and bounds in the past few years, if you like a species that talks back, bullsnakes are for u










the lucy janseni again










hidden treasure










a hypo? copperhead, the pink on the head, and eyes dont say natural locale










a cut egg of the hundred flower snake










amel pulchra


















simple arboreal design, designed from experience










the "patternless" mutation of moellendorffi










bill hughes sanzinia caging





































tbc


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## loxocemus

awesome nerodia caging



















gods nursery (boeleni neonates)










moellendorffi closeup










a beautiful cyanea in a beautiful cage










tbc


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## loxocemus

i have very few left in my "interesting" folder I'm afraid 

another Archelaphe bella 










house snakes are capable of eating very large prey










but this one is just nuts 










an adult female lodingi consuming a 🐔 (i think i fed a budgie to one once, or it was a Madagascan hognose)










the cold weather is upon us, i suggest this mod for ur racks



















all that work does pay off










dear lord










a super pied mussarana, i think going into shed










a leucistic southern pine (beats a alb lodingi any day and ul save hmmm @£2500)










how leucistic southern pines are made 










just nibble 6ft that >>> way










the average florida lawn, the burm situation is out of control 










do you know what ur eating!!










that's it, i hope u found a few of them interesting. feel free to add any oddities and/or rarities, its ur thread, not mine.

be well
rgds
ed


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## al stotton

Ahh Pituophis


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## JustABeginner2

Looks like two different strains of albino in Indian kukri snakes. It could be differences in lighting conditions or ages of the snakes in question, but it looks like one form is lighter, one is darker.









(PDF) First Records of Albinism or Leucism in Six Species of Snakes from Central India


PDF | Herein we report first records of leucism or albinism for six species of snakes from Central India. | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate




www.researchgate.net













"(A/B/C) Common Kukri Snake/Banded Kukri Snake/Russet Kukri Snake (Oligodon arnensis). (D) Typically colored snake. Photographs by Jagdish Rewatkar (ABC) andSagar Deshmukh (D)."









(PDF) Albinism in Snakes Rescued in Surat, India


PDF | On Mar 25, 2018, Mehul Thakur and others published Albinism in Snakes Rescued in Surat, India | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate




www.researchgate.net













"Common Kukri Snake (Oligodon arnensis): (A) Albino from Singanpor rescued on 22 March 2012 (female; 51.0 cm total length; one of five snakes rescued, all others were typically colored); (B) Head of albino showing the red eye; (C) Albino and typically colored snake rescued from the same apartment; (D) Typically colored snake. Photographs by Mehul Thakur."


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## loxocemus

Predator vs Prey

Predator - Western Yellow bellied sand Snake Prey - Striped skink (Kruger NP)



Predator - Olive House snake (L.inornatus)



Prairie King (calligaster) predating a juv Southern Black Racer





spotted bush snake with its foam nest frog prey





p.alleghaniensis eating frog



oxybelis fulgidus, costa rica



massive puff adder swallowing scrub hare, morning-loisaba (northern kenya)



coralsnake m.euryxanthus eating a western thread snake, rena humilis, arizona





olive grass snake eating a slug eater, tembe elephant reserve



northern water snake (𝘕𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘴. 𝘴𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘯) feeding on a common mudpuppy (𝘕𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘶𝘴)


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## loxocemus

Nerodia spp. (Water snake) consuming an Anguilla rostrata (American Eel)



Midland water snake Nerodia sipedon pleuralis, banded sculpin Cottus carolinae as prey



Micrurus apiatus eating another snake of the same species




off topic but cool Loveridgelaps elapoides (BOULENGER, 1890) [Solomon small-eyed snake]





texas long nose in the act of eating a sand snake



Locality Coetzenburg, Stellenbosch Predator Cross Marked Grass Snake (Psammophis crucifer) Prey Karoo Sand Snake (Psammophis notostictus)



predator Lampropeltis triangulum, prey Storeria occipitomaculata



predator Lampropeltis *****, prey Pantherophis guttatus



Lampropeltis holbrooki vs Heterodon platirhinos, hognose eventually escaped



predator Lampropeltis getula - prey Nerodia sipedon pleuralis



L. holbrooki preying on A. contortrix



King Snake battling-eating a Western Patch-Nosed Snake



king cobra consuming a retic





kenyan sand boa feeding on bird, Rukinga Conservancy, Tsavo, Kenya


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## loxocemus

Juvenile Chunk-headed Snake (Imantodes cenchoa) predating an Osa Anole (Anolis osa)



Juvenile Boomslang and a Foam Nest Frog



Herald Snake (Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia) prey guttaral frog



gile national park mozambique Eastern Striped Sand snake



Evidence of cannibalism in a population of western Galápagos racers Pseudalsophis occidentalis



Everglades racer vs Florida banded water snake



Elapsoidea sp. mystery interaction with Trioceros deremensis (both died)


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## loxocemus

Eating a spicy noodle, cali v crotalus



Eastern yellow-bellied racer, Coluber constrictor flaviventris, predating on a Wandering garter



Eastern Tiger Snake vs Striped Skink (Trachylepis striata)



Eastern Tiger Snake having supper



Eastern kingsnake, Lampropeltis getula, predating on a Eastern garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis which itself is eating a 🐸, a reptilian turducken of sorts



Eastern king snake eating a black racer. SC



Eastern garter snake in southwest Michigan, United States, eating a toad



Eastern black king snake preying on a timber rattlesnake



Dusky Pigmy Rattlesnake



Disgusted onlookers south of Mata Mata. Sociable Weavers at Puff Adder kill.



Crotalus Oreganus Abyssus chowing down on a Sauromalus Obesus



Cottonmouth vs roadkill rough green snake


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## loxocemus

Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus) eating a small Yellow-Bellied Slider (Trachemys scripta)



Copperhead attempting to eat a mole



File snake, Mbala, Northern Province, Zambia



Common cape wolf snake with a striped skink



Coluber constrictor vs Storeria dekayi



Coluber constrictor vs Crotalus horridus



Coluber constrictor juvenile vs Storeria dekayi



Cemophora-coccinea-regurgitating-a-juvenile-Pantherophis-guttatus



Cape Cobra vs Mole Snake in the Kgalagadi.



California kingsnake, Lampropeltis californiae, eating a Northern Pacific rattlesnake, Crotalus oreganus



Bronze-backed parrot snake (leptophis mexicanus)



Boomslang; Prey Cape Bunting



Boomslang feasting on Tinkerbird chicks, close to Morogoro



Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) prey feral kitten


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## loxocemus

off topic but cool Banded Wolf Snake - Lycodon subcinctus found in Hong Kong



Agkistrodon contortrix (copperhead) attempting to swallow a bulky eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus).



A striped racer subdues a baby rattlesnake in Santa Margarita, Calif



a large Mole Snake after ingesting 6 bird eggs



A green bamboo viper (Viridovipera stejnegeri stejnegeri) eating a Swinhoe's japalura (Japalura swinhonis), Pingtung , Taiwan.



A California striped racer (Coluber lateralis lateralis) predating a Belding's orange-throated whiptail (Aspidoscelis hyperythra beldingi, whip escaped minus tail



kinda sorta not, off topic, a captive calabaria demonstrating multiple constriction of prey. (if you put ur finger between them and the cage wall during feeding, they will attempt to crush it against the wall. seen here eating live rat fuzzies, by far their favourite captive diet))



a banded krait consuming a keelback - rhabdophis, which itself has recently eaten



housesnake constricting a large bird (too large?)





housesnake eating a wall gecko



boa constrictor consuming an adult iguana



off topic, a blue line rhino ratsnake



cb _Drymobius margaritiferus

_

2,5 meter long Mole snake eating a large Cape dune mole rat



(Pseudoboa neuwiedii) feeding on a false map (Leptodeira sp)



(Pantherophis alleghaniensis) eating a bat


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## loxocemus

Yellow-bellied Sand Snake Klaserie, Limpopo Province. 06 November 2021. Photos by Pjero Nell





off topic but cool Xenodon werneri



Western Yellow-bellied Sand Snake feeding on a Rainbow Skink



Western stripe-bellied sand snake eating a variable skink





Western Ratsnake (Pantherophis obsoletus) eating a bat. Arkansas, USA



Western coachwhip, Masticophis flagellum testaceus, struggling to predate on a Prairie kingsnake, Lampropeltis calligaster.



Typically for Erythrolamprus, the prey snake is being swallowed tail-first, the opposite of what Micrurus does



timber swallowing a rabbit/hare



Tiger Snake eating a Rainbow Skink



off topic but cool, Thrasops occidentalis



This indigo/couperi was feeding on the head of a decapitated shark, such a unique feeding behaviour a paper was written on the encounter (Facebook)


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## loxocemus

This Horned Adder had Sidewinder for lunch at Kolmanskop ghost Town



This boomslang spat out these eggs just before being captured and relocated out of a residential area in the Constantia Valley area



The Olive Grass Snake was fighting waaaaay above his weight division and the monitor eventually got away. The snake came back twice more to try and reclaim his rather large lunchtime snack.



off topic but cool, The genus of this fossorial form is Calliophis, and it differs greatly from Micrurus. The venom from this genus is remarkably different from other elapids in that it blocks sodium channels and causes a paralytic state



The andaman pit viper eating a lizard



Texas patchnose snake Salvadora grahamiae lineata vs a young great plains rat snake Pantherophis emoryi



Texas Indigo Snake consuming a Diamondback Rattle Snake



Sundevall's Garter prey Bibron's Blind Snake



xenopeltis snacking on a frog species, which along with other snakes, make up a large part of their diet. Mae Nam, Samui





Stenorrhina sp. (probably S. degenhardtii) feeding on tarantula



Spotted python eating a lesser black whip snake





Spotted Harlequin snake (Homoroselaps lacteus) Prey Sundevall's shovel snout (Prosymna sundevalli)



Spotted Harlequin eating a blind snake (though it resembles Amphisbaenia to me...)



Spotted Bush Snake prey striped skink



Spotted Bush Snake feeding on a Tropical House Gecko



off topic but cool, t+/hypo Spilotes pullatus (Tiger Rat Snake)


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## loxocemus

speckled king snake consuming an eastern garter snake







Southern boubou (bushshrike) attacked a slug eater (likely Duberria lutrix_*) *_in our Pearly Beach garden. The snake curled into a tight ball to try and protect itself. In Afrikaans the snakes nickname is 'tabakrolletjie' ("tobacco roll") ...very apt



Southern Black Racer, Coluber constrictor priapus eating an Eastern Gartersnake, Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis.



Southern african rock python feeding on a grey duiker. Area Naboomspruit



Snouted Cobra (Naja annulifera) consuming Rough Scaled Plated Lizard (Broadleysaurus major)



Slug Eater who battled to eat this snail for close to an hour



offtopic but cool, Siphlophis compressus (Tropical Flat Snake)



roughscale (conicus) feeding on a lizard



Rhombic night adder eating a toad uMgazanaMadakeni area Transkei Eastern Cape



Rhombic night adder and guttural toad (poss olive toad)



offtopic but cool, Rhabdophis subminiatus Hua Hin (northern part of the Malay Peninsula in Thailand)



Python natalensis (Southern African Python) prey Lamprotornis nitens (Cape Starling).... Hluhluwe, Kwa Zulu Natal Observer Kirstie Baker



Puff Adder (Bitis arientas) eating a Smith’s Bush Squirrel (Paraxerus cepapi)



puff adder & scrub hare saxitalis sp, photo Clive R Barlow


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## Swindinian

loxocemus said:


> Eastern kingsnake, Lampropeltis getula, predating on a Eastern garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis


frog eaten by garter, eaten by king! 😳


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## loxocemus

i thought that was a pair of legs, well spotted! (iv edited it with "the frog stuffing")

rgds
ed


Swindinian said:


> frog eaten by garter, eaten by king! 😳


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## loxocemus

possibly the rarest predator-prey ever captured, Awesome photo by Alejandro De Los Rios from somewhere in Beni, Bolivia. Bolivian River Dolphins (Inia boliviensis) with their reptile prey? Green Anaconda _Eunectes murinus, _(or plaything? given their normal recorded diet of fish and crab species, a large*** anaconda is a bit of a departure).



rgds
ed
***non- neonate/juvenile


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## loxocemus

Brown house snake eating lizard, Phalaborwa limpopo SA


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## loxocemus

Life and death in the garden

(Oxybelis fulgidus) feeding on a bird (Turdus spp)







Kgalagadi Botswana
May 2021
Predator: Kalahari striped sand snake
Prey: Karasberg tree skink
Observer : Desiree Schlooz


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## loxocemus

this is one of the largest and most colourful tricolor milks in the hobby today (the animal below is an albino tangerine hondurensis), most adults are @5ft, though some can get over 6/7ft. you have to be careful with some adults when you open their cage or tub as they will launch themselves out, open mouthed, expecting food, though by nature they are shy and nervous, so if you give them a brightly lit cage make sure you include dark hides, or preferably subfloor drawers.



one of the bamboo false cobras, they occur up to a fair height, @5000ft, their never far from a water source, often preferring bamboo groves where they hide in the leaf litter, their diet consists mainly of frogs, though lizards may also make up a portion of their diet too. captives from wc sources typically don't last long, particularly from dehydration and subsequent renal damage. they are captive bred in small numbers and do well in cool planted vivarium's or tubs, they average around 900mm.



a very clean (captive) healthy looking bungarus candidus, the malayan krait, like other kraits they specialize in eating other snakes but they also include eels caecilians' lizards and rodents (and likely more), to what extent is unknown, captives have thrived on a rodent only diet for extended periods, for example +13yrs, they have quite high metabolism's but require unremarkable care once hydrated and feeding. untreated bites from this species have a very high mortality rate, they are a constant threat in rice fields and to eel collectors.

in typical defensive posture with the head hidden


Scolecophis atrocinctus, Black banded centipede eating snake (captive feeding video Scolecophis atrocinctus Feeding - YouTube ) , they occur in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and are usually 18" or less. obviously because of its diet it makes a poor captive.



Stenorrhina freminvillei feeding on a tarantula, they also prey on scorpions, an interesting behaviour was observed in such an encounter, the animals tensed its body causing its scales to overlap, then constricted the scorpion. they are around 15" or so and oviparous. when handled they rarely bite but a very rare bite did produce localised pain and swelling.



building some mamba trust



the next series of pics are of the red headed krait (_Bungarus flaviceps _captive) feeding on a vine snake🐍 the red-headed krait occurs in Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia (Sumatra), with a subspecies in Borneo (The subspecies _B. f. baluensis_ is found in Sabah (Borneo) ). The venom potency is little-studied, as bites from this species are extremely rare. like most kraits they are very shy in the daylight hours, coming alive at night when they are extremely dangerous, they are not fond of human habitations though. their diet includes skinks, lizards, frogs, caecilians, small mammals, and snake eggs as well as their well known fondness for snakes. captives often require extended teasing to strike and actually hold. (thanks to wiki for a lot of the info)











a Luzon mangrove snake / _Boiga dendrophila divergens, feeding on a vine snake. currently all the rage in the bioga community, i believe there are other locales being offered, they are being bred in increasing numbers and prices have come down some. incubation can take nearly 100 days. juveniles are very nervous and without a sense of security will not feed, generic captive rodent diet suffices. hydration should be monitored carefully. mangrove breeding introductions have to be supervised as captives have eaten their cage mates.

_

Indo-Malayan mountain pit viper Ovophis convictus, Currently, two subspecies are recognized which will likely be elevated to full species. Total length of males 49 cm (19¼ inches), of females 110 cm (43¼ inches); tail length of males 8 cm (3⅛ inches), of females 15 cm (5⅞ inches). they have a wide range throughout asia and they have caused at least one fatality. they have many quirks especially in regards to their reproduction.


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## loxocemus

the next series is MacClelland's coral snake _Sinomicrurus macclellandi (being freehandled by a very intuitive keeper very aware but accepting of the dangers) their not large animals typically 800mm max with 600mm being more common, they have a large range from india to japan. S. macclellandi is an oviparous species. Mature females lay clutches of 6–14 eggs (wiki). they are inoffensive sub/fossorial dwellers of the leaf litter though fatalities have occurred, often within 8hrs of the bite. they specialise on snakes as prey though lizards can be included, though like the krait above the extent of its wild diet is unknown. if attacked they often spiral their tails like north american ringnecks._





succesful captive breeding


juvenile setup


hand feeding level 10



welcome to the world (cyanea)



a festive red headed krait eating a dead vine snake, a good way too boost the nutrition level (and introduce meds) is to stuff the dead prey snake with mice, the keeper has obviously worked extensively with this animal.



juvenile albino (t-) whitelip pitvipers (albolabris)



adult


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## loxocemus

Trimeresurus purpureomaculatus, often called the mangrove viper or shore pit viper due to it inhabiting rocky and mangrove coastal areas within its range of India, Bangladesh and Southeast Asia, they can be found inland though, in bamboo jungles up to 600m elevation. they readily bite and fatalities have occurred. males are around 600mm with females around 900mm. juveniles prey on small frogs and lizards graduating to birds and larger lizards as adults. they have no problem navigating salt water to reach offshore islands. they are Ovoviviparous w/ 7-14 young/ litter.





this is a rare photo of a xenodermus feeding in hand on a small frog species, some will take live fish from a bowl but you have to be wary of, and account for, vitamin and mineral deficiencies (depending on fish species thiaminase also may have to be taken into account). this specimen looks well hydrated with healthy skin tone. the vast majority of imported dragon snakes will perish. the ideal housing would be a cool heavily planted aqua terrarium with live fish and small frogs. think thrice before purchasing.



_

Trimeresurus insularis_ is normally green but on komodo island the blue form can be found, there is a yellow form found on another island. they readily bite though fatalities are uncommon.





Banded Krait _Bungarus fasciatus_ , is the largest of the kraits capable of exceeding 2m though 1.8m is more common, the triangular body shape is common among snake eaters of many species. this species has a huge range including the whole of the Indo-Chinese subregion, the Malay peninsula and Indonesian archipelago, and southern China. they inhabit moist forests, various crop plantations, water sources and humidity are important and as such they rarely inhabit dry forests or grasslands, they are commonly found around human habitation, selecting permanent water features (ponds and canals) above all else . they are most often seen after rains. they are famously extremely benign during the day (daylight does not guarantee you wont get bit but its extremely rare), at night however their very switched on and should not be approached.  In Myanmar, a female has been dug out while incubating a clutch of eight eggs, four of which hatched in May. Young have been recorded to measure 298 to 311 mm on hatching. Severe envenomation can lead to respiratory failure and death may occur due to suffocation . as well as snakes they will take lizards. in captivity they feed well on ratsnakes like radiata etc

interesting paper on nest attendance and habitat preference of banded kraits (Bungarus fasciatus) file (thebhs.org)


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## loxocemus

the king slaying the dragon🐲 , well not quite, a very rare meal indeed, a deceased xenodermus javanicus (captive setting) being eaten by a young king cobra Ophiophagus hannah



perhaps the most primitive of all vipers Azemiops feae (there is a second species the White-head Burmese Viper _Azemiops kharini which _has a broader distribution than the Black-head Fea’s Viper _Azemiops feae_.) they have smooth scales whereas most vipers are keeled, they have large colubrid/elapid like head scales instead of the many small scales common to vipers. males measure @700mm females are slightly larger @750mm, the venom glands are relatively small. Finally, unlike most vipers, Fea's viper is oviparous and hibernates during the winter. Found in mountainous regions at altitudes up to 1000 m, they prefer cooler climates, with a typical temperature of 20-25°C. The species is crepuscular, and prefers very moist environments for shelter. They apparently feed on small mammals. A captured, immature specimen was found to have eaten a common gray shrew (_Crocidura attenuata_). In captivity, these snakes are reported to be reluctant feeders, but when they did feed, they took newborn mice, and then only at night. On several occasions when feeding was observed, the prey was not released after being struck. 







Kopstein's Bronzeback (_Dendrelaphis kopsteini_ ) Also known as the Red-necked Bronzeback, this species was formerly confused with other bronzebacks, including the Elegant Bronzeback _Dendrelaphis formosus_, but since 2007 has been considered a species in its own right. Both arboreal and terrestrial in habits, the species appears to feed mainly on lizards, including tree-dwelling agamids. If its prey leaps to the ground to evade capture, this snake will quickly come to the ground too and continue the chase. The species occurs in southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Sumatra. adults average 5ft.





Atheris squamigera (variable bush viper) inhabits parts of western and central Africa. Its geographic range extends into Kamanyola, a province of Kivu, Congo and Takamanda Forest Reserve in Cameroon. This species is most commonly found at elevations ranging from 100 to 400 m in elevation. The climate of the Takamanda Forest Reserve, Cameroon, where this species is particularly abundant, alternates between rainy (April to November) and dry seasons. males average 650mm while females average 710mm. Atheris squamigera reproduces once yearly, typically during the wet season (May to August). Mating occurs most often at night cycle, between 6 pm to 2 am. Once the eggs are fertilized, gestation lasts for 2 months. On average, 7 to 9 offspring are produced. Females reach reproductive maturity 42 months after birth. Males are capable of reproduction much earlier, typically after 24 months. It feeds mainly on small, nocturnal mammals such as shrews and rodents, like other vipers, A. squamigera adults often prey on adolescent snakes of their own species. The venom of A. squamigera is lethal and is used to subdue and kill prey prior to ingestion. In humans, the bite of A. squamigera often causes fever, hemorrhaging, and death. a_theris squamigera_ requires a very high level of humidity to breed. In one case, males and females were kept separate from January to the end of November. Two females became gravid (with one observed mating). Each produced eight young: a smaller percentage were yellow (possible recessive gene), most being green. In each brood, there was also one nonviable green specimen. Some of the neonates fed readily on frogs, while the others had to be force-fed pinkie mice. All fed independently after a few months



the very sought after tiger phase of Atheris squamigera. 



a very rare hybrid, Boiga melanota x Boiga cyanea, this specimen will go through a drastic ontogenetic change, the result = unknown, which is part of the draw of hybrids, u never know what's going to hatch (on the other hand live bearer hybrids are exceptionally rare)



the perfect moment



genuine captive bred calabaria, a true rarity, as you can see their very colourful, though this fades to dirty orange flecks as adults. specimens from cameroon reportedly retain the red into adulthood. neonates are capable of taking sm rat pups straight away, sexual maturity is reached in 3yrs if they feed well, body weight is the biggest factor in ovulation and therefore eggs, small clutches of 2-5 very large eggs produce neonates reaching 300mm. sept/oct is the most common breeding season, with november the most common hatch month. for their size calabaria are expensive to feed if you have just 2.2, they have small mouths and are specialist nest raiders, often consuming the entire litter. they have very thick armoured skin, very likely to fend off the rodent mother. ideally breeding ur own rats is the way to go as they adore live rat fuzzies, an adult will consume a rat fuzzie approaching adult mouse size but most will point blank refuse an adult mouse. Calabaria reinhardtii (like xenopeltis) should never be without drinking water.



Xenodon severus has a large range across south america, It is a diurnal snake of terrestrial habits that feeds on toads and tadpoles, mainly of the genera _Rhinella,_ _Leptodactylus_ and _Pristimantis._ In general, species of the genus _Xenodon_ feed on toads, which as a defence mechanism inflate their lungs to avoid being captured; however, this genus of snakes has specialized to successfully catch them. First, the snake traps the toad with its fore teeth and displaces it to the back of its mouth, then rotates the medial jaws, allowing the incisors (or phalanges) to penetrate the toad, deflating its lungs so it can engulf it. This snake is oviparous, and little is known about its reproduction; in Ecuador, a female with 22 eggs was reported. the neonates undergo a ontogenetic change from a pattern of dark brown diagonal stripes and whitish grays; brown snout outlined in white.





_this next series is drymobius margaritiferus_, commonly known as the speckled racer, is a species of nonvenomous colubrid snake native to the Americas. The specific name, _margaritiferus_, means "pearl-bearing" in Latin, referring to the pearl-like spots on the dorsal scales.


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## loxocemus

yellow bellied liophis, _Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus, _Like other species of Liophis this species is a fast-moving, ground-dwelling snake. This species is usually found close to water where they feed almost exclusively on amphibians. It is a small snake reaching a maximum of 70cm in length and in keeping with other members of its genus it is relatively innocuous. They vary greatly in colour pattern, the most distinctive form being solidly black above and yellow below. they make great captives rivalling garters in their ease of care. care is very similar to garters, ie pinkies/fish some uv and access to water, very suited to a densely planted cage.

adult


juvenile


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## loxocemus

Locality Noordhoek, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa Date 15 December 2021 Predato Spotted Harlequin snake (Homoroselaps lacteus) Prey Cape Legless Skink (Acontias meleagris) Observer J.Kipling



Predator Dwarf beaked snake Dipsina multimaculata Prey Knox’s desert lizard Meroles knoxii Observers Jessica Kemper and Marie Lemerle







Locality Lüderitz Peninsula, Namibia Predator Many-horned adder Bitis cornuta Prey scavenged dead spotted desert lizard Meroles suborbitalis Observer Jessica Kemper









Location Nirvana Hills, Pinetown, KZN Predator Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) Prey 1 ferral kitten eaten, 2 killed (was going to eat them, they were tiny). Kittens estimated to be 5 days old.



Location Inanda, KZN Predator Southern African Python (Python natalensis) Prey Domestic dog (Africanis puppy, a few months old). Notes Snake regurgitated after being captured.



Locality Carrington Heights, Durban, KZN Predator Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) Prey Russian Dwarf Hamster! An interesting sight...


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## loxocemus

Cat lovers look away! Locality Newlands West, Durban, KZN Predator Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) Prey ferral kitten Observer Nick Evans



Locality Methven Road, Westville, Durban, KZN Predator Herald Snake Prey Guttural Toad





Predator Common Wolf snake (Lycophidion capense) Prey Striped Skink (Trachylepis striata) Location Forest Hills, KZN.



Locality Westville, KwaZulu-Natal Predator Rhombic Night Adder (Causus rhombeatus) Prey Guttural Toad (Amietophrynus gutturalis)




King snake preying on a garter snake. Burke County Georgia



Western Mudsnake, Farancia abacura reinwardtii eating an amphiuma.





This Rat Snake enjoyed a squirrel dinner in East Georgia


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## loxocemus

Natrix natrix eats Bufo bufo



Coronella austriaca feeding on Anguis fragilis, Adelsheim, germany




Spotted Ground snake (Liopeltis baliodeirus) eating a spider, Mulu National Park and World Heritage site, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo



tegu preying on coral snake (venom immunity? or rush disabling attack)



King cobra predating on Palawan Water Monitor



Lampropeltis micropholis & Myotis chiloensi....



White-bellied Mangrove snake eating a crab



carpet python (Morelia spilota) which had predated a cane toad (Rhinella marina) only to succumb to the toads toxicity.



sea snake eating a stone fish



Taken By Norm Vexler - A Banded Sea Snake eating a Moray Eel! Photographed in Anilao, Philippines.

v


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## loxocemus

A sea snake eating a frog fish



Coral snake eating Jararaca Bothrops jararaca 



green anaconda constricting ox calf



Bothrops leucurus preying on Philodryas nattereri



Long-tailed snake (Philodryas chamissonis) eating a lizard egg, possibly from Liolaemus lemniscatus.



Drymarchon melanurus (or rubidus?) having breakfast



Drymarchon eating Incilius



Yellow-tailed Cribo eating a Fer-de-Lance



Clelia eating boa



A yellow-tailed cribo (Drymarchon corais) devouring a mussurana (Clelia clelia)



Mussurana eating a Terciopelo (Bothrops asper) 



Green Anaconda kills a Spectacled Caiman



Black Caiman eating a Yellow Anaconda



adult sunbeam (xenopeltis) swallowing ....?



sunbeam vs tokay (which themselves are formidable predators with very strong jaw pressures)



Cylindrophis jodiae


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## loxocemus

Puerto Rican racer Borinkenophis puertoicensis eating a Anole



i think given location, body type, scalation, head shape, eye size that this could very well be a wild leucistic (or albinistic) sunbeam (xenopeltis) consuming a flying snake? (Chrysopelea )



Anchieta's Cobra, busy eating a Ground Squirrel



Coluber constrictor mormon consuming Crotalus oreganus oreganus. Vernon, British Columbia. crotalus litter born in the den two weeks previous



Erythrolamprus epinephelus and Atractus crassicaudatus



A baby golden tree snake (Chrysopelea ornata ) eating a gecko, tail (auto-detached) first, it will very likely, if left undisturbed, eat the rest of the gecko as well.





Austrian Coronella, feeding on a male Anguis colchica, Sălaj



Buff Striped keelback feeding on a gecko. The gecko was quite big in size and tried to bite the snake several times, it took 7 minutes for the snake to swallow its prey.



optimistic boa seen in Mocoa, Colombia



Leptodeira annulata





Central American tree boa (Corallus ruschenbergerii) feeding on a juvenile green iguana (Iguana iguana)



Scarlet kingsnake eating a Southeastern crowned snake. It got away shortly after this picture was taken.



Indian Spectacled Cobra eating Rat Snake, location kerala, Malabar Coast of India



Cobra versus Russell's Viper west bengal



An uncommon image but rather interesting documentation of smaller prey being taken (Andaman Pit Viper) by a juvenile-sub adult King Cobra on a south Andaman beach one morning



coral snake eating a glass snake (legless lizzard)


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## loxocemus

Florida Cottonmouth eating Florida Water Snake



Dipsas gracilis - graceful snail, mindo valley ecuador



Scrub Python eats Rainbow Lorikeet



Rainbow snake (Farancia erytrogramma erytrogramma) eating an American eel (Anguilla rostrata).



juvenile mussurana (Clelia clelia) consumed leptodeira ornata



thamnophis sp?... eating a crayfish



12inch queen snake dining on what it eats for 90 percent of it's meals, crayfish for lunch. These snakes are very sensitive to pollution


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## loxocemus

Telescopus semiannulatus semiannulatus - Eastern Tiger Snake feeding on a Tropical house Gecko. Kwa-Zulu Natal



Cape Cobra and a Mole Snake



Thamnodynastes strigatus eating the Scinax cuminatus


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## loxocemus

one of the rarest snakes to have ever hatched, this is a t- xenodermus javanicus. when frightened they have the odd habit of stiffening their body. oddly enough i think the people best suited to keeping them are dart frog keepers, they have the experience in making true functional cool planted habitats, and the experience to breed small frog species as food. their not large snakes @500mm and very light, so they would have a minimal footprint (ha!) in a planted vivaria.





  








Xenodermus javanicus poss - albino.jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 16, 2021








From Keeper "Scarlet Nightshade" regarding internal parasites

"Treatment for internal parasites includes an oral administration of Metronidazole (0.04mg/g) given once within the first week of arrival and then once more two weeks after the first dose.This medication is also effective against many strains of bacteria, and will also treat certain illnesses such as a respiratory infection. Since Metronidazole is typically prescribed in a 250mg tablet, it must first be dissolved in water to be administered to your snake. Your veterinarian can help you find the correct ratio in which you will dissolve the medication in, which will depend on the weight of your snake and dosage information provided above.

For reference, dissolving one 250mg tablet of Metronidazole in 10ml of water would be administered at 0.04ml for a 25g dragon snake. I also treat each group of tadpoles and fish for parasites a week prior to feeding them off. You can use Metronidazole for treating your feeders. I add 12 grams of Metronidazole per every 5 cups of water they are in. After crushing the tablet, use a high precision scale that measures in milligrams to measure out the correct ratio. Please reach out to your herp veterinarian if you are unsure on how to calculate the proper ratio."

xenodermus when first acquired rarely leave their hides so its best to keep their water dish under a hide, food at first should be large tree frog tadpoles in the dish, or fish like mosquito fish, guppies or platties, older tree frogs tend to rest at the top of the viv, nervous dragons may not venture out to take them, tong feeding older frogs to settled animals will ensure larger meals. its hard to believe when you look at them but apparently they can become obese, a sensitive/nervous snake will always choose security over food, even water which is why its a good idea to hide the water dish.

they appear to have a relatively short lifespan of @10yrs (though this must be based on limited data), given their fragile appearance i suppose 10yrs isn't bad, guessing two years maturity, 4 eggs per year, the ideal fertile female, assuming an annual cycle, that's @30 little dragons 🙂 .

some points on xenodermus care

*healthy upon receipt from importer (*as healthy as a fresh wc xenodermus can be)
72-76of (80+ can be fatal)
90% humidity
water retaining substrate
secure hides
cbb prey ie treated fish and cbb frogs, nothing wc
once settled treated for internal parasites
keep singly, animals may stress each other
little to no handling
remember their strictly nocturnal

if cbb xenodermus display the same drastic differences to wc that some other asian colubrids do, then they could be kept by the average skilled keeper, it will be at least a decade before this scenario becomes reality i think. (though scarletnightshade's 2.2 may produce in 2022)

rgds
ed


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## JustABeginner2

Ooh! Where did you find the albino xenodermus photo?


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## ian14

JustABeginner2 said:


> Ooh! Where did you find the albino xenodermus photo?


They are around.
Very very very rarely. As are normal wild types.
Crystal Palace Reptiles seem to get them now and again.


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## loxocemus

i don't remember, i found it a while ago, maybe from last year, i hope its still alive.

this is the t+ albino 





  








javan1.jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 17, 2021








crystal palace had it a few years ago, i wonder if there's a pied xenodermus out there, stalking a frog as i type this!

rgds
ed



JustABeginner2 said:


> Ooh! Where did you find the albino xenodermus photo?


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## loxocemus

Siamese Peninsula pitviper (Trimeresurus fucatus), Pahang, Malaysia



Pink-headed Reed Snake, White-headed Reed Snake (Calamaria schlegeli), Pahang, Malaysia





Asian Slug Snake, Mountain Slug Snake, Mountain Snail Snake (Asthenodipsas vertebralis). Pahang, Malaysia.







Malayan Whip Snake (Ahaetulla mycterizans), with a Lynx spider on its head. Malaysia (an exceptional photo by an exceptional photographer)



Blunt-headed Slug Snake (Aplopeltura boa). Malaysia. All coiled up



Russell's kukri snake(Oligodon taeniolatus) by chaitanya shukla



Aplopeltura boa



Calliophis intestinalis 

ventral






Oligodon purpurascens





Oligodon signatus





Hole in the ground containing eggs (oligodon signatus egg raid)


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## loxocemus

Pareas chinensis – Chinese slug-eater (no mutation can rival this)







Amphiesma craspedogaster







Ornate kukri snake (Oligodon ornatus) raising colourful tail as a warning









Sinomicrurus kelloggi



Common Trinket (helena) despite the picture they make good captives, i believe global geckos produce some every year



White-spotted Cat Snake (Boiga drapiezii)



Sunbeam Snake (Xenopeltis unicolor), in situ, it still retains some of it juvenile head pigment, so its likely only a few months old.



Sunbeam Snake (Xenopeltis unicolor), uncovered





Xenopeltis unicolor juvenile (the white head only last a few sheds)


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## loxocemus

Bornean Keeled Pit Viper (Tropidolaemus subannulatus), adult female



Ahaetulla mycterizans



Maticora intestinalis





Banded Kukri Snake (Oligodon fasciolatus)



Oligodon huahin, Hua Hin kukri snake Kaeng Krachan National Park



Oligodon kheriensis



Striped Kukri Snake (Oligodon octolineatus)



Oligodon subcarinatus



Oligodon sublineatus



Russell's kukri aka Variegated kukri (Oligodon taeniolatus)



Three-lined Kukri Snake Oligodon trilineatus



oligodon purpurascens







juvenile


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## loxocemus

Oligodon-bivirgatus



Angels Kukri Oligodon macrurus 





juvenile


_Oligodon ocellatus_



striped kukri



small banded kukri



tioman kukri _Oligodon booliati_ wow! (Example from 2016, found on a forest trail on the slopes of Tioman Island. Photos thanks to Serin Subaraj.


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## loxocemus

Golden Kukri Oligodon cinereus











Oligodon maculatus from mindanao



striped kukri snake oligodon octolineatus





Barred Kukri snake Oligodon signatus


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## loxocemus

Oligodon taeniatus



Oligodon purpurascens; Purple Kukri Snake



Oligodon octolineatus; Eight-lined Kukri Snake



Oligodon cyclurus; Cantor's Kukri Snake



Oligodon calamarius



Oligodon arnensis; Banded Kukri Snake



Oligodon arnensis; Indian Kukri Snake



Oligodon annulifer (my favourite)





  








Oligodon annulifer.jpeg




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loxocemus


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Dec 17, 2021


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## loxocemus

Adult female Oligodon deuvei from Loei Province, northeastern Thailand, ventral



Oligodon signatus





Common Bridle Snake (aka: “Blanford’s Bridal Snake”) Lycodon (formerly Dryocalamus) davidsonii, semi arboreal, nocturnal, preying on lizards, itself the prey of other snakes. Myanmar (= Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam (Quang Binh, up to Quang Tri, Thanh Hoa), Laos, Bhutan 





A broody King



Pareas carinatus by Kevin Messenger





Lycodon aulicus







mock viper (Psammodynastes pulverulentus)



Oligodon fasciolatus, exquisite photo


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## loxocemus

off topic, only described in 1972 Miriam's skink Davewakeum [Brachymeles] miriamae The specific name, _miriamae_, is in honor of Miriam Heyer, who collected the holotype, and is the wife of American herpetologist W. Ronald Heyer.[4]The generic name, _Davewakeum_, is in honor of American herpetologist David B. Wake. (wiki)

adult and juvenile


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## loxocemus

Oligodon taeniolatus





  








Oligodon taeniolatus.jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 17, 2021










Oligodon everetti



Boiga kraepelini



Oligodon formosanus



Lycodon ruhstrati



Oligodon formosanus



Blueneck Keelback (Macropisthodon rhodomelas) beyond beautiful


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## loxocemus

Spotted Keelback (Xenochrophis maculatus), Selangor, Malaysia





Spotted Keelback (Xenochrophis maculatus), Selangor, Malaysia A different individual, more yellow



Smedley's Keelback - Cameron's Keelback (Amphiesma sanguineum), Pahang, Malaysia





Genting Highlands Reed Snake (Macrocalamus gentingensis), Pahang, Malaysia. One big one small





  








Genting Highlands Reed Snake (Macrocalamus gentingensis), Pahang, Malaysia. One big one small....jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 17, 2021













Dwarf Reed Snake, Cantor's Dwarf Reed Snake (Pseudorabdion longiceps), Pahang, Malaysia



Williamson's Reed Snake, Mountain Dwarf Snake (Collorhabdium williamsoni), Pahang, Malaysia







Barred Kukri Snake -Banded Kukri Snake (Oligodon signatus), Selangor, Malaysia





Hagen's Pitviper (Trimeresurus hageni), Selangor, Malaysia



juvenile Keeled Rat Snake (Ptyas carinata), Selangor, Malaysia







Butler's Wolf Snake (Lycodon butleri), Pahang, Malaysia


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## loxocemus

Haas’ Bronzeback snake (Dendrelaphis haasi), Selangor, Malaysia



Juvenile Mangrove Snake (Boida dendrophila), Selangor, Malaysia



White-spotted Cat Snake, Drapiez’s Cat Snake (Boiga drapiezii), Selangor, Malaysia





White-bellied Rat Snake, Brown Rat Snake, neonate (Ptyas fusca), Selangor, Malaysia





Low's Reed Snake -Lovi's Reed Snake (Calamaria lovii), Pahang, Malaysia





tiny snake hook required


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## loxocemus

an interesting hybrid that has occurred several times over the years (from gravid imported emeralds usually). atb hortulanus (The proper name of the neotropical tree boa often referred to as <i>Corallus enhydris</i> (Serpentes: Boidae) (usgs.gov) ) x etb caninus





  








ATB x ETB 2.jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021








keepers notes " it either happened in the wild or at the exporters facility but either way still neat. It was a dual sired litter too! 2 normal emeralds babies were also in the litter."





  








ATB x ETB hybrids.jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021








different animals from such crosses





  








35c1541289393b11c698e628b644fa80.jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021












  








tumblr_o766677K2o1uvq9elo3_540.jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021












  








tumblr_o766677K2o1uvq9elo4_540.jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021








Gonyosoma oxycephalum predating on woodpecker 





  








Gonyosoma oxycephalum predating on woodpecker.jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021








Juvenile King Cobra predating on Leviton's Bronzeback Snake 





  








King Cobra predating on Leviton's Bronzeback Snake.jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021








Rissa Parker captured this Mole Snake predating on a leveret (young Scrub Hare) in Kyalami AH Midrand Johannesburg Gauteng.





  








Rissa Parker just captured this Mole Snake predating on a leveret (young Scrub Hare) in Kyalam...jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021


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## loxocemus

off topic

Tl'uk a 3 year old calf, spotted off the washington coast, first spotted when he was only one year old, there are others, in russian and alaskan pods including Iceberg an adult bull, the first white adult filmed in the wild.




  








191014101652-01-rare-white-orca-puget-sound-exlarge-169.jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021












  








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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021












  








45905121-9826529-image-a-54_1627304951986.jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021








migaloo




  








19db92e46347f0a142ec6b1dbd4949fc.jpeg




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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021








Migaloo is an adult male albino (id go with leucism) humpback, estimated to have been born in 1986 (now in his mid 30s). He was first spotted in 1991 when he was passing through Byron Bay, and is one of an estimated 35,000 humpback whales that migrate yearly.





  








migaloo 2.jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021








Besides Migaloo, there are only 3-4 other known white whales, making them exceedingly rare. The other white whales go by the names of Bahloo, Willow and Migaloo Jnr, all humpback whales





  








[email protected]




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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021












  








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a new white calf, spotted in 2018




  








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mutations are not always a disadvantage, Kermode bears are traditionally black but are increasingly being born white thanks to a recessive gene. Scientists have found the trait leads to them catching more fish because salmon find it harder to spot them.






  








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loxocemus


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The Kermode bear, sometimes called the spirit bear, is a subspecies of the American black bear and lives in the Central and North Coast regions of British Columbia, Canada.




  








Spirit-Face_Speechless_Web.jpg




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loxocemus


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## loxocemus

this is an exceptionally rare photo of a wc deformed hainan sunbeam (xenopeltis hainanensis), the 2nd xenopeltis species to be described. we are used to seeing non viable and survivable deformity's in embryos and neonates in the captive setting, but for a neonate hainanensis with a facial deformity to successfully hatch is amazing, to then navigate nature and make it to adulthood is testament to the species tenacious spirit.

as you can see this animal has an underbite, the skull is longitudinally shortened and the eye structure seems somewhat affected.





  








deformed hiananensis.jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021








This species differs from its sister taxon Xenopeltis unicolor in several ways. It has a singular postocular scale rather than two, fewer ventral, supralabial, and infralabial scales, a shorter tail, and fewer maxillary teeth. Xenopeltis hainanensis is found in "isolated pockets" of southeastern China (from Guangxi east to Zhejiang and south to Hainan) and northern Vietnam





  








hainanensis.jpg




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loxocemus


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Dec 18, 2021








albino sunbeam caught sometime in 2018, im not sure which species but very likely unicolor, given the range difference.




  








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## loxocemus

iv always liked cylindrophis species, the asian pipe snakes, i love their oddity. their from southeast asia, borneo, timor, lesser sundas, sri lanka and southeast china plus a bunch more islands. they have tiny ventrals and pelvic spurs found in both sexes, all but one (-_C. yamdena_ ) have a distinct ventral warning pattern, when frightened they flatten their bodies and curl their flat tails over to reveal their warning, they normally try to hide their head under their coils. there are 14 species currently with no subsp, ranging from a tiny 120mm to a monstrous 850mm! their skulls and jaw structure are less mobile than advanced snakes and have evolved around the specialist feeding of prey like earthworms small blind snakes eels caecilians, salamanders, even preying on their own and other cyclindrophis, they swallow these in an odd spiral motion. the larger species like rufus make decent captives, taking pups of various rodents. they should be cared for essentially like xenopeltis as they share many parameters like low light and humidity.

Red-tailed pipe snake. (Scientific name Cylindrophis ruffus)





  








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notice the absence any real scutes





  








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variation in colour within the species




  








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## loxocemus

Cylindrophis maculatus from sri lanka, it has quite a painful bite for its size, its a livebearer having between 1 and 15 young measuring 100mm with the adults reaching 600mm. like other cyclindrophis the idea of the flat warning tail is to distract while the head seeks an escape route if physically harmed, the tail spares the vital organs like in eryx johni and calabaria, both species having being found with healed scars on their tails.

adult with juvenile




  








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Ceylonese Cylinder Snake (Cylindrophis maculatus) in defensive posture, Kandy, Sri Lanka




  








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## loxocemus

Jodi's pipesnake (_Cylindrophis jodiae_ (formerly _Cylindrophis ruffus_) ) from vietnam*, jodi's Pipe Snake was first described in 2015, based on historical specimens from central and southern Vietnam (Amarasinghe et al, 2015). It appears likely that its *range may extend into neighbouring countries, such as Cambodia and thailand , named after renowned australian herpetologist Dr. Jodi Rowley. Some sources state that its display appears to mimic that of southeast Asian coral snakes (family Calliophis) 





  








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## JustABeginner2

Albino Eastern Indigo snake.


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## loxocemus

there was a rumour many years ago of another albino couperi in europe, a neonate, but it reportedly died accidentally, given the limited gene pool i wonder if its popped up again in this animal. i cant see it being the only one for long though. the picture may provide a clue, only two eggs in the box....





  








2019 couperi albino.....jpg




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## loxocemus

Blue-necked Keelback _Rhabdophis rhodomelas_ (formerly _Macropisthodon rhodomelas_) 
It has a rather stout body, with strongly keeled scales and rounded ventrals. Its head is distinct from the neck and the eye is moderate with round pupil. The belly is pink or yellow with small black dots near the edge of each ventral 
*Range:* Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and southern Thailand
*Habitat: *Lowland forest near water bodies like streams, swamps, and flooded fields, Feeds primarily on frogs and toads.
This is a venomous rear-fanged species that can have significant effects and should not be handled.
Adults average 750mm

juvenile


R. Subaraj, a wildlife researcher in Singapore, was bitten by a 35cm long Blue-necked Keelback in the field and immediately his hand became numb and his head begin to throb. Within a minute of the bite he collapsed and began having difficulty breathing. Though major effects subsided within half an hour, through the next two days he continued to have a headache, slurred his speech and had difficulty completing sentences. Mr. Subaraj weighed around 120kg at the time, and the fact that such a small snake had serious impact on such a large person suggests that a smaller person could potentially suffer a worse fate, especially if bitten by a full-sized adult. Care should be taken around this species and it should not be handled.

young adult




A PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF ENVENOMATION BY A BLUE-NECKED KEELBACK, MACROPISTHODON RHODOMELAS Microsoft Word - Personal account of envenomation by a blue-necked keelback ver. Final-cks.doc (nus.edu.sg) 



Distribution of _Rhabdophis rhodomelas_ (Blue-necked Keelback) 






  








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## loxocemus

Yellow headed calico snake (Oxyrhopus formosus) - Yasuni National Park, Ecuador


*Yellow-headed Calico Snake *(Formosa False Coral Snake) The Yellow-headed Calico Snake, scientifically named Oxyrhopus formosus, is a colubrid snake native to northern South America (Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana, Brazil, Argentina). This beautiful snake has a very distinctive coloration; the body is bright orange; the top of the head is black, while the rest of the head and neck are yellow.



This Amazonian species is thought to be a coral snake mimic. It is highly variable in color with some specimens being banded in orange and black. It is found from the Amazon Basin north to Venezuela. Although rear-fanged, its venom is extremely weak and harmless to humans.


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## loxocemus

_Siphlophis cervinus _Painted liana snake



from member glebopalma28
"I kept these more than a decade ago, you are right absolutely stunning snakes, pictures don't do them justice. Specimens from Trinidad and Tobago are the best looking in my opinion. I got mine from a German importer, and bred them twice, but due to ill-health I sold off most of the snakes I had years ago and am only just getting back into the hobby recently; my pair and the offspring ended up in Switzerland, but I don't know what became of them after that. Size wise my female was a shade under 40 inches and my male was 28 inches. I used to feed them geckos (_ Gehyra sp. Hemidactylus sp. and Lepidodactylus lugubris_), anoles, American Green Tree Frogs and after some scenting I got them to take various types of fish and the odd fuzzy as well. I used to get the lizards and amphibians frozen from a biological supply house, no longer in busness unfortunately, and they took dead prey without problems. Enclosure wise they were in a custom built 54" x 36" x 36" tank, fully planted. 95 under the basking light, 77 at the cool end. > 70% humidity and a large water container. Lighting was nowhere near as advanced back then, but I had Vita-Lites in the cage, and the snakes used to bask under them a lot. They are very active snakes, and once settled were a nice display. In terms of their temperament, they were actually quite laid-back and whilst they were very restless in hand, mine never offered to bite. The only real problem I had was getting the babies to feed as they were so small, very thin as well as short, and as such I had to use broken tails from the frozen Lepidodactylus, but actually getting hold of the wriggly little lightning bolts to feed them was very frustrating. I have tried to get hold of some more since getting back in the hobby, but the only Siphlophis I've come across are compressus, which I also kept back in the day, but found them much more of a challenge to get feeding, so I passed on them second time around."





*continued* "I never found them to be very difficult feeders, my main reason for going with a large percentage of frozen-thawed lizards and frogs in the diet was because this is a thin-bodied, very active species with a high metabolism and as my pair were WC I wanted to get them feeding as soon as possible to prevent any loss of condition. Once I had them established they took to freshwater fish very quickly and they ate scented _Peromyscus_ fuzzies, I found anoles to be the best choice for scenting, followed by tree frogs. I never went overboard with feeding rodents simply because I had access to other prey, but there was nothing, in my experience at least, to suggest they would be unduly difficult to convert to rodents, in my opinion tricoloured kings are harder to switch over to rodents than these guys were. The young I bred took pinks anywhere from 4-8 months of age, and were mainly limited by their size rather than an innate refusal to take rodents. The importer who sold me my adult pair told me that the young would take insects too, but I never tested this out, and don't know what he was basing this on."







It is a nocturnal and mainly arboreal species, although occasionally it presents terrestrial habits. It feeds mainly on lizards, such as _Plica,_ _Polychrus,_ _Tropidurus,_ _Bachia,_ _Thecadactylus,_ _Gonatodes,_ _Hemidactylus,_ _Mabuya;_ it eventually includes in its diet other prey such as anurans, other snakes, bats, and possibly birds(2, 10, 15, 18). It is an oviparous snake, and the laying size varies from 3 to 6 eggs(15). When manipulated twists the body and curls into tight balls, the head hides it towards the center of the ball, it does not bite


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## loxocemus

a beautiful young cali king, a lavender albino i believe 





  








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a supposedly WC lucy cottonmouth, i believe US keeper terry vandeventer used to breed these.





  








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there are other anaconda's, this is the Beni Anaconda (Eunectes beniensis)





  








Beni Anaconda (Eunectes beniensis)_n.jpg




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Home range and habitat use of Beni anacondas (_Eunectes beniensis_) in Bolivia Home range and habitat use of Beni anacondas (Eunectes beniensis) in Bolivia in: Amphibia-Reptilia Volume 38 Issue 4 (2017) (brill.com) 





  








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De Schauensee's anaconda Eunectes deschauenseei from north Brazil (Pará and Amapá states) and French Guiana . Adult males measure 130–211 cm (51–83 in) and adult females 120–231 cm (47–91 in) in snout–vent length, Vitellogenesis in _E. deschauenseei_ probably occurs from autumn to spring (May to December). Gestation may last as long as nine months. Litter size among five gravid females ranged from 3 to 27 (mean 10.6). Newborns measure 29–53 cm (11–21 in) in snout–vent length. 





  








Eunectes deschauenseei.jpg




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## loxocemus

a stunning calico amazon treeboa





  








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Very interesting looking Diamond Python spotted in the Blue Mountains just West of Sydney Australia





  








Very interesting looking Diamond Python spotted in the Blue Mountains just West of Sydney Aust...jpg




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1







Drymarchon melanurus rubidus (Mexico, Guerrero)





  








(Mexico, Guerrero) is the Drymarchon melanurus rubidus.jpg




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special gonyosoma janseni from indonesia





  








Two tails special gonyosoma janseni from indonesia.jpg




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a stunning sinaloan ( i used to own a completely triad free solid red male, a german import, i sold him to pete on here, he did graybands and nuevo leons etc)





  








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a beautiful splendida from third eye herps, they are great snakes, much much nicer in the flesh





  








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a stunning rough green, now being bred in small numbers, kudo's to everyone working with them





  








rough green.jpg




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## loxocemus

a beautiful crossi file, their easy to keep/breed, just remember a damp hide, low light and attention to body weight on wc's, they should always have access to drinking water. despite their wild diet they take to df mice exceptionally well.





  








crossi 2.jpg




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Jan 3, 2022








the beautiful blairs grayband, their natural habitat is often underground, in natural limestone "warrens"





  








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Mexican short-tailed snake (Sympholis lippiens), a very poorly known species, diet is assumed to be termites/pupae





  








Mexican short-tailed snake (Sympholis lippiens).jpg




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one of the most variable snakes there is, the Great Plains ground snake (Sonora semiannulata). The diet of _S. semiannulata_ consists primarily of invertebrates, such as spiders, scorpions, centipedes, crickets, and insect larvae. 





  








Great Plains ground snake (Sonora semiannulata).jpg




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very very few people keep these Chionactus annulatus Tucson shovelnosed snake petition final (biologicaldiversity.org) 






  








Chionactus annulatus.jpg




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one of the world's most beautiful and enigmatic species, Orthriophis moellendorffi, chester zoo hatched some a couple of months ago.



one of the hobby's oldest mutations, often overlooked these days but i think their outstandingly beautiful, this is a striped albino cali king.





  








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## loxocemus

Matias Chavez, shows a musarana (Boiruna maculata), trying to ingest a green snake (Phylodryas aestiva)





  








Matias Chavez, shows a black (Boiruna maculata), trying to ingest a green snake (Phylodryas ae...jpg




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San Rafael - Mendoza Argentina) musurana eating xenodon semicinctus ex lystrophis





  








San Rafael - Mendoza Argentina) musurana black eating xenodon semicinctus ex lystrophis.jpg




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Boiruna maculata preying on Xenodon merremi





  








Boiruna maculata preying on Xenodon merremi.jpg




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Jan 3, 2022








Musurana (Boiruna maculata) predating on another snake known as the False Steel Cruiser (Tomodon ocellatus)





  








Musurana black (Boiruna maculata) predating on another snake known as False Steel Cruiser (Tom...jpg




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This is a Musurana (Boiruna maculata) feeding on a (Pseudablabes patagoniensis).





  








This is a black Musurana (Boiruna maculata) feeding on a mate (Pseudablabes patagoniensis)..jpg




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## bluerain

loxocemus said:


> the devils spawn, not pretty or anything..... ultramel supercornduran
> 
> 
> 
> ditto
> 
> 
> 
> this will interest a particular member, doing work few others will do. Striped kukri (𝘖𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴) from Singapore
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> one of my dream species though maybe not in this form though its damn nice, they were gaining traction in numbers then the plague happened (regius) theres a morph but my brains blanking, genetic tangerine/aztec?, anyway, the andean milk, one of the calmest milks there is.
> 
> 
> 
> not long ago @2015'ish this animal was described, it has the most elaborate lure in the known serpent world. Pseudocerastes urarachnoides from iran, its a mimic of a spider or centipede, to lure in birds especially, below is the captive development of the lure
> 
> a beautiful video of the lure in action Little animal hunted in a most bizarre attack (UHD/HDR) | Seven Worlds, One Planet - BBC Earth - YouTube (i didn't see the head till it struck)
> 
> 
> this was wildcaught as a neonate i believe, not that long ago, less than five years, i don't know if it still survives. a two headed southern black racer. i believe a local wildlife museum took it in
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> a nocturnal rarity, from around the amazon and nearby larger islands (at least) Siphlophis cervinus
> 
> 
> 
> such is life, i wince when i see snakes getting eaten, especially still alive, the people who revel in such events, other keepers i mean, are, nope il leave it there. Sinomicrurus sp feeding on a dinodon in captivity
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> a scaleless carinata, not for me this one
> 
> 
> 
> tbc


My god those corn hybrids and that andante milk.❤


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## bluerain

bluerain said:


> My god those corn hybrids and that andante milk.❤


Andean, my phones predictive drives me nuts.


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## JustABeginner2

bluerain said:


> Andean, my phones predictive drives me nuts.


I got all excited that I'd found out about a new Milksnake species 😂

I'd never heard of an Andante Milk 🤩


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## bluerain

JustABeginner2 said:


> I got all excited that I'd found out about a new Milksnake species 😂
> 
> I'd never heard of an Andante Milk 🤩


Sorry...I'm the queen of typos.🤣


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## loxocemus

Coral (Micrurus diastema) feeding on a juvenile Alacranera snake (Stenorrhina degenhardti)




Micrurus tener vs Masticophis schotti




a very rare and poorly understood species Porthidium hespere, Michoacan


Alacaranera (Stenorrhina freminvillei) feeding on a Tarantula


A beautiful specimen of Drymarchon melanurus feeding on an Iguana found on the Nature Reserve


Scolecophis atrocinctus preying on some Scolopendra


Boa imperator.yucatan mexico




  








Boa imperator.yucatan mexico.jpg




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Jan 10, 2022








Clelia clelia feeding on an Opossum (Didelphis marsupialis)


photo's by Axel Marchelie. Bothriopsis smaragdinus predating a Pristimantis diadematus






  








Axel Marchelie. Bothriopsis smaragdinus predating a Pristimantis diadematus_n.jpg




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## loxocemus

(Crotalus mitchellii) feeding. Photograph by Jair Osvaldo Carrasco Estrada




  








(Crotalus mitchellii) feeding. Photograph shared with us by Jair Osvaldo Carrasco Estrada..jpg




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White bellied mangrove snake Fordonia leucobalia feeding on a crab Darwin NT Australia. 
The anatomy reflects the snake's water-living lifestyle: the eyes are located atop the head, and the nostrils have valves that close when the snake dives.The snake eats small prey that live in its habitat, such as frogs and small fish, and it specializes in crabs, hence its name. Like other homalopsines, _F. leucobalia_ bears live young.


Arabian Sandboa (Eryx jayakari) eating a Acanthodactylus opheodurus, found in Rub al Khali-Oman. jayakari are produced in small captive numbers, if i remember correctly neither jayakari or muelleri have egg teeth and instead push their way out of their very thin "shells", the external "incubation" is not the same as colubrids for example, hence the absence of the egg tooth and very short incubation. in evolutionary terms one could theorise they are on the path to being a true livebearer



Red Sand Boa (Eryx johnii) preying on Field Mouse (Mus booduga) , iv personally kept this species (thanks to paul) and i cant say enough good things about them.




these animals are owned by paradox predators i think their called on facebook. their very special in that their true high expression paradox ATB's


















an aberrant andesiana, these and gaigae (both montane species) are two of the calmest lampropeltis






  








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a beautiful blairs graybanded king, neonates can be difficult feeders, naturally preying on neonate lizards that they are timed to hatch to, well prey on. sometimes they have to be cooled unfed with the hope of a better spring feeding response. personally id tease/force feed and if they still don't feed on their own then cool at the latest possible time for a short but cold period, then hope spring stimulates the need to grow/feed, before the weather turns again (instinct that u use in ur favour).


the beautiful vanishing extreme hypo honduran milk


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## loxocemus

Lampropeltis triangulum temporalis, the much coveted T+ or hypo i cant remember, their not very productive and can be difficult, hence their rarity


a patternless sinaloan milk, identical to an adult male i had that i sold because im an idiot




  








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Jan 10, 2022








its genetic but im not sure if its in the polygenic sense or not


some consider it a myth but captively at least its almost extinct Lampropeltis triangulum conanti


Lampropeltis rhombumaculata, the underrated captively rare mole king


years of work polygenics and true mutations can make something like this, Orangeade (t+ -t-) Florida kingsnake


Lampropeltis triangulum stuarti, most often seen in its aberrant form




Stuarts Milksnake by Milksnake Mutations on facebook UK


a perfect sockhead pueblan (i used to own a perfect bicolor pair, black/white a lifetime ago, but no one was interested in them because they had no red, i think i paid something like @£25-50 the pr for them.)


Albino Ocean County Northern Pine, the history of these snakes from a single albino female in ocean county. make them a rare pituophis mutation


photo by Jay Jacoby. Leucistic Florida Pine, southerns tend to be more testy than northerns.


photo by Christian Garzon, rhino droplets


Deborah-John Lassiter, mex mex


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## loxocemus

possibly the only captive gongylosoma baliodeirum/baliodeirus leucistic, a very little studied species. From southern Thailand at the Malaysia border, Krabi province, and Southeastern Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia. 
*Habitat:* Found in leaf litter at some elevation. We found two specimens, one at 100 meters and one at 470 meters above sea level. The first was found at night sleeping on a low branch of a small bush. The second was found in leaf litter near a very small stream. IUCNRedlist.org limits elevation to around 600 meters, some sources say up to 1,500 meters. 
*Active Time:* The orange-bellied snake is diurnal.
*Description:* A small, very thin snake with the head indistinguishable from the body. Average adult size is probably 40 cm. The there are multiple patterns on this snake, but generally the top is brownish red and the ventral is cream colored toward the head and bright yellow at the tail. On the neck dorsal is one dark spot pair on opposite sides of the vertebral column. These extend to about mid-body. The eye is very large for the head, larger even in comparison to _Ptyas korros_. The head pattern is intricate and the head is very small. On the dorsal from the neck to mid-body are two dark red and thick stripes which merge near the tail and become one color, darker brown. There are also two dark lateral lines, one on each side, running the length of the snake. The anal shield is split. The tail ends abruptly in a nub.
*Defensive Behavior:* This snake wasn’t observed to be defensive, or even attempt to bite during rather extensive handling. When fleeing, the snake zig-zags very fast and every now and again attempts to jump with the front part of the body. I thought I was getting this on video, but my finger had inadvertently hit the stop recording button. One thing I noticed with the most recently found snake was the nubby tail was waved around as if it was a head. This could possibly be a defensive behavior to lure predators toward the tail.
*Food:* Prey probably includes worms and small insects.
*Danger:* None.
*Offspring:* Nothing known.



a beautiful scale study of the lucy western hognose


photo Danielle Murray. fwc closeup


photo Zac Loughman. fwc and friend


Orthriophis taeniurus ridleyi (or Elaphe taeniura ridleyi) curles aroud the bat by Peter Hoefinger


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## Zincubus

loxocemus said:


> (Crotalus mitchellii) feeding. Photograph by Jair Osvaldo Carrasco Estrada
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> White bellied mangrove snake Fordonia leucobalia feeding on a crab Darwin NT Australia.
> The anatomy reflects the snake's water-living lifestyle: the eyes are located atop the head, and the nostrils have valves that close when the snake dives.The snake eats small prey that live in its habitat, such as frogs and small fish, and it specializes in crabs, hence its name. Like other homalopsines, _F. leucobalia_ bears live young.
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> Arabian Sandboa (Eryx jayakari) eating a Acanthodactylus opheodurus, found in Rub al Khali-Oman. jayakari are produced in small captive numbers, if i remember correctly neither jayakari or muelleri have egg teeth and instead push their way out of their very thin "shells", the external "incubation" is not the same as colubrids for example, hence the absence of the egg tooth and very short incubation. in evolutionary terms one could theorise they are on the path to being a true livebearer
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> Red Sand Boa (Eryx johnii) preying on Field Mouse (Mus booduga) , iv personally kept this species (thanks to paul) and i cant say enough good things about them.
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> these animals are owned by paradox predators i think their called on facebook. their very special in that their true high expression paradox ATB's
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> an aberrant andesiana, these and gaigae (both montane species) are two of the calmest lampropeltis
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> a beautiful blairs graybanded king, neonates can be difficult feeders, naturally preying on neonate lizards that they are timed to hatch to, well prey on. sometimes they have to be cooled unfed with the hope of a better spring feeding response. personally id tease/force feed and if they still don't feed on their own then cool at the latest possible time for a short but cold period, then hope spring stimulates the need to grow/feed, before the weather turns again (instinct that u use in ur favour).
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> the beautiful vanishing extreme hypo honduran milk


I would love to get hold of one of these if anyone is selling !!











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## loxocemus

i would contact neil little and "milksnake mutations" on facebook, if their not producing any this year they should be able to give you some helpful leads.

hope ur well my friend 
rgds
ed



Zincubus said:


> I would love to get hold of one of these if anyone is selling !!


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## loxocemus

some scaleless fwc's pics, they will be quite impressive as adults i think.









T+ Costal Plains Milksnake from Milksnake Mutations Milksnake Mutations | Facebook 


an interesting view of a MBK


Hapsidophrys smaragdina owned by Mathias Caspersen


a wild carpet and her clutch that needed to be relocated


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## Zincubus

loxocemus said:


> i would contact neil little and "milksnake mutations" on facebook, if their not producing any this year they should be able to give you some helpful leads.
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> hope ur well my friend
> rgds
> ed


Thank you !!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## loxocemus

vanilla ball x curtus by christopher senjaya


imperial pueblo male with black belly by tommie lunstedt


Aru GTP x Axanthic IJCP by christopher rau


Bateater


First time produced here in the US ! SD retic x timor by daniel solis




well well, the arboreal ball may actually come true


Bateater X lavender tiger het pied, haze retics uk


Ball enchi x Blood (Red head)


woma x pied ball


Liasis Meridionalis-Albertisii X indonesian scrub


Super timor fresh out of shed Timor x retic


a male children's python locked with my tiger coastal carpet python by robert conner jr


GHI banana hypo ball x matrix blood by Morgan Evans


(notes on the above, if you have a problem with hybrids, those who make them/own them couldn't care less, so scream into the void, I'm told its cathartic)

a lesser known hydro, hydrodynastes melanogigas




notoriously difficult compared to gigas, Hydrodynastes bicinctus (Cana Brava, Goiás, Brazil)






by member glebopalma28 from 2010

"I imported a group of five hatchlings from Japan nearly two decades ago, but lost the animals over a period of seven years. The specimens I received were captive hatched from two WC females. The japanese importer lost all of his animals in short order, so passed the young on to me; seeing as he hadn't been successful he couldn't offer me any advice on husbandry. I used my usual setup of oversized viv, naturalistic setup, full spectrum lighting and a very large temperature gradient that I've described on other threads. Temps ran 68 to 100 under two low wattage baskings lights placed close to a multilevel cork wood basking platform. Substrate was 8 inches of humus (what people would call bioactive these days,) with a thick layer of leaf litter on top. I provided water in a large cat litter tray for juvies and the trio that survived to adulthood had large sweater boxes for bathing. Humidity ran about 60-80%. The animals never made much use of the upper limits of the basking stack and seemed to prefer temperatures in the 70-80 range, although they did bask under the Vita-Lite tubes in their enclosures. Two of the juveniles never fed and didn't last very long, and i tried a whole lot of prey types: peromyscus pinks, mus minutoides weaners, five types of amphibian, five types of lizard (2 anolis and three gecko species,) the ever reliable sand eels, crayfish, shrimp and squid. Those that did eat took sand eels and freshwater fish scented with trout ova most readily, and interestingly enough for a freshwater species, squid. I ended up with two males and one female. The female grew to about 6 1/2 feet, the males a little over five. They were never very tame, but were more nervous than overtly aggressive. The two males died after about five years during a hot spell in the summer, although my room at the time was air-conditioned, there's not much you can do to alter mass temps, so this may have been a factor, but I'm not certain. The female was found dead one morning two years later, totally without warning. PM's on all three were inconclusive. The Japanese dealer mentioned scale rot as a factor in the deaths of some of his original WC stock, but I never had that problem. Never managed to get them to breed, but I did place each males shed skin in with the other to stimulate male/male combat in the hope of initiating breeding, didn't work, but saw some pretty impressive combat displays, well, as impressive as a bout between one snake and one shed skin can be. On a side note, they don't keep the attractive juvie pattern and colour for very long although the adults which are light grey with dark red brown crossbands are still very attractive.

Kindest regards,
Alex "


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## loxocemus

yum, by lindsay ellen


aurora house, if only they started life more like their common cousins


wild caught female bicephalic, juvenile eastern i think




  








wild caught female bicephalic.jpg




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loxocemus


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12 mo ago


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## loxocemus

Small-spotted Coral Snake(Calliophis maculiceps) by Phongsavath Pele


Trimeresurus albolabris (White-lipped pit viper) vs frog. Venomous, Ventiane Pr. May 20, 2015 by Alexandre Teynié.


Conophis lineatus (road guarder), a ferocious colubrid, moderately hemotoxic, and with a pretty painful bite.


Chrysopelea paradisi predating on Eurasian Tree Sparrow


Leptophis ahetulla, feeding on a Smilisca, perhaps Smilisca manisorum, though due to the location (costa rica) could be another leptophis like l.a.occidentalis


Ficimia Publia, veracruz, Aldo Carmona


Xenochrophis piscator


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## loxocemus

ball python x reticulated python. lorenzo tapiano





  








ball python x reticulated python. lorenzo tapiano.jpg




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loxocemus


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12 mo ago








Rainbow Snake nomming an (Amphiuma..) mark dorsey,middle Georgia


Atratus Clarki v earthworm, Emeraldas Ecuador by Raul Nieto


oh my, t- tiliqua (i think eastern)


excellent example of Manhattan Milksnake hybrid (50% Honduran Milksnake, 25% Desert Kingsnake, 25% Emory Ratsnake). by UK milksnake mutations (find them on facebook -uk part)


2021 Boiga Melanota produced Aaron solano




  








2021 Boiga Melanota produced Aaron solano, Kudos.jpg




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loxocemus


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12 mo ago








diamond dream martin rosemond




  








diamond dream martin rosemond.jpg




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loxocemus


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12 mo ago








many housesnake keepers dream sp, this is fisk's housesnake

An extremely rare and secretive snake that is active at night. Most known individuals have been found crossing roads or killed by vehicles. It was first described in 1887 from Touws River and Matjiesfontein but two individuals were found near Springbok back in 1982. When threatened it may coil and uncoil while hissing but is, of course, harmless. Little is known of its feeding habits but a lizard was found in the stomach of a preserved specimen. Captive individuals take geckos. Like other snakes of the genus it lays eggs – a captive female laid 8 eggs. Adults average 25 – 35 cm with a maximum length of 40 cm.

Fisk's House Snake is classified as Vulnerable (VU), considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.





  








271931760_3155545551330258_7272004119872215018_n.jpg




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loxocemus


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12 mo ago










Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis) and Rubber Boa (Charina bottae). Caught on game camera by Tim Torell. We suspect the skunk bit the snakes tail causing the snake to coil around the skunks neck to avoid having its head bitten! Wow!

This encounter was published in the March 2021 issue of Herpetological Review as a Natural History Note.


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## loxocemus

Black-necked Amazonian Coralsnake (Micrurus obscurus)


beautiful misted rhino by roger lofgren


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## loxocemus

An awesome record of Amblyodipsas ventrimaculata Kalahari Purple-glossed Snake which Laura Ruysseveldt spotted while road cruising near Vaalwater in Limpopo South Africa. Tthe 8th confirmed record for the species



(PDF) The Kalahari Purple-glossed Snake (Amblyodipsas ventrimaculata; Rous, 1907), A poorly known and overlooked species in South Africa (researchgate.net)


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## loxocemus

Gonionotophis (mehelya) crossi, these have all the traits to make it as an ideal pet (matt most owner)




Vietnamese locale Axanthic Mandarin Rat Snakes (E.mandarinus) matt most




clutch of Red Striped Snakes (Bothrophthalmus lineatus) matt most
Not for beginners and very expensive (overly so, but that's my opinion), The red-black striped snake is the monotypical member of the genus Bothrophthalmus. This snake is found in the Sub-Saharan African countries of Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Angola and Guinea. It is a harmless snake, black with five red stripes down its back. 




they go thru an ontogenetic change just like xenopeltis and lose the white head








Hypo 100 Flower Rat Snake (O.moellendorffi)! I’ve always found the manner in which these snakes hatch to be pretty cool as they hatch out the polar end of the egg matt most




  








Hypo 100 Flower Rat Snake (O.moellendorffi)! I’ve always found the manner in which these snake...jpg




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loxocemus


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12 mo ago








Het Aberrant 100 Flower Rat Snake (O.moellendorffi) matt most


crossi baby


Aberrant extremely reduced pattern 100flowerratsnake moellendorffi matt most


hypo 100 flower matt most


crossi laying a clutch, their easy starters, easy breeders, never bite, easy to keep, by matt most


Oreocryptophis porphyraceus pulchra


coxi by Katarína Faturová


extreme high white pueblan milk


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## loxocemus

Husbandry stuff

_Orthriophis moellendorffi_ BOETTGER 1886

_(Elaphe moellendorffi)_

Keeping
terrarium at least 120x60x80 cm BTH, better more. The species needs a slightly damp hiding place, such as a hatch cave with sphagnum moss. Waterlogging can lead to skin inflammation, too high temperatures are fatal. Air temperature during the day about 22–24 °C, local warming to 28 °C, at night 18–20 °C, humidity 50–70 %. Other: daylight fluorescent tubes, substrate e.g. resin-free wood granules or other loose, absorbent substrate, climbing branches, natural plants are possible, increased hiding place (e.g. bird nest box) is often used. In summer I keep the animals in the outdoor terrarium. Life expectancy over 15 years.
Food Mice, rats, birds Breeding and rearing Pair or group keeping possible, a two-month cooler phase at about 15 °C is sufficient as a mating trigger. 5–12 eggs in one clutch, hatching after about 80 days at 27
°C. Young animals (35 cm) sometimes have to be stuffed with baby mice for a few months, solitary keeping makes sense.

Literature Gumprecht, A. (2004): Die Blumennatter – Orthriophis moellendorffi .


NTV, Münster.

Schulz, K.-D. (1996): A monograph of the colubrid snakes of the genus _Elaphe_ Fitzinger. Koeltz Scientific Books, Königstein im Taunus.

Schulz, K.-D. (1996): Eine Monographie der Schlangengattung _Elaphe_ Fitzinger. Bushmaster, Berg/CH.

Schulz, K.-D. (1998): Bemerkungen zur Pflege und Zucht von _Elaphe moellendorffi_ (Boettger 1886). Sauria (Berlin) 20 (4), 47–50.​Captive Care
Cage at least 120x60x80 cm WDH, better more. Species needs a humid hiding box, e. g. with sphagnum moss. Aggregated humidity can lead to skin infections, high temperatures are deadly. Day temperature about 22–24 °C, local spot 28 °C, night temperature 18–20 °C, humidity 50–70 %. Daylight fluorescent lamps, loose and absorbent substrate, climbing branches, natural plants possible, an elevated hiding box (e. g. bird nest box) is appreciated. I keep this species outdoors in the summer. Life span: more than 15 years.

Food rodents, birds Reproduction and Rearing Pairs or groups possible, needs a cooler period (15 °C for 2 months) for reproduction. 5–12 eggs, incubation at 27 °C for around 80 days.


Hatchlings (35 cm) often require force feeding with pinkies for some months, keep individually.

Literature Gumprecht, A. (2004): Die Blumennatter – Orthriophis moellendorffi .


NTV, Münster.

Schulz, K.-D. (1996): A monograph of the colubrid snakes of the genus _Elaphe_ Fitzinger. Koeltz Scientific Books, Königstein im Taunus.

Schulz, K.-D. (1996): Eine Monographie der Schlangengattung _Elaphe_ Fitzinger. Bushmaster, Berg/CH.

Schulz, K.-D. (1998): Bemerkungen zur Pflege und Zucht von _Elaphe moellendorffi_ (Boettger 1886). Sauria (Berlin) 20 (4), 47–50.​

from an old email

"Hi Edward,
I keep my moellendorffi at 75-78 degrees F from February to November and hibernate them at 60 degrees F for 3 months in the winter. I use a hide with damp sphagnum moss so they can choose a humid environment if the need one. I think a overall humidity of 50-70 % is adequate. If yours are 10' I would feed them medium rats.My 9 foot male eats 2-3 medium rats a week during the feeding season. Both sexes will feed out of hibernation but the males will stop feeding after a few meals until the females become gravid. I keep mine together all the time in the breeding season until the males start feeding again. Usually in late april. Once the females are gravid they will feed some but stop near the pre lay shed. Once they have the pre lay shed it takes 21 days until they lay. I incubate the eggs at 78 degrees F and it takes 86 days until hatching."





polar end hatching


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## loxocemus

Breed the Laid Back Annulated Tree Boa
Bonus content from the annulated tree boa care article in the November 2012 issue
By William Baugher
September 5, 2012

Annulated tree boas (_Corallus annulatus_) are considered to be slow to reach sexual maturity. It is not recommended to breed this species until about 5 years of age. These snakes are live-bearing animals and have a very long gestation period. It is not necessary to cycle animals that you are not planning to breed. Only snakes that are in excellent health and body condition should be bred, and in most instances it would be wise to allow a year off in between breeding cycles to allow the female to recover and to contribute to a long, healthy life for your adult annulated tree boa.

The process described here for breeding annulated tree boas has been successfully used at the Nashville Zoo for the past several years. Given that the gestation period is long, the breeding process takes time and a lot of patience.

I begin preparing for the breeding cycle in mid to late October. I remove the substrate from the breeder snake enclosures and replace it with a more suitable mix. For reproductively active annulateds, I prefer to have a 2-inch layer of pea gravel on the bottom of the cage. Next I’ll add their normal substrate – a mixture of hardwood mulch, peat moss and coco peat– on top of this in a layer about 2 inches deep. This can be important during the breeding season allowing excess water to be siphoned out if needed. At this point, it is a good idea to assess the female’s enclosure to see that it is “baby proof.” Any possible escapes should be less than half a centimeter in diameter, or it is a risk that the neonates will disappear out of the enclosure.

The next step we take is to begin transitioning into a cooling and raining period. The animal’s normal temperatures should allow a gradient ranging from 78 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit, with a hotspot of 95 to100 degrees and the night time low (NTL) should not get below 75 degrees. In early November, I shift my snake enclosures to a spot where the temperatures are slightly lower during the evenings. I want the NTLs to be around 73 to 74 degrees at this point. Day temperatures should still be approximately the same. At the same time, I begin to mist the enclosures more frequently. Typically, I spray the annulateds every second or third day, but at this point during the cooling period, I start to spray daily. A short mist once in the morning should do the trick, enough to get the humidity very high as the day lamps heat the water. Good airflow is more important at this time to help prevent issues of fungus or mold.

During the breeding cycle, I have always continued to feed my annulated tree boas. Food is offered once every two to three weeks. As long as the temperatures are maintained within the described range, digestion will not be a problem.

After about two weeks (in late November or early December), I drop the temperature a little more and increase spraying to twice per day. The goal now is to get the NTL between 70 and 72 degrees. To avoid any possible complications or stress, I do not let my animals get below 69 degrees. During the reduced NTL temperatures, it is important to have your day time temperature gradient of 75 to 85 degrees and maintain the temperature at the basking spot at 95 to 100 degrees.

Maintain this routine for all breeder animals separately until January. At this point, I begin pairing the animals. I always introduce a male into a female’s enclosure. I leave the pair together for two or three nights at a time and then separate for two or three nights. Even if copulation is observed, I keep pairing them in this manner until the middle of March or if ovulation is apparent in the female. Ovulation is observable by a mid-body swelling in the female annulated.

By mid-March, or once ovulation has been observed, I reverse the cooling and misting cycle to return the animals to their normal temperatures and schedules. If ovulation was not observed, don’t worry. It can be easy to miss. You can keep pairing the animals occasionally during this time for good measure, but your annulated may be gravid anyway and should be treated as such until you are certain.

After successful copulation, it will be about 6 to 9 1/2 months until she gives birth (parturition), and this time could be shortened if the snakes are given access to nocturnal basking sites via infrared or ceramic heaters. She may bask during this time period, which does not happen often with annulated boas that are not gravid. You may also walk in to find her with her belly upside down under the heat occasionally, and this can be normal behavior at this time, as well. Many annulateds will go off food during gestation, but some will continue feeding throughout. Do not be surprised if your typically calm annulated boa is now all of a sudden aggressive. They can become a bit more defensive with a belly full of neonates.

On the day of parturition, red and black babies will be crawling all over the enclosure. It is always so exciting to see fresh little snakes moving through the enclosure with their mom. Annulated tree boas can have between six and 16 neonates. It is important to be prepared for this volume before the babies arrive.

Neonate care is very similar to the care of an adult animal. One difference is that the neonates should be kept in an environment with higher humidity than an adult snake. Neonates should be housed separately when possible, but they can be kept together if necessary. If they must be kept together, feed snakes separately. They can have a strong feeding response and may fight and even consume one another if left before prey has been consumed. I use a Large ShowOffs Storage Container, which is an opaque Sterilite file storage box, measuring 12 inches tall, 12 inches long and 8 inches wide, with holes drilled into the sides. I keep it at a consistent 82 to 86 degrees, both day and night. A damp paper towel substrate and sphagnum-moss-filled hide box is provided in this enclosure. The paper towel substrate will need to be replaced every time it is soiled, or at least once every five days to avoid molding. The sphagnum moss should be replaced about once per month or as otherwise needed. Perching should be provided at different angles as well as a horizontal perch. As discussed earlier, I have not had problems getting a snake to eat as long as food was offered at a warm to hot temperature. The temperature of the food item is especially important for neonates and juveniles. Most snakes start off feeding on whole or partial pinky mice. Feeding begins after the first shed cycle is complete. All neonates can be housed in this or a similar setup until a year of age when they can begin to be housed as the adult annulateds.

_William Baugher has been a reptilekeeper with the Nashville Zoo for the past 4 years. Prior to his work at the zoo, he was a hobbyist for more than 15 years and performed salamander undergraduate research with Ambystoma barbouri in Tennessee with Belmont University. He has successfully bred annulated boas in two consecutive breeding seasons for the Nashville Zoo._
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Introduction Belonging to the family Boidae and from the genus Corallus, this shy but inquisitive arboreal boa is uncommonly encountered in the wild and certainly is a rare specimen to maintain in captivity. The Annulated Tree Boa or Neotropical Tree Boa was first described by Cope in 1876. There currently are three recognized subspecies: Corallus annulatus annulatus (Cope, 1875) Corallus annulatus blombergi (Rendahl and Vestergren, 1940) Corallus annulatus colombianus (Rendahl and Vestergren, 1940) The primary distinctions noted among the three subspecies are related to subtle differences in scalation and coloration. The Latin name annulated, which means “ringed”, suggests the predominant ringed pattern that encompasses the dorsum of these snakes. This species of tree boa reportedly can reach lengths of 1.5-1.8 m. (5-6 ft.). The length of the three subspecies likely is very similar. The Annulated Tree Boa has a relatively large stocky head and slender neck unlike its more commonly seen and close relative, the Common Tree Boa (C. hortulanus). The color pattern of the Annulated Tree Boa consists of a brownish-red ground color overlaid with a blackish ringlike pattern along its back and sides. There are about 50-57 dorsal scale rows, about 251-269 ventrals, and between 76–88 subcaudals. Large maxillary teeth and deep-pitted labials are a trait of C. annulatus that it shares with the other species from this genus. Coloration is quite spectacular and apparently locally different with this group of nocturnal tree dwellers. Their colorations range from dark to light shades of brown, brick red, to even a light shade of orange. Natural Habitat These snakes are found at altitudes below 400 m. (1,312 ft.) and up to about 1,200 m. (3,937 ft.). They are found primary in jungles, alongside secondary forests and on occasions in human made settlements such as plantations. C. annulatus can be found from eastern Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. They also are in sections of South America, Pacific Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. Interestingly, this species, unlike its other family members, is comfortable in both terrestrial and arboreal environments. Captive Care I have found that this species is typically rather shy and placid compared to its more aggressive relatives. Annulated Tree Boas are quite relaxed when handled and seldom display any aggressive behavior except during feeding. A 29/01/2022, 10:03 Captive care of the Annulated Tree Boa or Neotropical Tree Boa (Corralus annulatus) | Boelen's Python - Ularhitam file:///C:/Users/OEM/Desktop/Captive care of the Annulated Tree Boa or Neotropical Tree Boa (Corralus annulatus) _ Boelen's Python - Ularhitam… 2/4 suitable sized enclosure for this species would be about 60 cm. x 60 cm. x 90 cm. (2 ft. x 2 ft. x 3 ft.). Their enclosures should be heavily planted and should include plenty of both large and small branches for them to move and coil on. Use peat moss and small amounts of wood fiber mixed together to maintain humidity in the enclosure and to allow for spot cleaning. The option of placing a small bird box or custom made hide definitely would be utilized by these snakes. A daytime temperature of 24° C (75° F) would be suitable for an enclosure, and a comfortable night-time low for this snake would be 20° C (68° F). I recommend a day-time basking site that has a small wattage basking bulb mounted on the top of the enclosure. The bulb should not be larger then 75 watts and should have sufficient distance from the basking site. I also would highly recommend using a hot air humidifier periodically timed to go off during parts of the day and evening. Humidity should be in the 60-70% range to ensure proper hydration and to allow healthy shedding. Ultraviolet lighting is always a debateable subject with snakes. Although this species is primarily nocturnal, I would still recommend providing a standard fluorescent light. Adding a UV light certainly would not hurt anything. The standard light cycle when not breeding should be 12 hours on and 12 hours off. Feeding These snakes have an arboreal and some times terrestrial lifestyle. In the wild they feed primarily on small birds and small rodents that venture into the trees and shrubs. When offering prey items for Annulated Tree Boas, I prefer to provide smaller items rather than something large. In my opinion, this causes less stress and makes it easier for the snake to deal with. Offer frozen-thawed appropriately sized rodents and on occasion give variety to the diet with a frozen-thawed chick. Feed them in the early evening to give them a more natural feeding schedule, and provide prey items every 8-10 days for adults and more frequently for younger snakes. Proper hydration is very important as well. Provide a large water container at the bottom of each cage to allow the snake to come down and drink. It’s also a good idea to provide plenty of misting to ensure that the snake is drinking. (Typically arboreal species will drink off of their coils while perched in the trees.) Captive Reproduction In the wild, the mating season is January, February and March. The rainy seasons typically stimulate breeding activity. To facilitate having these snakes breed in captivity, the climate in which they live must be manipulated. Changes must be made to reduce the number of daylight hours, raise the humidity, and lower the temperature. A sudden change in atmospheric pressure can also be a positive stimulant. In addition, it can be beneficial to have several males together during the breeding period.


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## loxocemus

(from member PYTHONMAN)* Blackheaded Python Care*

If your reading this you probably have a BHP,or are maybe thinking about getting one, to those who own them your lucky,to those who are thinking about it you,ve a lot to look forward to. In my opinion they are a wonderful python to have the pleasure to maintain.
The BHP inhabit the top third of Australia,as far down to the center as Alice Springs taking in the great sandy desert in the west,over to Queensland in the east. Within this range some variation in colour and size exists and local specific BHPs residing. Most of the BHPs over here seem to come from the Queensland area. As the species becomes more available i am sure local specific pythons will become available and i myself would like to maintain the black and white form normally found in animals from the Pilbara area.
However most BHP,s i have seen are quite spectacular with that glossed black head and neck region, giving way to a body colour of highly variable yellow,creme to white or biege transversed with bands of again variable colour of brown,tan, red,or black bands. Darker blotches of black are visiable dorsally and the can fuse together in some animals to form a black dorsal stripe.
Iam not going any deeper into the geography, and distribution of this species as a number of books do an admariable job of this already.
Now on to my own animals.
I own to pair 2 females which are sisters and 2 males who are unrealated to each other and the females. The females both hatched out on 30-7-08 and 1 male on 3-6-08 and the other a later purchase hatched on 3-7-09.
All the animals were large as python hatchlings and all were maintained in identical conditions.
Initially they were housed in plastic boxes measuring 340x270x170mm and were placed so as the back third of the box was in contact with the heat mat. Temp at the warm end 88 at the cool end 75. A water bowl a hide and a few bits of slate newspaper as substrate completed the furnishings.
FEEDING
All the pythons required assist feeding to get them started and most had gone 2 month before the assists were carried out with no interest shown in my food offerings prior to commencing the assists. Male 1 required 5 assists. Male 2 required 9 assists. Female 1 required 8 assists and finally Female 2 required 3 assists. The method of assist i used was that as described in the Mike Swan book, Keeping and breeding Australian Pythons. And involved opening the snakes mouth, and pushing a 3 inch piece of rats tail cut at the fat end to 45 degrees down into the snakes throat. Keeping very still once the snake had started to swallow a fuzzie mouse was held on the last inch of rats tail and held in the snakes mouth so as the snake followed straight on and ate the mouse. I got very good at this and had a very helpfull partener. The snake was then placed back in their box and another dead fuzzie placed outside its hide. Always a dissappointment when you return the next day to find it uneaten. And so this goes on for as long as it takes, but that first time they eat on their own is nothing short of happiness and relive as that black neck expands and its first meal taken on its own dissappears.FANTASTIC
Now once they are up and running they prove to be quite glutteness,they dont miss a meal, and become very food aware, i have read they even feed through their blue sloughing phase although have not tested this out. As they are mainly a reptile feeder i try not to overfeed, which is hard when you get them going but mammals contain more fat than reptiles so be careful.
As hatchlings they were fed every 4-6 days usually a fuzzie to furried mouse, after 4 months regular feeding they were moved to boxes measuring 530x340x170mm where in time the prey items got larger going through the full range of furried, half grown,full grown mice, to furried, half grown, to what they now have and feed with great gusto adult rats fed at 9-14 days. There is variation with this when sometimes 2 pray animals are givern more so with females but most is down to your own experience as regard feeding be sensible.
These animals now live in 50l really usefull boxes at 650x450x220mm and in 6 weeks will each occupy a Rhino Viv at 1200x600x380. Apart from the early feeding the snakes have been model captives. Sloughing every 5-7 weeks.
A FEW NOTES
In keeping these animals i have found them fasinating to observe,the temp on a night is reduced by 6-10 degrees as the temp early morning increases 4 tar black heads and necks stetch upwards and remain so for up to 30mins absorbing the heat, the body motionless the head and neck held proud. Keep hands out the way at feeding, i simply place the food item at the oppersite end of the viv. THEY SOON HOME IN ON IT.
As with most snakes they can bite and when young their threat display in comical, much huffing and puffing and the odd strike thrown in,which they tend to grow out of. They lack premaxillary teeth, and one of the males i own will without hissing or striking just decide to have a bite. You can tell when this is going to happen as he usually starts to twitch and constict which ever part of the body he is in contact with then he finds a nice soft area and bites down, no premaxillary teeth, you know he,s there. When he,s ready he releases and is back to normal. I point out this happens seldom and i have probably been playing with the dog prior to this, however this is the personality of this one snake
On closing i would also like to say we all love our snakes i myself have been at it 30 years, but for me the BHP is a spectacular animal,very aware of it,s surroundings, bold and curious, docile and amiable and hopefully breedable by the end of this year and certainly by next, back to the assists for some of the new hatchlings. If you are going to get some get a feeder,hasslefree snake keeping. If like me after 30 year it,s all about the challange get one feeding or not, do the right things and it will eventually feed, and you my friend will be rewarded with a python of great beauty,personality and tractability, and you are privilidged to own.
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courtesy of Jim Sargeant - Split Rock Reptiles.


*Natural History*

The Blackhead Python ( Aspidites melanocephalus ) has long been a fixture in the aura and mystique of Australia's outback. Blackheads, along with the better-known Woma, occupy the genus Aspidites , a group thought to be one of the most ancient of all pythons. Both members of this genus are widely considered primitive pythons. This is mainly due to their lack of the thermoreceptive labial pits along the upper and lower “lip” scales, traits found in every other python. Gerard Krefft officially described Aspidites melanocephalus on July 28, 1864 .

Found along the upper third of Australia, this python is at home in a variety of habitats from sandy ridges at the edge of deserts to lush sub-tropical forests and savannas. Wild Blackheads are largely fossorial and prey almost exclusively upon other cold-blooded animals. A variety of skinks, agamids, and other snakes (including highly venomous species) make up about 90% of their wild food source. The other 10% can be attributed to the rare mammal or bird. Blackheads can be considered medium-sized pythons. Adult males typically reach lengths of 6 to 8 feet and weigh 6 to 10 pounds. Females are generally larger, averaging lengths of 8 to 12 feet and weights of 10 to 20 pounds.
Blackheads are obviously named for their striking black head and neck and are sometimes referred to as “Tommy Tar Pots” by locals because they look as if their shiny heads had been freshly dipped into a pot of tar. The purpose for this hood is poorly understood, but one possibility could be camouflage for entering dark burrows with little detection. It also has been suggested that the hood is beneficial to basking in cooler temperatures. Blackheads, while cool and their reactions slow, can stay concealed but safely expose the jet-black head to the sun allowing the brain and body to gain function. The width of the head is not particularly distinct from the neck and allows them to hunt the narrow earthen burrows of goannas and skinks with ease.
In addition to the jet-black hood, Blackheads have a banded pattern across the body. These are remarkably variable pythons and there are tremendous differences in band width, spacing, and overall count from specimen to specimen. Coloration of the body is also highly varied. The base color can range from a light brown through brilliant white or banana yellow. The banding itself can even be black, brown, red, orange, or shades in between. On rare occasions, some Blackheads go through incredible color transformations during early adulthood (5 to 7 years of age). This transformation is usually rapid and involves the replacement of dark pigment in the banding and ground color with pastel shades of red, pink, and orange.

*Captive Husbandry*

Blackhead Pythons are probably one of the easiest pythons a keeper could have. They reach impressive sizes, are eager feeders, and are very forgiving of keeper errors. Because of their expansive and climactically varied natural range, they are highly adaptable to nearly any captive condition. This makes them generally without shedding problems and equipped to handle a wide range of temperatures. It stands to reason that a species at home in so many natural habitats should feel quite comfortable within the narrow range of extremes they will face in the captive environment.
The temperament of captive Blackheads is as variable as the snake itself, but generally very pleasant. Babies will often bluff by flattening their heads with an open-mouthed hiss. When striking, it is very rare in our experience that a Blackhead will truly bite. They lunge aggressively forward with a closed mouth in a “head-butt” attempt to scare the source of agitation. Adults are very inoffensive, rarely offering even a hint of discontentment while being handled. Larger adults make quite fantastic displays with their long, mature hood and muscular build.
Blackheads are very easily housed in captivity. Babies can be started in the commonly seen tub rack systems. All they need is a thermal gradient (80 cool end/ 90 warm end), a suitable substrate, and a water bowl and they will thrive. As they grow, our juveniles are progressively stepped through larger and larger tubs until 4 to 5 feet long. At this point they can be moved into their permanent enclosures. An enclosure with 4 feet by 2 feet of floor space is suitable for adult males. The larger females will benefit from a roomy 6 feet by 2 or 2 ½ feet of floor area. Adults should also be given a wider thermal gradient than offered to juveniles. A basking spot of up to 95 degrees and a cool end temperature down to 80 degrees is ideal. Adult Blackheads greatly appreciate top entry hide boxes, giving the sense of a subterranean burrow.

There are many acceptable substrates for these adaptable pythons. Avoid things like pine and cedar shavings due to the oils they contain. Newsprint works great for raising babies. Aspen, CareFresh, and paper (newsprint or cage liners) can be used for adults. Substrates that have small debris mixed in such as cypress mulch aren't recommended for Aspidites .
Feeding Blackheads is one of the great joys of ownership for keepers. They process their food quickly and efficiently and grow at a tremendous rate. Young Blackheads can easily be raised to adult size in 2 ½ to 3 years. It is hard to overfeed growing Blackheads but mature specimens must be prevented from becoming obese. This can be accomplished by offering multiple smaller rats as opposed to feeding single large meals. A good feeding schedule for juveniles is a meal every 5 to 7 days. Adults should be fed medium rats every 2 to 3 weeks for maintenance with pre-breeding females being fed every 10 days. There are no problems or dietary “quirks” with this species; they rarely refuse a meal and are always looking forward to their next dining experience.
Not only do Blackheads make easy captives they are incredibly interesting as well. Although there is no way to accurately evaluate the intelligence of a snake, Blackheads seem quite astute and interested in their surroundings. They are well aware of their domain and seem very curious about the outside world. Blackheads can often be seen sitting for extended periods with their hooded neck and head at a constant 40 to 90 degree angle while their bodies are well hidden beneath the substrate. They do this particularly when outside, much like our North American Racers (Coluber constrictor) can be seen doing in the field.

*Breeding Blackheads*

As stated earlier, Blackheads occupy some pretty variable habitats. For most of their natural range, they experience fairly dramatic climactic changes from season to season. The goal is to mimic the transition of long, warm summer days into the cooler, shorter days of fall and winter. This is simply accomplished using appliance timers on the cage heat and light sources. Summertime cages have 24-hour basking availability and 16 hours of daylight. At the onset of cycling, usually mid-November, the basking spot is plugged into the lighting timer and the timer is gradually reduced along with the night room temperature. By January, the Blackheads are experiencing 8-hour days and long, cool nights of about 65-68 degrees.

Males will begin getting restless early during this cycling period and will start to impatiently cruise their cages looking for their mate. We introduce pairs after the snakes are several weeks into the cycling regime. Courtship is often immediate with copulation quickly following as the female lifts her tail in the air and gapes her cloaca. The male remains with the female courting and breeding until ovulation, at which time he is returned to his cage for some well-earned rest.
Occasionally, a male may seem to have no interest in breeding the female. To initiate courtship and copulation a second male can be brought in to promote combat. A good tussle between the boys often makes all the difference. Combating males are then separated and the intended male can be re-introduced to the waiting female with a renewal of breeding vigor. Attempts at rotating a single breeding male to several females in one season has had limited success for many breeders. Blackhead males seem to “imprint” with the female they were first introduced to and too much shuffling around can result in total breeding failure.
As breeding and courtship continue through the cycling season, the female will begin to show signs of follicular swelling. The swelling will be noticed slightly below the mid-body point. This thickening is frequently mistaken for ovulation causing keepers to prematurely separate the pair only to have the female re-absorb her follicles. Once the follicles are aligned within the body, the swelling subsides a bit. At this point, males catch their second wind and copulations resume. These are the matings that seem to matter most
.
Females will typically go on to ovulate from mid February to mid March. An ovulating Blackhead is completely unmistakable, swelling to almost inconceivable proportions. This massive swelling lasts 24 to 36 hours and is a sure sign that the female is gravid.
Once the female has ovulated, it is time to return the cage parameters to their normal conditions. Ovulation to egg deposition is generally 60 days and during this time females bask extensively, often in an extremely inverted position. It is not unusual to see a female completely inverted, head to tail. Females typically deposit 7 to 10 eggs although exceptional clutches have numbered up to 20 eggs. In nature, the female will incubate her eggs by surrounding them, shivering to generate heat.

*Egg Incubation and Neonate Care*

Successful artificial incubation of Blackhead eggs has challenged experienced keepers for years. Eggs placed in a sweater box on plastic egg crating, over damp perlite provides the necessary humidity without the danger of direct contact with moisture. Direct contact with moisture can send a clutch to failure quickly. Incubation temperatures should be around 88 to 89 degrees in a stable incubator. The eggs should be oxygenated frequently by opening and closing the lid while making a quick visual egg check. The eggs will pip after 62 to 65 days of incubation.
Seeing little black heads poke through the white shells is a thrilling and humbling experience as the young heirs peer out into their new world. Babies absorb a huge amount of yolk at birth and generally don't require feeding for the first 6 to 8 weeks. After this initial period, babies are offered frozen-thawed rat pinks weekly. These are usually placed in the cage and left overnight. Uneaten meals are discarded the following morning. Some babies eat voluntarily, but many will require assist feeding for several months until they are ready to feed independently. This process requires time and patience. Once feeding, the rewards of seeing a baby Blackhead taking off on their journey to adulthood are immeasurable.

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*Keeping And Breeding Black-Headed Pythons*
Jessica Johnson

_Aspidites melanocephalus_, commonly known as the black-headed python, is broadly distributed throughout the northern third of Australia, extending from east to west across the continent, including a majority of the Northern Territory, the northern latitudes of Queensland and the northern third of Western Australia.
One look at this gorgeous snake and you’ll know how it came by its common name; it appears to have been dipped head-first into black ink. The black head and jaws are long, with a head not much wider than the neck—a feature, along with the python’s strengthened rostral area, that makes this species well suited for burrowing. The eyes are black, and the scalation is smooth and glossy. 

One look at the black-headed python and you’ll know how it came by its common name; it appears to have been dipped head-first into black ink.


While a cream base color with brown to reddish stripes on the body is typical, the coloration of black-headed pythons can vary extensively depending on a snake’s age and geographic location. For example, Western Australian specimens are much lighter in color, with reddish overtones, than those found in the Northern Territory and Queensland, which have darker, more intense stripes. Older specimens tend to be paler with less-distinctive markings. There may also be small blotches between the stripes along the sides of some specimens, and the venter can range from white to pink, but can also exhibit dark spots similar to those along the dorsum. 

*Black-headed Python Availability in the Pet Trade*
Due to captive-breeding efforts, black-headed pythons are more commonly available in the pet trade now than in years past. _Aspidites melanocephalus_ is not an easy species to breed, and availability depends on the luck and attention to detail of the breeders. No matter how long someone has been breeding them, success is still often a matter of luck.

he author prefers to never touch her black-headed pythons when she is feeding them.


Good-quality black-headed pythons are not cheap, and if you find some that are, be leery. Always try to buy from a reputable breeder who is willing to help you. I would rather spend time with potential buyers, explaining what is necessary in order for them to properly care for their new pet, than to have someone purchase a baby python from me and have something happen to it. I also recommend purchasing from breeders who can provide feeding records and photos of the parents of the snake you may be thinking about buying.

*The Ideal Black-headed Python Enclosure*
I highly recommend against housing black-headed pythons together unless you’re breeding them, as black-headed pythons do have cannibalistic tendencies. Adult black-headed pythons range from 5 to 10 feet in length; mine average 6 to 8 feet, with males generally smaller than the females by a foot. Because of their large adult size, black-headed pythons are best kept in large, escape-proof enclosures. I use Freedom Breeder racks and Vision cages. An enclosure measuring 72 inches long by 28 inches wide and 16 inches tall works well for a single black-headed python. For breeding pairs, I use enclosures that are a bit wider and taller (72 inches long by 36 inches wide and 18 inches tall). 

For substrate, I use coconut bark (sometimes aspen chips), which I mist every day in order to maintain humidity. Black-headed pythons love to be misted. A water bowl is also provided for them to drink from.

While a cream base color with brown to reddish stripes on the body is typical, coloration can vary extensively depending on age and geographic location. Western Australian specimens are much lighter in color, with reddish overtones, than those found in the Northern Territory and Queensland, which have darker, more intense stripes.

Large, moist hides are provided for both my male and female black-headed pythons (for whom the hides may double as nesting boxes). These provide security and also an opportunity for the snakes to burrow. I have used different types, including a plastic tote measuring 18 by 12 by 10 inches, with a round hole cut in its lid. I’ve also used kitty litter pans measuring 18½ by 15¼ by 5¾ inches. Inside each box I place a 70/30 mixture of moist Eco Earth or Bed-A-Beast and reptile sand.

It is important to have at least one hide to provide security to the snake, and the moist substrate inside will aid in shedding. Place it in the hotspot at one end of the enclosure; place another at the cool end if there’s room to do so. Be sure to keep the substrate inside the hides moist, but not soaking wet. The goal is to provide security that will result in a happy and content snake. Because of the moist hides, my snakes do not soak in their water bowls.
Black-headed pythons need to be kept warm and may suffer respiratory infections if they are kept at temperatures that are too cool. I use heat tape to provide a temperature gradient, with the cool end of the enclosure kept at about 82 degrees Fahrenheit. A 95-degree hotspot is maintained at the warmer end of the enclosure using a basking light that is kept on for about eight hours a day. At night I turn off the basking light. 

*What to Feed Black-headed Pythons*
In the wild, black-headed pythons prey on other reptiles, especially skinks, as well as different species of geckos, bearded dragons, legless lizards and small snakes, including some venomous species (black-headed pythons are impervious to the venom found in even the most toxic Australian snakes). Consumption of mammals and birds is reportedly rare in nature, but does occur.

Older specimens tend to be paler with less-distinctive markings. There may also be small blotches between the stripes along the sides of some specimens.


In my experience, captive black-headed pythons will typically accept rodents. I feed my adults small- to medium-sized rats every seven to 10 days. Males are fed a bit less than the females-four to five rats for males; five to six for females. Feeding several smaller food items is much better than one large meal, and I do not offer adult rats, due to the black-headed python’s narrow head and neck. I feed only frozen/thawed rats, too, because it is safer for the snakes and, based on personal experience, I think black-headed pythons that are fed live prey can exhibit more aggressive tendencies. Hatchlings are given frozen/thawed pinkie rats. 

I place food items on a paper plate at the opposite end of the cage to where the snake is, and leave it alone to eat in peace. I always feed my snakes while they’re inside their cages, as I do not want any snake to expect food while it is being handled outside of its enclosure. When I feed them, I never touch them.

*Breeding Black-headed Pythons*
First, I recommend that when attempting to breed black-headed pythons, you start out with animals that are close to the same size. I have good luck if I wait until the snakes are about 4 years old (though I have bred males that were 2½). I’ve observed that as the snakes grow larger, so do their clutch sizes. This does not mean, however, that animals should be overfed to attain larger sizes faster. Overfeeding causes health problems and a shorter life span. I also do not breed my females every year. If they successfully breed three years in a row, I give them a year off to recover. 

Due to captive- breeding efforts, black-headed pythons are more commonly available in the pet trade now than in years past. Aspidites melanocephalus is not an easy species to breed, and availability depends on the luck and attention to detail of the breeders.


I stop feeding my black-headed pythons around the middle of October. (After speaking with other breeders working with this wonderful snake, and depending on where they are located, I found that they breed their black-headed pythons two to three months later than I breed mine because of climate differences. So your process for cycling the snakes for breeding may depend on where you live.) I keep them heated at the previously mentioned temperatures for three weeks after their last feeding in order to completely clean out their digestive tracts. It’s very important to do this; you definitely do not want to cool them while they still have food in their digestive tracts.

After three weeks I turn off the heat tape and cool them down to 68 to 70 degrees at night. During the day I raise the enclosure temperature to 78 to 80 degrees for 10 hours, and the hotspot remains at 95 degrees during the day, too. 

After another three weeks I lower the nighttime temperature a few more degrees and introduce male black-headed pythons to the females. I have bred different males to the same female, as well as one male to one female, and have achieved the same results. Sometimes a male is not interested in a female. If this happens, he is removed and replaced with another male. Because male black-headed pythons will battle over females, placing a shed from another male in the cage with a pair will sometimes stimulate courtship activity from the male.

The author incubates black-headed python eggs in a plastic sweater box with holes drilled into the sides to provide ventilation. This box goes inside the incubator. Batting (the same material used for quilting) is used for an incubation substrate and a plastic grating cut to fit inside the egg box is placed over the batting. The eggs rest on top of the plastic grate.


A male black-headed python shows interest in a female by crawling along her back and tickling her with his spurs (small claw-like projections located near the male’s vent). If the female is receptive, copulation will soon take place.

I keep breeding black-headed python pairs together until ovulation has taken place. Although there is no reliable way to tell when this has occurred, a good rule of thumb is to remove the male when he no longer shows interest in the female. If successful ovulation has occurred, eggs will be laid around 60 days later. 

Female black-headed pythons usually lay six to 20 eggs approximately 30 days after a post-ovulation shed. Do not remove the eggs for incubation until you’re sure she has finished laying all of them. When removing the eggs, don’t rotate them; keep the egg orientation the same. Placing a small X on top of each egg can help you to avoid rotating them during removal to the incubation. 

Successful black-headed python egg incubation concludes when the baby pythons pip after 58 to 65 days. This is the moment all breeders anxiously await.


I incubate my black-headed python eggs in a plastic sweater box with holes drilled into the sides to provide some ventilation. This box goes inside the incubator. I use batting (the same material used for quilting) for an incubation substrate, placed on top of plastic grating cut to fit inside the egg box. The eggs are place on top of the batting so they do not touch the bottom of the egg box. Humidity is maintained inside the egg box at 70 to 80 percent. I use a Snake Shack incubator and incubate the eggs at 87 to 89 degrees. A small, shallow bowl of water is placed on the bottom of the incubator, and a small fan distributes the humidity evenly. 

It is a good idea to set your incubator up before the eggs arrive. Set it up, run it and check the temperatures day and night. Depending on where you live, placing a blanket over the back of the incubator may help maintain constant temperatures. I use a Helix thermostat, because having a good thermostat is vital to successfully hatching black-headed python eggs. 

here is nothing better then seeing little black heads pop out of your eggs!


I always have a back-up incubator ready, too, just in case. You never know when something could happen. All the incubators I’ve used had glass doors or windows, making it easy to peek inside them without having to open them and let the hot air out. These also come in handy as the hatching date gets close, in case you have a baby that hatches out earlier than all the others. I can guarantee that will make your day if it happens!

I check daily for moisture on the inside of the egg box lid, which I wipe away so that it does not drip on the eggs. Although the eggs require humidity in order to hatch, if they come into direct contact with damp substrate they will get moldy and go bad within a few days. Preventing this is one of the most important and challenging things you will encounter when trying to breed black-headed pythons successfully. 

Successful incubation concludes with black-headed python eggs pipping after 58 to 65 days. There is nothing better then seeing little black heads pop out of your eggs! Hatchlings can be kept much the same way as previously described for adults. I house my babies in drawers within a rack enclosure, with each drawer measuring 12 inches long by 6 inches wide by 3 inches tall. A water bowl and hide are also provided for each baby snake.

Like any animals you may keep, appropriate time and attention must be devoted to the beautiful black-headed python in order to maintain it successfully in captivity. This snake is one of the most impressive pythons around, and I feel honored to be able to keep and breed such an elegant animal.

_Jessica Johnson brought her first snake-a red-tailed boa-home at age 17. For the past 15-plus years, she has kept a large variety of snakes and other reptiles, and has been breeding black-headed pythons and womas for more than 10 years. She also maintains a wide variety of dwarf reticulated pythons and carpet pythons. Learn more about her reticulated python breeding at thesnakepusher.com, and visit her on Facebook at facebook.com/jessicagorges. 









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## loxocemus

*Breeding Emerald Tree Boas*

BY STEVE VOLK AND RICO WALDER (very very sadly missed)

Breeding emerald tree boas (_Corallus caninus)_, although challenging, is an extremely rewarding and gratifying experience. Emerald tree boas live to between 20 and 30 years of age and reach sexual maturity in captivity between 3 and 4 years. Specifically, males can be bred as early as 3 years of age and 800g body weight; females do better at a minimum of 4 years of age and at least 1,500g body weight. Females should only be bred once every two years because they need a recovery period from their long gestation. They will typically give birth to four to 12 babies, although litters of up to 25 have been documented. 





  








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loxocemus


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12 mo ago








The key to successfully breeding emerald tree boas is having well-adjusted animals in a stable environment. We temperature-cycle our adult Amazon Basin emerald tree boas in Colorado starting in October, maintaining them at a daytime ambient temperature of 84 degrees Fahrenheit with a nighttime drop between 78 and 72 degrees. The 6-degree nighttime drop is dependent on outside weather conditions, because the only heat source in our breeding room is from the cage heat panels. So, if the outdoor temperature drops to freezing or below, our snake room will drop to a nighttime low of 66 degrees and our cages will hit a nighttime low of 72 degrees. We also reduce the snakes’ photoperiod from 12 hours on/12 hours off to 11 hours on/13 hours off from October through March. 



We introduce male emerald tree boas to females in November, using the females’ cages as the breeding sites. Pairing animals is best done during daylight hours so as to avoid any accidental bites due to a feeding response. Males will normally court and copulate with females that are properly conditioned shortly after dark. Pairs may remain joined for several hours and even into the next morning.

Introduce one male to a female. Introducing multiple males can result in fights with disastrous results. Upon introduction, a male emerald tree boa will cruise the cage, tongue-flick the female, and become defensive. Initially, it is important to watch the female for potential fighting. It is rare, but females have been known to become combative.



We separate the pairs after a week or so, for a break and feeding should it be time for a meal. One male can comfortably breed two females in a season. If you are uncertain whether or not breeding activity took place, a second “backup” male can be cycled into the rotation. We use Internet cameras with infrared capabilities to observe and record nighttime breeding behavior. 
After successful copulations over a period of several weeks, the female will begin ovulating and develop a large mid-body swelling, giving the appearance that the female has eaten an excessively large meal. This swelling normally lasts 12 to 24 hours. A post-ovulation shed will occur approximately 30 days after ovulation. Once ovulation has occurred, the male can be separated from the female and nighttime temperatures brought back to normal settings. 
It is important that the female has a basking site during her gestation period. For this, we provide a 40-watt heat panel, which can achieve basking site temperatures in the low 90s. A successful pregnancy will last 130 to 180 days from the female’s post-ovulation shed, depending on temperature. Most females will not eat during their gestation period.

Hydration is critical for females during the gestation period, to avoid retained or adhered ovum during birth. In addition to maintaining fresh water in a bowl mounted next to a female’s perch, we will often place a gravid female in our rain chamber, where temperature-controlled water will rain down. Females will often drink off their coils or the walls of the chamber for 20 minutes or more during these sessions.

Emerald tree boas are ovoviviparous and give birth to live young. First-time mothers will usually have four to eight babies; mature females can have up to 18 or more. Neonates are generally brown in coloration and take up to six months or so to fully turn green (known as the ontogenetic color change). Healthy young emerald tree boas will be in the 12- to 14-inch range and can weigh up to 50g.

Newborns are kept individually in Habitat Systems racks using 5-gallon, 18-by-12-by-9-inch tall Rubbermaid polycarbonate clear tubs with internal perches. Perches should be positioned so the snakes can reach the bottom of the tub easily to drink or strike at prey.



Getting newborn emerald tree boas to begin eating can be particularly challenging with Amazon Basin emerald tree boas (the northern form of emerald tree boa is less challenging). Food is not offered until after the first shed occurs within two weeks from birth, at which time most of the yolk will be absorbed. Newborns are offered frozen/thawed (F/T) rat pinkies held with tweezers over a hot vapor humidifier until they are hot to the touch prior to being offered to a baby emerald. 



Typically, about half of an emerald tree boa litter will accept F/T rat pinkies as its first meal. Those that refuse are offered a live dwarf hamster or hopper mouse in a deli cup left in their tubs overnight. About half of those snakes will take the live prey, leaving 25 percent of the litter to be assist fed with a rat-tail or mouse hopper. Eventually, the entire litter will come around and become aggressive feeders. The objective is to get neonates eating F/T rat pinkies as soon as possible; as soon as this is accomplished, your snakes will become easy and consistent feeders for life.

_Steve Volk lives in Boulder, Colo., with his wife, Golden Retriever and about 65 Amazon Basin emerald tree boas. He has bred various boas and pythons over the last 30 years, and for the past eight has focused on the Amazon Basin emerald, with the objective of producing high-white, deep emerald green animals as well as the ultra-rare, naturally occurring “black” or melanistic Amazon Basin emerald. He has a BS in Zoology from Duke University and a Doctor of Dental Surgery from the University of Missouri. Visit his website at _www.amazonbasins.com_._


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## loxocemus

*Breeding the Black Milk Snake*
*This powerful snake is gaining popularity among the colubrid crowd*
By Rob Haneisen
August 9, 2011

The black milk snake (_Lampropeltis triangulum gaigeae_) is gaining in popularity among the colubrid crowd and converting more than a few non-colubrid fans. It possesses nearly all of the traits reptile lovers want in a pet: easy to care for, easygoing personality and easy on the eyes.

Though some may scoff at the beauty of an all-black snake, they probably have not seen a black milk in the flesh. The iridescence and muscular body of these calm snakes are something to be appreciated up close. There's a reason why indigo snakes (_Drymarchon couperi_) are so revered, and the black milk has some of that beauty without needing a federal permit or the $1,000 price tag. Though black milks used to fetch at least $500 for hatchlings in the mid-1990s, the price has steadily fallen as more breeders have caught on to this mild-mannered monster. As of this writing, hatchlings can be found on the Internet directly from breeders for as low as $75. Most decent-sized reptile shows have vendors with some black milks priced between $75 and $200. Along with their natural allure, black milk snakes have something that few other common captive-bred reptiles have: mystery.

The High Life
Black milks are a Central American milk snake found mainly in the high-altitude cloud forests of Panama and Costa Rica. How high? Try 5,000 to 7,400 feet in Costa Rica and 4,300 to 6,500 feet in Panama. Although not an aquatic species, in the wild they live in cloudy, wet microhabitats, of which the forest floors of Panama and Costa Rica have plenty.

Black milks start off as big, tricolored hatchlings (red base color with some black tipping on scales, and bands of white and black) around 12 inches in length or more. Some of my hatchlings have been 16 inches out of the egg. Able to take baby rodents from the start, black milks grow steadily, eventually reaching as long as 7 feet by 4 to 5 years of age (though lengths of 5 to 6 feet are more common). These are beefy snakes. My trio of adults are all about 6 feet and weigh approximately 3 to 3 1/2 pounds. In the wild, it's believed these snakes eat pretty much anything they can overpower, including rodents, lizards, perhaps other snakes and probably small birds.

Alan Kardon, curator of reptiles and amphibians at the San Antonio Zoo, has high praise for the snake he helped introduce to reptile keepers. The San Antonio Zoo started one of the early lines of black milks, and the zoo's progeny is one of several lines circulating in the herpetocultural world. According to Kardon, the zoo acquired some of its founder stock in 1985. One of the founder males, currently just over 7 feet long, is still alive, "_and this was not a baby. He was probably 3 years old_," Kardon says. The zoo does not have the animals on display anymore but still uses them for docent programs.

Easy to Keep
The closest milk snakes to rival the size of a black milk would be Ecuadorians (Lampropeltis triangulum micropholis), Andeans (_L. t. andesiana_), Guatemalans (_L. t. abnorma_) and Hondurans (_L. t. hondurensis_), but I think the black milks take the prize because they are a bit more bulky and are consistently huge. For the record, in his book _Kingsnakes and Milk Snakes_ (T.F.H. Publications, Inc., 1990), Ronald G. Markel lists _L. t. micropholis_ as the largest milk snake, with a size "_reaching 60 inches_."

Because of their size, black milks need large cages. Racks won't work. These are not overly active snakes, but I believe it is unhealthy to keep them in anything smaller than a cage with less than 6 square feet of floor space - this would be equal to a cage measuring 3 feet long, 2 feet wide and 1 to 2 feet tall. Bigger is better. Any of the commercially available plastic cages work fine, so long as they have a locking device to secure the sliding or hinged doors.

Black milks are a montane species and therefore have some special requirements regarding temperature. But these requirements actually make them easier to keep. Black milks like it cool. Ambient cage temperatures in the low to mid 70s Fahrenheit are fine. Black milks benefit from a warm basking spot when the ambient high temperature in the cage is 70 or lower. My basking spot, which uses a 50-watt infrared bulb, gets about 85 degrees. I only have the light on for about four to six hours in the morning if needed.

My schedule for heating a black milk cage varies by season and is as follows:
*Winter:* No heat for adults, room temperature set to 58 degrees.
*Spring:* Basking bulb on for four to six hours when the room temperature is below 70 degrees.
*Summer:* Ambient temperature about 72 to 78 degrees. No basking light needed.
*Fall:* Basking bulb on for four to six hours when the room temperature is below 70 degrees.

Avoid temperatures above 80 degrees. Always provide a cool retreat area. Kardon said the display at the San Antonio Zoo kept its black milks in the "_cool room_" with daytime highs of 72 to 73 degrees and nighttime lows as cool as 56 degrees. The basking lights were kept on for no longer than seven hours.

Substrates
Black milks do well on a variety of substrates so long as you provide a cool, moist hidebox. Cypress mulch is probably the best substrate, as it does well in high-humidity setups and resists mold growth. You can also use shredded aspen, soft paper pulp products such as Carefresh, or even newspaper. The key, especially when using these drier substrates, is to provide a moist hidebox. I use a 12-quart plastic box with a hole cut in the lid. I stuff the box with moistened - not wet - sphagnum moss. This also doubles as an egg-laying chamber for females during breeding season. Without the moist hidebox, black milks can develop shedding problems. Obviously, avoid cedar, as the oils are toxic to all snakes.

"Black milks are a Central American milk snake found mainly in the high-altitude cloud forests of Panama and Costa Rica. How high? Try 5,000 to 7,400 feet in Costa Rica and 4,300 to 6,500 feet in Panama. "

"
Mysterious Color Change

Black milks are the only species of milk snake that exhibits a drastic color change. While many milk snakes will develop black tipping with age, black milk snakes eventually turn solid black. Occasionally you will see an adult that retains some faint banding, but the best will be solid black with maybe just a brownish scale or two under the chin.
Why do they change? No one really knows for sure, but Alan Kardon explained the predominant theory. As hatchlings, black milks mimic venomous coral snakes in appearance. It is a common defense mechanism used by many snakes in the Lampropeltis genus. But as they get older, the environmental conditions and the sheer bulk of the snakes demand a change.
"A big, cold-blooded vertebrate at high altitude will need to heat up quickly," Kardon explained. "Some European vipers also have melanistic tendencies."
Black retains heat and thus allows the big adults to heat up to adequate temperatures for digestion and good health in the cloudy, cool, montane habitats in which they live. "

Eager to Eat
Feeding black milks is about as trouble-free as you can get. Nine times out of 10, hatchlings will take a large frozen/thawed pink after their first shed. As adults, black milks will take small- to medium-sized frozen/thawed rats. It's best to offer two smaller rats rather than one larger one. Feed hatchlings once a week. Adults do well feeding every seven to 10 days, but feed females a bit heavier during breeding season, especially if you plan to double-clutch them. Sometimes, black milks take frozen/thawed rodents aggressively, meaning they will pounce. Feeding time is about the only time you don't want your hand near a black milk's mouth. They like to eat! Always provide a source of clean, fresh water. The water bowl does not need to be big enough for a soak.

Breeding Black Beauties
Before attempting to breed your snakes, be sure they are old enough and big enough. I wouldn't try to breed a female black milk until she is in her fourth year, and waiting until she is in her fifth year is better. I think they grow and mature just a tad slower than Hondurans and benefit from the extra year. I also believe that waiting until your female is at least 4 years old will result in a better life of breeding, more eggs and bigger hatchlings. Breeding females should be at least 5 feet long, too.

I cycle my black milks similar to how I cycle my Hondurans. They get their last meal of the year during the last week of October. By mid-November, I begin gradually reducing the amount of time the basking light is on. If you have any cage lighting or room lights on a timer, reduce them to an eight-hour day. By December 1, I cut off the basking light, keeping the ambient cage temperature in the mid- to upper-60s. By mid-December, all the lights are off in the room save ambient sunlight from the windows. The room thermostat is set for 58 to 60 degrees.
For all of January and February, the temperature in my reptile room is maintainted in the low 60s during the day and the upper 50s at night. (Alan Kardon states that the San Antonio Zoo would drop temperatures down to 54 degrees at night during January and February, with no basking light during the day.)
Try not to disturb your snakes during the winter. Check water bowls and clean as necessary, and take some temperature readings. Other than that, just leave them alone.

Begin gradually warming your snakes on March 1 by providing a basking spot for two hours each day. Turn on cage lighting for eight hours during the day - if you don't have cage lighting, set the room light on a timer. By mid-March, the ambient temperature should be a few degrees below your summer levels. Start feeding your snakes. I have occasionally warmed my snakes up earlier by several weeks in an effort to get them breeding earlier in the year. Sometimes it works.

Black milks sometimes begin exhibiting breeding activity after their first shed following the winter cool-down. This shed normally happens within a month or so after coming out of winter. More often, breeding takes place after the second shed cycle, and sometimes it takes three shed cycles.
Put your male into the female's cage each time after she sheds during the breeding season and see what happens. If he gives chase and she allows him to lock up - bingo. I'll usually give them a couple of hours together, and sometimes overnight, to attempt breeding. Then remove the male. Wait about three days before attempting another breeding regardless of whether you observe a successful lock up. I'll allow the snakes to breed four or five times during this period. Because of a black milk snake's bulk, it is sometimes difficult to detect when a female is swollen with eggs or when it is ovulating. Usually, you can feel - and maybe even count - the eggs by gently running your fingers along the belly. To be safe, have the moist hidebox in the cage at all times so you don't miss a clutch of eggs. Usually the surefire sign that your black milk is about to lay a clutch of eggs is she will refuse food after a shed. Typically, this would be her third shed in the season and is considered her pre-egg-laying shed.
Clutch size can be from six to as many as 18 big eggs. Eight to 10 eggs is the norm. Usually, they will be laid 10 to 16 days after the pre-egg-laying shed. Try not to disturb the female too much when she is getting ready to lay. It's important that she feel her laying site is secure and safe. Disturbing the female during laying is one thing I believe leads to egg retention, which can harm or even kill the snake.
Once the eggs have been laid - and it will likely take a full day for her to finish - carefully remove the female from the hidebox and place the eggs, in the same position as they were laid, in an incubation box of moistened vermiculite (2-1 ratio by weight of vermiculite to water). Close up the box, making sure it is ventilated with a dozen or so holes along the side that measure about the diameter of a screw. This will prevent excess moisture from building up and dripping onto your eggs.
Incubate them at 78 to 82 degrees for 65 to 75 days. Lower incubation temperatures (down to 74 degrees) will increase the incubation time. Higher temperatures can result in deformities or embryo death.
Hatchling black milk snakes can be kept in commercial rack setups with shoebox-sized plastic boxes or small (about 5-gallon size) cages. Provide some undertank heating for a warm area of about 78 degrees, and the rest of the cage can be 68 to 72 degrees.

Calm and Tolerant
Black milks tend to be somewhat calm right out of the egg. While hatchling Hondurans can be nippy or excessively squirmy for the first couple months, black milks don't have the same feistiness. As adults they are even mellower, tolerating regular handling, and they make awesome display animals. I have never been bitten by an adult.
It's a good thing they are mellow, because holding a black milk snake is the best proof you can get of how powerful these serpents are. They are densely muscular, heavy-bodied, rat-pounding machines. If you have the space for one of these incredible snakes and want a snake that is naturally beautiful and easy to care for, black milks are the perfect choice.

The author wishes to thank Alan Kardon for his time and wisdom regarding black milk snakes.


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## loxocemus

Breeding Savu Pythons by Phil Peak





*Posted by:* Phil Peak at Tue Mar 6 13:35:49 2012 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Phil Peak ] [ Log in to Follow this user on Connect]









Through the winter of 2010 - 2011 I tried the conventional cool down period but this seemed to have no effect in prompting these snakes to reproduce. I researched exactly what the conditions are on Savu Island and discovered there really is no cool period. This tiny island is usually hot and dry and receives warm breezes from the arid interior of Australia. Most of the rain fall occurs in the monsoon season which led me to believe this may be a more important component than an actual cool down. In the late spring my male went off food which made me think he may have been interested in mating. I introduced him to the females enclosure the first of June. She was housed in a 72 quart sterlite box in a heated rack system on cypress mulch. The background temperatures were DTHs in the mid to upper 80°F with NTLs of 80°F. The heated portion of the box was set with a temperature probe and thermostat to 90°F. Weekly I would mist the cypress mulch and the sides of the box with water that was mildly warm. They did not seem to like this, but shortly after beginning this process frequent copulations were observed. Each time I checked in on them they were either coiled together or actually copulating. The female became obviously gravid by Sept and the snakes no longer seemed to have an interest in each other. The male was removed and he subsequently began feeding ravenously. The female shed on 9-4-11 accepted one meal on 9-6-11 - at this time she frequently layed on the heat tape, sometimes in an inverted position. I returned from a five day field herping trip on 10-1-11 and found the female coiled around a clutch of eggs. From what little info I could find I read that these snakes usually produce small clutches of several eggs, but this first time female had a clutch of ten. I set the eggs up on perlite at 89°F and 90-95 % humidity. Since the eggs were layed while I was away I had to incubate the eggs as a clump and was unable to separate them. The result was two of the eggs on the top of the mound desicated and held dead babies inside that were well advanced. All eggs were fertile and the first baby pipped at 56 days plus probably a couple additional days since I was unable to know exactly when they were actually layed. I hope you find some of this info useful.​



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*Breeding the Savu Python*
*This small python from the island of Sawu in the Indonesian archipelago is easy to maintain, yet tricky to breed*
By Ryan Young
August 23, 2011

Of the currently recognized 53 taxa of pythons, the Savu python (_Liasis savuensis_) is about the fourth smallest species. My largest female is 4 feet 9 inches long, and my largest male is 3 feet 9 inches. Although capable of growing longer, these sizes are typical of mature adults.
One of this snake's most interesting traits is that the adults have large, white eyes. Given its appearance, it is easy to see how this snake earned another common name when first imported into the United States in the early to mid '90s - the white-eyed python. At that time, the species was so new to captivity that it did not have an accepted common name, and several different varieties were used. Today, the species is most often referred to as the Savu python.

Adults are usually a dark, brownish-black with some lighter, brownish-orange speckles. The belly is primarily white and orange speckled, with some of the orange coming up along the sides. The beautiful scales are highly iridescent, making the Savu python quite appealing.
These snakes go through an extreme color change. Hatchlings begin life with a predominantly orange-brown or terracotta color. This coloration is the same for the hatchling's eyes. The color change takes more than a year to complete, and some specimens retain more of the orange color than others. I would not be surprised if selective breeding for high-orange coloration could produce some interesting results.

Habitat and History
Savu pythons come from the small island of Sawu. The name was spelled Savu back when the Dutch governed most of Indonesia, and this is still seen in some accounts. In fact, "Sawu" is correctly pronounced as "Savu," so to change the common name to the Sawu python would seem to be unnecessarily confusing.

Sawu is a small island roughly 10 miles long and 6 miles wide, located between Sumba and Timor, on the southern edge of the Savu Sea. This area is north and slightly west of Australia's N.W Coast. At about 10 degrees south latitude, it is a tropical locality, but the island is relatively dry compared to most of the islands in the Lesser Sundas of Indonesia. The topography is low, rolling hills of grasslands and scrub with some small patches of forest. The highest elevations on the island are several high hills, which are about 984 feet above sea level, but most of the island is less than 492 feet in elevation.
This species is only known from Sawu, making it the python species with the smallest known natural range. It seems possible that specimens may also be found on the small nearby island of Raijua, located less than a mile offshore from the west end of Sawu, but no investigation of the herpetofauna of that island has been published.

Unveiling the Mystery
Very little has been published about Savu pythons in the wild other than some anecdotal information from individuals who have traveled to Sawu Island. I've been told that Savu pythons have been found near the highest elevations on down to the driftwood along the high-tide mark on the beaches. Apparently, the species can be found over the entire island. Heavily collected for the pet trade for several years, the current wild population status is unknown at this time. Although farm-bred animals occasionally enter the trade from Jakarta, it has been more than a decade since wild-collected Savu pythons have been imported. As one of the last great python species discoveries, it was described in 1956. At that time, it was named _Liasis mackloti savuensis_, a subspecies of the freckled python. There are no records I can find of live specimens in captivity anywhere in the world until the first importations to the United States in 1993. At the time, the pythons were a surprise to the herp community and a huge hit among reptile hobbyists. The wild-caught adults proved to be easy going, mellow snakes, and they settled into captive life well.



As each baby left its egg, I washed it off in the sink with lukewarm water to remove any clinging vermiculite. Hatchlings were housed individually in a rack-style setup similar to the adults, only the enclosures were smaller.


Breeding Savu pythons in captivity was another story. Like most wild-collected adult pythons, the wild-caught adult Savus proved difficult to breed in captivity, and very few keepers were able to reproduce any from those first imports. Fortunately, a few initial successful breeding projects of the wild-caught adults yielded the next generation F1, captive-bred animals. This first captive-hatched generation of pythons proved far easier to breed and enabled exponential growth of the captive population.

Although the availability of quality captive-bred and captive-hatched animals began to further establish the Savu python in captivity, a competing interest was simultaneously growing in the hobby - that of breeding rare snake morphs, especially ball pythons. Keepers who were working with Savu pythons decided to sell their snakes and replace them with far more common species, such as the ball python, that had greater commercial value and a much bigger audience demand.
Luckily, the Savu python has not disappeared from the pet trade altogether, and the future of this species in captivity should be encouraged.

Housing and Care
Keeping Savu pythons could not be easier, and their relatively small size makes them ideal pythons for apartments or small homes. I have a large collection of pythons, so I prefer rack-style housing, but standard cages can also be used. My adults are kept individually in plastic bus tubs normally used for the food-service industry. Each tub measures 22 inches long, 15 inches wide and 5 inches tall, and is placed in a custom-made plastic rack system. Heat cable is set into a groove under each cage toward the back of the rack, providing a warmer basking area.

The ambient temperature in my snake room is fairly stable, ranging 80 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit for most of the year. Basking temps are kept around 86 to 90 degrees (this supplemental heat is usually only used by gravid females). Keepers without a temperature-regulated (/reptile-health/heating-cooling.aspx ) snake room will need to boost temps in their snake's cage, whether it is provided by a heat lamp, reptile heat pad or heat panel. Experiment with all the options to find out which work best within your specific setup.

I keep my snakes on aspen bedding, but cypress mulch and newspaper also work well. I spot clean messes on a weekly basis and change out the entire substrate every few weeks. I mist the snakes with a fine spray of water during their shed cycle because I live in a dry climate. Failure to spray the snakes can lead to shedding issues. I keep my snakes in tubs that they cannot see through, making hides unnecessary. However, if you use clear enclosures, offer snakes a hide large enough for them to coil their entire body inside to help them feel secure.

Eager Eaters
Savu pythons readily accept commercially raised mice or rats, though I feed only mice to mine throughout their lives.
Adults are given one large/jumbo mouse about every two weeks. Babies and juvenile snakes are fed appropriately sized meals once a week. I offer my snakes rodents that are no more than a little larger than a snake's thickest point. Keep clean, fresh water in the enclosure at all times. A ceramic water bowl measuring 5 inches in diameter is a good choice.

Breeding Savu Pythons
These pythons can grow to adult size in two years, but in my experience they do not show much interest in breeding until they're 3 to 5 years old. To successfully breed this species, you'll need to provide a cool-down period. At this time, house them singly. Starting in October, begin lowering the nighttime temperature a few degrees every couple of nights. Do this until, after a few weeks, the nighttime lows are maintained at 72 to 74 degrees Fahrenheit, and the daytime highs remain at a constant 80 to 82 degrees. Keep the lights on for 12 hours a day, and maintain the above temperatures until mid December. Then gradually begin raising the nighttime temps back to their normal levels. By the end of December, the cooling-down period should be over, with the temperature remaining constant around 80 to 82 degrees day and night. Unlike many python species, which breed during the cool-down period, Savu pythons breed afterward.



Small size, good temperament, easy feeding, tolerance for a wide range of temperatures - the Savu python is a great addition to any collection, for both newcomers and advanced keepers.
Feed to Breed
For the first several weeks after cycling is over, I feed my snakes less than normal, averaging one large mouse a month per snake. After two or three weeks at normal temperatures, I start introducing males into the females' enclosures. This usually begins about mid-February, and at that same time, I begin feeding the females weekly. I believe the increased number of feedings in the spring and early summer, after having access to little food during the cooling period, helps to stimulate reproduction.

Due to this increase in feeding frequency, and to avoid obesity, I offer smaller mice. Obese snakes do not make good breeders. Savu pythons are all too ready to eat, so you must be in tune with your animals and know what a healthy specimen looks like. This is a long, slender species, and a healthy Savu python should not look like a ball python.

Ovulation
In my collection, most breeding activity I have observed has been between May and June. Ovulation usually occurs around the beginning of July. Once the females start to develop large follicles, they will nearly always cease feeding, which usually means they are nearing ovulation. Ovulation is marked by a large swelling of the body just posterior to the middle of the snake (it looks like you fed the female a very large meal). The swelling lasts around a day, culminating in a huge lump in the body for a few hours.

My female that bred most recently as of this writing began her pre-lay shed about two weeks after ovulation, and she completed her pre-lay shed during the first week of August. After the pre-lay shed, I provided a basking spot of 88 to 90 degrees, being careful that it did not raise the ambient air temperature in the cage above 82 degrees.
A nest box filled with slightly damp sphagnum moss was placed on the opposite side of the cage from the heat tape. For the next 30 days, the female spent most of her time in the box, coming out only to drink and bask for short periods. (If your female is basking all the time, your ambient temps are likely too low, and if she never basks, they are likely too high. I believe excessively high temps is the number one reason for failure when breeding Savu pythons, so watch those temps!)

Egg Laying/Incubation
During the first week of September, I found my female tightly coiled around six perfect eggs. An average clutch size is between five and 10 eggs. The clutch weighed 211 grams (an average of 35.2 grams per egg), and the average egg size was 2 1/3 inches by 1 1/4 inches. Soon after I found the eggs, I removed them to be artificially incubated.

Oriented the way I found them, I placed the eggs in a shoebox-sized tub filled with damp vermiculite. The eggs were partially buried about half their diameter in the vermiculite. When mixing the incubation medium, I add water to the vermiculite until it clumps.




Health Watch
Wild-caught Savu pythons rarely have problematic internal parasites, and because virtually all the specimens available are captive bred, parasites are not much of an issue with this species. As is the case for all the thin-skinned, iridescent pythons, snake mites can be a problem. Mites on any python are not always immediately apparent, so I highly recommend that new snakes be quarantined for at least three months before adding them to an established collection.


When I squeeze a handful of damp vermiculite, I definitely don't want to see any water drip out of the mixture.
I placed the egg container inside my incubator with the temperature set at 88 to 89 degrees. I noticed that at about two weeks, before the eggs hatched, they began to lightly dimple. This is normal for python eggs.
The big day came on October 31. After 59 days of incubation, I discovered a dark little head poking out of one of the eggs. Over the next couple of days, the eggs were each slit by each healthy hatchling. After several days of sitting with only their heads poking out, each amazing, solid reddish-orange little python entered the world. On average, the babies weighed 19 grams and were a little less than 14 inches long.

Hatchling Care
As each baby left its egg, I washed it off in the sink with lukewarm water to remove any clinging vermiculite. Hatchlings were housed individually in a rack-style setup similar to the adults, only the enclosures were smaller. I used tubs that measured 13 inches long, 6 inches wide and 4 inches tall. Fresh water was available at all times. Paper towel folded in half was used as the substrate for each hatching, and I kept it slightly damp until the baby had its first shed.

These babies first shed on November 8, eight days after hatching. After their initial sheds, I switched the substrate from paper towel to aspen shavings. I waited several weeks after the babies hatched to start feeding trials. They readily started on live, small fuzzy mice. After several live feedings, I switched to pre-killed mice.
Baby Savu pythons can be quite feisty when they hatch, but with consistent handling, they may quickly settle down into calm adults, making them one of the great pet pythons available.

A True Gem
Small size, good temperament, easy feeding, tolerance for a wide range of temperatures - the Savu python is a great addition to any collection, for both newcomers and advanced keepers. If you find yourself looking for a snake that is a little different from the rest, give the Savu python a chance. It will show you that more than just flashy colors can shine!

"Savu pythons come from the small island of Sawu. The name was spelled Savu back when the Dutch governed most of Indonesia, and this is still seen in some accounts. "

silver morph by paul harris (probably one of the most skilled carpet breeders in the world + savu's womas, blk heads antaresia, look for him on facebook)









  








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loxocemus


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12 mo ago


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## loxocemus

*CARE OF CALABAR PYTHONS WITH NOTES ON BREEDING AND EGG INCUBATION: by NEIL CHERNOFF*

During the last few years, requests for information about the husbandry of Calabar Pythons (_Calabaria reinhardti_) have reached me via my home page and subsequent e-mail. Given the apparent interest in Calabars, I have decided to put the following information here in the hope that it may be useful to people who wish to keep these animals.

An adult female Calabar Python 3'1" length, 630g weight, 2004.




  








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loxocemus


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12 mo ago








A 2-month old neonate Calabar Python showing the typical red and brown coloration.
The ruler in the picture is 6 1/2 inches in length.




  








Calabar-neonate-10-04.jpg




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loxocemus


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The Calabar Pythons are one of the first species that I kept and remain a favorite. I have described my experiences with the husbandry of these interesting animals in a Section below.

CARE OF CALABAR PYTHONS WITH NOTES ON BREEDING AND EGG INCUBATION:

During the last few years, requests for information about the husbandry of Calabar Pythons (_Calabaria reinhardti_) have reached me via my home page and subsequent e-mail. Given the apparent interest in Calabars, I have decided to put the following information here in the hope that it may be useful to people who wish to keep these animals.

Taxonomy: In 1993, the herpetologist A. G. Kluge studied the anatomy of this species and concluded that it was closely related to the Rosy Boa (_Lichanura trivergitata_) and the Rubber Boa (_Charina bottae_). This finding placed the Calabar Python in the boa subfamily, rather than that containing the pythons. He then combined ("lumped") the three species (Rosy Boa, Rubber Boa, and Calabar Python) into one genus, _Charina_. Other herpetologists have informed me that while Kluge's conclusion that _C. reinhardti_ is a boa rather than a python is generally accepted, his proposed taxonomic changes are still somewhat controversial although some herpetologists have accepted them and consider the current name for the Calabar Python to be _Charina reinhardti_. I am not a herpetologist so my views about the purpose of taxonomy are a bit closer to those of the earlier taxonomists - that is, a central purpose of the Linnean classification scheme that was to make order out of the previously haphazard and imprecise way of naming species. Whether Kluge's findings with Calabaria made it absolutely necessary to place this species in a new genus rather than allowing it to to retain its name (as a boa) is something that will have to be decided by herpetologist taxonomists. For now, I'll stick with the genus _Calabaria. _Regardless of the fate of the scientific name changes I will, of course, continue to use the common name, Calabar Python, rather than "Calabar Boa". A common name is just that - a name that is commonly used by many people. The common name certainly may change over time, but at this moment it remains the same and there is no reason to change it.

Natural history: The Calabar Python is found in West Africa inhabiting areas of moist soil in forest environments. It is a tubular snake with blunt tail and head. It is generally described as a burrowing animal that preys on lizards and small rodents. The method of defense employed by Calabars involves rolling up into a tight ball with its head in the center and the tail exposed. The head is relatively featureless and if you are any distance from it, you quickly discover that it is virtually indistinguishable from the tail. The eyes are small and the same brown color as the scales surrounding it; the mouth is not a visually distinct structure. There is no apparent neck in the adults and the shape of the tail is identical to the head. As an added "attractant" for the tail, almost all of these animals have random patches of white there that may serve to draw attention to that part of the exposed "ball". At one time I believed that these white patches were found in all specimens, but I recently obtained a female that lacks any. The balling defense has been used by all of the snakes I have kept, and there has never been the slightest sign of an intention to bite. Wild caught animals reach a maximum of 3+ feet but it will be interesting to determine the size that captive born animals eventually reach. The adults that I have seen are all patterned with brown and yellow scales. Neonates have a reddish color rather than the yellow for about 1 year, after which, the reddish scales gradually fade to yellow. I have recently been shown pictures of a WC adult that retained the reddish color. These are not as common as the brown animals and whether they represent regional color morphs or simple variants is unknown.

Husbandry: The following information is derived from my experience with two long-term wild caught (WC) animals and a third added last year. They are all kept in one 20-gallon aquarium with a screen top. Using wood and Plexiglas squares as platforms, I have made the cage tiered. There is a heating pad under one end of the cage although the animals are never at that spot except in the days immediately following feeding. I use paper to line the bottom of the cage. A large, stable, water dish is kept in a corner. The animals are kept in a room where the temperature remains approximately 75-80° F throughout the year. I have never cooled the animals down and they have continued to eat during the entire year. These conditions appear to be satisfactory and there have no problems with disease or refusal to eat. I know that several descriptions of the husbandry of this species advise temperatures of 80°+ F during the day but as I noted, they appear to prefer the cooler area. Many people also recommend keeping the humidity high. I do not do this and have not seen any problems with shedding, although the sheds come off in several pieces. In all the years that I have kept these animals, retained eye caps have occurred only once and were removed with the subsequent shed. I feed live or frozen/thawed rodents - no larger than mouse "fuzzies" and have never had any problems with the animals eating. I do not give them mice old enough to have open eyes. The Calabars are almost lizard-like in their feeding - that is, they do not gape their mouths as wide as many other snake species do. They are deliberate feeders and initiate eating by "probing" the feeder pups rather than striking. They compress the food within their coils and against the sides and floors of the cage.
Their "personalities" and habits are quite interesting and lead to some unusual aspects in their husbandry. They are prodigious eaters and the 20-25 large fuzzies given per feeding to the trio (generally once a week) are invariably gone the next morning. Often, this is the result of one snake eating most of the food. The next week another snake(s) will do the same and there has been no trouble in maintaining the animals in a single cage. The only time they refuse food is during the late pre-shed period (they turn a milky blue gray at this point) and one or two days before egg laying (although one female ate some fuzzies on the morning of the day that she laid three eggs). Their weight fluctuates between feedings to a much greater extent than any other species I have kept. The intake of water is "record breaking" for their size. The water dish has to be constantly refilled and I often see them drinking. While they are supposed to primarily be a burrowing species, they are seen prowling during the day more often than any of the other species I maintain, especially when they are hungry.

Breeding and egg incubation: First, a quick note on the sexing of this species. Probing is, of course, one method and Ross and Marzac list the probe depths of the sexes as 10-11 scales in the male, and 3 scales in the females. It would appear that probing is not necessary, however, since only the males have noticeable spurs lateral to the anal scale.
My original pair of Calabars has successfully bred for the last eight years and a newly acquired female bred the first year that she was in the group cage. I would like to take credit for having come up with clever strategies to allow breeding, but the first clutch was a complete surprise. Since then, the animal has produced clutches every year. I have observed these animals mating at different times during the last three years. Mating took place during a considerable range of months; October in 2004, and September through November during 2005. Observations were always made when I turned the lights on some hours after the room had been completely dark:





  








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I happened upon this scene while checking on my animals in the evening after the lights were out in the snake room. Soon after I took the picture, they had separated and went back into the hide area below.

The female laid eggs three to five months after mating.
As the eggs develop internally, the female becomes swollen in the posterior third of the body. When this becomes noticeable (see immediately below), I transfer it to a 10 gallon aquarium with a nesting box containing moist potting soil, and an under cage heater to provide more warmth.



Another sign of gravidity is that the areas between the scales in the abdomen become readily visible:




  








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Calabar eggs are extremely large in relation to the size of the adult female:




  








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*1.* Reason for non-breeding in WC animals.
I have successfully bred Calabar pythons - A wild caught (WC) male and female purchased in 1993 and 1994 respectively. I housed them together and did nothing other than feed them regularly and offer large and necessary amounts of drinking water (details of care for this species are found above). In 1998, the female became gravid and laid a clutch of normal eggs. Every year since then, she has laid viable eggs. I assumed that the four years between her arrival and the first clutch involved acclimation to the point where breeding could occur. I also assumed that this acclimation was most important for the female for the following two reasons. The first is that the production of eggs involves a great expenditure of energy (the clutches have been in the range of 30-40% of the female's pre-laying weight). It therefore stands to reason that the stress of a novel environment would inhibit the female reproductive processes more than the male who only has to expend the energy required for a few ejaculates. The second reason is rooted in male chauvinism - it's the female who always gets the "headache" while the male is raring to go… A friend purchased a WC female two years ago. On a whim, we placed it in with my pair. Our only concern was that the presence of the new female might inhibit the breeding of my pair. We were very surprised when both females laid clutches of eggs within one day of each other. Is it therefore possible that the male is more reluctant to breed in a novel environment than the female? The new female had to be receptive and she was in the USA less than a year before laying a clutch. Perhaps, at least for some species, it is the male that fails to breed rather than a "non receptive" female. The question, then, is whether the above assumption is correct, and if so, is it true for other species.

Temporary color change in adult Calabars.
On November 27, 2002 I weighed and examined my Calabars as part of my husbandry routine. At that time, they all appeared to have normal coloration. On December 13 I examined the animals and noted that the female F1 was in the midst of shedding and seemed to have developed a striking color change in the dorsal scales of the first third of her body as well as some white scales on the top of the head (see picture on left immediately below). I assisted her in shedding and it became apparent that the color change was not the result of retained shed - areas that I helped remove the shed from had little discoloration, while the major areas of discoloration had not retained the shed. Six weeks later (Jan. 16), the discoloration was still present although greatly reduced (see picture on right immediately below). There were no signs of additional shedding in the areas that had lightened. The behavior of the animal appeared normal and there was no loss of weight. At the time of the second picture, the animal was gravid and she laid three eggs on February 12. She ate approximately 20 fuzzies on February 13, and in terms of behavior, appeared to be perfectly normal. Neither of the other two Calabars (1.1) in the same cage showed any sign of color alteration. By March, she had lost all signs of the color change. The questions are obvious: What is the nature of a color change with such a rapid onset, and what induced it.





  








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As a scientist I know that solving biological problems is not a simple process of finding the one absolutely correct solution to the problem at hand. Based on the evidence I have gathered to date, however, the following are tentative answers to two questions originally asked above. Like every answer in science, it remains open to changes resulting from new information and/or observations. But for now, the evidence indicates the conclusions given below:
*1.* Question re: Raising snakes outside the egg.
The following experiences appear to provide evidence pertinent to a question about the possibility of raising late stage snake fetuses outside the egg:
Until 2001, We had been using an incubator that kept eggs at a constant 82°F. In 2001, the incubator did not function and the eggs were kept at about 78°F at a friend's home. The five Calabar eggs (from the two females) were a week slow to hatch - and then two of them began to rot. He noted that the other three looked good, and so decided to wait another day in the hope that they would hatch. This did not happen and another egg went bad. At this point John decided that having nothing to lose he would open the two remaining viable eggs (this was on June 11). He did so and had two animals that looked and acted moribund. When he first showed them to me, the weaker one was limp, on its back, and had a gaping mouth. I picked it up looked at its motionless body and pronounced it dead (I am a toxicologist and usually capable of identifying "dead"). John agreed, and we got some formalin to preserve it. At this
point the snake twitched its tail a few millimeters. Being highly trained and observant biologists, weassumed that the snake was not dead and we put away the formalin. The two animals continued to look and act the same way for about a week. John thought that they were dead on numerous occasions, but
invariably they would twitch or close their mouth. From that point on they began to look and act more normal with each passing day. They took their first food on June 23(!). Over the next few months they became indistinguishable from normally hatched neonates. They shed, ate regularly, and prowled (often)
when they were hungry. Is it possible, therefore, that contrary to herpetoculture lore, it is possible (at least in some instances) for snake embryos to develop ex ovo (as long as they're close to hatching). Their "behavior" - the limp appearance and intermittent twitching mirrors near hatching behavior while in the
egg." In 2002, 4 eggs were laid on March 6. The eggs were incubated under inadequate conditions (in a glass bowl with a light bulb heat source placed above) and the temperature varied from 76°- 90°. On April 25 the uppermost egg pipped. I slit a 2nd egg since there was movement in it. On April 27 I slit the remaining two eggs since I felt that not doing so would result in the fetuses' death. One egg in particular, had an immature fetus that was motionless and more lightly colored than normal (pink and brown vs. red and brown). On May 1 the third neonate emerged and on May 11 the last neonate left the egg. This last neonate was still noticeably lighter than its clutch mates and did not eat for 1-2 weeks. By May 28, all neonates were eating normally and there growth has been typical for the Calabar neonates that I have had in the past. It therefore appears that, at least for Calabar Pythons, eggs may be slit prior to hatching and still result in viable hatchlings.
*2.* Question of possible 11-month reproductive cycle in Calabar Pythons.
Over the last five years I have noticed an interesting deviation from this pattern regarding the breeding period of my Calabar Pythons. The dates that my F1 female has laid eggs are:
1998 - 6/24
1999 - 6/17
2000 - 5/18
2001 - 4/15
2002 - 3/9
2003 - 2/12
2004 - 4/1
2005 - 3/10
With the exception of 1998-1999, there was a consistent 11-month cycle over a 5-year period - 11 months between one egg laying and the next. This pattern broke down in 2004, however, and it therefore very possible that the "11-month cycle" was simply a statistical oddity.

The Calabar in 2000 with her clutch of three eggs.




  








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1998
6/24 - Female laid 3 eggs weighing a total of 181.2g. The pre-laying wt of female was 376.9g. Eggs were therefore 48% of pre-laying body weight. Eggs were kept at 84º F on relatively dry vermiculite as per suggestion of VPI.
8/10 - 8/13 Two of the eggs hatched. The animal in the third egg died in ovo (movement in the egg was noted on 8/10 so I assume that the animal could not slit the egg).
8/13-8/14 - Both hatchlings ate live pinkies.

1999
June - 1st week - Noted female appeared swollen in posterior third of body. Finding confirmed in subsequent days.
6/13 - Female moved to nesting box with dampened peat moss. Animal was restless for several days and finally settled in box. Temperature was adjusted so that heat was 82-83º F.
6/17 - 9:00 a.m. one egg found. The egg was smaller than last year and very thin shelled. Egg left in situ and cage returned to shelf. It was non-viable and later discarded.
3:00 p.m. two more eggs found. These eggs were full size and normal looking. The peat moss and inside of the nesting box was dampened considerably.
6/19 - Eggs moved to environment kept at 84º F and placed in glass dish with vermiculite.
8/3 - 48 days post-laying. Both eggs slit.
8/5 - Both snakes emerged. The first weighed 38.2g, the second 41.5g. The second had a slight kink in the neck area immediately behind the head. After 2-3 months, the kink was no longer present.

2000
April, 4th week - Noted female appeared swollen in posterior third of body. Finding confirmed in subsequent days.
5/16 - Female placed in nesting box with moist potting soil.
5/18 - Three eggs laid. Weights of eggs - 73.2; 61.4; and 66.3g.
7/3 - 47 days post-laying. Two eggs were slit.
7/5 - Heads appeared.
7/10 - Two snakes emerged.
7/11 - Third snake emerged.

2001
4/13 - Both females placed in nesting boxes; F1 did not appear to be very swollen although there was some separation of the scales in her posterior region; F2 appeared gravid.
4/15 - F1 laid three eggs in morning. F2 laid two eggs in the afternoon. Eggs were kept at 76-78º F.
6/10 - (d59) 2 eggs go bad.
6/11 - one more egg goes bad; remaining two opened and large, immature neonates removed. One is left with yolk sac attached for one day. Animals appeared moribund but were still alive and showing intermittent activity (especially when touched).
6/15 - Both neonates still alive(!)
Gradually the neonates gained strength and began to eat, grow, and behave normally in every respect.

2002
3/6 - F1 laid 4 eggs in the group cage. The eggs were stuck together and I did not attempt to separate them. They were placed in a covered glass dish on lightly moistened vermiculite. Lamps with 40-watt bulbs were situated above the dish until an appropriate temperature reading was reached as noted on a temperature probe placed within the dish. I later learned that the actual temperature within the dish varied significantly from point to point and it may have ranged from 76°- 90°.
The weight of the clutch was 291g and the post-laying weight of female was 504g. The eggs were therefore approximately 37% of total weight of the gravid animal.
3/9 - The two uppermost eggs appeared somewhat collapsed. Strips of paper towels were used as wicks for water by placing one end on the eggs and the other in a container with water.
4/25 - In the evening between 8:00 and 10:00 P.M. the uppermost, collapsed egg pipped. I slit the 2nd collapsed egg since there was movement in it.
4/26 - I elongated the slit for the length of the 2nd egg. The neonate was out of the yolk sac and had good color (bright red flecks).
4/27 - In the morning I made a 3/4” slit in the more collapsed of the two remaining untouched eggs (the 3rd). A small amount of clear fluid extruded. In the afternoon I elongated the slit for the length of the egg. The snake appeared to have good color and was free of the yolk sac. The head was outside the egg late afternoon.
4/28 – The 3rd neonate was “blowing bubbles" for the entire day. I slit the 4th egg down its length. This fetus was more immature than the others and had a pink rather than a red coloration against the brown. A considerable amount of fluid was extruded. The head was dorsal and I freed it from the overlying membrane. The egg was partially “re-closed” with a hemostat.
4/29 - Neonates 1 and 2 left their eggs and were placed in a cage with heater beneath and a 40-watt bulb on timer as a daytime heat source.
5/1 - 3rd neonate emerged. It still had some yolk sac left. I placed it into the same cage as the others. The fetus in the 4th egg is not noticeably moving. Its head is above the egg and exposed to the air.
5/11 – 4th neonate emerged from egg. It was noticeably lighter red than the others at hatching and did not eat for 1-2 wks.
5/28 - all neonates were eating well and growing.
2003
2/12 - F1 laid 3 eggs in nesting box. Eggs placed in incubator at 84° and 90% humidity.
3/31 - F2 laid 4 eggs in nesting box. Eggs placed in incubator at 82° and 90% humidity.
4/8 - F1 clutch: (d55) I slit the two flaccid eggs on top with an approximately 1cm cut. There was no leakage of yolk.
4/11 - Hatchlings pipped in the egg that had not been slit and one of the slit eggs. There was movement in the other egg.
4/12 - Neonate emerged from "non-slit" egg and placed in cage (wt. 36.6g); third hatchling pipped.
4/14 - Remaining two neonates emerged from eggs and placed in cages. The weights were 39.4 and 37.7g.
5/6 - Discarded egg that was shriveled and had mold growing on it. It was the uppermost egg and had collapsed to a greater degree than the other eggs.
5/16 - Two eggs slit - movement was detected in both eggs.
5/18-19 - Neonates emerged.
Neonates did not begin to eat until 3-4 weeks after hatching.

2004
4/1 - F1 laid 4 eggs in nesting box. Egg-shells appeared to be thinner than normal. Eggs placed in incubator at 84° and 94% humidity.
4/10 - Eggs were becoming wet with leaking yolk. Fungus set in and eggs were discarded.
4/13 - F2 laid 3 eggs in nesting box. Eggs appeared to be normal and shells were firm. Weights of the three eggs were A- 72.1g; B- 72.5g.; and C- 78.2g. The eggs remained turgid throughout the incubation period. 6/7 - Egg "C" pipped (56 days after laying).
6/8 - Egg "A" pipped.
6/9 - Egg "B" pipped.
The neonates refused to eat despite the various strategies I employed including scenting with rats, mice, gerbils, hamsters, Guinea Pigs, chinchillas, and rabbits; feeding live or dead pinkies; exposing brain matter of a dead pinkie; and shipping the animals to a knowledgeable friend in the hopes that a change of locale might be the answer. Similar to my experience, nothing worked for him and the neonates died on October 31 and November 3. I should have attempted to force feed but this is a skill that I have not mastered and the Calabars may prove to be difficult subjects as their mouths do not gape to the same extent as other species.

2005
10/16/2004 - Male and F2 copulating.
3/17/2005 - F2 laid 3 eggs. They were smooth and shiny at first, but solidified during the next few hours.
3/30 - One egg is bad and discarded.
5/7 - One egg pipped.
5/9 - Remaining egg slit - fetus was dead.
5/11 - Neonate left the egg - wt 41.9g.
5/13, 5/19, 6/2 - live pinkies offered and not eaten.
6/8 - Force-fed with liquefied pinkies through syringe - 0.8 ml given and retained.
6/22 - Pinkies offered and not eaten.
6/27 - Force-fed similar to 6/8.
6/27 - 12/9 - Snake refused numerous offers of pinkies, including scented animals. It was force-fed repeatedly but slowly lost weight and died on 12/9.

2006
7/29 - 11/7/2005 - Animals were repeatedly seen mating at night after lights in room had been turned off.
1/13/2006 - Females moved to cages with nesting boxes containing moist sphagnum moss.
2/10 - F2 laid 3 eggs weighing a total of 246.7g. Eggs put in incubator at 82° and 91% humidity. The eggs were placed in glass dishes on moistened perlite.
2/21 - 2/25 - F1 stayed on portion of cage over heat pad - not in nesting box.
2/25 - F1 laid 4 eggs (on heat pad area). Eggs appeared to be o.k. and were handled as F1's.
3/1 - 1 F2 egg dead, discarded.
By April, all eggs had proven to be non-viable and were discarded.









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The Special Skin of Calabaria
"This baby hunter may be the world’s toughest snake
By Alex FoxDec. 5, 2017 , 4:10 PM

If you’re going up against a mama mouse, it pays to have a tough skin. That’s how the Calabar burrowing python (Calabaria reinhardtii), a 1-meter-long African serpent that eats nothing but baby rodents, withstands bites from their fierce mothers. Now, a new study suggests the Calabar’s skin may be thicker and harder to pierce than that of any other snake. To measure its toughness, a team of scientists pitted it against the skin of 13 other species of snake, assessing thickness with a microscope and puncture resistance with hypodermic needles and a force transducer. The researchers found that Calabar skin was 15 times thicker and orders of magnitude harder to pierce than that of any other snake tested, they report in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Morphology. Under magnification, color-stained cross sections revealed highly organized layers of collagen beneath its scales. Bundles of collagen in each layer run perpendicularly to those above and below—a tough criss-cross arrangement similar to patterns seen in rhinoceros hides. Even so, the snake’s skin remains flexible—a combination that has already piqued the interest of one pharmaceutical company trying to make tough medical gloves that don’t restrict movement.

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African Burrowing Python
Calabaria reinhardtii (Schlegel, 1851) is commonly called the African burrowing python. Other names are frequently used as well (see Table 1), most of them also incorporating the word “python.” However, the relationship of this species to others of the subfamily Pythoninae is currently disputed among herpetologists, as will be discussed later in this article. In Nigeria, the Efik people, predominant ethnic group in the southeastern region of the country, call this snake iwod iba. In pidgin English it is called “snake with two heads,” or sometimes “rainbow snake” (LUISELLI, pers. comm.). In Cameroon, this strange snake is well known, and some people believe it causes young women to become pregnant. The genus name Calabaria derives from Calabar, a town with an active port near where the Calabar River enters the Cross River estuary in southeastern Nigeria, and currently the capital of Cross River State. Historically, Old Calabar was an important trading state and one of the country’s earliest contacts with Europeans, growing during the 19th century as a hub of the palm oil trade. Description The African burrowing python is an unusual snake with a cylindrical body, head, and tail, all of fairly uniform diameter. The head is small and not set off from the body such that it surprisingly resembles the tail. The eyes are small with vertical pupils, and have the same brown colour as the surrounding scales. The small mouth, not suited to large prey, is inconspicuous. There are no heat-sensitive pits. The scales are glossy and smooth, and a projecting rostral area aids in burrowing. The tail is blunt and very short. The dorsum and flanks are blackish-brown, brown, or reddish-brown, with lighter, reddish or yellowish flecks and irregular blotches; the head and tail are generally darker. The belly is grey or brown, and may have some brown blotches. The African burrowing python can reach a maximum of 80–100 centimetres. Taxonomy Calabaria is a monotypic genus whose taxonomic position is currently unresolved. KLUGE (1993) proposed a taxonomic review of Calabaria reinhardtii. He believes it is more closely related to members of the subfamily Erycinae, the sand boas, and should be assigned to the genus Charina — thus becoming Charina reinhardtii, the African burrowing “boa.” But other herpetologists think that many of the characteristics this snake shares with the Erycinae could be simply adaptations to a similar subterranean lifestyle, and therefore the genus name Calabaria should be retained. In fact, Kluge’s system has been followed only by McDIARMID et al. (1999).

The CITES Nomenclature Committee does not adopt Kluge’s proposal because it seems to cause more misunderstanding than understanding. Zoogeographically speaking, it is rather strange to have a genus distributed only in California and West Africa (HOOGMOED, 2003). Finally, an interesting phylogenetic study based on the sequence of portions of two mitochondrial genes (12S and 16S ribosomal RNA) has demonstrated that Calabaria could be more closely related to the uropeltid genus Rhinophis than to either boa or python genera (HEISE et al., 1995). This suggests that the family Boidae needs a thorough overall revision including molecular analysis. It is evident that the possible relationship between the African burrowing python and the subfamily Erycinae remains to be demonstrated, and most scientists therefore prefer to maintain the old system. Distribution, habitat, and climate The African burrowing python is present in western tropical Africa, where it is widespread across the Liberia-Congo rainforest belt. It is found in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire). It inhabits the leaf-covered ground of tropical rainforests and overgrown cultivated areas with dense undergrowth. In a recent study in southeastern Nigeria, ANGELICI et al. (2000) found Calabaria mainly in thick forest, swamp forest, and also in clearings and cultivated areas, especially during the wet season — it burrows into decaying leaves and soil, and also inhabits the burrows of small mammals, seeming to prefer more superficial rather than deep underground galleries. The same study demonstrated that the African burrowing python often takes shelter in termite nests, especially near forested areas and during the dry season. It is also found climbing among small bushes and fallen branches. The climate in the range of Calabaria is characterized by alternating wet and dry seasons, with a corresponding but less notable variation of temperature. Generally, the dry season is from November through April, and the rainy season from May through October. Temperatures rise from October to February, and remain at their highest from March to May. Naturally there is some variation, and the more northern areas of the range are generally drier than the coastal areas. Most imported African burrowing pythons come from Togo and Benin. It is therefore useful to know that in northern Benin the main wet season is between June and October, whereas in the south there are two wet seasons: early April to mid-July, and mid-September to late October. In the north, the temperature can reach 46°C (115°F); in the south, it stays between 18 and 35°C (64–95°F). Throughout the country, the hottest months are March to June. Similarly, in Togo, the wet season is from May to October, with a dry interlude in the south between mid-July and mid-September. The hottest period in Togo is from mid-February to mid-April. Little-known biology Many aspects of the biology of Calabaria reinhardtii are still little known. This subterranean species is shy and elusive, and mostly nocturnal. It burrows under the moist soil, humus, and leaves, where it likes to hide. These factors make it difficult to study the behaviour of the African burrowing python. Nonetheless recent research has probed into many aspects of this snake’s mysterious biology. In southeastern Nigeria, ANGELICI et al. (2000) used radiotracking to study the African burrowing python, and found the snakes below ground in more than 80% of locations, during both dry and wet seasons. The mean daily movement rate appears to be higher in males than in females, without evident seasonal change. These first examined biological aspects suggest an interseasonal ecological homogeneity that could be interpreted as an evolutionary response to the relative year-round stability of habitat conditions. In another study on the ecology of Calabaria, LUISELLI et al. (1999) showed that, in southeastern Nigeria, the African burrowing python mates between November and January (dry season), lays eggs from March to April (the end of dry season), and the eggs hatch from June to July (wet season). These studies also demonstrated that the African burrowing python eats mainly small mammals, especially mice, which it usually takes from their nests. The disposition of the snake to eat small prey could be related to its post-cranial prey transport mechanism. Recent research (KLEY et al., 2002) indicates that cervical compression in Calabaria reinhardtii is great because of lacking palatopterygoid teeth, which could be related to its feeding on small prey. It seems that Calabaria kills mice by squashing them against the walls of their burrows. In detailed dietary analysis of regurgitated items and faecal pellets, LUISELLI et al., (2002) have shown that the main prey of the African burrowing python is small mammals, especially rodents: regurgitated items included adult and nestling Mus musculoides (mice), young Rattus rattus (rats), snake eggs, and Mabuya (skink); faecal pellets contained Rattus sp., Mus musculoides, and Crocidura (shrews). According to such studies, those pythons that feed mostly on rodents do not appear to eat shrews, and only occasionally eat lizards or reptile eggs; on the other hand, those that eat shrews do not appear to eat rodents. The analysed wild African burrowing pythons also do not seem to eat earthworms. Although Calabaria is mainly nocturnal, some studies have demonstrated that it can also be active and forage during the day (GARTLAN et al., 1971). One well-known aspect of the African burrowing python is its defence behaviour. Two techniques have been observed. One is a tail display in which Calabaria presents its tail as a false head to distract predators away from more vulnerable parts of its body. When disturbed, the snake freezes and presses its chin to the ground. Then it lifts its tail and swings it slightly to mimic the head. Many white scales are often present on the tail, which could help attract attention to the false head. The other defence technique is called “balling,” in which the python coils itself into a tight ball when threatened, often keeping its head in the centre and its tail exposed (this behaviour is also seen in other snakes such as Python regius). In any case, the African burrowing python is quite docile, and never tries to bite or hiss when handled or disturbed. Terrarium The African burrowing python is not a common terrarium subject, and unfortunately the specimens available on the market are almost always wild-caught. Captive-bred specimens are still very rare. Imported snakes should therefore be carefully checked for the usual external and internal parasites. Although this snake is considered relatively easy to keep, it is important that the Calabaria terrarium reproduce its natural living conditions as closely as possible. Calabaria requires high humidity, so the enclosure should be made of materials that withstand moisture, such as glass or plastic (rather than wood). The enclosure need not be very large. A cage of 80 x 50 x 60 centimetres is good for one or two specimens. The species can be housed in small groups, but more than three or four pythons in the same tank is not recommended. The burrowing medium can be a mix of sandy soil, humus, moss, decaying leaves, mulch, and pieces of bark. It should be kept lightly moistened, but there should never be standing water because Calabaria is susceptible to fungal infections. The substrate should be deep enough so the python can bury itself (about 10–15 centimetres), and hide boxes are beneficial — these should be cramped enough that the snake touches the sides and feels like it is in an underground tunnel. STAUB (2001) suggests laying a large flat piece of hard plastic over part of the substrate to retain moisture. This gives the snake more choices of degree of moisture and temperature while remaining hidden. Calabaria occasionally likes to climb a little, so it is good to provide branches in the terrarium. It also needs a large basin of clean water. The temperature should be 26–32°C (79–90°F) during the day, and can drop to 22–24°C (72–75°F) at night. A heating pad can be used to keep one side of the enclosure at 32°C, and a lamp to keep the other side at 26–28°C. Many keepers cool the pythons down for a few months, often to stimulate breeding, but temperatures can be kept stable year-round without problems, in which case the snakes continue eating. It is advisable to spray with warm water once a week. The humidity should be kept at 75–85 percent. Adequate ventilation should be provided with perforated plastic or metal panels. Keepers suggest never touching these very shy snakes. If properly maintained, the captive African burrowing python can live to more than 20 years of age.

Feeding As already mentioned, the African burrowing python feeds on small mammals, especially rodents. Wildcaught Calabaria, especially when already adult, may not readily accept food in the beginning. The keeper must be patient, and try repeatedly. The best choice of food is rat pinkies and mouse fuzzies, before their eyes open and they become too jumpy. Prey can be offered either alive or pre-killed; sometimes the latter method works best at first. Not a typical constrictor, this species kills prey by pressing it against the floor or sides of the cage; it is not able to compress prey within its coils as well as other constrictors can. This unusual behaviour has also been noted by LOMAN (2003) in a wild-caught Calabaria found 10–20 kilometres north of Kribi (Cameroon) in November 1974. It was collected and kept in captivity for some years. During feeding, it tried to squeeze small mice (sometimes several at once) against the terrarium wall before coiling around them. LOMAN interpreted this as an adaptation to raiding small-mammal nest burrows. For this reason, some keepers believe that the African burrowing python can be stimulated to feed by offering many small prey items at once rather than fewer larger items, to simulate its natural feeding conditions. Thus, it seems that offering a litter of four or five small prey items (no larger than rat or mouse fuzzies) is the best method to successfully feed this python. In addition, HARRISON (2003) and other herpetologists have described a particular behaviour called “multiple constriction response”: after an African burrowing python has constricted and eaten the first prey 7 The CITES Nomenclature Committee does not adopt Kluge’s proposal because it seems to cause more misunderstanding than understanding. Zoogeographically speaking, it is rather strange to have a genus distributed only in California and West Africa (HOOGMOED, 2003). Finally, an interesting phylogenetic study based on the sequence of portions of two mitochondrial genes (12S and 16S ribosomal RNA) has demonstrated that Calabaria could be more closely related to the uropeltid genus Rhinophis than to either boa or python genera (HEISE et al., 1995). This suggests that the family Boidae needs a thorough overall revision including molecular analysis. It is evident that the possible relationship between the African burrowing python and the subfamily Erycinae remains to be demonstrated, and most scientists therefore prefer to maintain the old system. Distribution, habitat, and climate The African burrowing python is present in western tropical Africa, where it is widespread across the Liberia-Congo rainforest belt. It is found in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire). It inhabits the leaf-covered ground of tropical rainforests and overgrown cultivated areas with dense undergrowth. In a recent study in southeastern Nigeria, ANGELICI et al. (2000) found Calabaria mainly in thick forest, swamp forest, and also in clearings and cultivated areas, especially during the wet season — it burrows into decaying leaves and soil, and also inhabits the burrows of small mammals, seeming to prefer more superficial rather than deep underground galleries. The same study demonstrated that the African burrowing python often takes shelter in termite nests, especially near forested areas and during the dry season. It is also found climbing among small bushes and fallen branches. The climate in the range of Calabaria is characterized by alternating wet and dry seasons, with a corresponding but less notable variation of temperature. Generally, the dry season is from November through April, and the rainy season from May through October. Temperatures rise from October to February, and remain at their highest from March to May. Naturally there is some variation, and the more northern areas of the range are generally drier than the coastal areas. Most imported African burrowing pythons come from Togo and Benin. It is therefore useful to know that in northern Benin the main wet season is between June and October, whereas in the south there are two wet seasons: early April to mid-July, and mid-September to late October. In the north, the temperature can reach 46°C (115°F); in the south, it stays between 18 and 35°C (64–95°F). Throughout the country, the hottest months are March to June. Similarly, in Togo, the wet season is from May to October, with a dry interlude in the south between mid-July and mid-September. The hottest period in Togo is from mid-February to mid-April. Little-known biology Many aspects of the biology of Calabaria reinhardtii are still little known. This subterranean species is shy and elusive, and mostly nocturnal. It burrows under the moist soil, humus, and leaves, where it likes to hide. These factors make it difficult to study the behaviour of the African burrowing python. Nonetheless recent research has probed into many aspects of this snake’s mysterious biology. In southeastern Nigeria, ANGELICI et al. (2000) used radiotracking to study the African burrowing python, and found the snakes below ground in more than 80% of locations, during both dry and wet seasons. The mean daily movement rate appears to be higher in males than in females, without evident seasonal change. These first examined biological aspects suggest an REPTILIA 66 Calabaria reinhardtii (Schlegel, 1851) is commonly called the African burrowing python. Other names are frequently used as well (see Table 1), most of them also incorporating the word “python.” However, the relationship of this species to others of the subfamily Pythoninae is currently disputed among herpetologists, as will be discussed later in this article. In Nigeria, the Efik people, predominant ethnic group in the southeastern region of the country, call this snake iwod iba. In pidgin English it is called “snake with two heads,” or sometimes “rainbow snake” (LUISELLI, pers. comm.). In Cameroon, this strange snake is well known, and some people believe it causes young women to become pregnant. The genus name Calabaria derives from Calabar, a town with an active port near where the Calabar River enters the Cross River estuary in southeastern Nigeria, and currently the capital of Cross River State. Historically, Old Calabar was an important trading state and one of the country’s earliest contacts with Europeans, growing during the 19th century as a hub of the palm oil trade. Description The African burrowing python is an unusual snake with a cylindrical body, head, and tail, all of fairly uniform diameter. The head is small and not set off from the body, such that it surprisingly resembles the tail. The eyes are small with vertical pupils, and have the same brown colour as the surrounding scales. The small mouth, not suited to large prey, is inconspicuous. There are no heat-sensitive pits. The scales are glossy and smooth, and a projecting rostral area aids in burrowing. The tail is blunt and very short. The dorsum and flanks are blackish-brown, brown, or reddish-brown, with lighter, reddish or yellowish flecks and irregular blotches; the head and tail are generally darker. The belly is grey or brown, and may have some brown blotches. The African burrowing python can reach a maximum of 80–100 centimetres. Taxonomy Calabaria is a monotypic genus whose taxonomic position is currently unresolved. KLUGE (1993) proposed a taxonomic review of Calabaria reinhardtii. He believes it is more closely related to members of the subfamily Erycinae, the sand boas, and should be assigned to the genus Charina — thus becoming Charina reinhardtii, the African burrowing “boa.” But other herpetologists think that many of the characteristics this snake shares with the Erycinae could be simply adaptations to a similar subterranean lifestyle, and therefore the genus name Calabaria should be retained. In fact, Kluge’s system has been followed only by McDIARMID et al. (1999). 66 Table II. Relationships between reproductive activities and seasons of the year. Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Wet season Dry season Mate Eggs Laid Hatch Table I. Common names of Calabaria reinhardtii. English Calabar python, Calabar ground python, West African ground python, burrowing python, West African burrowing python, two-headed python Spanish Pitón de Calabar, Pitón ciega French Calabare de Reinhardt, Calabaria de Reinhardt Dutch Aardpython German Erdpython Italian Calabaria, pitone di Calabar African Burrowing Python REPTILIA 69 item, the snake is stimulated to eat others when they are gently pressed against its body; the python tries to constrict or press them at once, and then eats all of them. If the python is healthy and adapts well to captivity, it quickly becomes a prodigious eater. Females often seem to be more voracious than males. Breeding Recent data indicates that wild Calabaria generally have a biennial breeding frequency (LUISELLI et al., 2002), although there are observations that demonstrate an annual breeding cycle, especially in captivity. Captive-born Calabaria reinhardtii are rare, and almost always cases where females were already gravid when wild-caught. The main limiting factors in captive reproduction have been the incubation of eggs and the body weight of the females. Females seem to require a longer acclimation period than males do, probably because of the greater energy expenditure required for egg production (CHERNOFF, 2003). The sexes can be identified by cloacal probing, although this is not always simple. Males probe to a depth of 10–11 subcaudal scales; females to a depth of about 3 (ROSS et al., 1990). Breeding activity seems depend on certain environmental and feeding factors. In captivity, the natural western African seasonal cycle should be simulated, alternating between wet and dry periods as already described. In the wild, African burrowing pythons mate during the dry season, specifically between November and January. STAUB (2001) also observed breeding in captivity during these months.

Another factor is food supply. It has been observed that females ingest a lot of food during the breeding season in order to reach a minimum breeding mass, which should be about 500 grams (STAUB, 2001). Therefore, it seems important to offer a lot of food during the breeding period between November and January. A comprehensive breeding scheme for captive Calabaria reinhardtii, is summarized in Table 3. Other factors which can stimulate a reproductive response include the presence of abundant water in the basin, the presence of many hiding places, and leaving the snakes absolutely undisturbed; also, the male should be left with the female for sufficient time (STAUB, 2001) — I think 8–12 weeks are reasonable. As already mentioned, temperature fluctuation seems to contribute to triggering a reproductive response; the photoperiod, however, does not seem to be determinant. It is very difficult to observe courtship and copulation. After mating, the female is gravid for 110–114 days, or in some cases as long as 150 days, during which time her posterior section increases in girth as the eggs develop. The female usually stops eating 1–2 days before laying her eggs. It is advisable to provide a nest box (containing a mix of peat and sphagnum moss), otherwise she will lay her large eggs in a depression in the damp substrate. According to STAUB (2001), the female usually lays eggs between February and June, having invested a substantial amount of energy into the process — typically 35–45 percent of her pre-laying weight. Although the eggs seem huge at slightly more than 70 grams each, hatchlings weigh only 40–50 percent of the original egg weight, suggesting that much of the egg weight is simply water. The female lays 1–5 eggs (average 3) measuring 9–11.5 x 3–5 centimetres, and weighing 65–75 grams. The eggs are very flaccid and thin, and are very susceptible to fungus and putrefaction. Maternal care such as coiling around the clutch or body spasms to regulate incubation temperature seems to be absent. Incubation has been the great problem with captive breeding of the African burrowing python. For artificial incubation, vermiculite, pieces of sponge, or a similar substrate material can be used. Unlike the eggs of other snakes, Calabaria eggs require a relatively dry incubation medium. Some keepers suggest a medium-to-water ratio of 2:1, but others consider this too wet. I recommend adding no water to the substrate. Ambient humidity in the incubator (80-95%) already provides enough moisture for the eggs, and if the substrate is wet the eggs will die. The key to successful incubation of Calabaria eggs is dry substrate and high ambient humidity. Incubation temperature should be 29–31.5°C (84– 89°F) — best results are at temperatures of 30–31°C (86–88°F) — and should never drop below 26°C (79°F). Under these conditions, the incubation period is generally 40–48 days, although it has occasionally been only 32–34 days. After breaking the shells, babies commonly remain inside the eggs for 18–48 hours, or as long as 96 hours (STAUB, 2001). Hatchlings measure 26–32 centimetres, weigh 18–40 grams, and are more colourful than adults. They soon start to eat live pinkie mice, sometimes within 2 days of hatching, and shed for the first time within 2 weeks. The newborn snakes need to be kept warm with high humidity: they are not as tolerant of dry conditions as the adults. These pythons grow relatively fast and can reach breeding size at 3 years of age.

Law and protection Calabaria reinhardtii is regularly imported from West Africa (mainly from Ghana, Benin, and Togo) for the pet trade in Europe, and also often in the United States. The species is listed in CITES Appendix II (reference A-305.004.005.001; date listed, 4 February 1977). Most marketed species of python are now “ranched,” which is defined by CITES as the rearing in a controlled environment of specimens taken from the wild. Eggs or juveniles are harvested from a wild population, and then raised in captivity until they reach a commercially exploitable size. Most are then exported, but a portion of the captive-raised juveniles are released back into the wild population. The primary objective of ranching is conservation of the local population. HOOGMOED (2003) explains that the term “ranching” was originally coined for CITES Appendix I species (mainly crocodiles), but is now also used for CITES Appendix II species that are managed in some way. In most cases, the animals exported are wild specimens that have not been bred in captivity, and there is a lot of confusion about the correct use of the term “ranched.” As far as we know, all specimens that are exported from West Africa as “ranched” and “farmed” animals are actually wild-caught specimens, nothing else. Finally, also the European Council Regulation No. 2724/2000 includes this python in Appendix B (date listed, 18 December 2000). ■ Acknowledgments The author wishes to express sincere gratitude to Luca Luiselli for his contribution to the knowledge of the African burowing python (Calabaria reinhardtii), and for his help, kindness, and advice regarding this manuscript; to Dr. Marinus S. Hoogmoed, member of the CITES Nomenclature Committee, for valuable correspondence on nomenclature and conservation status; to Rick Staub for providing his interesting publication; and to Jon Loman for his personal observations of Calabaria reinhardtii in the wild.

Table I. Common names of Calabaria reinhardtii. English Calabar python, Calabar ground python, West African ground python, burrowing python, West African burrowing python, two-headed python Spanish Pitón de Calabar, Pitón ciega French Calabare de Reinhardt, Calabaria de Reinhardt Dutch Aardpython German Erdpython Italian Calabaria, pitone di Calaba





  








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Table IV. Calabaria reinhardtii captive breeding data.
Gestation period (days) 110–114
Number of eggs 1–5 (3)
Egg length (cm) 9–11.5
Egg weight (grams) 65–75
Incubation period (days) 40–48
Incubation humidity (%) 80–95
Incubation temperature (°C) 30–31
Newborn length (cm) 26–32
Newborn weight (grams) 18–40





  








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## loxocemus

*Captive care of Tiger Rat snakes Spilotes pullatus sp.*

Also known as: Mexican Rat snake (ssp _mexicanus_), Tiger Rat snake, Tropical Rat snake, Tropical Chicken snake and our favorite, Thunder and Lightning snake

_Spilotes pullatus ssp _range from Mexico through Central America and all the way to Northern Argentina. Their color varies depending on what area they are from. Ones from Mexico are mostly yellow-orange and white with some black banding and a bright white belly. Those from Central America have a touch more black in their patterning, and further south they are mostly black with yellow bands sometimes across their faces and down most of their body. The yellow can be a darkish orange, bright lemon or a pale pastel, almost white colour. There are even striped varieties of these amazing snakes.

Being fairly swift snakes, they seem to fly through the branches or leaf litter (with their markings and speed, the name Lightning makes sense). They also have a rather impressive defensive display. They will rattle their tails loudly (hence the Thunder) and vertically flare their necks. From the side they look twice their size and from the front they look as if they have swallowed an egg. Some will twitch their heads side to side in order to triangulate their target for striking. As they assess danger they use a very slow tongue flick. When hunting or searching the flick is fast. 

They are one of the longest snakes of the Americas, the record reaching 14 feet in length. Generally, males get around 10 feet while females get about 8 feet maximum. There are always exceptions to the rule.

Being semi-arboreal, juveniles and adults need a rather tall and roomy cage with plenty of climbing branches as well as quite a bit of floor space. Hatchlings do better in a smaller space, like a shoebox with a climbing branch. Being diurnal, you will often see them climbing about. Putting them in a nice display enclosure is a great way to show them in your collection. We like to wrap our branches with many lengths of silk vine allowing a few of the loops and ends trail on the ground. Heating is provided from above with covered lamps. We keep ours on newspaper for easy cleaning. An adult breeding pair can live comfortably in a 4x2x3 enclosure (although bigger is always better). If the branches and vines are placed well enough, they will provide the only hide spot the snake(s) will need. 

Humidity should be about 60-65% and temps should be 88-90° during the day with a night time drop to about 75°. Good air circulation is also a must. They will drink from water bowls but also like to drink the droplets that run off their heads when sprayed. Water that accumulates in the cupped leaves from the vines on the ground will provide water sources as well. Spraying daily also helps to maintain the humidity.

We keep ours on a 12-14 hour light cycle. UVB and vitamin supplements are not necessary as they get all the nutrients they need from their whole prey items. Spilotes will eat mammals, birds and other reptiles in the wild. In captivity they take rats readily. In the wild they seem to prefer multiple small items as opposed to 1 or 2 larger ones. They will do well on 2 or 3 smaller items every 7-10 days as adults. Every 5-7 days as hatchlings/juvies. These have been known to be the fastest swallowing snake. Watching them eat is nothing short of incredible. All of our hatchlings as well as our adult female are taking prey items that are equal to their girth. The adult male, which is long term captive, won't take anything bigger than a small rat although he could easily take a large one. When in blue, many will refuse to eat. Just leave the snake be and offer again on the next scheduled feeding day after the snake sheds.

Spot clean the cage as necessary as these snakes defecate quite often. Clean the entire cage every couple of months, wipe it down, wash the substrate (if loose substrate is used) and clean any cage furniture. Constant cleaning will also keep the smell down since their faeces is quite odiferous!

*HANDLING:*

As a very territorial snake, care must be taken whenever reaching into their enclosure. It is recommended to use a hook to remove them from the enclosure and they usually calm down once in your hands. Keep in mind they are flighty and fast moving, so keep your attention on the snake. Keep from making any fast moves in front of the face since it may induce a strike. Ours will head butt more often than actually bite. Use an underhand motion when handling as it is very effective. As with most snakes, they panic when grabbed by the tail, so try not to do this as it may cause spinal damage as they flail about trying to escape.

*BREEDING:*

Many people that have had no success breeding them just don't have patience, or so I believe. You can't just put them together and separate them like king snakes or other species. They must be able to get comfortable in their environment, establish their territory, before they will breed. I think that is why it's most successful when they are kept together year round. That's my theory anyway.

A breeding pair can be kept together their whole lives once they are adults. It is not necessary to cycle them or separate them. The female should be about 7 feet long and of a good body weight before breeding. The male should be about 8-9. Do not place the pair together until they are ready to breed. I have heard of incidents where the female will latch onto the male or vice-versa. They MUST be adults before being placed together. During all observed courting practices the male has never bitten the female. So if this is noticed the pair should be separated for a while longer.

Courting and mating seems to take place between January and June from my observations. Placing them together in fall will allow them a few months to get used to each other.

The male will court the female by lining his body up with hers and following her around when she explores. When at rest, he will drape his tail over hers, either encircle her if she is coiled or lay straight out on top of her if she is stretched out and undulate his body slightly until he builds up to a violent shake. She will sometimes buck in response or try to move away. He will follow her, pin her down again and repeat the process, sometimes quite often. Mating may or may not take place immediately. I have observed copulation with them in the branches, one facing left and up, the other right and down. Their tails were inverted to each other. This mating practice brings up some interesting questions! 

Another interesting behaviour I have recently witnessed: The male will slowly slither through the cage with his cloaca wide open, dripping what seems to be musk or possibly semen. The last half of his body was inverted as he did this. 

Ovulation should be observable 10-12 days after mating. Oviposition should occur 30-40 days after mating. 

Her pre-lay shed will occur 10-14 days before oviposition (our female's have occurred between 12-14 days). Provide her with a dark hide that has plenty of damp sphagnum moss or cypress for her to burrow in. This is where she will usually lay the eggs. As she gets closer to the time to oviposition she will pace the enclosure incessantly. I have been advised it best to remove the water bowl at this time to prevent her from laying eggs in the water, thus possibly killing them. You may want to remove the male as well so he does not occupy the laybox or distract the female. I spray our female to distract her as I place or remove objects as needed. This extra liquid she gets is also good for the developing eggs. Mist her until she stops drinking. 

She will lay anywhere from 5 to 14 large eggs, average is 10. This can sometimes takes a few hours. She will enter a trance during oviposition and eggs can be removed as she lays them, just try to be careful not to touch her if at all possible as it may cause her to be too distracted from her purpose. If undisturbed, the eggs will set very quickly into the mass and can be extremely difficult to separate.

For incubation we use a 4:1 ratio of vermiculite to water. You want it to be the consistency of damp sand but not wet. Incubate at 79-81° and at 40-50% humidity. We have been using a Hovabator lid with a fish box bottom. I cover the eggs with a damp paper towel to prevent the eggs from drying out and replace it about once a week to prevent mildew from forming.

Watch the temps carefully, any higher could produce spinal deformities. Hatching should occur, on average, around 75 days. Our hatchings occurred between 73 and 76 days. It is important to manually pip any eggs that were not by the babies 24 hours after the last one pipped. It is a common occurrence to find fully formed, dead babies in the eggs. I believe this is due to the eggshells being too thick sometimes and they are unable to break through, therefore drowning. 

Feeding the hatchlings may require using live prey. All but one of our hatchlings started out on frozen/thawed peach fuzzy mice right away. Although we never had an issue with this, some may refuse frozen/thawed prey for quite some time. We have been told that unlike the adults that will usually just swallow their prey almost immediately; the hatchlings will often constrict it. I witnessed the one hatchling that would only take live swallow fuzzy mice right away. I never saw any of them constrict. A yearling we cared for would practice cervical dislocation by getting the mouse's head into his mouth, pinning the body with his own and jerking hard on the head. Rather interesting to observe although we would still prefer to feed frozen/thawed prey.









  








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## loxocemus

*Why be Bitten? By Rico Walder








*

Sensible housing and handling tips make bites from emerald
tree boas and green tree pythons less likely.










Introduction

This article will cover the basic techniques recommended to safely handle both Emerald Tree Boas (Corallus caninus) and Green Tree Pythons (Morelia viridis). Both of these species have earned a reputation of being both aggressive and difficult to maintain. In my experience both of these presumptions are unwarranted and can be overcome with the proper handling techniques.
In nature, both species share similar ecological niches and therefore have similar captive care requirements. Being arboreal they spend nearly all day draped around branches of trees and shrubs. They are nocturnal predators and are best left alone once the lights have gone out. If properly approached, both species can be successfully handled during the day with limited risk of being bitten.

Enclosures

Thanks to the advances in herpetoculture in recent years there are now a wide variety of enclosures that are well suited to the needs of these species during alllife stages. I will not address the pros and cons of each brand of enclosure but will cover some basic designs that should be taken into consideration when choosing an enclosure for one of these species. In our experience both of these species do best when housed individually, although some keepers do prefer to maintain pairs or trios (One male with two females) together. It is essential to avoid housing multiple males of either species in the same enclosure as serious injury can occur due to combat. The first consideration of the enclosure is height. The height of the enclosure for any size animal should not be more than two-thirds the length of the snake. This will allow the animal to comfortably drape from the highest perch and still reach the bottom of the enclosure to access food or water. Horizontal space is far more useful than vertical space when considering the activity patterns of these snakes. After nightfall, these animals become active and spend their time crawling through the trees moving from branch to branch. Very seldom do they need to descend to the ground during their travels. The second and probably most important consideration is perch attachment within the enclosure. Perches need to be well anchored for the animals to feel secure while resting on them. We have found the best method to ensure a stable perches is with the use of brackets mounted to the sides of the enclosure. Perches are then cut to fit snugly between the brackets. Our enclosures incorporate plastic brackets that are designed for holding closet dowels. These offer the convenience of being able to vary the perch diameters to meet the needs of the individual snakes. They also allow the animal to be removed from the enclosure while it is still resting on the perch. Many enclosure manufacturers offer various options to mount perches within their enclosures. Another thing to consider when deciding on an enclosure is access. In nature most predators attack their prey from above. Most animals become nervous when approached from above and this is one thing that can trigger a defensive response in your snake. When choosing an enclosure you should consider one that provides horizontal access. Such an enclosure reduces the potential for defensive responses and thus any negative interaction between keeper and snake.










A Safe Approach
How you approach your snake will determine the snakes response to your attempt to handle it. If the snake feels uncomfortable or threatened then the experience will be a negative one for the snake (and probably you too). The goal is to make the interaction between you and the snake as positive an experience as possible. For this reason it is important to note that you should never grasp the snake behind the head when attempting to handle it! There are times when this type of restraint may be necessary but routine handling should not be one of them. The temperament of each animal will vary depending on its individual personality and its previous experiences while being handled. Wild collected animals or animals that have passed through many hands may have accumulated many negative experiences. This negative imprinting must be overcome, and it may take weeks, months or even years in some cases. Of course there are certain individuals that may never become accustom to being handled but these are the exception rather than the rule. Approaching the snake from below is the least threatening.

the legend himself










The best approach is to remain calm and deliberate in your movements regardless of how the animal reacts. If you display nervous or apprehensive behaviour this will make the snake feel uncomfortable and cause it to become defensive.

Handling

We have found the best way to begin an interaction session with a snake is to remove the perch with the animal resting on it from the enclosure. The initial movement of the perch will alert and perhaps awaken the animal and allow it to recognize that further interactions may be forthcoming. Getting a chondro or emerald to this level of comfort during handling may take weeks, months or even years in some cases The rewards are well worth the time and effort. should not be enough to aggravate the animal as motions of this type would be common in a natural environment.

Once you have removed the animal and its perch from the enclosure it is best to approach the snake from below with your free hand. Approaching from below will be a far less threatening than approaching from above. Gently support the lower coils of the snake and allow it to begin leaving the perch voluntarily. Raise the coils with your hand as it begins to leave the perch. Never pull the snake from its perch but instead offer it another secure perching location to which it can safely travel. As the snake begins to make the move from its enclosure perch to your hand you can begin to move the enclosure perch slightly making the animal feel as though its new perch, your hand, is more stable. This will encourage the snake to begin crawling and leave its old perch behind. At this point you have safely removed the snake from its enclosure. Once the snake is awake and active it will become inquisitive and want to explore its surroundings. It is at this point that you should allow the animal to freely crawl through your open hands. Now you can enjoy and appreciate the full beauty that these animals possess. Do not attempt to restrain or physically grasp the snake as this will immediately cause it to feel threatened and become defensive. Remember, you want this to be a positive experience for both of you.










Some keepers feel more comfortable wearing gloves during the initial handling sessions. Although we do not advocate this type of approach we certainly understand the reasoning behind doing so. Both of these species have large teeth that can inflict a painful bite. If you do choose to use gloves at first be sure to wear fairly tight fitting gloves that still allow you to feel and interpret the animal’s movements. Heavy “welding” type gloves may provide the handler more security but what you gain in security you loose in dexterity and control, which can add to the snake’s uneasiness.

Return to the Enclosure

After you have completed the handling session you will need to return the animal to its enclosure. This is also an opportunity for the session to become a negative experience. Because of the arboreal nature of these animals, an enclosure with horizontal access will make returning the snake to its enclosure much easier. You can simply open the door and allow the animal to crawl back into its enclosure as if it were moving to a new perch naturally. Enclosures with access from above become more difficult as the animals naturally attempt to move back up and out to find a suitable resting place. When retuning animals to a vertically accessed enclosure it will be necessary to block their exit from the enclosure. This can be dome with an open flat palm, or some other object such as the enclosure lid, placed directly in front of the animal as it tries to leave the enclosure. You may need to continue to encourage the later portion of the animal to return to the enclosure by gently touching its ventral side. Once the animal has returned to the enclosure allow it time to settle back in and find a comfortable resting position.

Conclusion
As mentioned previously it is important to make each handling session as positive an experience as possible. With animals that have had numerous negative experiences it may be necessary to simply remove the animals while on their perch and return them to the enclosure without ever handling them. This type of positive experience will decrease the animals nervous and defensive responses. Eventually you will be able to begin removing the animal from its
perch and enjoying the full experience of owning these fascinating snakes.


Because of their beauty and striking colours emerald tree boas and green tree pythons have been popular terrarium animals for many years. Unfortunately, they have not reached their full potential within the hobby due to the belief that nearly all animals remain aggressive. Our experiences gathered over the past 25 years have led us to realize that these animals are not deserving of this reputation. With patience and the proper handling techniques these snakes can become as fully enjoyable as any of the more commonly kept species. It is my hope that more people will overcome their fears and begin to appreciate these animals for their full potential. The wide array of colours and patterns along with their small size make them excellent display specimens for well planted naturalistic enclosures. Their beauty combined with the gentle nature that can be developed over time will make them well suited to become two of the most popular snakes in captivity.










Things Not to do with Emeralds and Chondros!

Never forcibly remove an animal from its perch. This is especially important with juvenile green tree pythons as their vertebra are very delicate and can be easily damaged. This type of damage can cause permanent kinks which can lead to decreased mobility and muscle control. Regardless whether motor control is affected, the spine will never return to its natural state. Do not attempting to handle an animal after dark. At this time the animals are naturally active and searching for prey. Any motion with a heat signature can be mistaken as a prey item. Bites from a feeding response can be far more forceful and painful than defensive bites. A bite from any snake should be properly cleaned and treated. Such puncture wounds can become infected. Don’t house animals in enclosures that are too tall. Many animals will not travel to the bottom of an enclosure to find water. Unless an elevated water source is provided this can result in animals becoming dehydrated, weakening the immune system, and causing them to become more easily irritated. Don’t making rapid or sudden movements. This is common with all living things and usually results in defensive behaviour.


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## loxocemus

*Call for Nest Box Inputs For Symposium*









access to cage/s via pipe




temp probes


small piece of heat tape to maintain temperature 






gutter system for rain system


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## loxocemus

*Rico Walder *(from old chondro forum 2012)

"Sorry this took so long but I finally have pictures of some new adult racks I'm trying. I've actually been using the same 26x18x9 tubs that Jason uses for males and sub adult females. The new racks were made by Reptile Basics and use a CB80 tub. It has the same lid size as the CB70's that all the ball python guy's use but is about 12 - 13 inches deep. So far it seems to be working well even for larger adult female chondros. The nice thing is the length, ~ 32 inches. Width is about 16 - 18 inches. Downside is not seeing the animals without opening the tub. However they are very space efficient, I've got 20 adult females in less than 17 sq ft of floor space. Here are a few pictures."




























"The hole in the back is dual purpose, 1) it adds some ventilation and 2) provides access to clean the back of the rack. Not as big of a deal in these taller tubs but with the CB70's it's impossible to clean the rack properly. At least for me, I guess if I were an orangutan then I could reach all the way to the back. "

"I've been using these for less than a year but so far I really like them. Pretty sure I've got a couple girls gravid in them now and hoping for several more before the year is out. Don't see why they couldn't be permanent housing. "


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## loxocemus

*DIY GTP CAGING















































































*


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## loxocemus

*Green Tree Python Care*
BY GREG MAXWELL

The green tree python (Morelia viridis) is a fascinating species to maintain and reproduce in captivity. Most of the old stigmas about green tree pythons being difficult to keep alive have faded due to good husbandry information developed from decades of combined experience and an excellent supply of healthy, captive-bred specimens. Hobbyists widely keep chondros (pronounced kon drose, from the original genus Chondropython) these days.

Mostly Straightforward Husbandry
Although somewhat specialized, green tree python care is pretty straightforward and not too difficult. Two misconceptions are common. The first is that this snake's husbandry is very complicated, and the animals are quite delicate. The second is that claims of specialization have been exaggerated and that green tree pythons can be maintained like any other snake. Perhaps the most common mistake that new keepers make is that they provide a habitat most convenient (and least expensive) for themselves rather than providing an enclosure that allows the correct environment for these beautiful pythons.
Green tree pythons need a temperature gradient, moderate humidity and security. Let's discuss these requirements in detail. In my experience, the best green tree python enclosure is one constructed of waterproof materials and oriented horizontally rather than vertically. Although it is common to see arboreal snakes kept in tall, vertically oriented cages, most snakes select security over optimum temperature if they are forced to choose. Green tree pythons often choose to roost on the highest perch in their enclosures, so in a tall, narrow cage the thermal gradient will normally be unused by the snake.
Providing a horizontal temperature gradient allows the snake to thermoregulate while still using a high perch. To accomplish this important condition, I install a radiant heat panel at one end of the cage and use a proportional thermostat to regulate the panel's output. This arrangement creates a cage environment that ranges from 78 to 88 degrees Fahrenheit at perch height. Cage humidity also is an important factor in green tree python husbandry, but the exact percentage is not critical. Daily misting with a pump sprayer filled with clean, drinkable water provides adequate humidity. Experience helps snakekeepers match the correct amount of spraying with the cage ventilation and ambient local humidity. Avoid excess cage ventilation; drafts can cause respiratory problems, and cages that dry too quickly after spraying produce dry sheds that are difficult to remove. Note humidity is the measure of water vapor in the air, not how wet the cage is. A wet floor that does not evaporate is not contributing any measurable amount of humidity, and it may also lead to the growth of bacteria and mold.

Secure the Enclosure
Maintain green tree pythons in cages measuring 36 to 48 inches long, 24 inches high and 18 to 24 inches deep.
Providing more height is unnecessary, and doing so introduces complications, such as a cage floor that is too cool.
Daily misting is normally a part of green tree
python husbandry, and a cool floor often stays wet, which can cause mold to form. Cages 24 inches tall allow heat from the panel to reach the floor and help the substrate evaporate moisture, creating humidity. Cages less than 36 inches long make it difficult to establish a thermal gradient. Smaller cages also contribute to snake lethargy.

The cage should have a glass front and solid walls, which provide some of the security needed by green tree pythons. The back and sides of glass or acrylic tanks should be covered or painted, so these somewhat nervous animals do not feel exposed. A dark interior color in the cage is highly preferable to white; this also helps the chondro feel secure. I have seen specimens housed in plain white cages that lash out in fear when approached, but they became almost tame when moved to a darker cage.
My cages are made from medium-density fiberboard and laminated with dark green vinyl inside. I prefer sliding glass doors to hinged doors, but either will work. The enclosure should be fitted with a secure perch roughly the same diameter as its occupant's body. PVC pipe is inexpensive and readily available, but I find that real wood perches look much nicer. I use perches cut from live maple trees. Avoid toxic wood species, such as walnut and wild cherry, and wooden dowel rods from the hardware store because they mildew quickly. Make sure to install perches in such a way that they will not shift or rotate under the snakes' weight. Place one end of the perch about 6 to 8 inches below the heat panel to provide a basking area. A full-spectrum light shows off the colors of your green tree pythons nicely, but keep lighting subdued, and avoid high wattage elements that can overheat the cage. I use timers in my cages and snake room to establish a 12-hour photoperiod. Substrate should be absorbent but not smear or become messy. I like cypress mulch, and newspaper works very well but does not look as nice. A water bowl should be provided on the floor at the cool end of the cage. Plants finish the cage's appearance and help provide cover for the snakes. I hang silk pathos vines from the top of my cages, and the snakes really enjoy the shadows provided by the broad leaves.

The cage design described above works well for housing adult tree pythons. However, a heated rack with plastic tubs is ideal for raising green tree python neonates and yearlings. Fit tubs with small plastic perches, a small water dish and newspaper substrate. The snakes thrive in them and love the security the translucent tubs provide. Although such a setup does not offer maximum visibility for the keeper, it bears repeating that the best policy is to give the animals what they need.
Some neonates won't eat in a display cage, and feeding neonates can be difficult enough without this additional factor. Also note that under no circumstances should neonates be handled or sexed until they are at least a year old. Handle adults based on their individual temperaments.

Health Issues
The two most common health issues (other than dry sheds, which result from inadequate humidity) are respiratory infections and rectal prolapse.
The causes of respiratory infections are not always known, and specimens can develop symptoms under seemingly ideal conditions. Symptoms include a raspy, mucous sound when the snake inhales, coughing and perching with its head tilted back. Avoiding improper temperatures, drafts and stress are the best defenses. Consult your veterinarian for treatment; I use Baytril to effectively treat these infections.
Rectal prolapse is frightening but usually looks much worse than it is. Most cases are treatable if caught early, so beginning each day with an inspection of your animals is a good idea. Treatment includes keeping the swollen tissue moist to prevent desiccation (drying out), and reinserting the tissue back into place. Your vet is the best person to perform this, though I treat cases myself. Place the recovering snake in a warm, humid tub with no perch for a few days, and withhold food for two weeks. Then feed very small prey until a normal bowel movement is observed. Stress, obesity and lack of muscle tone are probable causes of prolapses. Like respiratory infections, it can occur under seemingly ideal conditions with no apparent cause.


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## loxocemus

Dystocia in The green anaconda (_Eunectes murinus_) click to make readable


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## loxocemus

*Eryx johnii birth (pics)* Roy Stockwell 07-13-2005 

Below.. ovulation to birth April 17 to July13 =88 days
gestation temp 90-92F day and night
There were 6 live offspring total.. no slugs , no stills
This is a high orange Staub "Sunset" bred to a normal brown.
The Staub line holds the orange into adulthood so these babies should retain some orange.
This species is rarely kept or bred yet they are the gentle giants of the Erycines, being tame and very easy to keep. They are quite a bit like giant Rubber Boas.


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## loxocemus

Sunset Johni history, Rick Staub

I bought a pair of johnii from Price Animal Company back in the early 90s. Both turned brown though the male had a few orange speckles. From their first breeding I retained 3 babies, 2 of which held onto some of their orange coloration when they matured. These 2 became the parents of the Sunset line. My friend Warren Treacher was the one who coined the name. I wanted to call them Sunkist but trademark issues would probably have ensued.







Here is a pic of two of the three babies showing the orange one with its brown sibling.










Each subsequent generation has been more orange suggesting that the trait is just from selection. I have since produced animals that have a faded look and may be true hypos or possibly axanthic-like. Time will tell.

Here are pics of the second generation adults with their litter, a second generation male courting my original female, and a third generation female. 




























Here is the faded johnii next to a second generation Sunset male.


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## loxocemus

*Dragon Snake Care Guide **Scarlett Nightshade* 
Updated: Dec 7, 2021

*Family*: _Xenodermidae_ *Scientific Name*: _Xenodermus javanicus_ *Lifespan*: 8-10+ years *Size*: Average 2 - 2 1/2 feet *Habitat and Distribution*: Southeast Asia; inhabiting swamps, marshes and rice paddies

_Xenodermus javanicus,_ or the Dragon snake, is a small and unique snake species renowned for its unusual but fascinating appearance, especially in their dorsal scalation. *With three rows of keeled scales, the Dragon Snake takes on the features of a dragon, from which their name originates. 










They can also exhibit a particularly interesting behavior when handled: they will stiffen their entire body, as if they were turned into stone! While they have a more reclusive nature, they are incredible to observe when they come out during the night to hunt and explore. *

_*Disclaimer*_
Dragon Snakes are not yet established in captivity, thus all available specimens are currently wild caught imports. If you are interested in keeping this species, it is highly recommended that you have at least some experience establishing wild caught imports. While a small handful of people have been successful in keeping Dragon snakes, due to their current status in captivity, this species is best suited for advanced keepers until established captive bred specimens are more readily available.

*Enclosure*

Due to their small size, Dragon Snakes do not require large enclosures. I have been keeping smaller Dragon snakes in 15qt. Sterilite locking tubs, and larger snakes in 32qt. tubs; however, I am currently experimenting with naturalistic palladiums that will mimic their wild environment, with future plans to include a running water feature. I provide them with a few hides, a bit of artificial foliage for extra cover, and a water dish buried up to the rim with substrate. *When first establishing Dragon Snakes, I highly suggest keeping the water dish under their hide, *as this allows them to feel more secure while hunting. Over time however, your Dragon Snake should begin to feel more comfortable with their surroundings and venture outside of their hide(s). Patience is key when keeping this species. 

*Substrate and Humidity*

Dragons snakes require consistently high humidity at all times and often spend a majority of their time underground. In order to satisfy their semi-fossorial (burrowing) nature and maintain humidity levels of 90%+, I prefer to use an organic potting soil blend topped with a layer of leaf litter for them to burrow under. *It is crucial that you are not using a substrate that you must constantly modify by adding water to maintain humidity levels*, as minimal interaction with this species is best to avoid additional stress. I add two cups of water upon initially placing my substrate and then only mist once every week or two for a few seconds each time. Dragon Snakes are more vulnerable to skin diseases, thus it is important to keep the environment as sanitary as possible. Adding a drainage layer to allow for a more even distribution of moisture through the substrate is highly recommended to help maintain humidity. 


*Heating*

Dragon snakes *do not require external heat* and should ideally be kept in a temperature-controlled room between 72-75°F. High temperatures are detrimental to this species, so do not overheat them! If your house is kept exceptionally cool (below 70°F) and you are unable to maintain a room temperature within this threshold, you can mount a 60W CHE (ceramic heat emitter) above the enclosure to meet their heating requirements. You will have to calibrate the temperatures by adjusting the height from the CHE to the enclosure, starting from the farthest distance and gradually moving closer as necessary.* Always use a thermostat with any and all heat sources*.


*Diet and Feeding*

Feeding Dragon snakes is very straight-forward as long as they have settled in well. In the wild, their diet primarily consists of tadpoles, frogs and small fish. I have had the most success feeding mosquito fish, tree frogs/tadpoles and even frog-blend Reptilinks. It is important to know that certain species of fish contain an enzyme called thiaminase, which breaks down thiamin (vitamin B1). Thiamin is a crucial vitamin that all living things need to metabolize in order to function and grow. Mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis), Guppies (Poecilia reticulata) and Platies (Xiphophorus maculatus) are all species of fish considered safe feed in regards to their thiaminase content. If you would like to learn more about thiaminase and the fish that contain them, click here. I formerly avoided feeding fish that contained thiaminase, but I have now developed a method for supplementing thiamin into my Dragon Snake's diet instead. Click here to learn more on how to properly supplement thiamin. You can find feeder fish and tree frog tadpoles from various suppliers on eBay. Smaller imports will be of size to take medium - large sized tree frog tadpoles or small feeder fish, which are easily offered by placing around 5-10 tadpoles or fish in the water dish every five days. When offering fish or tadpoles, I use Tupperware dishes filled with 5 parts fresh water and 1 part tank water*. Simply bury the water dish up to the rim with substrate and place in a dark, covered area where they will feel comfortable hunting their prey.










*Larger imports should be fed developed tree frogs, large feeder fish or frog-blend Reptilinks if you are successful in feeding them*. Being that they are significantly more nutritious, I recommend switching over to one or the other as your Dragon snake approaches adulthood. *Your feeder tank should be kept pristine at all times. I do 25% water changes twice a week to keep ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels at 0ppm. If you are not experienced in fish keeping, I strongly recommend using the API Freshwater Master Test Kit to test your water parameters so that you may become familiar with how to keep a healthy, happy feeder fish colony. You will want to set up and cycle your tank *one month before adding any fish. * 

Additionally, while these fish may be feeders, all life deserves to be treated with respect and given the best quality of possible. I offer plenty of hides, plants and enrichment for my feeder fish and feed them high-quality food such as brine shrimp and New Life Spectrum. Your colony will not only breed better this way, but the more they are happy and thriving, the more healthy and nutritious they are for your Dragon Snake. 


*Treating for Parasites*

One of the biggest concerns that comes with all wild caught snakes is the potential parasite load they often bring. External parasites are easy to detect and relatively simple to treat, and there are various online resources on how to treat them -- but the same cannot be said for internal parasites. Many inexperienced keepers that acquire a wild caught import believe the best course of action is to rush them to their veterinarian for an in-depth examination. Unfortunately,* the stress they are put through as a result of the veterinary visit is often a major cause for decline and eventually death*. When keeping wild caught snakes, it is crucial to avoid stressing them as much as possible, and this includes being poked, prodded and excessively handled by a vet. This is where experience comes into play. Knowing how to examine and identify potential issues with your snake and how to treat them without rushing them to the vet is extremely helpful in assuring the survival of such sensitive animals. In order to do so, *I highly suggest establishing a good relationship with your herp veterinarian*. I am able to treat all snakes for parasites at home because my veterinarian prescribes the medication via Telemedicine, allowing me to receive the necessary medication for my wild caught imports without having to put them through the stress of a long drive and physical examination. 


Treatment for internal parasites typically includes an oral administration of Metronidazole (0.04mg/g) given once within the first week of arrival and then once more 2 weeks after the first dose. This medication is also effective against many strains of bacteria. You can acquire powdered Metronidazole through an over-the-counter fish medication here. Your veterinarian can help you find the correct ratio to administer the medication, which will depend on the weight of your snake and dosage information provided above. 


I also treat each new group of tadpoles and fish for parasites a week prior to feeding them off. You can use the same packet of Metronidazole for treating your feeder fish following the instructions provided on the back on the box. 

*Sexing Dragon Snakes*

Sexing Dragon Snakes is relatively simple if you know what to look for. You do not want to pop or probe these snakes as they are very thin and fragile, and the risk of hurting them is too great. Instead, *tail sexing is a much easier and less invasive method of sexing your snake*. Females can be distinguished from males as they are heavier-bodied, have a more slender tail, and lack a hemipenial bulge. Males on the other hand are more slim-bodied, have a thicker tail and a distinct hemipenial bulge. See the image below for reference.










*Breeding*

Very few keepers have been successful in breeding and hatching Dragon snakes in captivity. Sergey Kudryavtsev and Vasyliy Latyshev were able to breed and produce a clutch of five eggs from X. javanicus, but a fault in conditions during incubation had hatched unviable young that passed within two days of hatching. We are currently working with a group of 4.4 (four males, four females) with breeding in the works. It has been observed that Dragon snakes breed during the monsoon season (November through March), thus to replicate optimal breeding conditions, we have introduced two new aspects of husbandry for the best chance of success: *a timed misting system to replicate rain, and a gradual reduction in the air pressure of the room to simulate the pressure system during the monsoon season*. If breeding attempts are successful and a clutch is produced, we will be incubating them at room temperature in damp vegetation to closely mimic conditions in the wild. Updates on our progress with _X. javanicus _will be documented in the Dragon Snake Database.

*Additional Information*

As with most wild caught imports, it is important to* limit handling to only when medically necessary*. I rarely handle my Dragon snakes for interaction or personal benefit. While this may change when captive bred status is obtained, for now it is best to avoid putting these snakes through any unnecessary stress. They are particularly fragile and will quickly decline under stress. 

I also recommend keeping them in a dark or dimly lit room. Absolutely no artificial light sources; this is a semi-fossorial nocturnal species, and *light should only be provided through natural means to help them regulate*.

In summary, Dragon snakes are a fascinating species to keep for those who are capable of doing so. While they are best suited for advanced keepers due to their current status in captivity, I hope the information provided in this guide will help the small community of those who keep them in assuring they thrive in their care. With the persistent effort of dedicated keepers, perhaps we will see more captive bred hatchlings in the future.


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## loxocemus

Dragon Snake Care Sheet, Outback Reptiles










Dragon Snakes! Xenodermis javanicus. The holy grail of obscure reptile species, right? I see dragon snakes going viral on social media platforms rather frequently, and without fail, there is a lot of misinformation on the species listed every single time, scattered with people asking where they can find a dragon snake for sale. They are certainly a popular species, yet still relatively rare in captivity. This species is erroneously considered “impossible” to keep, despite several keepers having success now that they have been around long enough for the captive herp community to crack the code as far as their care goes.

Since I periodically have dragon snakes for sale on my site, I figured it would be prudent to include a dragon snake care guide here on the site for anybody interested in keeping them. While I have been successful in keeping dragon snakes in captivity so far, my experience is limited and I deferred to a client and friend of mine, Janet Lee of Artemis Herpetological LLC, to write this dragon snake care guide.

Thanks for taking the time to research this species! Janet’s care guide follows below:
~Mike

*Species: Dragon Snake (Xenodermus javanicus)*
*Overview:* Dragon snakes are non-venomous colubrid snakes endemic to higher altitude regions of Southeast Asia (Burma, Thailand, West Malaysia, and Indonesia). They are a semi-fossorial species; they spend most of their time underground, but venture out at night to hunt their prey. They are most often found in areas near water or streams, since they naturally prey on small frogs and fish. Dragon snakes grow to about 24-30 inches in length. This species is rare in the pet trade and was notorious for not thriving in captivity. They are a higher maintenance snake that require a very specific setup. They also do not tolerate handling. They normally do not bite when handled, but stiffen up. Repeated handling will cause them to get stressed out and refuse to eat. Despite their higher level of care and peculiarities, a handful of people have been able to successfully care for them and breed them in captivity.










*Habitat:* Each adult snake should be housed separately in enclosures measuring about 14”L x 10”W x 9”H. A 10-gallon terrarium or a 15-quart sterilite container would provide ample space for one adult dragon snake. Since they spend most of the day hiding, providing a hide (plastic or any washable material) is necessary. This species requires high humidity, so moist sphagnum moss (1” to 2” layer) or artificial grass (plastic) is recommended. These substrates retain water well and stay somewhat dry on the surface. To mimic their natural hunting grounds, provide a shallow (1.5” to 2” deep), natural rock-like bowl for water. This is especially important when feeding live tadpoles or live fish. Since most dragon snakes are imported, they are most comfortable hunting in a similar environment to where they came from. From my personal experience, with I noticed they like to use the rough surface of the rock to get leverage when hunting their prey. Normal ceramic or porcelain bowls confuse them, and they stray away from it. 










*Heating & Humidity:* Dragon snakes need to be kept cool, between 72°F – 77°F. They are more comfortable at the cooler range, 72°F – 75°F. This species is very sensitive to heat and light. They can be kept in dim room lighting during the day and pitch black at night when they need to hunt for prey. They DO NOT need a hot spot. The temperature MUST NOT go over 80°F. They can tolerate the heat for a few hours, but they will not survive long after that. The humidity must be maintained at 85% – 95% humidity. The way in which this humidity can be achieved varies with your living environment. Being that this species requires high humidity, you need be careful and allow the substrate to dry up a little in order to avoid mold. Mold can cause skin disease and lead to other illnesses in these snakes. Spot clean or change the entire substrate as necessary.

*Diet:* Dragon snakes prey on frogs, tadpoles, and fish in the wild. You will need a good supply of appropriate-sized live feeders when you figure out what your particular dragon snake likes to eat. It can be a challenge at times, since they are picky and in tune with what they were eating before where they originally came from. Once you receive your dragon snake, allow him/her to adjust to his/her new environment for 10 days. Then, you can start by feeding him/her a prey item of your choice and continue from there. Once dragon snakes start eating, they are voracious eaters, and you will need to limit how much and how often they eat so they do not overeat and/or regurgitate. For example, an adult should eat 2 fish every 7-10 days or 1 frog every 7-10 days. I have had success feeding mosquito fish (aka feeder guppies) and African reed frogs. Some other keepers have successfully fed tadpoles, feeder minnows, green tree frogs, and common frogs (Rana temporaria).


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## loxocemus

*Eviscerated alive: Novel and macabre feeding strategy in Oligodon fasciolatus (Günther, 1864) eating organs of Duttaphrynus melanostictus (Schneider, 1799) in Thailand*

*Abstract*
A hitherto unknown feeding mode among snakes is described for the colubrid snake _Oligodon fasciolatus_ in Northeast Thailand. Three cases of _O. fasciolatus_ using enlarged posterior maxillary teeth to cut open the abdomen of a live poisonous toad _Duttaphrynus melanostictus_ and eat its organs are described. The snakes and toads fought vigorously, and the toads secreted toxic white liquid on the dorsum and neck. The snakes inserted their heads into the abdomen of the toads, pulled out some of the organs and swallowed them. The snakes and toads were adults. All three cases were documented by extensive photographic material.
In a fourth case from Central Thailand, an adult _O. fasciolatus_ was observed swallowing an entire semi-adult _D. melanostictus_.
The majority of all snake species swallow their prey in one piece, but to place our observations in a broader context we review a number of exceptions.

*Introduction*
The genus _Oligodon_ currently contains 80 species that collectively range from Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan in the west, over large parts of India and Sri Lanka to China and the Philippines in the east and south through South Asia to Indonesia (De Lang 2017; Midtgaard 2019; Nguyen et al 2020; Uetz et al 2020). These snakes are small to medium-sized with a muscular body and short head which is not distinct from the body. The eye is small to moderate with a round pupil. The snout is blunt with a large rostral shield. Using their sharp curved posterior maxillary teeth members of the genus _Oligodon_ are known to be able to inflict large bleeding wounds which form lacerations rather than punctures. This ability has given them the popular name Kukri Snakes which stems from the kukri knives with curved blades of the Nepali-speaking Gurkhas soldiers. A bite from a Kukri snake may cause profuse, long-lasting bleeding. This is probably caused by anticoagulant activity of the serous Duvernoy’s gland secretions (Taub 1967; Grossmann 1992; Wüster and Cox 1992). _Oligodon fasciolatus_, the Small-banded Kukri Snake, is a common aglyphous colubrid snake distributed in southeastern Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, but was previously often confused with _O. cyclurus_ (Pauwels et al. 2002). It is widely distributed in Thailand (Niyomwan et al. 2017).
In this paper we describe a hitherto unknown feeding behaviour of adult _O. fasciolatus_ eating solely organs of adult _Duttaphrynus melanostictus_, the Asian Black-spotted Toad. This anuran is widely distributed in southern and southeastern Asia, particularly common in urban areas, and is ecologically versatile. This toad secretes toxins from its prominent parotid glands in the neck region and many smaller glands in the back (Taylor 1962; Manthey and Grossmann 1997; Schleich and Kästle 2002). Three such cases from Northeast Thailand are described. In addition, in a fourth case an adult _O. fasciolatus_ was observed swallowing a large juvenile _D. melanostictus_ in Central Thailand.
*Methods*
Three observations on _O. fasciolatus_ eating organs of _D. melanostictus_ were made at one locality near Loei, Northeast Thailand, in August 2016, April 2020 and June 2020 respectively. The coordinates of the locality are 17°36.81'N, 101°41.34'E, altitude approx. 280 m a.s.l. and located in Na Muang village 15 km north of Loei, Sri Songrak subdistrict, Muang district, Loei province. The habitat consisted of cultivated land near human habitation on the estate belonging to two of the authors (WS and MS) who made the observations and WS took photos in all three cases. In two of these three serpent observations sexing was possible by observing the shape of the base of the tail.
Additionally, one observation on _O. fasciolatus_ swallowing an entire large juvenile _D. melanostictus_ was made at a locality in Phitsanulok, Central Thailand, in June 2020. The coordinates of the locality are 16°47.64'N, 100°20.40'E, altitude approx. 45 m a.s.l. and located in the southeastern outskirts of the town Phitsanulok, Mueang Phitsanulok district, Phitsanulok province. The habitat consisted of cultivated land in direct connection with human habitation near the house of one author (KN) who made the observations and took video recordings which were converted to still photos.
At no time were the snakes or the toads touched by the observers. The four observations are presented in chronological order.
*Results*
The *first observation* was made near *Loei* just outside the plant nursery of WS and MS on *9 August 2016* at 08:36–08:53. Along with WS and MS also Steve and Joanna Suthanthangjai witnessed the act of predation. A large adult female _O. fasciolatus_ was observed eating parts of an adult _D. melanostictus_. The toad was dead upon the observers’ arrival, but the soil around the two animals was bloody, indicating there had been a fight which eventually killed the toad. The snake used its enlarged posterior maxillary teeth to slit through the left side of the abdomen just underneath the left front leg. Its head was swung from side to side as it managed to cut through the skin of the toad. Slowly the snake inserted its head into the left side of the toad’s abdomen and subsequently it pulled out organs like liver, heart, lung and part of the gastrointestinal tract (at least the full stomach and full small intestines). During the process of retraction, the head was moved in different directions with a partly open mouth, allowing the teeth to cut the organs into smaller pieces which were then swallowed. Two millipedes (one brown and 10–15 cm, the other one red and 3–5 cm) had been attracted by the dead toad with exposed organs of which they started eating minor parts. After leaving the dead toad at 08:53, the kukri snake rubbed its head against the soil and dead leaves to remove the intestines and millipedes. It is unknown for how long the fight had lasted. See Fig. 1 and Appendix 1: Figs A1, A2.









Figure 1.
After _Oligodon fasciolatus_ cut through the abdomen of _Duttaphrynus melanostictus_ it inserted its head into the toad’s abdomen to extract and eat organs. Loei, 9 August 2016. Photo WS.

The *second observation* was made 15 m from the above-mentioned “battle field” near *Loei* from 2016 and took place on *22 April 2020* starting at approx. 13:00. The snake was also a large adult female _O. fasciolatus_ and the toad was also an adult _D. melanostictus_. The fight took place in an area of approx. 5 m2 near the bank of a pond and lasted for almost three hours as it ended at approx. 16:00. The snake and toad were observed fighting for a considerably longer period of time compared to the 2016 incident. Upon the arrival of the two observers the snake’s head was inserted in the abdomen of the toad. Despite this injury, the toad moved toward the pond, but stopped at the bank. The snake then pulled out of the toad’s abdomen, possibly to pause and breathe. The toad was observed spraying poison like a fine mist, some of which hit the head of the snake. In addition, some fluid from the back of the toad dripped down and covered the snake’s head and eyes. The toad jumped away. The snake rubbed its head against the substrate including dead leaves to remove some poison around the eyes etc., and it retreated under a pile of logs where it remained for approx. 10 minutes before it reappeared and started searching for the toad again. It found the toad which jumped approx. 2.5 m towards the pond again, but the snake grabbed it by a hind leg. White toxic fluid appeared in the dorsal region of the toad, some of which was transferred to the eyes of the snake. Subsequently the snake retreated and rubbed and cleaned its eyes again. The toad managed to jump in the pond, but swam to a bank where it tried to hide under a log for approx. 30 minutes. During that period of time the snake hid under a nearby log trying to remove poison from its head including its mouth by rubbing the head. At the same time it opened the mouth and moved the jaws in different positions repeatedly. Then the snake attacked again and inserted its head into the abdomen of the toad through the wound which had been made earlier and gained direct access to the organs. A collapsed lung, muscular tissue and possibly fat tissue were pulled out. As the toad was cornered and subjugated it remained motionless, closed its eyes and spread its legs on the ground, but it was still breathing. The method of extracting and swallowing organs was similar to the one described above for the first case from 2016. However, this time the toad and the snake were attacked by ants which made the snake retreat yet again, leaving the toad with ants. WS sprayed the ants away from the toad with water, but noticed that the toad was now dead. The duration of the above process of attacking and feeding was approx. 45 minutes from 15:15 to 16:00. The dead toad was photographed just before midnight. See Figs 2, 3 and Appendix 1: Figs A3, A4.









Figure 2.
_Oligodon fasciolatus_ inserted its head through the right side of the abdomen of _Duttaphrynus melanostictus_ in order to extract and eat organs. Tissue of a collapsed lung (above, left), and possibly fat tissue, covered by clear liquid foaming as it mixes with air bubble from the lung at expiration. The upper part of the front leg is covered by foaming blood, likewise, mixed with air bubbles from the collapsed lung. The poison on the dorsum and neck of the toad is still conspicuous. Loei, 22 April 2020. Photo WS










Figure 3.
After the kukri snake had pulled out its head from the toad’s abdomen and the toad jumped a few m away, the snake rubbed itself against the substrate to remove the poison of the toad. Subsequently additional attacks were made. Loei, 22 April 2020. Photo WS.

The *third observation* took place in *Phitsanulok* on *5 June 2020* approx. from 06:00 to 07:00. The snake was an adult _O. fasciolatus_, approx. 70 cm total length, and the toad was a semi-adult _D. melanostictus_, approx. 5 cm SVL. Initially the snake was observed having the toad’s head in its gape near a big tree by KN’s house. It moved away from the observer as it maintained its bite-hold on the toad and tried to hide in a clay saucer of a large plant pot. From there it completed swallowing the small toad. During the entire action the toad was inverted with the underside turned upward. A small part of its upper side was visible and no white toxic liquid was apparently excreted from parotid or dorsal glands. Most of the upper side was not visible. See Fig. 4 and Appendix 1: Fig. A5.









Figure 4.
Adult _Oligodon fasciolatus_ swallowing a large juvenile _Duttaphrynus melanostictus_ whole. The toad was turned so that the belly pointed upward. Phitsanulok, 5 June 2020. Photo KN.


The *fourth observation* was made in *Loei* on *19 June 2020* starting at 11:50. It took place approx. 15 m from the place of 22 April 2020 (on the other side of the pond). The adult snake, _O. fasciolatus_, hunted the adult toad, _D. melanostictus_, in a similar way. However, this time it attacked the toad directly from the centre of the abdomen from where it slit through the skin to access the organs (instead of a more lateral access in April). Subsequently the snake left the toad, but returned approx. five hours later and completed eating organs of the dead toad at 18:00. On the basis of the pattern and size it is assumed that this snake was the same individual as the one which was recorded feeding on 22 April 2020.
*Discussion*
These are the first known cases of serpents inserting their heads into prey and subsequently extracting and eating organs, then discarding the rest of the prey. However, it is striking that a smaller toad was swallowed whole. The fact that solely organs were eaten in three cases might have been caused by adult toads either being more toxic or too large to be swallowed even by adult kukri snakes. A combination of the two factors might also have applied. It was not clearly seen whether the young toad which was swallowed whole excreted any white toxins from the upper side because generally only its underside was visible. Our observations are indicative of vigorous snake-toad fights in which the toads defended themselves desperately to avoid being cut open and having their organs removed while still alive.
As a general rule snakes swallow their prey in one piece and it is unusual that they deliberately tear or cut off parts of a prey to swallow them. It is well-documented that several Asian snakes of the family Pareidae and Latin American snakes of the subfamily Dipsadinae (Colubridae) feed on snails which they extract from their shells (Greene 1997; Lillywhite 2014; Arteaga et al 2018; Wang et al 2020, Kojima et al 2020). Similar habits of snail extraction are known in the two North American colubrids _Storeria dekayi_ and _S. occipitomaculata_ (Rossman and Myer 1990).
The Southeast Asian homalopsid snakes _Fordonia leucobalia_ and _Gerarda prevostiana_ tear off and consume pieces of crabs (Murphy and Voris 2002; Jayne et al. 2002, 2018). In _F. leucobalia_ legs of hard-shelled individuals are torn off and swallowed. A somewhat different strategy is used by _G. prevostiana_ as it attacks freshly moulted crabs breaking off legs and parts of the carapace. It is considered that the main purpose of this technique is to be able to consume larger prey than could be swallowed whole.
In three species of Typhlopoidea predation by only eating part of their prey has also been observed. _Epictia phenops_ (Leptotyphlopidae) may suck abdominal contents of termites while discarding the remains (Smith 1957). _Rena dulcis_, another leptotyphlopid, breaks off the head of termites by grasping the abdomen with the jaws and then rubbing termite heads against objects (Reid and Lott 1963). Furthermore, the small typhlopid _Indotyphlops braminus_ may decapitate its termite prey and consume only the thorax and abdomen or it may break orthopteran insects into smaller parts such as legs before swallowing them (Mizuno and Kojima 2015; Jani 2019).
A different way in which serpents only eat part of their prey occurs in four Central American species of Colubridae, _Leptophis ahaetulla_, _Leptodeira annulata_, _Leptodeira septentrionalis_ and _Imantodes inornatus_. These species feed on frog eggs of _Agalychnis callidryas_, which are laid in trees. They tear out chunks of egg clutches as some embryos develop rapidly and hatch early, to escape predation (D’Amato and Warkentin 2006; Warkentin et al. 2007; Caldwell et al. 2009).
Kukri snakes of the genus _Oligodon_ are known to be egg-eaters as they slit open soft-shelled squamate eggs, insert the head into the egg and consume the contents (Minton and Anderson 1963; Toriba 1987). The collapsed eggs may be swallowed afterwards. For hard-shelled gecko eggs the same technique can be applied or they can be swallowed whole. In _O. formosanus_ females defend nests of the sea turtle _Chelonia mydas_ by repelling conspecifics until the turtle eggs hatch or are consumed by slitting the leathery eggshells (Huang et al. 2011). The technique of slitting the egg shell and consuming the contents to some extent resembles the case described here, i.e. cutting a hole into the abdomen of toad and eating the organs. In addition to _Oligodon_ spp. preying mainly on live reptiles and amphibians and to a lesser extent mammals and invertebrates, scavenging is also known in _Oligodon arnensis_ which has been observed eating a roadkill of _Calotes versicolor_ (Pandirkar et al. 2015).
The North American colubrid _Cemophora coccinea_ (Eastern Scarlet Snake) has also been observed cutting or piercing reptile eggs, inserting its head and eating the contents (Dickson 1948; Minton and Bechtel 1958).
Use of the enlarged teeth as formidable weaponry has been documented in the above-mentioned study of _O. formosanus_ on Orchid Island off Taiwan by Huang et al. (2011). During intraspecific combat bouts severe bites to the tails had been inflicted. Consequently 38% of the females had lost more than 45% of their tails whereas 25% of the males had suffered such losses. Some females had lost almost all of their tails which was, however, not observed in males; they would under such circumstances also have lost their hemipenes.
_D. melanostictus_ produces potent bufotoxins in their parotid glands, containing bufadienolides which are cardiac glycosides, and they may potentially even be lethal to humans (Chern et al. 1991; Keomany et al. 2007; Gao et al. 2010). As _O. fasciolatus_ attacked the toads ventrally and penetrated them from the belly in three cases, it could avoid the toxins, although these fluids were to some degree transferred to the snakes during the fighting, and attempts to rub off the substances were made (Fig. 3). But since an entire large juvenile _D. melanostictus_ was swallowed in the fourth case, it is an open question whether _O. fasciolatus_ has developed resistance to the toxins of this toad. The anticoagulant agent of the snake’s gland secretions might have been beneficial for the process potentially lasting up to approx. an hour.
_Varanus bengalensis_ and _V. salvator_ are known to prey on _D. melanostictus_ which is swallowed whole despite its strong poison and the monitors do not attempt to avoid contact with the parotid glands (Karunarathna et al. 2017; Mahaprom and Kulabtong 2018). Via the process of convergence a group of African and Asian monitor lizards including _V. bengalensis_ and _V. salvator_ and at least three serpent groups (Natricinae, _Naja_ and _Bitis_) from Africa, Asia, Europe and North America have evolved resistance to toads’ cardiac glycoside toxins (Ujvari et al. 2015). Many other toad-eating snakes like _Heterodon_, _Xenodon_ and _Causus_ have also developed such resistance (Mohammadi 2017). According to these studies the genus _Oligodon_ is not among them.
Some mammalian and avian predators with good cognitive capabilities have demonstrated similar feeding strategies to those we have recorded in _O. fasciolatus_, i.e., they attack poisonous toads ventrally and others have skinned toads before eating organs or other parts. They are most probably not resistant to bufotoxins. In the USA _Procyon lotor_ (Raccoon) has been observed eating _Incilius alvarius_ (Colorado River Toad) from the belly, using one forefoot to hold down the toad on its back while the claws of the other forefoot rip open the abdominal cavity as the contents are eaten, and _P. lotor_ is also known to be able to kill _Anaxyrus americanus_ (American Toad) and subsequently eat the abdomen, viscera and other parts (Wright 1966; Schaaf and Garton 1970). In the USA Olson (1989) reported that _Anaxyrus boreas_ (Boreal Toad) was eviscerated by _Corvus corax_ (Common Raven) and other parts of the toads were also eaten. In Spain _Lutra lutra_ (Eurasian Otter) has been observed slicing and skinning _Bufo spinosus_ (Southern Common Toad) while eating some of the contents (Morales et al. 2015). _Buteo buteo_ (Common Buzzard) has been recorded skinning and eating _Bufo bufo_ (Common European Toad) in Croatia (Jovanović et al. 2011). In Australia one mammal and three birds are known to have adapted to eating non-toxic parts from the underside of the introduced and highly toxic toad _Rhinella marina_ (Marine Toad, Cane Toad), even though their natural distributions are restricted to the Old World and _R. marina_ has only existed in Australia since 1935: The native water rat species _Hydromys chrysogaster_ (Rakali) can remove and eat the heart and liver from the toads whereas the toxic gallbladders are left outside their bodies (Parrott et al. 2019); _Corvus orru_ (Torresian Crow) rolls toads on their back and consumes some intestines and the fleshy thighs (Donato and Potts 2004); the two raptors _Milvus migrans_ (Black Kite) and _Haliastur sphenurus_ (Whistling Kite) use a similar technique of eating only soft parts (tongue) of road killed toads, avoiding the toxic glands (Beckmann and Shine 2011).
*Acknowledgments*
We are grateful to Parinya Pawangkhanant (University of Phayao, Phayao, Thailand) for inspiring us to publish our observations. Kristine Vesterdorf (University of Western Australia, Perth) and Morten E. Allentoft (Curtin University, Perth) helped identifying organs extracted from the toads. Phurak S. Suthanthangjai (Loei, Thailand) assisted photographing and filming the events in 2016 and 2020. Thanks to Harry W. Greene (Cornell University, Ithaca, USA), Andreas Nöllert (Jena, Germany) and Karen M. Warkentin (Boston University, USA) who made helpful comments. We thank Jan Grathwohl (Næstved, Denmark), Bjarne Bo Jensen (Køge, Denmark) and Richard Shine (Macquarie University, NSW, Australia) for providing literature. Mark Hanger (Copenhagen, Denmark) reviewed the English language.


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## loxocemus

*Garters by Scott Felzer*

Growing up in Southeastern Michigan gave me an early love of Thamnophis. Found there in great abundance - at least at that time - are eastern and Butler's gartersnakes. Gartersnakes are small by colubrid standards. Females average anywhere from 30 to 36 niches in length; males average 16 to 24 inches. The largest Thamnophis species is the giant gartersnake (T. couchi gigas), found in central California, which can reach a length of 4 feet or more. The smallest is the short headed gartersnake (T. brachystoma), averaging 16 inches.

There are approximately 75 species/subspecies of garter snakes that are found from the southern tip of Alaska, throughout most of Canada and the United States on into Mexico and Central America. Habitats vary from species to species. Swamps, marshes, prairies, open fields, forests, deserts, mountains are all habitats that particular species of garters prefer. The Eastern garter (T. sirialis sirtalis) has the largest known range of any Thamnophis species; the short-headed garter has the smallest range, located predominately in northwest Pennsylvania on into southwest New York.

Females bear their young live, averaging 25 babies. Litters of 80 plus babies have been documented. Life expectancy for garters is reported to be on the average 10 years. A wandering garter is reported to have lived 17 years - very ancient by most Thamnophis standards. Most garter snakes are docile by nature. They may attempt to bite if you come across them in the wild but they generally calm down to make good pets. Consistent handling will often calm them down as they do tend to be a fairly active colubrids.

Eastern Garters

Eastern garters (T. s. sirtalis) range is from Southern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and west to Minnesota and Eastern Texas. They are often found close to water and are found in a variety of habitats. These range from high in the mountains to swamps, marshes, open fields, woodlands and even in urban areas. Adult females average 30-36 inches in length and weigh 8.8 ounces; males average 16-24 inches, depending on their locality. The largest garter snake we ever owned was a Florida female and she was 42” long and more than 21 ounces. Coloration & patterns vary immensely for this species. Stripes differ in coloration from green to yellow to brown and even bluish. Body colors vary from brown to black to green to blue and to olive. Eastern garters consume frogs, toads, salamanders, earthworms, fish and rodents.

Red-sided Garters

The red-sided garter's (T. s. parietalis) range is nearly as vast as the eastern's. They are found north into the very southern tip of Alaska, south to Oklahoma, East to Iowa and Minnesota and west to Montana and Wyoming. They prefer open fields, meadows and waterways. Out west they can be found high up into the mountains. Their diet consists of frogs, toads, fish and rodents.

Females average 30-36 inches long, while males average 16-24 inches in length. Varying degrees of red, yellow, black and orange make this one of the prettiest Thamnophis species. Variations of the red coloration occur, as well. Brick, fire engine, maroon, chestnut are all shades of red that T. s. parietalis may exhibit. Kansas is well known amongst Thamnophis herpers for having the prettiest red-sideds of all the localities of where they are found.

Plains Garter

Plains garters (T. radix and T. haydeni) are very common throughout their range. They are found from the central Canadian providences; west to Montana, Wyoming and Colorado; and on East to Iowa, Minnesota and South into Oklahoma and extreme Northeastern New Mexico. Their habitat is primarily meadows and open fields, close to waterways and also urban areas. They eat earthworms, frogs, toads and rodents.

Plains garters are primarily black with a bright yellow and/or orange stripe. Plains have double alternating rows of black spots that differentiate them from other Thamnophis species. Adult females average 30 to 36 inches in length; adult males are 16 to 24 inches. One of my adult females had 61 babies 3 years ago, our largest litter to date.

Wandering Garter

Wandering garters (T. elegans vagrans) are frequently seen throughout their range which runs north into British Columbia, South into most of New Mexico and Arizona, west into Eastern California on up into central and eastern Oregon and Washington. The eastern portion of their range extends on into most of Montana, The southwestern tip of South Dakota, northwestern tip of Nebraska and most of Colorado.

Wandering garter coloration varies from locality to locality. Colors include brownish green, brown and gray. Their bellies are often mottled with black as well. Wandering babies are large by Thamnophis standards, averaging 7-8 inches at birth. (Most garter babies are in the 4 to 5 inch range). Adult females average 30 to 36 inches - typical size for Thamnophis - males 16 to 24 inches.

From my experience in breeding this species, their bodies don’t fatten up like other garter species do. Females tend to be leaner, on average, than other species that I have kept. They have one of the most varied diets of any Thamnophis species, too, feeding upon lizards, frogs, toads, fish, salamanders, earthworms, ground nesting fledgling birds and rodents. Wandering garters are one of the few cannibalistic Thamnophis species. I have heard an account of a wild-caught individual regurgitating a rubber boa!

Blue-Striped Garter

Found in a very limited range in Western Florida, blue-striped garters (T. sirtalis similis) occur in Wakulla County South to the Withlacoochee River. Their preferred habitat is marshes and pinewoods of Northwestern Florida. Their diet consists of fish, frogs, toads and rodents.

Coloration varies from sky blue to navy blue to dark blue. The dorsal stripe is either a yellowish golden or tannish color. White speckles are evident throughout the body as well. At birth they don’t show these colors, looking like normal Florida eastern garters. However as they grow, their colors become more distinguishable. This species is often confused with the Florida eastern garter due to some normal easterns having a high degree of blue in their coloration.

In my collection, this species tends to be smaller than other garters. Adult females are typically 24 to 30 inches, and adult males are 16 to 20 inches in length.

Reproduction

Most gartersnake species mate in the spring. Males emerge first from hibernation, congregating outside the dens and wait for the females. Upon emerging, females give off pheromones, which lets the males know they are in breeding condition. Once females successfully copulate, the pheromone scent ceases, males lose interest and look for females that have yet to breed.

Studies have been done on garters from the famous Manitoba, Canada, breeding grounds. At this site, males outnumber females by the hundreds, and males have developed an unusual adaptation for these lopsided numbers. Males have been documented producing the same pheromones that females produce, thus being called "she-males." Other males attempt to breed with these males the same as they would females. Manitoba is also world-renowned for the gartersnake "breeding balls." Numerous males combine with a single female and literally create a rolling mass of snakes, much like a ball. I once saw a squirming mass of 20 Butler's garters (T. butleri) on the inside of a tire liner. This more than likely was a breeding group.

Young males can breed in as little as nine months, females generally in 21 months. Maturity varies from species to species, but on average, mature males should be in the 13- to 14-inch range to successfully breed. Females should be 20 to 24 inches with a decent amount of girth. If the female is long enough but lacks girth, do not breed her. Attempting to breed her will more than likely be unsuccessful and can cause stress, potentially decreasing her life expectancy.

Simple Enclosures

I like to keep it simple. Caging for garters is relatively easy, based on their sizes. For baby snakes, a 10-gallon tank is the perfect size. Normal-sized adult males and females can be housed in 29-gallon terrariums. For larger females (longer than 36 inches), a 50 gallon is an adequate size. Make sure the tops fit tightly; garters are well known for being escape artists.

Items that are beneficial for garter cages are hideboxes, a heavy-duty water bowl, an undertank heater mat and rocks. The heat mat should be placed at one end of the enclosure so the snake has the option of going to the warm, heated end or to the cool, unheated end. Hideboxes should be placed over both the heat mat and the opposite end of the cage. Jagged edged rocks help to facilitate shedding and can be used to decorate. Place the water bowl on the cool, unheated end to avoid causing excess moisture buildup in the cage.

Branches are not necessary as garters are ground-dwelling snakes; however they can be used for aesthetics. Numerous types of substrates can be used - Astroturf and newspaper are two of the easiest. As snakes defecate, remove the newspaper or Astroturf, and clean out the enclosure. For my collection, I use Carefresh and Tekfresh. These products are both wood byproducts that are pliable and come in pulp form. When the snakes defecate, the feces clump up and are easy to remove. For people with a large collection, I highly recommend these products. Avoid using topsoil, dirt, sand and gravel as substrates.

The cage should be kept dry. Humidity and moisture can lead to snakes developing skin blisters and other health problems. Temperatures are best kept at 85 degrees Fahrenheit on the heated end and 78 degrees on the cooler end of the enclosure.

Garter Diet

Gartersnakes swallow living prey as opposed to constricting it first. Diets vary from species to species. Fish, fish eggs, lizards, frogs, toads, salamanders, earthworms, leaches, carrion, rodents and birds are all documented prey items of various gartersnake species. A few Thamnophis are cannibalistic, such as the wandering garter and the western terrestrial garter.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to the gartersnake's captive diet. One is to vary the diet, the other is to offer only rodents. Examples of a varied diet are to offer feeder fish one meal, worms the next and, on occasion, a frog, toad or pinky.

I prefer feeding an all-rodent diet. I feed my adult males once a week. (When males are breeding, they often won't eat; they're more interested in mating than eating.) Babies and subadults should be fed every four to five days, due to their high metabolism. My entire collection of garters (125+) feeds on unscented frozen/thawed mice.

Adults can be fed once a week to every ten days. Gravid female should be fed every four days. Once gravid females stop feeding, they generally give birth a couple of days to a month later. After they've given birth, go back to feeding them once a week. They almost always eat the day after babies are born.

Appropriate food items for neonate garters include feeder fish (guppies or rosy feeders work well) or earthworms. To switch babies over to mice, cut up a pinky and mix it in their food bowl. Over time, decrease the number of fish or worms being offered and increase the pinkies until the snakes are eating unscented pinkies. Some switch over easily, others require a bit of perseverance. Try feeding unscented on the first try. If luck is on your side, the snake will take it willingly.

Vitamin and calcium supplements are very important if you're offering fish, worms or frogs, but not necessary if your snake is feeding solely on rodents, which provide a balanced diet for snakes. The vitamins help give the snakes a well-balanced diet they would otherwise be missing.

Plains Garter Morphs

Garter morphs are becoming increasingly popular. I developed two strains of snows from Plains garters: the Iowa snow in 1999 and the Nebraska snow in 2000. The Iowa snow is born high pink; however, most tend to lose that coloration into adulthood. Adults vary from a yellowish to pearly white color with a very faint yellow stripe and red eyes. The Nebraska snow is more of a lavender/pink color with a yellowish/white dorsal stripe and dark red eyes.

Two albino Plains gartersnake morphs maintained in my collection are the Iowa and Nebraska albinos. The Iowa albino is predominately a white albino with lavender stripes and pink eyes. The Nebraska albino is a wheat-straw yellow with dark red eyes. These two strains are not compatible with one another.

The anerythristic Plains is an overall dark morph, bluish black with a blue/grey dorsal stripe. This strain was found both in Iowa and Illinois and proved to be compatible with one another.

The red albino Plains, amazingly enough, was discovered when an adult snake was found in front of an apartment complex in urban Iowa! This morph is compatible with the Iowa albino strain.

One of the biggest surprises I produced in 2001 was the "Christmas albino." This morph possesses a high degree of orange, white and lavender, all intermixed. The babies from this lineage start out looking like normal albinos, but as they mature, they gain more coloration. One Christmas albino female produced what I call the Super Christmas albino. This morph's colors are almost neon in appearance, with extreme amounts of intense orange, red, yellow, lavender and white. This Christmas trait proved to be genetic, but the Super phase has yet to be. I plan on breeding this morph in the spring of 2004.

Other Morphs

Eastern garter morphs are as colorful as the Plains. Naturally occurring red morphs exist in both Canada and the southeastern United States. Dr. Phil Blais is considered the founder of the flame morphs. The flames typically have red or orange coloration, black sides, yellowish/off-white dorsal stripes and red or orangish bellies.

Speckled flames result from the breeding of two unrelated high-red morphs. Speckled flames have various degrees of orange, speckling and solid orange bellies. The naturally occurring red morphs from the southeastern United Snakes are called erythristic, meaning "high red." These differ in their colors and patterns, depending on their locality.

I have four localities of albino eaterns in my collection. The first is from Kentucky, the second is from Ohio and the last two are from Canada. I acquired a paradox leucistic eastern from Shawn Nobel late in the summer of 2001. This specimen is one of a kind, as it is pure white with black eyes and black spots (indicative of the paradox trait).

Melanistic morphs occur naturally in northern Ohio. These are jet black with a small patch of white on the chin. Other populations of melanistic easterns occur in Pennsylvania, New York and Canada.

Two aberrant easterns hail from New Jersey and New York. The New Jersey bloodline, which is axanthic, comes from a wild-caught female that was captured by Sam Craver. I acquired the female that produced the offspring and three of the unusual babies. Of the three axanthic babies, one has since passed away, and the other two are currently doing fine. The New York morph is a very unusual solid silverish/grey gartersnake. This snake was found late in the spring of 2003 in northern New York.

Red-sideds have comparatively few morphs. Anerythristics are similar in coloration to the Plains, but they have much more speckling. The colorless red-sided was produced from a wild-caught female that Don Belnap captured in Kansas in 2002. The Kansas albino red-sided originated from hets that were acquired from John Meltzer.

Lastly are the wandering morphs. I recently obtained melanistics, which appear very similar to the eastern melanistics. They are jet black with a patch of white on the chin, However, their scales are much less keeled than the easterns. The albino wandering displays a yellowish wash with tannish markings intermixed.

Conclusion

Gartersnakes make for very interesting pets. No longer considered "junk" snakes, they have rightfully earned the respect of many reptile breeders, from first-time owners to the most advanced hobbyists. Garters - normals as well as morphs - are inquisitive, active, alert, docile and colorful. Their relatively small size, temperament, beautiful colors and dietary needs make them favorite pets.


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## loxocemus

*DIY: Homemade Garter Diet*

I decided to go ahead and tackle the home made garter food idea that Alan Francais pioneered involving fish, vitamin powder, and gelatin! I am proud to announce that even though I pretty much winged it, it was a total success! He never really gave exact directions on how to make it.... So I pretty much had to guess on what to do! I made two batches, and tried a different water method for each. Surprisingly, knox gelatin does not give instructions on how to prepare just straight gelatin!!! Only how to make fruit jello. How annoying! So I was kind of in the dark and searches online gave me totally conflicting methods. Most said do not boil the gelatin. So I did not. The first batch, I added the gelatin directly to VERY warm water and poured it into the mixer with the fish. The gelatin was instantly congealing in the hot water and I was concerned I had ruined it, but in the end it turned out OKAY. The second batch, I sprinkled the gelatin packets directly into the mixer onto the fish, blended it a bit, THEN added some warm water. That method produced a more consistent texture. So for my directions, I will be using that mehod.

Along the way, I took some photos of the process. First, the necessities:
I had:

-1 lb of raw Salmon (i took the skin off because it will get stuck, but don't -waste that skin!! Cut it up and feed the scraps to the snakes!)
-1 lb of raw Tilapia
-Reptocal - a calcium supplement with other vitamins including thiamine
-Reptivite - a vitamin powder which also includes thiamine
-4 packets of knox gelatin, 2 for each pound of mixture
-Stainless Steel Scissors - much easier to chunk the fish with these than a knife
- A Smoothie Making Machine *that you no longer want to use for making smoothies....*











I started by taking the scissors and wearing rubber gloves (I hate having messy hands of all things!) I chunked the salmon and tilapia into containers.











I then took out half of each container and mixed them into the opposite containers, so that each container holds half salmon, half tilapia. Following that, I took a teaspoon and added to each container 1 leveled teaspoon of Reptocal, and 1 leveled teaspoon of Reptivite. Each container is holding 1 pound of fish.











I then began to run the faucet on hot while I dumped one container of fish and vitamins into the smoothie maker. I took two packets of knox gelatin and dumped them into the mixer on top of the fish. I took a spoon and mixed it around a little. Once the water from the faucet was at its hottest, I added 2/3 of a cup to the mixture and quickly turned it on. It minced up very quickly but was just a tad too thick, so as I was mixing it I would have to turn it off and stir it up with a spoon and adding tiny bits of water at a time until the mixer would consistently run without stopping up. At this point, the mixture was about the consistency of cooked oatmeal and was pourable, but just barely. The reason for adding water little bits at a time is because you idealy want the fish concentration to the gelatin to be as high as possible, because the garters will not get anything out of the water content, except... Well, water!! As soon as it was a consistent smooth texture, I turned off the mixer. It looked like bright pink mashed potatoes! I then quickly poured/spooned it into small ziploc freezer bags, squeezed out the air, and stacked them perfectly flat into the refridgerator. The thickness of each was about 1/2 an inch. I left them there overnight, and when I came home this morning, I found perfectly formed Salmon/Tilapia Jello Shooters! I carefully allowed the Salmon Jello pancakes to slide out onto some waxpaper where I took a knife and sliced them horizontally, and then diagonally to create tapered edges that are easier for garters to start eating, much like the head of something is.











I then portioned all of these chunks into freezer bags so that I can thaw one out at a time and feed all that day. Each of these baggies is probably a tad over 1/4 lb. In weight. This will feed my garter and water snakes for a month (I have so many! Haha) or a bit longer really because I will alternate it every so often with some night crawlers or pinkies. This however, could be fed as a staple diet because it is vitamin/calcium enriched. This cost me about $15 to make.











decided to let Marcy, my female Checkered Garter be the taste tester. I had the boyfriend bring her out still in her favorite hidey and offered it to her. She wholeheartedly approves and had two pieces! I find the nice thing about it is that it's so easy for them to swallow, even if the piece is slightly too wide, anything that does not fit into their mouth simply peels away without them having to struggle! So as my departing picture, here is Marcy modeling (ingesting, rather) the completed product! I am very pleased with this mixture and I WILL be using this from now on! I hope you all enjoyed and I strongly encourage everyone to give it a try!









*Just as an after note, I now regularly use this diet with my collection and it is readily accepted by all of my garter and water snakes, including the picker ones!*


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## loxocemus

beautiful gonyosoma having a snack (they don't always have red tails sometimes they have white/silver tails)



















the proper way to house gony's, notice the high cork tube hide


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## loxocemus

All upcoming venomous are courtesy of Agapitós Theós Rói

Beaked sea snake (Enhydrina schistosa)









Common lancehead (Bothrops atrox)









Jararaca pit viper (Bothrops jararaca), i saw one of these strike an adult rat in mid air, when the rat hit the ground just its feet were twitching.









South American rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus)









Fer-de-lance (Bothrops asper)


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## loxocemus

Central American coral snake (Micrurus nigrocinctus)









Fer-de-lance (Bothrops asper)









Western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox)









Yucatecan cantil (Agkistrodon russeolus)









Genus Agkistrodon, Cotton.









Genus Agkistrodon, Copper.


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## loxocemus

Eastern diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus)









Timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus), clue is in the name.









Asp viper (Vipera aspis), cleopatra's end.









Lataste's viper (Vipera latastei)









Long-nosed viper (Vipera ammodytes)


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## loxocemus

Coastal viper (Montivipera xanthina)









Coastal taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus)









Coastal taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus)









Death adder (Genus Acanthophis)









Mainland Tiger snakes (Notechis scutatus) (there's an insular population where a significant portion of the adults are blind, their eyes pecked out by the adults of the chicks they seasonally feed on)









Western brown snake (Pseudonaja mengdeni)









Eastern brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis)









Hump-nosed viper (Hypnale hypnale)


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## loxocemus

Asian pit vipers (Genus Trimeresurus)









Monocled cobra (Naja kaouthia)









Caspian cobra (Naja oxiana)









Indian Saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus)









Indian cobra (Naja naja)









Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii)









Common krait (Bungarus caeruleus)









Burrowing asps (Genus Atractaspis)









Black-necked spitting cobra (Naja nigricollis)









Cape cobra (Naja nivea)


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## loxocemus

Night adders (Genus Causus)









Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)









Puff adder (Bitis arietans)









Puff adder (Bitis arietans)









Saw-scaled viper (Genus Echis)


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## loxocemus

*Hybrid egg Incubation by Ryan Young*

I thought I would share the way I cooked my GTP clutch this year with the rest of you. I used a combination of no substrate and standard vermiculite incubation. This is the way I had cooked my very first carpet python clutch many years ago and for some reason I thought other ways were better. So after using both ways of cooking eggs and not being really happy with either I decided to combine them and go old school. Instead of placing the eggs in small containers over water I put them on a bed of slightly moist vermiculite which was placed over the water in a larger egg box. I had 12 eggs to start with all 12 were fertile and looked good. While taking the eggs from the mother the eggs were rolled all around and I used a flashlight to put the embryos up. I lost one egg 3 days into incubation ( I don't think I got it placed correctly). The other 11 went full term and on day 49 two babies pipped. I pipped the rest as soon as I found the heads out. All the eggs but one looked great. The one that looked bad was almost folded in half and was smaller than the other eggs. It had a small dead full term baby in it. The other 10 eggs were fine and 10 big healthy babies came out. 8 reds 2 yellows. I cooked them at a straight 88.4. Here is a pic of the setup.










Here are some hatching pics. 


















In my experience with the no substrate my eggs shrank and dimpled to much at the end of incubation as well as the eggs seemed very britle and not leathery any more. I did the NS with 5 clutches and had at least 3 dead in egg babies in each one of those clutches. Last year with my Canary clutch I could see small scratches in the eggs were the babies were unable to cut through the brittle shell. I have used the standard vermiculite only way as well and had less dead in egg babies but getting the water content in the substrate was more tricky. I also feel the substrate adds to the thermal mass better than with none and it can sheild the eggs from extreme air temp changes caused by most keepers small incubators. The good part about combining them in my opinion is you do not have to worry as much about getting the vermiculite just right as even if you mix it on the dry side the high humidity from the water does not cause the substrte to dehydrate the eggs. I also like the physical moisture the eggs get from the slightly damp substrate and it made a huge difference in my eggs still being soft and leathery at hatching time. Obviously this is the first time I had used this way with GTP eggs but I was very happy with the results. I think if I had mixed the vermiculite with a tad bit more water as well as stirring it around better I may not have had the full term dead baby. When I was pipping the eggs I noticed the dead one was in a dryer patch of vermiculite than the others. The lack of fluid in the egg made it appear as though the baby may have been smothered by the membrane as it separated from the egg shell. Anyways I was not happy with how I was doing it before and now I feel good about cooking again.

Ryan Young


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## loxocemus

Author Kokopelli

*Hemipene prolapse*

here is a summary of the Hemipene prolapse condition that occurred on the night of the 28'th of October 2009 to a male Boa Constrictor Imperator. "Spiritus" is a 2008 male who proved himself an eager breeder since the 4'th of the same month. Several confirmed copulations were observed during this period without unexpected occurrences, a warm and cool side were maintained in their proper spectrum. On the night of the 28'th, after a lengthy copulation of roughly 4 hours the Boas separated at around 10:30 PM.On 10:45 PM I noticed that Spiritus had his tail slightly bent, so I went over to check it out and I saw that his Hemipene was exposed and bulging. 










I phoned my vet friend and told him of the condition. His advice was to leave the male be and wait until morning- if by then the condition persists, to put him in a tub with lukewarm water. Due to the late hour I could not send over a picture nor did I know to identify the severity of the condition. I have decided against my better judgment to let it remain as it is until morning- I rinsed in the water bowl and made sure that Spiritus remained nestled on the female, thus preventing contact between the tissue and the aspen. The vet assured me that it was normal and that by morning it should correct itself. With his conclusive answer and my own wish not to separate the breeding pair- I decided to wait until morning. In retrospect the vet agreed that it was a bad call on his part, however, he couldn't have been made aware to the severity of the condition because I was not yet experienced enough to differentiate one hemipene prolapse from another.

on 5 AM of the 29'th, I woke up(for the third time that night) and went to see if the condition persisted- the hemipene was still prolapsed. I decided to act and contacted some Boa keepers at RedTailBoas.net and read articles about hemipene prolapse.

I have received two main suggestions:

1- use ice/ice-cold water directly on the tissue and reduce the swelling.
2- apply sugar paste(mix a lot of sugar with a bit of water) or honey to cause negative Osmosis, the high concentration of glucose will force the fluids out of the swollen tissue and thus allow it to reduce in size.

I have tried them all, and found the application of honey most efficient- though the swell did not disappeared, it receded by 20-30%.
I then tried to gently push the hemipene back in, but was unsuccessful.

The prognosis of a hemipene prolapse if left untreated is infection, which will lead to necrosis of the tissue which would result in need to amputate- if it is not amputated, the hemipene can either fall off or cause blood poisoning and death.

There is a crucial importance to keeping the tissue clean, moist and vital while it is left exposed, and the snake should be kept in a clean tub with very moist paper towels. 










I phoned the vet yet again and he sent me to buy an ointment named "Hemo" which is used to treat hemorrhoids. The ointment can be bought without a prescription and is highly efficient for not only helps with the swelling, it also has general antibiotics that help prevent infection.
The ingridients are: Bismuth subgallate, Benzocaine, Zinc Oxide, Zinc Sulfate and Chloroxyleonl solution.

It's Avocado green and oily, so it helps well with keeping the tissue alive.
However, it was impossible to reinsert the hemipene.

A vet interference was needed and so I took an hour an a half drive up north to the clinic.

Meanwhile he studied similar cases(in which the snake is incapable of retracting the hemipene on his own) and the general consensus in the literature was to put the snake under Anesthetic - Isofloren was specified, and it is considered the best type of Anesthetic in vet practice. After the snake is sedated, to re-insert the hemipene back into place.

However when I got there we understood the full scale of the problem. Spiritus had in fact prolapsed -both- hemipene, thus jeopardizing his ability to reproduce and becoming sterile if it the tissue is infected- Boa Constrictors normally use just the tip of a single hemipene when breeding. Spiritus was so eager that he tried both, or mayhap the excitement caused him to do so.

Sadly we did not have Isofloren available so we used a mix of Ketamine and Valium- I will not go into detail about the dosage. I will say however that we had to administer possibly twice or even three times the suggested dosage in the literature- because some of those books are relatively old(2002 or so) and because the spectrum suggested per kilo was very broad.
Make sure you work with an experienced herp vet who can properly evaluate the correct dosage- we played it safe, injecting and waiting to make sure we did not over-medicate him.

We also used a Lidocaine gel on the hemipene itself to loose it.

I will now try to explain what physically happened. You see, the base of the Hemipene is actually in the Cloaca, and it built like an inverted sock, ending in two tips, like the letter Y. when retracted, the hemipene is tube like, but when it is inverted and outside, it "blossoms" out and looks a bit like an unfolded flower. The issue was that in Spiritus case it was fully inverted, meaning that we had to both fold it back -and- reinsert it.
That is why an aAnesthetic esthetics were essential for it is a painful procedure and the snake's own reaction wouldn't allow us to properly handle it.
Try as we might, we remained unsuccessful and so we had to resume our efforts the following day.

On the 30'th we decided to use Ketamine and Xylazine initially(Xylazine being reversible by administrating a counter-shot). Today too we had to administer two more shots before he was fully sedated. It required a lot of caution because snake's liver is very susceptible and it takes them a long while to clear the anaesthetics- so we had to consider the fact that he still was medicated from the previous day.

We decided to create a cut angled roughly 90 degrees from the cloaca and upwards towards the tip of the tail in order to make the gap bigger and make it easier to re-insert the hemipene- It was unnecessary however, with the method the vet came up with. We used two catheters and pushed in the tip of both hemipene simultaneously. The lidocaine gel and general Anesthetic neutralized the hemipene from contracting and we managed to push it all in.

We spent around 6 hours in total before coming up with that method.

The cloaca vent was loosely stitched in order to make sure that the hemipene does not pop back out.
The stitches will be removed within a month's time- as for this year, I can only hope that the month he spent breeding will be fruitful but... it matters little. I am just happy he is alive and that amputation was not necessary. 










Conclusions:

1- Once detected, a prolapse should be immediately treated. Leaving the snake on Aspen is a bad call as the tissue can easily be punctured and dry out.

2- The tissue should be kept moist, the snake should be kept on wet paper towels.

3- The use of honey, ice, sugar paste or hemorrhoid ointments are all applicable- try everything to reduce the swelling.

4- In most cases the snake -is- able to retract the hemipene. The use of anesthetics on reptiles is always dangerous and it is best to try and correct the condition without their use- however if the hemipene cannot re-enter by the use of the methods stated above- anesthetics are in order for the contractions will not allow you to re-invert the hemipene.

5- stitching the Cloaca is highly recommended to prevent the hemipene from again inverting itself outwards.

Spiritus is now well and sound, still awakening from the heavy doses of anesthetics. 










He is doing well and I believe everything is alright. The tissue remained healthy and now everything's healing.


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## loxocemus

_*Herpetological Highlights from Venezuela 2006*_

By Carl J. Franklin

_In the summer of 2006 Dr. Eric N. Smith and I visited several field localities and scientific collections in Venezuela. The purpose of the visit was to collect coral snake tissues, specimens and examine specimens and record data from several museums. Overall the trip was very successful. The generosity and hospitality from our herpetologist colleagues in Venezuela made it possible to examine almost every preserved coral snake in the country. Venom researchers and zoological curators contributed greatly to the endeavor by allowing us open access to specimens in their care. During our three week stay in Venezuela we drove throughout most of the eastern third of the country and made every attempt to collect additional specimens whenever the opportunity presented itself. 

The following images are some of the highlights from the trip.

Found throughout most of Venezuela yet rarely seen, the worm-lizard (Amphisbaena alba) is specialized reptile that is highly adapted for a subterranean existence. The skull is solidly built which facilitates burrowing and the eyes are reduced. Chemosensory functions are important for this reptile and undoubtedly help with locating food and mates. ( I've always always wanted to keep Amphisbaena alba)


























_

Amphisbaena fuliginosa
_









Ventral aspect of Amphisbaena fuliginosa 









During our visit we heard stories of a miraculous cure-all drug made from amphisbaenians. This remedy was touted as a cure-all for broken bones, flu, colds, sore throats, diarrhea, upset stomachs, cancer and AIDS. Called _morona_ (which is also the common name for an amphisbaena), all that was necessary to prepare this concoction is a live amphisbaena and some white sugar cane alcohol (rum).

The amphisbaena is either killed and then placed into the rum or allowed to drown in the alcohol. After the amphisbaena dies 24-48 hours are required for the concoction to be ready. Should you suffer from any of the aforementioned ailments then simply drink 2 tablespoons of the morona solution and all will be better!

Eric Smith, Gilson Rivas and myself visited a mercado in Ciudad Bolivar and found a vendor selling the morona. Apparently our bottle of curative wasn't prepared with the elegance we were hoping to find. The specimen contained within our bottle still had dirt adhered to its skin as well as a very ripe smell. Despite having discussed the possibility of sampling the concoction one whiff is all that was needed to convince us otherwise. Fortunately the specimen was in good condition and tissues samples were gathered._

D_riving at night in estado Bolivar's escalera region led us into wet cloud forest and some colorful encounters such as this false coral snake (_Anilius scytale_). This specimen was found on the road just after being hit by another vehicle. _









_A ventral view of the false coral snake (_Anilius scytale_)_.









_Juvenile cat-eyed snake (_Leptodeira annulata_). This species was commonly encountered throughout most of our trip. It was especially abundant on rainy nights that coincided with high activity rates of frogs. It was also found scavenging dead frogs from the roadway as well._









_Adult cat-eyed snake (_Leptodeira annulata_)_









_I was able to photograph the following snakes due to the courtesy of Dr. Luis Scott of Santa Elena de Uairen, Bolivar, Venezuela. Dr. Scott is currently preparing a venom research institute and graciously allowed us the opportunity to not only visit his personal snake collection, but provided us with great information regarding several great collecting locations._

Lyophis typhus


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## loxocemus

Spilotes pullatus









Oxyrhopus petola 









Chironius exoletus 









Pseudoboa neuweidii 









_This emerald tree boa (_Corallus caninus_) was found at night in a lone pine tree in an otherwise barren field in the town of Santa_ Elena de Uairen 









_Back in Caracas we visited various herpetological collections ranging from academic collections to live collections in public serpentariums. Pictured above is the Caribbean coral snake (_Micrurus mipartitus_)_ 









_Ventral view_ 









_Scale clips were taken for DNA and venom samples were also acquired._


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## loxocemus

_Visiting various collections allowed us the opportunity to photograph various species from Venezuela such as this Venezuela forest pit viper (_Bothriopsis medusa_)_ 









_and this Venezuelan lancehead pit viper (_Bothrops venezuelensis_)._ 









_We were soon on the road again and by dusk snakes began to make their appearance. That is when we found this neo tropical rattlesnake (_Crotalus durissus_) crossing the road_ 


















_We saw several but could were only able to capture one specimen of Troschel's pampas snake (_Phimophis guianensis_). This fast moving day active snake is an effective hunter of lizards and other small invertebrates._ 









_This Lansberg's pit viper (_Porthidium lansbergii_) from Isla Margarita was photographed at the Instituto de Medicina Tropical Universidad de Venezuela courtesy of Dr. Louis Fernando Navarrete._ 









_Herpetologist at Fundacion La Salle in Caracas maintained this interesting albino clouded snail eater (_Sibon nebulata_)._


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## loxocemus

*Homalopsis buccata Puff - Faced Water snake Caresheet*










*Intro*

This Caresheet is based upon 34 yrs Herping experience, the Available Literature, Conversations with Successful Keepers and My Experience with these animals. As I learn and grow while working with these Homalopsis--the information here may change.

I acquired a small colony of wild-caught recently imported_ Homalopsis buccata_. I currently have them housed together in 3 separate containers and they are doing very well. 

*General*
_Homalopsis buccata_ snakes are generally very hardy snakes that are *not* difficult to keep. However, their needs are somewhat specialized compared to the husbandry of most types of water snakes. Like the Chinese watersnakes, these are very aquatic. Unlike most types of water snakes - These guys really love the water. They live in conditions that are water and 100% humidity. They don't develop the dreaded "water blisters" that most other water snakes do.
These snakes stay in the water until the water temps start reaching 89-90F (31.6-32.2C) Their feeding is down right voracious.
Below is a basic explanation of the way they have been housed my care. 

*Plants and Top-Coverage*
I always recommend Live plants for aquatic setups. However, these snake are currently setup Fish-only style. They are provided with top-coverage via the cork bark, which also doubles as a land area.

*Cage*
These snakes are housed in three large tubs (39"x18"x7") which are run through a single filtration system. The top has been modified to allow for ventilation, a hot spot and a cool spot. One tub has been modified for the canister filter plumbing.

*Filtration*
This setup is ~65gal total water and is currently filtered with a Rena Filstar xP2 canister filter and a 30gal sump. The sump contains a 29gal undergravel filter with a 2 penguin 1140 (300gph) forward-flow powerhead setup, a Quiet One 3000 return pump with dual Hydor #5 pre-filter sponges and a 3rd penguin 1140 powerhead that operates a 4 Hydor #5 sponge filter inside.

*Water Quality*
I currently use 100% hard tap water (Gh18, Kh14, pH 7.5-7.7, TDS ~300ppm) and do 1-2x 40% water changes per week. TDSs range from about 280ppm after a water change to ~360ppm before. The snakes seem very happy with this setup. I add Kent Marine's Zoe for vitamin supplement and Black Water Expert and Botanica Humic for tannins and humic acids at every water change.

*Temperature*
The water temperature varies in this setup from a low of 82F (27.7C) to a high of ~89F(31.6C). When the water starts reaching 89-90F (31.6-32.2C) the snakes start getting out of the water. They really seem to enjoy water temps in the 82-86F (27.7-30C) range.

Under the hot spot are 1 or more pieces of cork bark for them to hide under or bask on top of. Generally these snakes do not seem to use the hot spot very much at all. Apparently they like lower temps in the 80'sF.

*Photoperiod*
In their natural environment the photoperiod is 12 hrs of daylight and 12 hrs of darkness. I am currently giving these Puff - Faced Watersnakes 12hrs of light,/12 hrs of Darkness.
Unlike _Acrochordus_ snakes, Homalopsinae snakes don't seem to mind bright light at all. Currently they only recieve ambient light and a 60w hot spot dimmed to ~35w. They seem very content.

*Water Level*
These snakes are very aquatic. They love the water. Currently, they are housed in water ~3- 4" deep.

*Substrate*
I just use standard white aquarium gravel over an undergravel filter in the sump. In the main containers I currently do not have any substrate. I plan to add a thin (~1") layer of (probably) Flourite for appearance, contact security and mulm management.

*Feeding*
These snakes are voracious feeders. I feed them both individually and by just placing fish in the water. I feed the fish both dead (including F/T) and alive. The snakes don't seem to care--they just love to eat. I have fed them minnows, shiners and lg comets. I have recently gone to feeding F/T raw catfish fillets and nuggets. The long-term _Homalopsis buccata_ took to the fillets pretty quickly. Some scenting with F/T minnows was necessary, but it didn't take much to get them switched over. The newer _Homalopsis buccata_ are mixed in their response to the F/T catfish fillets even with minnow scenting. I don't expect any problems getting them switched over though. I do and will continue to offer whole fish for more complete nutritional value.

*Handling*
Puff - Faced water snakes are a lot like most "Watersnakes". They can tolerate handling. I rarely handle these _Homalopsis buccata_, because I really do not see the need. Everything that I need to do can be done with them in the setup and a little care. I have handled them and overall they accept handling very well. However, these snakes, like the Chinese watersnakes, do seem a bit "Soft-bodied". Its not hard to tell that they live a very buoyant lifestyle.

*Aggressiveness*
These snakes (all 9 of them) have not been aggressive *at all*. I really am truly amazed. Figuring that they are A) water snakes and B) Asian water snakes--I assumed they would show _*some*_ aggression--at least initially. Nope. Not one bit of aggression from any of them.

*Reproduction*
I do not understand clearly at this point how the reproductive cycle of these snakes works. However, they are a nuisance in their native lands. According to field studies--they don't have a reproductive season. They produce off-spring year-round with an Oct-Mar peak period, and Nov-Dec being the top of the peak. I will update this section as I get further down the road in this area. I just need to do some more research. However, from what I have learned--I don't think they will be very difficult to breed in captivity.

*Disclaimer*

This Caresheet is offered on the Puff - Faced water snake - Homalopsis buccata as is. This Caresheet is not offered in reference to any snake other than the Puff - Faced water snake - Homalopsis buccata and even so--use at You Own Risk!

This general information should be transferable to one or more other Homalopsinae species, but I offer no guarantees of any kind.

Additionally, this caresheet is obviously based upon admittedly limited experience! It is not intend to be a recipe of do this, do this, do this---Bam! You have a cake. It's intent is to offer more of a conceptual understanding of these fascinating creatures and their apparent needs both in the wild and in captivity.


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## loxocemus

*Identification and Husbandry of Amazon Basin Emerald Tree Boas by Stan Chiras

A Baby Amazon Basin Emerald Tree Boa*









Identification and Husbandry of
Amazon Basin Emerald Tree Boas​
It is a rare individual, snake lover or not, who isn't caught short of breath at the sight of a mature emerald tree boa coiled around a tropical limb. But few snakes are as misunderstood by reptile keepers and breeders alike. The common myth is that they are difficult to keep, of vile temperament, and next-to-impossible to successfully breed in captivity. These theories are quickly dispelled once a few basic husbandry conditions are understood and met.

*What is an Amazon Basin Emerald?*

There are two main types of _Corallus canina_: the *Surinam (or Guyana Shield)* and the *Amazon Basin*. The former is found exclusively in Northern South America and is separated geographically from the latter by a range of mountains. The aptly-nicknamed "Amazon Basin" emerald is found along much of the Amazon river basin, from southern Surinam, Southern Guyana, Southern Venezuela, to Colombia, Peru and Brazil into the surrounding lowland jungle of the expansive river. The two are as different from each other as night and day; and someday will likely be identified as distinct subspecies. The differences in morphology, scalation, coloration and temperament are striking. The species was discovered in 1754 by Linnaeus (_Mus. ad. Frid._ p. 39, pl. iii); although to this day few subspecific differences have been noted in scientific literature.

Briefly, these are the most obvious differences. The Surinam snake (which is the same as the Guyanan, or Venezuelan, or French Surinam - for their range overlaps across all of these countries) is generally more of a tall configured snake, with less tendency to develop the squarish body profile of the Amazon emerald.

The coloration of the Surinam is generally more lime green; whereas the Amazon tends to become more deep emerald green as it matures. Some specimens become so dark that they almost appear black, and a dark green Amazon is truly stunning, further enhanced by it's bright yellow and white markings. Why the Amazon is darker remains a mystery, but these are the great questions we are doomed to debate and hypothesize - not unlike the paleontologists wrestling over the dinosaurs' behavior from scant fossil evidence. The differences in coloration are probably anybody's guess, for generally nature endows animals from cooler regions with darker body colors (assumedly to absorb more solar radiation). In this case, popular theory would seem to be contradicted.

The white pattern on the Amazon is far whiter, and the yellow is usually more brilliant than the Suriman emerald. Where the Amazon's dorsal markings are normally connected (striped) and pure white, the Surinam's are more likely to be broken; and the white is laced with gray/blue hues. Interestingly, many Surinams possess a "sawtooth" white pattern which can be quite impressive. The yellow tends to be paler on the Surinam, whereas the Amazon is usually graced with vibrant yellow on the underside and labials, making the snake considerably more contrasty in appearance.

Scalation is somewhat different on the body, with varying counts, but the most noticeable difference, evident to even the untrained eye, is on the dorsal surface of the head. The Surinam is characterized with large plates, whereas the Amazon's head (specifically the snout region) is covered with small scales. Other notable differences are evident on the rostals and labials.

I'm currently in the process of having skeletons of both types cleaned, and anxiously await discovery of the possible differences in skull structure which seem to exist from viewing live specimens. Unfortunately, an emerald's skull is made up of muscle and tendon-joined bits and pieces, and it's difficult to recognize structural patterns where there is, in effect, little actual skull structure to work with. Initial differences in the lower mandible joint (it's a two piece jawbone) and actual jaw shape are noticeable to even my untrained eyes.

The last, and most enjoyable difference between the two snakes is that of temperament. The Surinam is somewhat irritable, especially when freshly imported, while the Amazon is typically tame and docile even when freshly captured. Once again, the reasons are anybody's guess. Captive-raised Surinams sometimes become tame as they mature, but more often than not they retain their rather infamous disposition, regardless of how much a loving keeper tries to alter their basic nature. Most of the emerald tree boa bites I have incurred over the years (which are not without considerable pain...) have come from encounters with Surinams. I have been keeping emeralds off and on since the early 1970's (when they could be bought for as little as $25.00!!!) and can count the bites from Amazons on one mildly scarred hand.

*The Most Common Husbandry Problem*

In a word: Regurgitation. The causes range from Crypto to environmental stress, but more often than not, if the animal is properly maintained, the problem will never rear its ugly head. Frequently an animal which has been maintained in one collection for years without a problem develops health complications with a subsequent keeper. Following these basic rules will usually assure a worry-free experience with emeralds.

*Keeping Emeralds in Captivity*

Regardless of which emerald you keep, the rules are basically the same. They are simple and rarely can they be violated without dire consequences - hence the ill-gotten reputation referred to earlier. Stick to the rules, and you'll have years of pleasurable experiences with your emeralds. Stray, and your snakes will almost undoubtedly pay the price.

I have recognized six basic rules to successfully maintain emeralds. While some keepers report varying degrees of success with slight variations in these basic concepts, few, if any succeed without following these Six Commandments religiously. Someone ought to scribe them in stone. Briefly, they are: (1) Don't keep them too warm (2) Maintain proper humidity cycles (3) Don't feed them too often (4) Feed proper sized meals (5) Allow for regular defecations (6) Exercise your snakes. These are all common-sense rules which apply to most captive herps in varying degrees. In the case of emeralds, the parameters are more strict but easily attainable.

*Rule 1 Watch the Temperature!*

Somehow keepers tend to think of South America as hot and muggy all the time, and for the most part they're right. Almost two decades ago I made my first trip to South America to see what it was really like, and have since made many repeat expeditions to the land that, if I wasn't so established here in the States, I would gladly call my home.

Emeralds are entirely arboreal, living from just above the forest floor to high in the canopy. The mistaken assumption has often been made that they feed primarily upon birds - because of their huge canine teeth and the basic arboreal nature of the beast. What has rarely been mentioned is that the rodents of the region are just as arboreal as emeralds, and it's common to see varying-sized rats in the treetops right next to the snakes. Arboreal snakes are subject to more extremes in temperature and humidity than are terrestrial reptiles. The reason is clear: ground temperature is more constant, whereas air temperature varies both quicker and more dramatically.

I have recorded temperatures in the high 50's to the high 90's in the Amazon basin. I have also climbed to the top of the canopy and felt just how much cooler it can be high off the ground, with a gentle breeze flowing across one's sweaty brow. Consequently, an exothermic animal like an emerald lives in a less stable environment than say, a redtail, or a rainbow boa. While the latter can bask, raise its temperature to a suitable level, and retreat to a hollow log or leaf litter pile to retain its body heat, the emerald tree boa cannot. It is primarily at the mercy of the air temperature. Since reptiles are cold blooded and can't sweat off excessive body temperature (unlike tree-climbing herpers...) the air temperature is a determining factor to these snakes.

You've been told temperatures reach the high 90's in the emerald's habitat, so a similar temperature would be all right for a captive specimen, right? Not exactly. The temperature at the forest floor can get downright unbearable, especially in light of the high humidity which typically cycles from high, to higher, to amazingly high each day along the Amazon. But what is hot, or what feels hot to us mammals, isn't necessarily felt the same way by reptiles. What I learned during my many forays into the treetops is that it isn't nearly so unbearable up there. It doesn't feel that humid either, a function of the almost constant breeze. But what the snake feels is another matter altogether. It is fairly evident that emeralds are able to avoid excessive heat by remaining in the shade during the middle part of the day. And the temperature in the shade is far lower than in the sun, as we all know. At night, when the ground retains a considerable portion of it's daytime heat, and when crepuscular herps are active and warm, emeralds typically cool off even more. By the time the cold snake's body begins to warm up in the morning and into the afternoon, it _probably_ only reaches temperatures near the ambient air, but not equal to it. The cycle repeats itself at sunset and the emerald tree boa lives as it always has, in an environment cooler than one might think.

It was after many trips to South America and more than a few unfortunate experiences with captive emeralds that this lower temperature regime became apparent to me. As mentioned, the most common emerald malady is the regurgitation syndrome. While everything in this article can, and does, relate to eliminating the problem, temperature is one of the more critical factors in avoiding emerald regurgitations.

The optimum temperature range for emeralds spans from night time lows (NTL) of approximately 75 degrees to daytime highs (DTH) of 82 degrees Fahrenheit. During the breeding season it is safe to drop temperatures into the low sixties, and interestingly many of my adult females and subadult animals continue to feed during these lower NTL's with virtually no difficulty in digestion or health. Conversely, higher temperatures, such as 88-92, which some emerald keepers report as within normal parameters, frequently result in regurgitations. One would suspect that emeralds have relatively slow metabolisms and that at higher temperatures food items tend to putrefy and decay at a rate which exceeds the animals' natural digestion capability. Hence, excessive gasses are produced and the snake expels the food item. I have frequently taken an animal with a history of regurgitation (which have usually been tested first for crypto, etc.) and turned it around by keeping it at slightly lower temperatures. The process of recovery may take more than a year, but patience is a must to successfully help the animal re-establish healthy gastrointestinal functions.

A successful temperature cycle would be to have a cage or room reach a NTL of 75. Spraying cages, turning on lights, and raising the temperature setting should bring about a DTH of around 82-84 by late afternoon, at which time the lights should go off. Emeralds live in an almost perfect 12/12 day/night photoperiod throughout the year - so 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. is an ideal day-night cycle. The cage should begin to cool when the lights go off, and the humidity should also begin to drop, creating (simulating) a cooler and less humid night period. Anywhere from 65% R.H. at night is good, while 80% R.H. or more during the day is adequate. Some of my cages, made by Vision Herpetological, oftentimes reach humidity levels near 100% by late afternoon. Quality waterproof cages are a must when striving to reach these high humidity levels. Adequate humidity oftentimes rots wooden cages, no matter how much sealant you use.

Stick to these parameters and the matter of health and regurgitation will be minimized, when managed in conjunction with the additional maintenance rules.

*Rule 2 Maintain Adequate Humidity and Airflow*

We touched on humidity in relation to temperature, since they are related. The higher the temperature, the more humidity the air is capable of holding. When air cools, the less likely it is to hold high levels of moisture. The point at which water comes out of the air is called the dewpoint, but since we're not trying to make it rain by controlling the dewpoint, it's senseless to attempt to get moisture from the air by manipulating moisture levels in relation to temperature. Just remember that it's natural for warmer air to hold more humidity.

Except for the breeding season, at which time my emerald cages get misted sometimes for hours on end, and at a time when the Amazon river literally floods from months of rain, emeralds do well if subjected to daily humidity cycles of hot, humid days and cool, less humid nights. Notice I did not say dry nights, for it is never dry where emeralds come from. Nature took millions of years to evolve this animal to successfully flourish in a humid environment, and changing conditions to dry is an invitation for stress-related respiratory disorders and general discomfort for the snake.

There are different kinds to humidity. The worst is stagnant, and the best is moving, naturally-produced humidity. Simply spraying an animal and its cage will work, but it is far better to install a room-temperature, fresh water (minus chlorine, florine and chloramids) misting/rain system for your emerald. I'm currently setting up a rain system in an emerald room which also has a misting mode so I can go from heavy droplets to a gentle, foglike mist and provide the animals varying degrees of humidity and water-related "weather" occurrences. Opening the windows during a thunderstorm is a neat idea, too, with all the ionized air molecules stimulating the snakes, plants and even their keeper into a highly-charged state. When it rains around this household a frantic scene emerges. Our dog, who normally fears nothing, hides at the sound of lightning. Our outside guard animals, pairs of swans and geese, begin celebrating by flapping and splashing all over the place. And the reptile keeper (yours truly) runs from room to room, and even cage to cage, opening doors and windows to let the storm in. The bigger the storm the more our animals, except the dog, like it.

As mentioned earlier, spraying emeralds in the morning is best. With the increase in day temperatures, the humidity will rise naturally as the day progresses (Remember: warmer air will hold more humidity). With the discontinuation of lights and temperature at nightfall, the humidity will naturally diminish and provide the animals with a less humid evening/nighttime period.

Humidity can be augmented in several ways. One method is to use a large water pan, to provide a significant surface area for evaporation into the cage. Another is by using bedding that holds moisture well, and which effectively increases the surface area to provide additional evaporation. The last is to fill the cage with live plants, such as cage-hardy pothos or ficus. Plants represent a source of transpiration and oxygen production to make the cage more natural feeling to the animals. The result is a cage which smells, feels, and even looks very similar to the jungle from which emeralds originate.

A critical factor is that of air movement. Stagnant air isn't good, for it can propagate fungal and bacterial growth which could be detrimental to your snake's health. It is necessary to provide a mechanism for the air to move, which also promotes fluctuations in day and night humidity levels. This can be accomplished easily, providing your snake room isn't overly-humid to begin with. For those living in dry climates like me (Colorado), that's not a problem. For those living in humid climates like Houston, or Atlanta, or Miami, it is a little more of a job. The important factor is to provide ventilation and airflow. In most cases, the more cage ventilation available, the less need you'll have for airflow.

My cages have 1/4" screen mesh covering the entire top, along with vented sides, or screened fronts with vented tops, to provide natural airflow. In addition, a ceiling fan operates to keep the air in slow and gentle motion. Since the entire room is dedicated to emeralds, and all the cages are humid, this ventilation does not dry the cages excessively. You must be the judge of your cage/room design to determine whether it needs more-or-less ventilation OR more-or-less airflow. Ventilation is accomplished by venting the cage. Airflow represents the movement of air around and in the cages.

When I stick my head inside an emerald's cage, while watching out for a feeding reaction and a possible painful bite (which is rare during daylight hours, since they're very sedentary during the day) the cage must smell alive with plants and wet bedding, and it must be very humid. Otherwise the snake most likely isn't comfortable. Watching an emerald's body language is very important. Look for tight, orderly coils which represent a comfortable snake. Conversely, loose coils are the first sign of discomfort.










*Rule 3 Don't Feed Emeralds Too Often - Burmese Pythons they are NOT!*

My favorite quip for emerald keepers, in regard to feeding, is that "They aren't Burmese pythons!" I've raised Burms before and have seen them grow almost geometrically in relation to their food intake. Likewise with corn snakes, tri colors, and even red tail boas. But NOT! when it comes to emeralds. While the occasional emerald might take frequent meals successfully, most will eventually become stressed and begin regurgitating if fed too often. Even captive-born and raised babies, which oftentimes feed and grow like gangbusters, usually reach of point of "no mas" and will regurg when their systems have had enough. Then you're in for problems, as consequent meals will often come up and the keeper immediately thinks the snake is sick. Actually it is: sick of taxing its digestive system at a rate exceeding what Mother Nature and Evolution had in mind a million years ago. So the first thing to realize (and imprint in your mind) is that if you're the kind who loves to feed herps - to watch them feed and grow rapidly, then emeralds ain't your kind of snake.

A good routine is to feed young, growing snakes every ten to fourteen days. Feed sub adults about the same, although some seem anxious to feed and can be fed more on the eight-to-ten day schedule if they defecate regularly, exercise, and aren't fed too much at a time. More on that later.

Adult emeralds are another matter. Feed them too often and eventually you'll regret it. Once regurgitation sets in, it's a slow and difficult syndrome to overcome. A general rule is to feed adult females every two weeks, and males every three to four weeks. Believe me, they won't pine away if they're not fed more frequently and most importantly, they'll probably never regurgitate or suffer any health problems, as long as the other guidelines are followed. There really is no other way to say it other than adult emeralds don't need much food to remain healthy. Females don't have to be real heavy to breed, and young snakes grow slowly and should be fed accordingly. Forgetting to feed them is more of a blessing in disguise. I oftentimes let mine go without food for a month or more; and it seems to do them nothing but good!

*Rule 4 Don't Feed Large Prey*

By this I mean don't feed mice or rats with a mid-body diameter larger than that of the emerald's stomach region. I have 7 1/2' emeralds which are fed one medium-sized rat every two or three weeks, and two of them are currently gravid and doing just fine. My favorite emerald meal is one that makes a barely noticeable lump - or NO lump at all - in the snake after feeding. And this does not mean one should feed a bunch of small mice or rats to make up the difference, either. A three foot emerald will grow fine on one adult mouse every two weeks. A five foot snake will do well on a small-to-medium (75 g.) rat, and a seven footer thrives perfectly on one medium (175 g.) rat every few weeks. Never feed large emeralds jumbo rats. It's a great way to ruin a perfectly good snake, which isn't about to grow another inch in the next ten years anyway!

If you mess up and can't resist the temptation, you may be confronted with a bloated emerald one to three days after feeding. Usually this results in a regurgitation. It sometimes can be avoided if caught early, by lowering the snake's cage temp to the low seventies until the lump disappears. But if it doesn't work, and the snake regurgs, a little patience and common sense will go a long way toward recovery.

It's best to wait at least ten days after a regurgitation before offering more food, even if the snake is hanging in the "S" shaped striking coil every night, hunting for a meal. Let the stomach settle down and then offer it a small meal - a very small meal. Then wait ten to fourteen days and offer it another small meal. Wait ten more days and feed again, sticking to small rodents all the time. In almost all cases it's best to maintain this regime for six months or longer before cautiously upping the prey size. Rushing matters could easily result in further stress to the gastrointestinal tract, which could eventually become too dysfunctional for the snake to survive. Patience is the key, and if carried out fully this method (knock on wood...) has yet to fail me. I have one emerald here that was given to me, a four foot male on death's door at the hands of an over-zealous keeper, representing nothing but a mass of regurgitating skin and bones. He's been here almost a year now, and except for one initial regurgitation he's been holding meals down, is gaining weight, and generally acts very healthy with bright, clear eyes and a constant willingness to feed. I figure he's still more than a year away from good health, but he represents a labor of love that will be extremely rewarding when he's 100%.

They key is to understand the nature of the problem and act appropriately, before it's too late. You cannot force recovery on an emerald. It takes time, and lots of it. My favorite line is to look at a feed card, notice that it's been oh, say 17 days since the emerald's last meal, and say "I'll feed you next week!" Let me make it painfully clear: If you're the type who anxiously awaits the next scheduled feeding with great anticipation, then emeralds are not the snake for you. There's so much to enjoy about keeping emeralds that frequent feedings should become a secondary activity.

*Rule 5 Three Meals, Defecate. Three Meals, Defecate...*

The subtitle should be self-explanatory. Anyone who has kept emeralds knows they don't "go" that often, making cage cleaning - or the lack of it - a joy on most days. With somewhere around 35 adult, juvenile, and subadult emeralds here at most times, oftentimes there isn't a single cage to clean on a given day. That's truly a keepers delight!

There are three keys to regular defecation in emeralds: exercise, moisture, and not overfeeding. Exercise is the topic of rule six, but suffice it to say that exercise assists all animals in making regular, healthy bowel movements. Whether it's your dog or yourself, exercising helps keep bowel contents in motion and seems to assist in waste evacuation.

It's just as important to monitor defecation in emeralds as it is to keep track of feeding dates. If you aren't inclined to keep track of waste production, it's fairly easy to observe the animal's general body weight. If it gets excessively bulky - especially near the cloaca - the chances are it's retaining fecal mass and would benefit from a bowel movement. Most times, if emeralds are active enough, they defecate regularly on their own, which seems to occur after every third regular-sized meal. If not, increase cage size, increase misting, or decrease feeding. Of course, if you're feeding very small sized meals the animal might likewise defecate less often.

Emeralds can, and sometimes do regurgitate if they haven't defecated recently. It might sound strange, but it would seem that if their intestine is packed from end to end that the stomach is less capable of holding a meal. Like I said, it sounds strange but I have seen emeralds regurg, soaked them in water to induce a BM, and had them hold subsequent meals down with no apparent difficulty. Whatever ...

That brings up the topic of soaking. If you have to soak an emerald every time to induce the normal bowel function, something isn't right. I soaked two animals in the last year, indicating that, for the most part, my animals are doing just fine. Neither of the soakers were repeats, so they passed their feces and resumed subsequent normal function. If the need arises, soak an emerald in water a few degrees warmer than ambient temperatures, and keep an eye on it while soaking so as not to have the poor snake lying in it's own waste any longer than necessary. Rinse the snake and you're done. It only takes an inch or so of water to elicit the desired behavior, so there's no need to make a soaking chamber any more stressful than necessary.

Emeralds usually defecate in the early evening, oftentimes just after a misting. If you have an animal which is overdue, a full cage misting will often induce vigorous activity, which might result in defecation. Regardless of how it's accomplished, don't feed an emerald more than three meals in succession without making sure it defecates. If it doesn't, make adjustments to it's living conditions so that it does.

*Rule 6 Coils of Steel! Exercise!*

Increasingly, herpetoculturists are subscribing to the holistic school of animal husbandry, where large display cages with natural decorations are utilized. Animals enjoy a more complex existence if their cages are large and roomy, and full of interesting objects like rocks, limbs, plants and natural bedding material. For those who believe snakes are too dull and unexciting to enjoy these distractions, why don't you just ask your snakes? Let me illustrate.

I recently picked up a very nice male diamond python from a keeper who kept him in a glorified box, complete with a plastic hide chamber, a water bowl, and a newspaper substrate. Pretty boring, to both the snake and the keeper - if you ask me. I told him that diamonds are quite arboreal if given the opportunity (as are their close relatives jungle carpets) and he indicated he wasn't aware of that behavior. They breed either way, so why bother?

He was selling the animal because it wouldn't breed. I credit him for being honest enough to inform me of the situation, but I was intent to bring the beast out of the animal. I set him up in a cage like all my diamonds. It was a roomy four feet long, 34 inches tall, and 32 inches deep (He was a small animal). He had two limbs to perch on, a large rock in one corner, a small log in another, and a cork bark hiding place. A small ficus tree graced the middle of the cage, and a shelf with a screened outside window was included so the snake could bask in real, honest-to-goodness morning sun. It was like the difference between Motel 6 and the Sheraton. He bred several times this winter and is soon to be the father of his first clutch of diamond python eggs.

Likewise, my emeralds are maintained in cages just as large, with at least two or three live plants per cage, a branch-level watering cup (because they will drink from it), VitalitesR, several sized branches from which to choose (and they almost always choose the highest and smallest), sufficient room to move, and enough plants to hide within that I sometimes wonder where they've all gone. But every night, just after dark, their heads begin popping down, as they begin their almost ritualistic waiting game, poised, anticipating a mouse or rat to appear for a quick strike and a tasty meal. It is then you'll enjoy your emeralds the most, under red night lights, as they hunt.

Not all emeralds will use the space available to them, but most of them are seen cruising around their cages periodically, and they frequently change resting limbs for no apparent reason. Even gravid females, which seem somewhat uncomfortable as they swell, move about quite a bit. It probably helps gestation to provide the female room for activity.

In contrast is the emerald which is raised in a relatively small enclosure, with one limb and nothing to stimulate it's instinct to roam and to hunt. I sometimes allow my snakes to travel to other cages, by utilizing trap doors between them. It's interesting to see that sometimes they'll trade cages and seem more content in another snake's cage than their own. One might speculate the "grass is greener" isn't a saying true only for horses...

Exercise is good for an animal's defecation function, as formerly discussed. It is also good for muscle tone and conditioning. It aids an animal's general well being in ways we can only speculate, but one thing is for sure: They do better, not worse, in large, interesting cages.

*Summary:*

When an animal is maintained more than "just adequately" the problems most often associated with husbandry are frequently minimized. I get many calls each month from emerald keepers, almost always related to not feeding or to regurgitations. That's what prompted me to write this article, in hopes of helping current emerald keepers, as well as prospective aficionados of these wonderful snakes to keep them successfully. The rules described here are merciless. Violate them and your emerald will most likely suffer. While the occasional keeper reports success with slight variations in these procedures, they are the exception, and not the rule.

Remember: Nature designed this art deco animal more than a million years ago - far longer than we have been keeping them in captivity. It comes from a warm and fairly stable environment, where the relative humidity ranges from high to higher. The days are always twelve hours long, and the nights are likewise twelve hours in duration. It primarily preys upon arboreal rodents, and it probably doesn't eat very often, since it is an opportunistic feeder. An emerald tree boa's idea of hunting is to hang down a foot or so from it's resting position and wait for something to come along (reminds one of the vulture poster which says: "Patience my butt, I'm gonna kill something!"). The emerald tree boa is definitely NOT an aggressive seek and kill animal, like a bullsnake wiping out nest after nest of rats in the local barnyard.

Nature evolved the emerald tree boa to knock the emotional socks off guys like me, I'm sure of it. Ever since I first saw a photo of one in "Living Reptiles of the World" (Schmidt & Inger, circa 1955) it has been my passion to be near these beautiful snakes. To do so we owe them our best attempts at proper husbandry. The Amazon Basin Corallus canina is an amazing snake, strangely blessed with a timid and docile nature, an obvious choice for many reptile keepers. Treat them well and they'll outlive many herps in your collection, and give you immeasurable hours of satisfaction along the way.

*SIDE-BAR*

Last year a freak incident occurred at our facility. The pictured Surinam female, purchased gravid from the wild, gave birth to eleven (11) atypical offspring. It is believed she must have bred with a Cook's tree boa, perhaps in the South American compound, or that possibly this is the result of a wild integration of the species.

The entire birth sequence was witnessed and photographed, and some of the photos are shown here to record this unique event.

Eight months later the young are growing and exhibiting extreme variance from each other - ranging from gray and lavender, to red and yellow, to orange spotted, to yellow spotted. As they grow they continually get more attractive and breeding the sibs together will result in who-knows-what? While the author isn't the least interested in hybridizing, this mysterious event of unknown origin demands further attention. The likelihood that this breeding occurred in the wild is very high, since the animals aren't held that long after capture before shipping. Emeralds, with a gestation of approximately seven (7) months, would unlikely be kept anywhere near that amount of time in Surinam. The birth occurred about a month after purchase, so these unusual neonates might represent a natural hybrid. We're still waiting for DNA results to possibly identify the sire's species.

Kamuran Tepedelen, of Bushmaster Reptiles, had a similar single neonate born with a litter of normal Surinam emeralds in 1996, also from a wild caught female. It bears a remarkable resemblance to these babies and further poses the question of hybridization in the wild. Perhaps not all Cook's or garden tree boas are what we think they are...

*A Little Sidebar

How to Feed Baby Emeralds*

One thing in particular is very important to realize: emeralds are highly keyed to their labial heat pits for feeding. Whether as babies or as adults, warm prey items are by far the most preferable. While they can be weaned on to feeding prekilled, and even frozen and thawed mice or rats, their preference is for live, hot mammals.

Pinkie mice are NOT a preferred food item for emeralds. This is probably logical, since emeralds aren't the kind of snake that would invade a rodent den to find food, as would many other kinds of baby snakes. They most likely take small hopper sized mice right after birth, mice that would be wandering the forest floor within striking distance of baby emeralds. Although it hasn't been documented yet, baby emeralds most likely feed on basking lizards for their first meals of life. Nevertheless, starting them on mice in captivity is relatively easy.

There are two reasons for starting emeralds on hoppers: first of all, baby emeralds are quite large and can readily handle larger meals, unlike Chondropytho ssp.hatchlings. Secondly, hoppers offer a more attractive "target". Pinky mice don't give off much body heat, whereas hopper mice do. A common mistake is for keepers to try to feed pinky or small fuzzy mice to baby emeralds, and there just isn't enough heat and activity from the prey animal to interest them! It's amazing how a reluctant feeder will turn on instantly to a larger, warmer mouse!

Caging is critical to food presentation. One of the best setups is the 12 inch Bush, or Neodesha unit. It's easy to provide a perch about two to three inches over the cage floor, where baby emeralds can avoid being bothered by a hopper; but at the same time can just as easily make a killing strike with little effort. It's important to make it easy for the snake to see, heat sense, and approach the mouse without being spooked in the process.

Keeping the snakes over water, an oftentimes preferred method, poses feeding problems for neonates. By using carpet, cut to the cage bottom size, and then kept wet the humidity requirements of the emerald can be met, while offering the hopper a relatively dry surface to move about on before it's arboreal demise. Once an emerald has become an active feeder, they can be transferred to larger caging with even wetter substrate, if needed.

Reluctant feeders happen from time to time. One of the wonderful things about emeralds is that you don't have to force feed them. "Assist" feeding becomes an easily facilitated option. Assist feeding is accomplished by gently holding the snake and pushing a fresh killed fuzzy into its mouth. Be patient, it may take some time. Hold the snake behind its large jaw muscles and begin pressing the mouse up to its mouth. The little bugger will eventually open up and take the mouse. Now is when the patience part really comes in! Watching a favorite TV show while performing this operation is the best way to wait the snake out. I like to watch the Animal Planet channel, so the snake can also enjoy the program.

If the snake trys to eject the mouse, keep it in its mouth - not by forcing, but simply by keeping it there. Allow the snake to move back, but keep the mouse in its mouth. Eventually, and it sometimes takes more than ten minutes, the snake will give up trying to eject the mouse and will begin to swallow. Most reluctant feeders start feeding on their own after a few of these sessions. Remember to give them a voluntary try after a time or two of this method! It helps to let them go a few weeks without a meal to increase their hunger - similar to what they might experience in the wild. And use small fuzzies, they're a lot easier for reluctant feeders to swallow.



















One Gently push the mouse against the emerald's mouth, it will take it.

Two Don't let the snake spit it out, keep it there no matter what. Note size of food item.

Emeralds naturally feed best at dusk, the period of a few hours just after the sun goes down. It's best to capitalize on this tendency and feed them at that time. Conversely, it is difficult to get them to feed during daylight hours, when they're usually in a deep sleep. Once an emerald takes its first meal, they quickly become savage feeders and both the keeper and the emerald are a lot happier. You can then watch Animal Planet all alone, unless your snake wants to watch too.

*Another Little Sidebar

Caging*

It seems like a simple enough topic, but improper caging will cause emeralds more problems than you might imagine.

Remember one very important thing: emeralds need high humidity to stay healthy. It keeps their lungs from giving off too much moisture (just like humans) and reduces their chances of developing respiratory problems. But humidity must be cycled, that is, from high during the day to low at night. And the cage must have ventilation, to prevent the air from stagnating.

My cages have screen tops and sometimes even screen fronts. As a result the air is always moving. They are sprayed in the morning and again in the evening to keep the humidity high. Living in Colorado, where the air is very dry, requires that much humidifying! If you live in a humid place, you might be able to spray very little and still maintain proper levels for emeralds.

One way to keep the humidity high during the day is to cover the screen top with a plastic sheet, which can be removed at night to allow the humidity level to drop. In my case, I keep the entire room (since it's filled with only emeralds!) humid, by soaking not only the cages, but the floor and planters. At night, it dries nicely and I repeat the cycle the next morning.

Actual cage design is up to you. I'll show some photos of some of my home built cages to give an idea of size and layout. Remember to give them lots of room, because they need the exercise. I waterproof my cages with fiberglass epoxy resin (finishing) and they're as watertight as glass aquariums.

Using a substrate like mulch increases the surface area of wetness, so-to-speak, and gives off a lot more humidity than simply wetting papers or keeping a large water bowl in the cage.

People always ask for cage dimensions, so here they are:

Baby emeralds A five gallon tank will do fine, or something measuring about 12" long, 8" wide, and about 10-12" tall. Don't put baby emeralds in too small a cage, or they will never notice food animals in the bottom! You can keep the snake in this cage for one year.

Yearling emeralds A ten to twenty gallon tank is fine, or dimensions of 24" long, 15" wide, and up to 24" tall. Make sure the animal has plenty of room to roam and that there is more than one branch for it to use.

Adult emeralds Forget the aquariums at this stage. Adult emeralds need space, and my cages are between 36-48" long, and as high as 42". If I had more room, I'd make them even larger. Lots of branches are great, as adults need as much room to roam as do youngsters.


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## loxocemus

*Jamaica boa (Epicrates subflavus)*

The Jamaican Boa lives in the moist limestone forests of Jamaica and Goat Island. The average length of an adult is about 2 meters, but my 10 year old adult female is only about 1.8 m, the male around 1.6 m. They are also quite slender, making them look smaller, more like a large tree boa.

The Jamaican Boa is on the endangered species list (CITES I) and is classified as "Vulnerable" on the Red Data List. This means that it is at a high risk of extinction. Their natural habitat is being destroyed, which is forcing them into inhabited areas, where they are captured and killed. Conservation methods have been put in place to try to rescue these animals.

*Husbandry*

Husbandry is easy. Being arboreal they like to have some height, a cage of 1.0 x 0.6 x 0.6 m (w x l x h) would be an absolute minimum for an adult. I keep a pair in cages of 1.25 x 0.6 x 0.8 m. Keeping the animals single is easier with regards to feeding and keeping track of sheds and defecation, but I have no problems keeping 2 animals per cage.

Basic setup consists of branches, a hide, a water bowl and paper on the bottom. You can add artificial plants (real ones are usually quickly destroyed) to make the cage look better and provide cover for the snakes.

You should provide a temperature gradient between 23-30°C, a bit warmer under the spotlight. In summer my night time lows are around 25°C, daytime highs around 30°C, in winter night time lows drop to 18-19°C, day time highs about 25°C. These are ambient temperatures, not the hot spots they can use to warm up.

I never spray and haven’t seen any problems with shedding. I feed young animals once a week, adult females once every two weeks, adults males once every 2-4 weeks. This is just a guideline, it really depends on prey size, condition of the animal and time of year. It is important to make sure the animals don’t get fat, especially the males.

*Breeding*

I do nothing special to induce breeding. Temperatures naturally drop in my house in winter, aided a bit by increased ventilation in November and December. Temperatures are increased slowly from January and breeding starts a around that time. The litters can be large, I’ve had up to 32 babies. Babies shed immediately after birth. I get the babies to feed by waiting about 4-6 weeks before offering thawed pinks by placing them in their cage. All my animals have accepted those voluntarily within 4-6 weeks after I start offering.




































-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Breeding the endangered Jamaican Boa, Chilabothrus subflavus*

Jamaican Boas have been bred as a measure of conservation since the 1970s. Today the species is still listed as Vulnerable (VU) by IUCN and listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The species is currently kept by multiple zoos and aquaria as well as private breeders. We sum up the annual breedings of this boa that we are aware of. Westindianboas.org provided over the years several breeders with breeding stock animals in the US. Unfortunately, restrictions make the export of this species unnecessarily difficult. Considering the good breeding successes on both sides of the Atlantic, it should be in the interest of conservation to exchange genetic material and thus continue to maintain a diverse genetic foundation for conservation. Several litters of the Jamaican Boa, Chilabothrus subflavus, were born this season in the US, the UK and the EU. This particular litter, shown below, was born 9 September, 2021. Produced by Rob Stone of the US, the litter numbered 17 live with no stillborn or unfertilized ovum. Neonate weights ranged from 10.83 g to 13.93 g, with a mean of 12.98 g. SVL of the neonates was 25.72 cm to 33.18 cm, with a mean of 30.13 cm.



















The Jamaican Boa is highly variable in color and pattern; the ontogenetic color change will take 18 – 24 months to complete. The following litters were also produced during the 2021 season:

UK: 12 live, 2 stillborn and 7 unfertilized ova on 3 October, 2021. Bred by Tom Middlebrook and Faye Da Costa.
US: 15 live, 1 unfertilized ovum on 27 September, 2021. Bred by David Muth and Jared Rager.
US: 34 live, 3 stillborn and 3 or 4 unfertilized ova on 26 September, 2021. Bred by Tom Crutchfield.
Germany: 9 live, 1 stillborn and 6 unfertilized ova on 14 September, 2021. Bred by Sebastian Hölch.










the above litter was produced by our very own LiasisUK (LiasisUK | Reptile Forums ) 

Chilabothrus subflavus | West Indian Boas


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## loxocemus

*LIOPHIS POECILOGYRUS (NCN). ENVENOMATION.*

This species has been reported recently from Venezuela (Dixon and Markezich 1992. Texas J. Sci. 44:131–166; Fuentes and Barrio 1999. Herpetol. Rev. 30:54; Rivas et al. 2002. Herpetol. Rev. 33:6







. All species of the genus Liophis are known as quiet and inoffensive snakes, but presenting rear fangs. Handling by me and collaborators never resulted in a bite before the incident reported herein. We believe that this is the first reported case of envenomation by this species in Venezuela.

On 11 July 1999, in the summer camp Wai Tuna (km 303 along the road El Dorado-Santa Elena de Uairén, Gran Sabana, Bolívar State) some tourists under my care cornered a 55 cm TL snake, and called me quickly. I captured the snake by hand, being familiar with this species. The instinctive reaction of the snake being handled was to bite at the conjunction of the two first phalanges of the fourth finger of my left hand. It had its jaws clamped around my finger for approximately 3 min. I did not free myself or shake it off because I preferred to wait in order to let the snake release its grip on its own. The finger showed two small wounds, but both corresponded to the same right fang. After washing the wound with soap, I applied a “Aspivenin” suction device, albeit probably too late to be effective, although some blood was removed. Immediately, the two phalanges became swollen, and exhibited a severe dark purple color in the bitten area. Several minutes later, the third phalange was swollen. The general sensation was not pain, but numbness. Only if the finger was touched did I feel some pain. Twenty minutes later the swelling expanded to the third finger. I experienced an increasing pulsation as well as a rather bothersome tingling sensation. 1.5 h later the swelling had extended to the dorsum and palm of the hand. Some swelling also took place on the third phalanges of the rest of the fingers, except for the thumb. There, it stabilized and stopped.

I made the decision to consult a person with experience in snake bites in the Santa Elena de Uairén-El Paují- Ikabarú area (Luis Scott). He had never seen a similar case. He, along with the doctors of Hospital Rosario Vera Zurita at Santa Elena de Uairén decided to prescribe an intravenous steroid (hydrocortisone in lieu of an antihistamine), an analgesic (Ibuprofen), and an antibiotic to prevent infectious complications.

The medical report four hours post bite, with the patient in good general condition, was as follows: bite by a snake (Liophis poecylogyrus, Colubridae) at the junction of the first and second phalanges of the fourth finger on the left hand (signs of coloration, temperature, edema and local congestion) with pain when touched and/or moved.

15 h post bite, the situation was unchanged, with a slight extension of the edema.
19 h post bite (after a short sleep of 4 h) the dorsum and palm inflammation was considerably reduced. A slight discomfort was noted in the left axilla.
22 h post bite, the general situation continued to improve (the inflammation goes down) but there was still pain to touch and movement.
48 h post bite, the swollen fourth finger and hand in general remitted considerably, the edema having extended to the dorsal and ventral parts of the first phalange notwithstanding.
60 h post bite, the finger recovered some mobility and the inflammation went down further.
72 h post bite, the finger recovered its mobility to ca. 60% and the inflammation was reduced to a minimum. The edema, however, was still in the first phalanx, especially in the dorsal region around the nail.
96 h post bite, the finger recovered its mobility further with the edema still present. Ibuprofen administration is suspended.
120 h post bite, the finger regained almost complete mobility with the edema still present. The antibiotic administration is reduced to one dose per day.

After one week, the finger was fully mobile, although some pain was felt when touched for yet another week when the edema disappeared completely.


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## loxocemus

*LIOPHIS*























































































cont nxt post


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## loxocemus




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## loxocemus

*Tricolor Hognose
By Jenea Wood*

Species: Lystrophis pulcher - named after Latin “pulcher” meaning beautiful, handsome, fine, fair.

Distribution: SW Brazil, East Bolivia, South Paraguay, Argentina

Size: adults vary from 18-24 inches, with females being the larger. There have been a few females over 30”.

Caging: These beautiful little Neotropical snakes are terrestrial and love to burrow. A ten gallon aquarium with a secure lid works fine for these guys, but a 20 gallon long is preferred. Aspen is recommended as a substrate, although some report using newspaper and paper towels. The Tricolor hognose requires a bit more humidity than their North American counterparts, so I provide a humid hide when they are in shed and water dish at all times. For a humid hide, I simply take an appropriately sized Glad ware container, and cut a hole in the lid (take care to keep the edges smooth). I fill this 2/3 full with Sphagnum Moss which I find in the Garden Section of my local store. I mist the moss so that it is damp, and re-mist about every 3 to 4 days. I also like to stick brand new bags of moss the freezer for 24 hours to kill possible bugs. I have never found any, but it just helps my peace of mind. With any humid hide, you need to check for mold on a regular basis. Mold can quickly cause a respiratory infection.

Heating: Ambient temperatures should range between 78° and 84° F. I do not provide hot spots for mine and they do quite well, as long as the ambient are consistent. These little snakes do not thrive in hot, dry conditions. They are nocturnal, and are not use to high heat.

Feeding: This is one species with an absolutely wonderful "personality". Mild mannered and fairly tame, they rarely try to strike or bite. They also have a healthy appetite. Not even being in shed effects the female appetite. You should offer neonates day old frozen thawed pinky mice after their first shed (approx. 10 days after hatch). Neonates have tiny mouths and can be difficult feeders to start with. It is most important to find small day old pinky mice.
Scenting with tree frogs, anoles, or tuna water might be required for the more stubborn feeders, but offer unscented a minimum of two times before resorting to such measures. I always leave my neonates in a deli cup overnight with their food. Adults are fed frozen thawed adult mice every 4-5 days. Always wash hands after handling food items, these guys WILL chew on anything that smells like their food. I have had them chew on their food container where the mouse had been laying! I have also heard of a bite after eating a hamburger and not washing hands before handling. They truly live up to their name … hognose.

Breeding: Note: these animals are note related to the native hognose found in North America. Sexual maturity is reached anywhere from 13 to 24 months. Females can and are capable of producing multiple clutches a year. To date, I have heard of a female producing 8 clutches in a single year. Five is the max I will let mine lay in a year, so that my females do not burn out. Females should be fed more frequently while gravid, and should be given calcium / vitamin supplements. Although females can lay multiple clutches in a year, care should be taken to not exhaust their system. Females will normally lay eggs 6 - 10 days after their pre egg laying shed. A nice deep laying box filled with damp peat moss should be provided. It is recommended that you check for eggs twice a day, as these girls are notorious for depositing their eggs anywhere but the egg box!

Incubation: Eggs should be incubated on moist vermiculite at 78° F for approximately 78 - 90 days. Hopefully, this will allow the neonates to be a little bigger, and easier to feed. Hatchlings average 4 to 7 inches.


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## loxocemus

*Zonata Care and Maintenance* 

In general, _Lampropeltis zonata_ are not for everyone. If I could think of three words to describe_ zonata_, they would have to be PATIENCE, ATTENTION, and LIZARD. And with their care and maintenance, I honestly can not say that these words go separate, but rather are entwined into their overall well-being. And here’s why: _ zonata_ are a montane species of snake that require three main things -- cooler temperatures, the opportunity to thermoregulate, and access to appropriate food items. I’m sure the cooler temperature piece makes sense to everyone given that the higher the elevation you go the colder the ambient temperature. However the thermoregulation piece (which is the snake’s ability to decide what temperature is most suitable for them, as they are cold-blooded and depend on external factors to maintain an optimal body temperature for both digestive and reproductive reasons) comes into play and is a vital factor to survival. _Zonata_ can simply jut out a small portion of their body from the inside of their cool rock formation dwelling, *** in this case a rock crevice, into the warm sunlight and take in the sun’s heat without having to expose themselves entirely to the much cooler ambient mountain temperatures. In captivity, maintaining _zonata_ in my opinion is best at room temperature as it offers the ability to thermoregulate from one side of their cage to the other with either multiple or multi-layered opportunities for shelter. In addition to the cooler temperature arrangement, the provision of appropriate moisture is essential. Think of the _zonata’s_ microhabitat within the multi-layered and cavernous rock formations that they all-too-frequently utilize for shelter, egg-depositing and incubation, and brumation. There is known to be a certain level of moisture within such a habitat, and although it is not completely understood just what degree of moisture _zonata_ prefer it is reasonable to conclude that in captivity ample access to moisture is key. This can be done in one of several ways: I tend to use a wide-based glass waterbowl that has a lid with a hole cut in the middle so that excessive spillage does not occur. Too much a good thing is actually not good in the long run. These bowl are always full with fresh water. In conjunction to ample water I have a moderate air flow through my cages by placing drilled air holes along the middle of my cages, which places my humidity levels around 45-55% last I checked them with a hygrometer.

As for thermoregulation, I do not use real sunlight but rather a strip of 3-inch Flexwatt heat tape at the rear of my cages set with a Helix thermostat control at 90 degrees F. I also use 75watt GE or Sylvania Daylight White & Natural bulbs in the herp room for photoperiod purposes. Although I do not have the ability to arrange my lighting on a timer, I do my best to simulate natural daylight hours starting with shorter hours in the spring with a gradual increase into the summer and then reversing the process into the fall. This may sound crazy, but after many years of this type of behavior modification it comes second nature to me now and is a simple morning and evening routine.

_Zonata_ area also notorious for being avid lizard eaters in their natural environment and instinctually replicate this in captivity. This is one of THE toughest challenges when it comes to keeping and breeding _zonata_. Most baby _zonata_ prefer some form of alternate food item and it is almost always a lizard-scented pinky or * a live baby lizard.

From my personal experience only about two out of every ten _zonata_ hatchlings will start on * regular pinky mice.

The types of lizards used for such practices can range from house geckos to anoles to skinks to fence swifts and so on…. I prefer to use lizards that are most indigenous to the _zonata’s_ habitats, thus my preference for fence swifts, ground skinks, utas, and side-blotched lizards. I find that a couple meals of a baby lizard will often set the record for future feedings as the snake’s initial overall experience of the scent and the furious chase to capture the baby lizard is imprinted in the snake’s mind. Therefore, after a couple first meals of a baby lizard I then take a small washed pinky and rub it against the lizard of choice for that hatchling. I then take that scented pinky and offer it to the baby _zonata_ with an earnest attempt at making some movement. I also make slight physical contact on the snake’s body with the pinky in an effort to trick the snake into thinking it could be a live lizard. In this instance, I would have to say my success rate is about slightly better than 50% of the time with neonate _zonata._

Often times, I may hatch a _zonata_ in July or August and it will not feed voluntarily on pinky mice until the following year as I will place those stubborn babies into brumation for up to three months in anticipation of appetite stimulation.

For the rare time that I may not have any lizards on-hand or the neonate refuses all offered food items, I resort to manual feeding of fuzzy-mouse tails and/or forced pinky heads in order to develop some appetite stimulation or, at the very least, help put some weight onto the neonate in preparation for a lengthy cool down for the winter months.

There is one _zonata_ breeder that I know personally who takes all of his baby _zonata_, without any attempt at feeding post-hatching, and places them into brumation straight away as soon as November arrives and does not take them out until end of February. He reports good success with this routine, however I find it to be a bit risky and would prefer to determine the voluntary feeders from the non-feeders and then go from there. _Zonata_ ARE NOT anything like Florida kings or corn snakes – any attempt at trying to power feed them or give them super-sized meals in an attempt to raise them quickly most often results in regurgitations and eventual pathology that could lead to the snake’s demise. _Zonata_ ideally require smaller meals at a consistent rate of offering. My personal recipe is to feed the adults fuzzy or hopper-sized mice three at a feeding either two or three times per week depending on the size of the adult. _Zonata agalma_ (the Baja mountain king) can tolerate a third meal as adults as they tend to be larger, whereas _zonata zonata_ (the St. Helena mountain king) are smaller and should be fed appropriately and according to their much smaller size.

With regard to their feeding repertoire, smaller meals are digested quicker and therefore defecation may occur at a slightly higher rate than other kingsnakes. A clean cage is imperative for _zonata_, and anything more than a couple left-over excrements should be spot cleaning immediately and a full-cage cleaning should be done bi-weekly. In my collection I use good old fashioned hot water with anti-bacterial SoftSoap as a several minute soak, then a thorough rinse again with hot water will lead to a spray of a diluted antiseptic called Nolvasan. I allow that to sit for a couple minutes followed by a final rinse with hot water.

Another extremely important, detail on the _zonata_ feeding repertoire: _zonata_ typically come out of brumation around the beginning of March. Once feeding has commenced, it is extremely important to feed as consistently as possible due to another notorious _zonata_ behavior – the tendency to go completely off-feed between August and October to not feed again until the spring. Very few specimens will feed up until brumation, and every single one of my _zonata_ shut down by September, with one of my _zonata_ _agalma_ actually shutting down as early as mid-July last year. So the idea of consistent feeding through the prime months is paramount so as to prepare for this long fast that even, at times, shakes the nerves of even the most experienced _zonata_ keeper.

* Security is also an important aspect of _zonata_ care. You may recall the photo I’d shown before with the mountain kingsnake wedged in-between the rock formations. Well this innate behavior I believe should be accommodated as best possible in captivity. * What you see here is a stack system for hatchlings that can be used up to a year or slightly longer, and is constructed out of natural stone slabs with 3/16 inch square wooden spacers affixed with either a glue gun application or fish tank silicone. * And here is one under construction for an adult _zonata_ that is made from 12 inch ceramic tiles with 1 inch wooden spacers. It seems that glue gun applications do not work as well with ceramic because of non-sticking, therefore the silicone appears to be the most reliable. Most importantly when using the silicone, allow it to cure for at least 1 to 2 weeks so that the vinegar-like fumes from the silicone is no longer present.

I house hatchlings in either a secure plastic show box or, which are my preference, clear plastic round containers with lids that snap one securely and that I feel are safer than the traditional show box that herpetoculturists have been using for so long. I brought with me this evening an example of a hatchling stack system as well as the preferred plastic container for your viewing after the program.

Adult _zonata_ thrive best in small enclosures, and I house my adults in 26 quart Iris brand plastic boot boxes that are purchased at The Container Store. Substrate provision for _zonata_ can either be paper towels, newspaper, aspen bedding, or cypress mulch.


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## loxocemus

*Files Snakes Gonionotophis (Mehelya) sp and care (in no particular order)*

*CAPE FILE SNAKE / SUIDELIKE VYLSLANG*

_Mehelya capensis_

*Length:* Adults average between 70 cm and 1,2m but may reach a lenght of just over 1,75m. The females grow much larger than the males.

*Scale Count:* Midbody scales are in 15 rows (sometimes 17), with 193 - 244 ventrals and 44-61 paired subcaudals. The anal shield is entire. There are 7 (sometimes 6 or 8) upper labials, the 3rd and 4th entering the eye, and 8 (sometimes 7) lower labials, as well as 1 preocular (sometimes 2) and 1 or 2 postoculars. Temporals are 1 + 2.

*Colour:* Above, grey to grey-brown or purplish brown with a distinctive white to creamy vertebral stripe from the neck to the tip of the tail. The mauve to light pink skin between the scales is very conspicuous. The belly is an ivory to yellowish colour.

*Prefered habitat:* Lowland forest and moist savanna.

*Habits:* The Cape file snake is a docile, inoffensive snake that rarely attempts to bite, even when first captured. It has a robust, triangular body with rough, strongly keeled scales, hence the common name. This nocturnal species spends most of the day hiding in holes in the ground, cavities in walls, in hollow logs, deserted termite mounds or other suitable shelters. It emerges at dusk to hunt and is especially active after rain. Tough largely terrestrial, it will climb into shrubs and trees in search for food. Captured individuals exude a foul smelling substance from glands in the anal region (its really bad, thankfully they calm quickly and stop this behaviour). Many african communities regard this snake as a harbinger of death.

*Similar species:* Is unique with its triangular body, rough scales, lumpy head and distinctive vertebral stripe. Can only be confused with other file snakes (_Mehelya_ spp).

*Enemies:* Other snakes.

*Food and feeding:* Mainly snakes, including venomous species like the Black Mamba (_Dendroaspis polylepis_) and Puff Adder (_Bitis arietans_). The Cape File snake appears to have some immunity to snake venoms. Terrestrial lizard's, toads and small mammals are also taken. The prey is often swallowed while still alive. Captive specimens readily take laboratory mice. Individuals are often killed while crossing tar roads.

*Reproduction:* Oviparous, laying 5-13 eggs (47-55 x 20-31 mm) in summer. More than 1 clutch may be laid in a season. The young measure 29-45 cm..

*Subspecies:* Only the typical race of Cape File Snake (_Mehelya capensis capensis_) is found in our range.

*Danger to man:* None.

JOHAN MARAIS

capensis










mehelya classification is still a bit up in the air and il be honest i don't completely understand it as its full of contradictions depending on the author, capensis and crossi are the sp normally available to the hobby, crossi is currently more common.

in 2007 this was Mehelya capensis unicolor (i suspect its now crossi)


















i dont if this is still valid subsp but it Brazzi Cape File Snake (juvenile)









classic cape, which I've kept and bred


















_Gonionotophis brussauxi_ (MOCQUARD, 1889) this obviously structurally different from other files


















Gonionotophis poensis, against obviously different, and often stubborn taker of rodents.










The *black file snake* (_Gracililima nyassae_), also known commonly as the *dwarf file snake* or the *Nyassa file snake*, is a species of snake in the subfamily Lamprophiinae of the family Lamprophiidae. The species is endemic to Africa.


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## loxocemus

_nyassae, _obviously different head structure and body scalation










capensis doing what it does best, its common for snake eaters to be triangular in cross section, files, indigos/cribos, kraits etc



















*Mehelya* capensis unicolour No dorsal stipe, occurs in tz, uganda and kenya (validity is probably not current), it does appear different from imported crossi.



















*Mehelya* nyassae SA to tz and into kenya. Much smaller, bad captive as it stays on skinks and legless lizards. The previous two, I have both on mice


















cont....


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## loxocemus

capensis









gravid female









So care of capensis and crossi is very easy, il include posts from when i kept capensis, that may be interesting or not, especially without some context

"the subjects of this recipe are my cape filesnakes mehelya capensis, at first glance they have a desert vibe about them, an arid hunter requiring little to moisture etc etc "

"anywaaaay, iv found moisture to be important factor in keeping files healthy and happy, i use coir compost/eco earth and sphagnum moss as the substrate, il also add vermiculite if i have any, notice its quite dry on the surface, though files like moisture there's a big difference in liking moisture and sitting in it constantly, sunbeams like both, files don't, and excessive moisture has to be controlled as much as not enough moisture, its quite dry on the surface, "

"most snakes have a favourite place in thier cage/box, u should take note of this, the where and the moisture and temps at these spots should replicated whenever possible, i think the familiarity keeps them calm and content. "

"grab mr file and replace where u found him, these are very light shy animals, thier eyes are very small and light sensitive, a classic burrowers adaption, just replaced in the open will make them nervous and bolt round the cage, in thier panic they forget where the hide entrance's are and this makes it worse "

"re the re fanged bit its interesting you mention that, i too have read that they could be, a keeper by the name of Schultz in the US mentioned it in passing once, but i don't think anyone's actually specifically looked for evidence they are and if they have it certainly isn't widely published or known.

re their behaviour, their quite odd, when u first pick them up they thrash around like their tail is in a wall socket! it can be quite alarming to see, the idea behind it is ur supposed to be alarmed  as u might drop them and they can escape to safety, if u can sort of cup them in ur 2 hands it encourages them to ball up, very similar to ball pythons, they hide their head and if u try to turn them to get a view of their face they turn as well so u don't get a look  but if u hold them like this they do quickly calm, if u work with them i see no reason why they couldn't be as calm as a corn, i think mines behave so mostly because of their age, @12mths, which is a stressful age for most snakes, the world and everything thing in it, especially their keeper is scary to them.

when u put them down, they stay in a ball type lump, they'll sit like this for a good few minutes before returning to thier hide, when i put them back i always put them under some bark just so they can calm down quickly, light really makes them nervous and a dark hide is important to them. dark hides and mild moisture go a long way in keeping a filesnake happy i think.

i only recently discovered they can eat much bigger prey than you would think by looking at them, mines are @12mths old yet they can handle medium adult mice with no problem, it doesn't even leave much of a bump which surprised me too. by far the strangest thing which i am still getting used to is the feel of their skin and the sound it makes when rubbed together or in ur hands, it has an odd hollow, polystyrene sound is the only way i can describe it, the feel is equally strange, rough with a very sharp spinal ridge, the triangular'ish body type seems to be common in other snake eaters too, most obviously the kraits. the breeder of mine did give me one piece of advice i always follow, he told me not to handle other snake species before handling the files, not for fear of eliciting a bite but rather to prevent them going off mice as food, snakes as food are a filesnakes greatest passion and u can understand how much more difficult this would make their care, so i always use a very stinky hand sanitiser before handling them just to be sure. lastly when u handle them they often keep their head pointed down, trying to find a bolt hole i assume, but it looks exactly like their just about to open their mouths on ur finger, but its not, iv gotten a few frights because of this  they show no aggression of any type, never once even showing the slightest sign they wanted to do anything but escape. when u lift their hide you'll often see them resting with their head pointing down too, often only the head is just buried in the substrate, i think its so they can make a fast escape even in their sleep 

I'll be honest with you, iv kept a lot of species and a lot of specimens, to the point where i considered myself "burnt out" in the hobby, i could find no new challenges or exciting species,_ i credit the filesnakes with changing that for the better, _ i didn't change my opinion, but my bipolar brain convinced me otherwise, its a constant regret."

"re the mix thing it was odd, i was just generally searching for info on files, way before i got mine, and i saw a post on a south african forum, the op says his cb hatchling files keep dying, someone responded with a very short comment "keep them moist" my entire method of how iv cared for them this past @10mths has just been those 3 words, that and i watch them like im stalking them "

"commonly called the filesnake due to its very rough skin, its more of a raised and spaced scales thing than the heavy keel in pines ,bulls etc. so all the skin between the scales is normal for these (i know weird or what), you would think they would lose a lot of moisture thru this thin skin, maybe thats why they like it slighty damp, i keep them on eco earth and oak leaves (i had a bag of dried oak leaves, as you do), they bury every so often, thier eyes are cute i think, they have very blunt noses, not a diggers nose as such "

"oh and thier poop really smells, no seriously, really really smells, iv heard that about snake eaters but i thought it was only if u fed them snakes."

"cape filesnakes, iv had my pair about 9mths ish (2010, how time passes), captive bred by dassie, they are a medium sized colubrid found through most of sub saharan africa to the cape region, depending on where u read/who u ask there's a few species or fewer species with more subspecies, im still not sure on what's final and what's not in the mehelya clan. il give u what details iv learned from my 2 in the 9mths they have been mine. i keep them similar to the xenos but even though their fond of burrowing their not tied to that behaviour, it does however seem to give them some calm and peace and i suspect that it does aid in keeping them happy in captivity. very similar to the xenos, eco earth with some oak leaves and moss mixed in, its shallower (ie not a burrowers depth) and allowed to dry more, they seem to vary thier behaviour at times thier almost completely hidden beneath a bit of moss and at other times they just hide their head, i have no idea why they find pleasure/peace in just poking their head into the substrate and falling asleep but they have done it since they were younger. notice how his head is hidden and he still hasn't woken yet, when they were younger and u picked them up they acted like a typical ball python and hid their head beneath their coils, it was almost impossible to get them to show thier face, as u turned them they would rehide the head from ur gaze, in fact most of my pics of them as younger animals tend to be headless , now thier older their still head shy but when u pick them up they freak the fig out, u have never seen a snake in so much panic, thank god they don't bite, they spend 60 secs or so just freakin out, then they'll calm and hide their head  its strange because i can hold them an hour after they have eaten a big fuzzie and they'll freak out, tail and head whipping about but they wont even threaten to regurge their meal."

"both files have been excellent feeders on defrost fuzzie mice since iv had them thanks to dassie, he did all the work i got them well started and house broken , from little fuzzie pinks to big fat fuzzies, i have not been able to get them to eat more than one prey item at a time, either of them, so thier on a fat fuzzie mouse every 4 days and shed every 5 weeks or so on this regime, they have that bizarre skin as u can see in the pics which makes an even more bizarre noise when rubbed together, sorta like hollow polystyrene, but they dont use it as any kind of audible defence u just hear it when thier in ur hand freaking the fig out.

thier strictly nocturnal in fact id say crepuscular, the 60-90mins after lights out (9pm) is a period of intense activity, i generally leave their food on top of thier bark hides just before lights out so its the first thing they sense upon waking, they almost always take it with no problems, sometimes even in shed. they then spend most of the night on top of thier bark just hanging out resting from sleeping all day, they become active before dawn and retire below the bark, i think using lights has given them a definitive cycle they can recognise and stick to and i use that for feeding, it has a similar effect on the xenos, but even faint incidental room lighting would also have the same effect. the files eyes are more developed than the xenos and not as sensitive but they will do everything they can to hide thier head in bright light.

i keep them at 29-30oc 24hrs and they seem to like this, when they want it cooler rather than go to other end of the tub they will just sit on the surface, the inch or so of substrate insulating them from direct heat and allowing them to cool, when they want more heat ie after feeding they will burrow down to the bottom of the tub nearest the heat, this is why i always take my settings/temperatures from probes attached to the inside surface of the tubs, both for the files and the xenos.

lastly, dassie told me to always wash my hands after handling other snakes because if the files picked up the scent of other snakes while handling it could put them off rodents (files are big snake eaters) so i either handle them first or use the stinkiest hand sanitizer i can find (tesco, smells like cucumber).

this is what i have learned in the last 9 mths, i can honestly say i have never looked forward to raising and breeding a species as much as i do with these two little headless nutters "

"for me the aim or purpose of breeding has changed, last year (i think it was last year) i hatched out a clutch of mehelya capensis, cape filesnakes, im one of a very very small number of people in the uk to have done so, it was neat and all that but it didn't "do" anything for me, sure they sold easily but i felt no accomplishment in it, so much so i sold the adults even though i knew the female was gravid again (to jono on here, if u like mehelya he's the man to know, he's a great bloke as well :notworthy. when i first bred eastern indigos i was ecstatic, i ran about, hugged my bewildered mum, i had accomplished something, maybe iv been keeping too long, maybe this is sign that iv had my fun and i should give up i dunno, but breeding is different now. " prophetic words indeed

"well i sort of thought she was getting plump but she's not a picky eater, she had a couple of brief visits with the male but i never saw anything, though i didnt exactly sit in front of the box with popcorn and my 3d specs, but i saw her head poking out during daylight hours which i thought was odd, lifted the hide and well i found these....." imagine a pic of the eggs, all the links are broken

"those syringes have egg temp unchlorinated water in them, all 5 eggs have nice healthy veins, so who knows, maybe some baby files, or "filings" as carey called them, in 70 days or so, the eggs are 12 days old as of today. " i cant remember the syringe purpose, i think i was weighing the eggbox and replacing lost moisture (ah!, the water is just to dampen the moss as it drys out, nothing more technical than that )

" forgot to add the female ate till about 6 days before laying, as soon as she refused i knew something was up but wasn't sure what, she ate the night she laid the eggs, after i have removed the eggs obviously, the amount of food these two will eat is quite amazing, they have a very quick digestive rate (and subsequently are poop machines), their sort of a bullsnake in a fat corns body with very odd skin, sort of "

"i should add a couple of details for those with files that are thinking of pairing them, id hate for something to go wrong because i didn't include some info 

firstly, the breeder of mine gave me a tip when i purchased mine as little un's in scaley nappies, dont handle other species directly before handling ur files, no its not in case they bite (why does everyone jump to that) it could put them off mice, files are die-hard snake eaters, theres no need to remind them of what their missing, iv no idea how often this "switch" happens or how severe it is but snake eaters are one of the hardest species to get onto frozen mice, so dont tempt fate, my particular hand pong of choice is a hand sanitizer from tesco's that smells like cucumber :2thumb:

files lay sizable eggs so make sure their big enough before pairing, mine are only 2yrs old but i didn't cool them as i wasn't happy with their size in the autumn, then come January the female took off in weight like a fat man working at a mcdonalds, she weighed 750gms or thereabouts before laying and the male 500gms or so before he got down to the lovin', though he has since gotten his appetite back after a lackluster 8weeks, which i assume was file breeding season.

files are snake eaters, snake eaters will eat their own species, even non snake eaters do, so u can imagine the temptation to a proper snake killer like files, both sexes were fed a full meal the day before introductions, and they were introduced during daylight hours, files do bugger all during daylight hours so that also helps shake them up that their cage mate is not a mcdonalds (i could really do with a mcdonalds right now in case u hadn't guessed)

my first attempts at introductions were nothing to do with breeding, i wanted to see if she would attempt to kill him. i wanted to know what precautions i would need to take in 2012 after cooling this upcoming winter, i was rather disappointed at the lack of fury teeth and scale thrashing, i guess i have to get cali kings again if i want to see that kind of stupidity. that doesn't mean ur intro's will go as smoothly, as any king breeder can tell you the first 10-15 mins, and the especially the first face to face is the crucial tense time, if its going to go down, that's when it tends to happen, and its usually the female that starts it (sorry ladies) though iv heard of a male mussarana that killed his female so nothing is set in stone.

split the pair up again the day before u want them to feed and good luck.

eggs are on day 21, @69days to go

rgds
ed "

"i weighed the female, she is 733gms, 25 days post laying, she has had 5 small-med post lay meals since her prelay weight of @748gms, mostly rat fluffs as that's what i have at the moment, files like a lot of snakes prefer a few smaller food items rather than one large food item. "

"
just a mini update, the eggs are on day 48, all still look good and all of them still candle as fertile. i have moved the eggs to another incubator, the previous incubator was setup in a hurry and though good for eggs it wasn't that great for actual baby's, there were corners i had worry's that a baby could get trapped in or too warm yada yada, the new incubator is just another "fishbox special" with the pad laid flat this time, I'm using the same medium, 60% coir 40% chopped sphagnum moss, with a thin layer of moss on top covering the eggs to absorb any drops from the lid, the eggs are buried 3/4 of the way and incubating at 82of with a variation of 81.9of to 82.4of. so with a hopeful window of 85 days (ish) that leaves 37 days (ish) till the exciting action stuff happens, "

"the filesnake eggs are now 68 days old, they seem to be expanding more now, they all still have gorgeous vibrant red veins, if i was to guess id say they have 2 weeks left, ish."

"i saw one of the babies kick tonight, well inside the egg, i woke it up on my nightly torchlight screams at the eggs to hatch already, its been years since i bothered to breed anything so i forgot about these little moments, actually thats not quite true, i tried to breed my sunbeams this year but they continue to defy me and pretend their just friends, hence my 2012 strategy of vodka injected mice, theyll be friends and then some 

day 70... "

"the eggs are on day 81, all five embryos are now visible when candled and i think iv annoyed most of them into giving me a little wiggle of annoyance so thats good, iv been told to expect 90 days so theres a few days yet to go but we are in the finishing straights and things are looking good, fingers crossed they have all their fingers and toes (iv heard that adds to the value  ) "

"so i get home this evening, and i look in the incubator/fishbox special and lo and behold the eggs duth bubble'eth over, the smallest egg was the first to brave that new frontier, edwardville. so i cut huge feckin windows in the rest "

"so i get home this evening, and i look in the incubator/fishbox special and lo and behold the eggs duth bubble'eth over, the smallest egg was the first to brave that new frontier, edwardville. so i cut huge feckin windows in the rest "

"so the file babies are @6weeks old and doing well, i have 2.3 of which 2.2 are now eating voluntarily, 2.1 on tuna scented pinks, 2 pinks each every 4/5 days, im reducing the amount of scenting gradually and will soon be giving them plain ol' pinks. one of the remaining girls takes salmon scented pinks and refuses the tuna pinks, the last hold out, another girl is still refusing all offerings but i think she's close to changing her mind, to keep her her spirits up and provide some calories iv been force feeding some beef heart pieces, the way i force feed is all about providing as much time for a voluntary stress free feed in between force feedings, it goes like so

1st october - offer food, refuses, force feed

6th october - offer food, refuses

11th october - offer food, refuses, force feed (this is done several hours after the definite refusal)

so what i have is two good chances of a voluntary feed over the course of ten days, with 5 days of stress recovery after a forced feeding and then an additional 5 days to try to take advantage of the increased hunger pangs.

at least that's the idea 

one of the girls, a good feeder, escaped recently, i didn't press down the corner of the tub properly, but i found her quickly, i think she was awol for anything up to 16hrs or so but she ate a pink that same night i found her so it obviously didn't greatly bother her. whenever ur flooring/carpeting or painting ur reptile room always take that opportunity to closely inspect the walls for gaps holes etc, ditto with ur floor, check for and repair any possible exit points, as its really only during these diy times that u get to or want to closely inspect every square inch of ur room so take advantage of it 

because I'm force feeding one of the babies it gives me a very unusual closeup view/handling of the animal, as u would never do that kind of restraint any other time and i discovered that the babies are also triangular in cross-section like the adults, its just that u cant really see it in the babies, the triangle cross section is actually caused by the ribs coming off the spine at a sharper angle than the normal easy curved snake rib, the triangular body type is very common in species that prey mostly on other snakes, kraits indigos etc "

"i just fed the file baby's and i must say it takes me back to when their parents were nippers, they have lost their shy feeding response and now literally flip out when they know its feeding time, they have horrible aim though, ugh just awful, tiny little snaps here there and everywhere except the end of the forceps, their obviously not sight hunters, especially with those tiny little eyes. I'm gradually reducing the amount of fish i use to scent the pinks and i expect in another 3 or 4 feeds the first 3 to start feeding will be on plain defrost pinks, I'm feeding them 2 pinks each every 4/5 days, though I'm sure they would take 3 or 4 per feeding but theres no need to push my luck and they seem to be happy with how I'm doing things and I'm happy their happy kind of thing "

"
just a little update, 4 of the 5 baby files are now on plain defrost pinks, their 2 months old now, so in two months they have gone from "argh pinks!!" to "ooooh pinks nom nom nom", the 5th baby is still a non feeder and in fact hasn't eaten voluntarily since hatching, iv been force feeding her every other feeding attempt and she is doing well, relatively speaking obviously, i can feel her getting stronger (and more stubborn) when i restrain her to feed her, I'm still using calves heart (moooo) but I'm going to add some multi vit/cal or use a few mouse tails to provide some calcium and trace elements, vit/min powders don't go well with forcefeeding, they make a stressful procedure messy and stressful.

the feeding four, 2.2, are going on a trade to Moscow but its getting more and more likely it wont happen (a failed loxocemus trade) and so they may eventually make their way to the classifieds, initially for my usual "trade for something unusual" and when that fails dismally then for the tacky cash stuff. "

"
oh no not delicate in the slightest, as long as u give them some moisture in their enclosure their very hardy animals, they really do feel like a rough file, and they make a bizarre sound when their body rubs together, the best i can describe it is like two pieces of foam sheet rubbing together or somefink 😊

this is one their famous scales in detail, notice all that bare nakid skin around it too "

So that's all my posts re capensis i could find (disjointed a fair bit), most in my own odd style, like or not.

rgd
ed










i swear this is true, i used to find the adults asleep, lying on the surface but with their head in a hole in the substrate (now i think of it maybe it was a predation thing, waiting for vibrations from a rodent or reptile below, or is that stupid.....)


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## loxocemus

*moellendorfi hatching*










"just over 80 days at 81-82F we still have two that have not hatched and a long history of failure with hatching this species. This clutch is from 10 year captive adults."

in a few years you get this









Following comments from the old kingsnake forum

"Once the females are close to 5 feet you usually get 8 eggs. I have one larger female that has layed up to 12 eggs. The babies aren't especially delicate but I have found they do better, as far as starting to feed, if you keep them individually in larger than normal caging. I use slightly damp sphagnum moss about 2 inches deep as a substrate and also an inverted water bowl as a hide in a sweater box size sterilite rack. It takes about 5 years for them to reach breeding size but they live and reproduce well into their 20s. I have one female that layed 10 good eggs this year that has to be close to 28 years old."

"I've hatched out 3 clutches a year for the last 4 years and have had no problems. In my opinion it's important to make sure the eggs aren't too wet because as you can see in the photo, the babies have to be able to break out of the end of the egg. The eggs need to have a brittle shell for them to be able to do this."


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## loxocemus

*Caresheet Mussurana - Boiruna maculata from Black Pearl Reptiles*











Set Up:

When I acquired my first group of mussurana, I did a bit of research on the conditions of their natural habitat in Uruguay and Argentina. My hope was to attempt to closely replicate the temperature and humidity conditions in the wild to ensure their health in captivity. My findings suggested Boiruna inhabits the widest range of ecological habitats of any mussurana species. They are found in the dry Chaco regions, but also in the wet, forested regions of their range. Without receiving any help from my research, I set the group up like you would most colubrids.

I keep them on aspen shavings, of which I provide an ample amount, as I have learned they love to burrow in their substrate. I provide a humid hide box, which they utilize at the beginnings of their shed cycles. I keep the warm side of the enclosure around 82 degrees and the ambient temperatures around 75 degrees. I have found my mussurana tend to avoid the warm side of the cage, using it only after consuming large meals. After observing this, I avoid extreme temperatures as mussurana seems to be fairly heat sensitive. As for enclosure size, I keep my mussurana in rack systems of appropriate size. My hatchlings are in shoebox containers, while I keep my adults in cb-70 racks.

Feeding:
In the wild, mussurana are ophiophagous, feeding chiefly upon other snakes. I have found literature reporting them feeding upon Atropoides, Crotalus, Porthidium, Dryadophis, Spilotes, Imantodes, Tantilla, Epicrates, and most notably Bothrops. However, I suspect they will eat any species of snake they can overpower. They will also consume lizards such as basilisks and teiids in addition to small birds and mammals. Mussurana employ a two-pronged assault on their prey. They envenomate with their rear fangs, while constricting with their powerful coils.

I have personally experienced and have heard reports from friends that mussurana are not completely immune to their own venom. I once had a hatchling mussurana bite its sibling behind the neck in an attempt to eat it. After I separated the two, the sibling never fully recovered and ended up dying some weeks later. The wound behind its neck never fully healed and its scales seemed to liquefy after being bitten. Female mussurana have also been known to kill and consume potential mates. It goes without saying that mussurana should always be housed separately!

In captivity, I try to give my mussurana as varied of a diet as possible. They eat mice, rats, quail, chicks, and frozen thawed snakes. They have a fast metabolism and will grow quickly with a diet of small, but frequent meals. Being anatomically designed to eat snakes, mussurana have relatively small jaws and therefore require smaller meals than other similarly-sized colubrids. Hatchling mussurana can be difficult to get feeding, but once started, mussurana rarely turn down meals and have an extremely aggressive feeding response.

Temperament:
Most keepers of mussurana agree that the mussurana has a very docile demeanor. I have never had a mussurana attempt to bite out of defense, nor have I ever heard of one doing so. However, of the dozens of species of snakes I’ve worked with, I’ve never seen a feeding response more intense than that of a mussurana. Although I have never been bitten, I have a few friends who have, and although they reported nothing more than mild localized swelling, caution is certainly appropriate when handling such a large and powerful rear-fanged snake. The most severe reaction I’ve heard of came from Campbell and Lamar’s Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. A four-year-old Brazilian girl was bitten on the thigh by a four foot, eight inch Clelia plumbea. Swelling and bruising were reported, but the girl made a complete recovery within three days. Blood coagulation was reported to be normal.

There are a few safety techniques I adhere to while handling my mussurana. First, mussurana are predominantly nocturnal. I find their feeding response to be much more intense at night, and I therefore avoid handling them after dark. Secondly, in order to minimize risk associated with a feeding response bite, I try to eliminate the scent of any possible prey item from my hands prior to picking up my mussurana. This is certainly not a novel technique to most reptile keepers, but when the mussurana’s preferred prey item is snake, it’s difficult for a snake keeper to minimize snake scent. I sometimes put my mussurana into a snake bucket while cleaning cages only to witness the mussurana biting the sides of the bucket picking up on the scent of whatever snake was in there last. I always use hand sanitizer up to my elbows prior to handling my mussurana. Lastly, I always avoid handling anywhere near feeding time. My mussurana perk up on feeding days and can sense the defrosting food items in my snake room. By the time I open their tubs to feed, I often have them lunge out, mouth gaping. One of my female blacks will often eject herself from the rack, and chase me across the room with her mouth open. My only hope is to use my forceps to get food into her mouth before she reaches me!

I may have painted an unjustly frightening picture, but if these tips are followed, risk of a feeding response bite is drastically lessened, and a keeper can truly enjoy the mussurana’s gentle nature.

Breeding:
Mussurana can be very prolific breeders given the right conditions. They are winter breeders and generally do their breeding from October- February. When my local weather conditions start cooling down in October, I allow the nighttime temps to drop down into the mid 60’s, but bring them back up the low 80’s during the day. Immediately following a fresh shed by the female, I introduce her to the male in the male’s enclosure. Because of their taste for other snakes, I closely supervise the mating pair. I have found mating between mussurana to be very timid and hesitant- and understandably so. They generally spend 10-15 minutes feeling each other out after which a reluctant breeding usually occurs. My snakes usually don’t spend more than thirty minutes or so locked up, and quickly retreat to opposite ends of the enclosure once breeding is complete. I will return the female to her rack, and try again every 3-4 days thereafter until the male shows no interest in her.

Two to fourth months later, the female will be visibly swollen on the lower end of her abdomen. Approximately one to two weeks after her pre-lay shed, expect a clutch of 5-15 small, white, leathery eggs. I incubate my mussurana eggs along with my drymarchon eggs at about 76 degrees. At this incubation temperature, expect the eggs to start pipping 100-110 days after being laid. I use a perlite/vermiculite mixture as my incubation substrate with a 1:1 weight ratio between substrate and water. Using this formula, I have been fortunate enough to enjoy very good fertility rates along with large, healthy babies.

Shortly after my females go through their post-lay shedding cycle, they start to swell up again. More seasons than not, my females will double, and sometimes even triple clutch. I have experimented with reintroducing males after the first clutch is laid, but I’ve found that the females will typically produce another clutch on retained sperm anyway.

Hatchling Care:
Now comes the tricky part: getting the babies to feed. The good news is that once hatchling mussurana start feeding, they will typically eat everything in sight and rarely ever refuse a meal. The bad news is that it can sometimes be difficult to get them feeding to begin with. The following are a few tips other breeders and I have used to get our finicky babies going. Scenting will most likely be necessary. As discussed above, mussurana feed on a variety of prey items, but their food of choice is other snakes. I pick up and save freshly-killed snakes from the road when I am field herping to feed to my mussurana, indigos, and cribos. I always freeze them for over a month prior to defrosting and feeding to kill off any parasites or unwanted bacteria (Klingenberg 1993). I use the dead snakes to scent live pinky mice, but I will also drape a section of the dead snake’s skin over a pinky’s head to induce a feeding response. If that doesn’t work, I will attempt feeding chopped up strips of the dead snake. Much of the time, these strategies work, but sometimes a picky hatchling mussurana will want something else. I have found they often search a frozen thawed snake for a head, making snake strips undesirable. In this case, it is ideal to feed the baby mussurana dead snakes small enough to be consumed in their entirety. Another option is feeding live snakes. If you have a supply of small snakes, this is the best option. Some breeders maintain a colony of cheap corn snakes or African house snakes solely for the purpose of producing feeders for the mussurana.

If none of these options work, I have also start baby mussurana on house geckos, quail parts, and chick parts. I once had a piebald mussurana eat nothing but pinkies dipped in chicken blood for nearly a year, although this is certainly not the norm. As stated above, once a feeding response develops in a baby mussurana, watch your fingers because they will eat you out of house and home.

theres a codom pied with the super being almost all white


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## loxocemus

*The technical differences between* *The genera Boiruna and Clelia (serpentes: pseudoboini) in Paraguay and Argentina* 

Norman J. Scott Jr.I; Alejandro R. GiraudoII; Gustavo ScrocchiIII; Aida Luz AquinoIV; Pier CaccialiV; Martha MotteVI

*ABSTRACT*

Snakes of the pseudoboine genera _Clelia_, which is probably polyphyletic, and _Boiruna_ are distributed from southern Argentina, southern Brazil, and Uruguay northwards into central México. Six members occur in Paraguay and Argentina: _B. maculata_, _Clelia bicolor, C. clelia, C. plumbea, C. quimi,_ and _C. rustica_. Historically, there has been taxonomic confusion among the larger species _(B. maculata, C. clelia, C. plumbea, and C. rustica)_ and between the small species _(C. bicolor_ and _C. quimi)_. All of the species except _C. rustica_ have distinct ontogenetic color changes. Species can be distinguished on the bases of size, color, hemipenial spines, and loreal, supralabial, and ventral scale counts. Much of the morphological evolutionary differentiation in _Boiruna_ and _Clelia_ seems to have taken place in the snout region, as evidenced by the differing proportions of the scales of the loreal region. _Boiruna maculata_ has the widest ecological amplitude. It is broadly distributed in most vegetation types north of the 38th parallel in central Argentina, being absent only from the deltaic sediments of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina and the broad valleys and rolling hills of eastern Paraguay. Clelia bicolor is most common in the Paraguay and Paraná river valleys, with a few records from the Andean foothills in northern Argentina. _Clelia clelia_ is distributed along the Río Paraguay and the lower Paraná, and is also found throughout much of eastern Paraguay. _Clelia plumbea_ is apparently parapatric with _C. clelia_ along the Río Paraná in southeastern Paraguay and Misiones Province, Argentina. The ranges of _C. quimi_ to the east and _C. bicolor_ in the west about in this same region without apparent overlap. There are no vouchered records of _Clelia rustica_ from Paraguay. In Argentina, it is a species of temperate climates; north of the 30th parallel, it occurs in the Andean foothills and the wet forests of Misiones Province. Southwards, it is widely distributed to beyond the 40th parallel.

*INTRODUCTION*

Two genera of snakes of the monophyletic colubrid tribe Pseudoboini, _Boiruna_ (2 species) and _Clelia_ (13 species), are distributed on the American mainland from México to southern Argentina, southern Brazil, and Uruguay; and on Trinidad, and Grenada and Santa Lucia in the Lesser Antilles (Bailey, 1970; Cadle, 1984; Underwood, 1993; Zaher, 1996; Franco _et al.,_ 1997; Morato _et al.,_ 2003; Reichle & Embert, 2005). The species of _Clelia_ are probably not a monophyletic group. Zaher (1994, 1999) believes that some members of the genus (_C. bicolor, C. quimi,_ and _C. montana_) are more closely related to a clade including _Oxyrhopus_ and _Siphlophis_ than they are to the other _Clelia._ We will keep them in the genus _Clelia_ for the purposes of this paper.

Our knowledge of the distribution and taxonomy of these genera in southern South America consists of a tangled history of misidentifications, cryptic species, and changing generic limits. This paper traces the taxonomic history of the six members of the tribe that occur in Paraguay and Argentina that are now assigned to the genera _Clelia_ and _Boiruna._

In the past century, only Bailey (1970) and Zaher (1996) examined these species throughout their ranges; other studies were restricted to individual collections or limited geographic areas. Our observations derive from specimens from Argentina and Paraguay; the last list for Paraguay was Aquino _et al._ (1996), and, for Argentina, Giraudo & Scrocchi (2002). The main thrust of this paper is to apply the taxonomic conclusions of Zaher (1996), Franco _et al._ (1997), and Giraudo (2002) to Argentina and Paraguay. Their recognition of _Boiruna maculata, Clelia clelia, C. quimi,_ and _C. plumbea_ as distinct species helped clear up the confusion that has reigned for more than a century. Our records of _C. clelia_ extend the known distribution 900 km southward of the locality in central Bolivia reported by Zaher (1996). We report the first records of _C. quimi_ from Paraguay. Important also is the discovery that all verifiable records of _"C. rustica"_ from Paraguay were based on specimens of _B. maculata.

*Boiruna*_ *and Clelia*

_Boiruna_ and _Clelia_ are small to large snakes-the smallest species is generally less than 1 m (_C. bicolor_), and the largest approach 2.5 m in total length (_C. clelia, C. plumbea_). The larger species, well-known by the Brazilian common name of _mussurana,_ are famous for consuming even large venomous _Crotalus_ and _Bothrops._

Most species have the normal configuration of colubrid scales. Diagnostic variation occurs in the number of body segments (reflected in ventral and subcaudal scale counts), and in the relative length of the snout, as seen in differing numbers of supralabials and in the varying proportions and positions of the loreal scale. There are two anterior temporals on each side of the head, the lower of which may or may not contact the postoculars. Species in the genera may have 17 or 19 midbody scale rows, but all of the species in the study area have 19. Dorsal scales are smooth, many with one or (usually) two apical pits (Underwood, 1993).

The species of _Clelia_ and _Boiruna_ generally show a striking ontogenetic color change, from hatchlings with much orange or red to adults that are dark gray or black. In our area, _Clelia rustica_ is the only exception; hatchlings may have a trace of a light collar, but otherwise are colored like the adults, which usually have a ground color of some shade of olive.

The hemipenes of the species of _Boiruna_ and _Clelia_ have a similar shape: a long basal portion that divides distally into two equal lobes. The single basal portion is 23 times the length of the terminal lobes. The lobes terminate in calyculate capitula. The _sulcus spermaticus,_ basally single, divides into two branches at about the middle of the organ, each branch terminating in a separate lobe. The hemipenes may have large spines or enlarged spines may be lacking (Zaher, 1996, 1999).

*Study Area*

The study area lies between the Tropic of Capricorn and cold temperate Patagonia. The northern portion west of the Río Paraná-Paraguay is generally dry Andean foothills, intermontane Monte desert valleys, or Chaco. The latter refers to the geological formation formed by the flat outwash plain of Andean erosion. Undisturbed vegetation in the Dry Chaco is thorn forest; the Humid Chaco is palm savannah subject to seasonal flooding from large rivers, with islands of thorn forest (Cabrera, 1994). Much of the Humid Chaco has been cleared for cattle grazing.

East of the Río Paraná-Paraguay, the land is uplifted a few hundred meters above the level of the Chaco to produce rolling hills and broad river valleys originally covered with mesic, subtropical, semideciduous forest grading into wet Interior Atlantic Forest on the eastern margin. These forests have been greatly decimated, and only isolated remnants persist. An even west to east rainfall gradient in the study area (400 to 1700 mm/yr) produces deserts in the west and wet tall forests on the eastern margin.

In Argentina south of the mouth of the Río Paraná/Río de La Plata, the native vegetation of the western Andean foothills grades into the eastern temperate Pampas grasslands or Patagonian shrublands in the extreme south.

We use the following nomenclature for the different reaches of the Paraná River (Giraudo & Arzamendia, 2004): Alto Paraná above Posadas, Misiones Province, Argentina, Upper Paraná between Posadas and the junction with the Paraguay River, and Lower Paraná below this point.

*METHODS*

We examined Paraguayan and Argentine specimens in most collections in Paraguay, Argentina, and in the U.S. National Museum. See Material Examined in Appendix 1 for a list. Distributions were mapped from these records.

We present synonyms of published records that seem to be based on the personal experience of the authors, usually by reference to data from specimens. Some published lists that appear to be merely copies of previous lists are omitted. For Argentina, we list provinces and not the cities that may have the same name.

Many citations almost certainly apply to _Boiruna_ or _Clelia_ spp. in the study area, but the authors do not give enough information to distinguish the species or even the genus. The "large black species", _B. maculata, C. clelia,_ and _C. plumbea,_ were the species most confused by early workers, but _C. rustica_ was also part of the confusion, especially in Paraguay. If the authors gave enough morphological information (e.g., scale counts), reference to museum specimens, or if the locality was definitive (e.g., a large pseudoboine in the dry Chaco = _Boiruna_), the citation is included under a species synonymy. However, if the citation appears to be a composite that cannot be untangled, or a misidentification that cannot be assigned to any species with confidence, it is listed in the section _Incertae Sedis._

Scale counts that we considered to be useful in diagnosing the species were the number of supralabials, ventrals, and subcaudals. Ventrals are reported using the system of Dowling (1951). The numbers of the supralabials contacting the loreals were also useful in quantifying variation in the snout region (Underwood 1993). Size is estimated by snout-vent and tail lengths. Colors were observed in living and preserved specimens. We cite descriptions of Uruguayan specimens as being pertinent to the taxa that we report.

We refer to the detailed observations of Zaher (1996, 1999) and Franco _et al._ (1997) for descriptions of the hemipenes, generally only noting where our studies modify or extend their conclusions. We particularly examined hemipenes of _B. maculata, C. clelia,_ and _C. plumbea_ because of their utility in generic and specific determinations. Enlarged spines lying at the bases of the capitula between the two branches of the _sulcus spermaticus_ are described as "intrasulcal", those arrayed in three or four longitudinal rows on both sides of the _sulcus_ are termed "extrasulcal".

*RESULTS

Key to Adult Clelia and Boiruna from Argentina and Paraguay*


1a.Supralabials usually 8 (Appendix 1); dorsal color medium brown or gray, not black, and paler on sides; hemipenes with 2 or more pairs of intrasulcal spines (Appendix 2); small species, adults usually less than 1 m in total length ....................21b.Supralabials usually 7; dorsal color olive, gray, or black, not noticeably paler on sides in large adults; variable number of intrasulcal spines on hemipenis; adults greater than 1 m in total length ...........................................................32a.Ventrals less than 180 in males, less than 190 in females; edge of dorsal dark color on sides of head sharply defined at dorsal edge of supralabials _..Clelia bicolor_2b.Ventrals more than 180 in males, more than 195 in females; edge of dorsal dark color gradually invading supralabials, becoming paler towards the lip _...Clelia quimi_3a.Posterior ventral scales with dark pigment covering entire scale; intrasulcal spines lacking on hemipenis _........................................................Boiruna maculata_3b.Posterior ventral scales pigmented only on lateral portions; intrasulcal spines present or not (Appendix 2); central portion of all ventral scales clear white, ivory, or yellow ...............................................................................44a.Dorsal adult coloration a uniform dark gray or black; indications of a light collar in small adults; venter white or ivory; a single pair of intrasulcal spines or none (Appendix 2) ..................................................................................54b.Dorsal adult coloration usually a reticulum formed by dark bases and borders of paler brown or olive scales, rarely unicolor; no indication of a light collar in adults; venter yellow, rarely spotted with black; usually two or more pairs of intrasulcal spines _.................................................................................Clelia rustica_5a.Ventrals more than 210 in males and more than 225 in females; border of dark dorsal body coloration forming a straight line on the lateral tips of the ventrals (Fig. 1); loreal scale often small or missing, usually contacting only the second supralabial (Appendix 3); hemipenes without spines _................Clelia plumbea_5b.Ventrals less than 215 in males and less than 220 in females; border of dark dorsal coloration forming a serrate line on the lateral tips of the ventrals (Fig. 1); loreal scale normal, contacting the second and third supralabials; hemipenes with spines _........................................................................................Clelia clelia_










*Key to Small Juvenile Clelia and Boiruna from Argentina and Paraguay*


1a.Hatchlings gray, brown, or red dorsally without dark vertebral stripe ............21b.Hatchlings laterally red or orange with dark vertebral stripe at least three scales wide ................................................................................................42a.Dorsal color gray or olive; collar present or not; black mark on base of dorsal scales _...............................................................................Clelia rustica_2b.Dorsal color bright red with broad white nuchal collar and a black head (Fig. 10); black may be present on tips of dorsal scales ..........................................33a.Ventrals more than 210 in males and more than 225 in females; loreal scale often small or missing, usually contacting only the second supralabial (Appendix 3, Fig. 2) _............................................................................Clelia plumbea_3b.Ventrals less than 215 in males and less than 220 in females; loreal scale normal, contacting the second and third supralabials _..............................Clelia clelia_4a.Hatchlings greater than 300 mm total length (Fig. 3); usually 7 supralabials (Appendix 1); 212247 ventrals _........................................Boiruna maculata_4b.Hatchlings less than 250 mm total length; usually 8 supralabials; 165205 ventrals ...........................................................................................55a.Ventrals less than 180 in males, less than 190 in females (Appendix 4) _.........................................................................................Clelia bicolor_5b.Ventrals more than 180 in males, more than 195 in females _...........Clelia quimi_























































_*Boiruna maculata*_ *(Boulenger 1896)*

_Oxyrhopus maculatus_ Boulenger, 1896: Original description, type locality: Uruguay

_Oxyrhopus occipitoluteus;_ Boulenger, 1896: Asunción, Paraguay

_Oxyrhopus occipitoluteus;_ Koslowski, 1898: Argentina

_Oxyrhopus Cloelia_ (part.); Serié, 1915: Departamento Central, Paraguay

_Pseudoboa occipitolutea;_ Serié, 1921: Chaco, Argentina

_Pseudoboa maculata;_ Amaral, 1925: Mendoza, Argentina

_Pseudoboa cloelia;_ Saporiti, 1946: Salta, Argentina

_Pseudoboa cloelia;_ Abalos _et al.,_ 1964: Santiago del Estero, Argentina

_Pseudoboa maculata;_ Abalos _et al.,_ 1964: Santiago del Estero, Argentina

_Clelia clelia clelia;_ Freiberg, 1968: Argentina

_Clelia occipitolutea;_ Bailey, 1970: Argentina and Paraguay

_Clelia clelia clelia;_ Abalos & Mischis, 1975: Argentina

_Clelia occipitolutea;_ Abalos & Mischis, 1975: Argentina

_Clelia occipitolutea;_ Scott & Lovett, 1975: Paraguayan Chaco

_Clelia occipitolutea;_ Gallardo, 1979: Argentina

_Clelia clelia clelia;_ Laurent & Terán, 1981: Tucumán, Argentina

_Clelia occipitolutea;_ Laurent & Terán, 1981: Tucumán, Argentina

_Clelia clelia clelia;_ Di Fonzo de Abalos & Bucher, 1981: Córdoba, Argentina

_Clelia occipitolutea;_ Di Fonzo de Abalos & Bucher, 1981: Córdoba, Argentina

_Clelia clelia;_ Di Fonzo de Abalos & Bucher, 1983: Córdoba, Argentina

_Clelia occipitolutea;_ Di Fonzo de Abalos & Bucher, 1983: Córdoba, Argentina

_Clelia clelia clelia;_ Cei, 1986: Western, central and southern Argentina

_Clelia occipitolutea_ (part.); Cei, 1986: Western, central and southern Argentina

_Clelia clelia;_ Böckeler, 1988: Paraguayan Chaco

_Clelia occipitolutea;_ Böckeler, 1988: Paraguayan Chaco

_Clelia clelia;_ Yanosky, 1989a,b: Formosa, Argentina

_Clelia occipitolutea;_ Yanosky, 1989b: Formosa, Argentina

_Clelia clelia;_ Bergna & Álvarez, 1990: Northeastern Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Bergna & Álvarez, 1990: Northeastern Argentina

_Clelia clelia clelia_ (part.); Scrocchi & Viñas, 1990: Argentina

_Clelia clelia;_ Cruz _et al.,_ 1992: Salta, Argentina

_Clelia clelia clelia_ (part.); Cei, 1993: Eastern Argentina

_Clelia clelia;_ Yanosky _et al.,_ 1993: Formosa, Argentina

_Clelia_ spp.; Norman, 1994: Paraguayan Chaco

_Clelia clelia clelia;_ Vuoto, 1995: Entre Ríos, Argentina

_Clelia clelia clelia;_ Lavilla _et al.,_ 1995: Salta, Argentina

_Clelia clelia;_ Álvarez _et al.,_ 1995: Departamento Itapúa, Paraguay

_Clelia clelia_ (part.); Álvarez _et al.,_ 1996: Corrientes, Chaco, and Formosa, Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Álvarez _et al.,_ 1996: Corrientes, Chaco, and Formosa, Argentina

_Clelia clelia_ (part.); Aquino _et al.,_ 1996: Paraguay

_Clelia rustica;_ Aquino _et al.,_ 1996: Paraguay

_Boiruna maculata;_ Zaher, 1996: Argentina

_Clelia clelia;_ Yanosky _et al.,_ 1996: Formosa, Argentina

_Boiruna maculata;_ Giraudo & Arzamendia, 1997b: Santa Fe, Argentina

_Boiruna maculata;_ Leynaud & Bucher, 1999: Gran Chaco

_Boiruna maculata;_ Cabrera, 2001: Interior Argentina

_Boiruna maculata_ (part.); Giraudo & Scrocchi, 2002: Argentina

_Boiruna maculata_ (part.); Giraudo, 2002: Northeastern Argentina

_Boiruna maculata_ (part.); Álvarez _et al.,_ 2002: Chaco, Formosa, and Corrientes, Argentina

_Boiruna maculata_ (part.); Arzamendia & Giraudo, 2002: Santa Fe, Argentina

_Clelia clelia;_ Ziegler _et al.,_ 2002: Paraguayan Chaco

_Boiruna maculata;_ Scrocchi & Giraudo, 2005: Formosa, Argentina

_Taxonomic History – Oxyrhopus maculatus_ was described from Uruguay by Boulenger (1896). However, based on the high number of ventral scales, Boulenger's _O. occipitoluteus_ from Asunción, Paraguay almost certainly belongs to the same taxon, as do some of his Brazilian specimens listed under _O. cloelia._ Until recently, these three names have continued to be applied to the large species, usually with dark posterior ventrals, that is distributed from the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brazil, south through Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay as far La Pampa Province, Argentina, and east to the Andean foothills in Argentina.

Zaher (1996) cleared up most of the confusion when he reviewed _Clelia_ throughout its range. He determined that the original description of _Brachyrruton occipitoluteum_ of Duméril, Bibron, and Duméril 1854 is a synonym of _Pseudoboa coronata_ Schneider 1801, and that _Oxyrhopus maculatus_ Boulenger 1896 was the proper original description for this species. Zaher (1996) then used the taxon as the type species of a new genus _Boiruna._ Since then, the name _Boiruna maculata_ has been widely applied in Paraguay and Argentina, although _C. clelia_ has also been included under that designation in recent literature (e.g., Giraudo & Scrocchi 2002, Álvarez _et al._ 2002).

_Diagnosis – Boiruna maculata_ in Paraguay and Argentina can generally be distinguished from all species of _Clelia_ except _C. plumbea_ by its larger number of ventrals (212–247; Appendix 4, Fig. 4). There is some overlap in the number of ventrals in female _C. clelia_ (maximum 218) and female _B. maculata_ (minimum 214), and male _C. clelia_ (maximum 213) and male _B. maculata_ (minimum 212).

A lack of spines between the arms of the divided _sulcus spermaticus_ (intrasulcal spines) was one of the diagnostic characters that Zaher (1996) used to distinguish the genus _Boiruna_ from _Clelia,_ and these spines were lacking in all of the _B. maculata_ that we examined. However, two of our 7 males of _C. clelia_ are missing one or both of the usual pair of intrasulcal spines (Appendix 2).

Large juvenile and adult _B. maculata_ have dark pigmentation on the entire scale in the posterior ventrals and subcaudals (Zaher, 1996; Giraudo, 2002). _Clelia rustica_ may rarely have the posterior ventrals almost entirely black, but there is almost always a clear central portion. Other species of _Clelia_ have mostly clear, ivory-colored ventrals; the dark dorsal coloration invades only the lateral tips and part of the free edges of the ventrals, never covering the entire scale.

Among the larger species, the average _B. maculata_ is slightly longer than _C. rustica_ and shorter than _C. clelia_ and _C. plumbea_ (Fig. 3). The tail of _B. maculata_ is relatively shorter than all others except female _C. rustica_ (Fig. 5). Like _C. clelia, C. plumbea,_ and _C. rustica, B. maculata_ usually has 7 supralabials on each side (Appendix 1).

The dark dorsal stripe distinguishes hatchling _B. maculata_ from other hatchlings in our area except _C. bicolor_ and _C. quimi._ The smaller size of hatchling _C. bicolor_ (~180 mm total length) and _C. quimi_ (~205 mm) should serve to separate them from _B. maculata_ (~350 mm), as do the numbers of supralabials and ventrals.

_Description_ – Detailed descriptions, drawings, and photographs of _B. maculata_ in the Southern Cone are found in Boulenger (1896; as _O. maculatus_ and _O. occipitoluteus_), Abalos _et al._ (1964; as _P. cloelia_ and _P. maculata_), Achaval (1973; as _C. occipitolutea_), Cei (1986; as _C. clelia;_ his _C. occipitolutea_ seems to be a composite of _B. maculata_ and _C. rustica_), Böckeler (1988; as _C. clelia_ and _C. occipitolutea_), Scrocchi & Viñas (1990; as _C. clelia clelia;_ their paradigm included two specimens of true _C. clelia_), Lavilla _et al._ (1995 as _C. c. clelia_), Achaval & Olmos (1997 as _C. occipitolutea;_ 2003), Giraudo (2002; one of his specimens is a _C. clelia_), Achaval & Olmos (2003), Scrocchi & Giraudo (2005), Carreira _et al._ (2005) and Figure 6. Zaher's (1996) description of _B. maculata_ covers a wider geographic area, and the details are not always pertinent to our area.

The total lengths of the smallest and largest of 47 _B. maculata_ were 351 mm and 1800 mm, respectively. There seems to be no significant difference in size between the sexes (t–test; P>0.75).

_Boiruna maculata_ in Paraguay and Argentina has 212247 ventrals, 5284 subcaudals, and 7 supralabials (rarely 8; Appendix 1 and 4). The single loreal scale is generally slightly smaller than that of _C. clelia,_ contacting only the second supralabial in almost half of 21 specimens (Appendix 3, Fig. 2B).

Zaher (1996) gave a detailed description and photograph of the hemipenis of _B. maculata._ The sample that Zaher (1996) observed had longitudinal rows of 1317 spines, or a total of 2634, on both sides of the _sulcus spermaticus._ The 13 specimens in our sample lacked intrasulcal spines and had 13–39 spines in the extrasulcal position (Appendix 2).

Hatchling _B. maculata_ have the top of the head black or dark brown, fading to dusky on the supralabials. There is a pale nape band that can be white, yellow, or orange. Hatchlings from a clutch of 6 eggs from FML 13376 had either white or orange nape bands. Hatchlings have a black medial dorsal stripe 13 scale rows wide. The lateral three scale rows on each side are red or orange with black tips. The ventrals are opalescent white. The subcaudals are white with black margins where the scale pairs meet, forming a zigzag line down the underside of the tail. Lavilla _et al._ (1995), Giraudo (2002), and Achaval & Olmos (1997, 2003) have photographs of juveniles. The coloration of hatchling _B. maculata_ is similar to that of some hatchling _C. bicolor_ (e.g., Giraudo 2002), although the former is about twice as long (Fig. 3).

As the juvenile grows, the black color on the tips of the lateral scales and the scales of the nape band expands, gradually obscuring the paler colors. The lateral scales are gray or black in most adults, although some retain a reticulated pattern of pale brown to red dark-tipped lateral body scales, especially anteriorly. A faint indication of the pale nape band can be seen in many small adults. Posterior ventrals and subcaudals gradually become uniformly black or dark gray.

Most adult _B. maculata_ are a solid dark gray or black dorsally (Fig. 6). The underside of the head and anterior ventrals are clear ivory, with dark dorsal color on the tips of the anterior ventrals; this color invades the entire ventral scale on the posterior body and tail (Zaher, 1996; Giraudo, 2002). Some specimens show extensive reticulated areas on the lateral, anterior portion of the body, where the dorsal scales are pale with dark edges (e.g., Cei, 1993: Plate 83–3). Specimens with this coloration are responsible for erroneous reports of _C. rustica_ in Paraguay (e.g., Aquino _et al.,_ 1996) and probably Argentina (e.g., Bergna & Álvarez, 1990).

_Boiruna maculata_ shares, with _C. clelia, C. plumbea,_ and species of _Pseudoboa,_ the peculiarity that some specimens are irregularly spotted with varying amounts of white (e.g., Boulenger 1896, Cei 1993; Giraudo 2002). In the most extreme cases, the snake is almost completely white with a few small pigmented patches (e.g., CENAI 2738, UNNEC 4846).

_Distribution_ – Boulenger (1896) described _Oxyrhopus maculatus_ from Uruguay and recorded _O. occipitoluteus_ from Asunción, Departmento Central, Paraguay. This was the first report of _Boiruna maculata_ from the study area.

Range wide, _B. maculata_ is found from southeastern Bolivia and Brazil south of the Amazonian wet forest and east of the Andes, south through Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina (Zaher 1996; Achaval Elena 2001, as _C. occipitolutea_). In the study area, the species ranges from the northern borders of Argentina and Paraguay, south as far as 36°S latitude in Argentina (Fig. 7). It occurs in an enormous range of habitats from Monte desert and dry Chaco to the wet Atlantic forests of Misiones Province and coastal Brazil.

*Clelia bicolor (Peracca 1904)*

_Oxyrhopus immaculatus;_ Peracca, 1895: Chaco, Argentina

_Oxyrhopus bicolor_ Peracca, 1904: Original description, type locality: North of Santa Fe, Argentina

_Clelia bicolor;_ Bailey, 1970: Argentina and Paraguay

_Clelia bicolor;_ Abalos & Mischis, 1975: Argentina

_Clelia bicolor;_ Talbot, 1979: Paraguay

_Clelia bicolor;_ Yanosky, 1989a,b: Formosa, Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Yanosky, 1989a,b: Formosa, Argentina (see Scrocchi & Giraudo, 2005)

_Clelia bicolor;_ Bergna & Álvarez, 1990: Northeastern Argentina

_Clelia bicolor;_ Scrocchi & Viñas, 1990: Argentina

_Clelia bicolor;_ Cei, 1993: Northwestern and eastern Argentina

_Clelia bicolor;_ Yanosky _et al.,_ 1993: Formosa, Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Yanosky _et al.,_ 1993: Formosa, Argentina (see Scrocchi & Giraudo, 2005)

_Clelia bicolor;_ Giraudo & Contreras, 1994: Departmento Ñeembucu, Paraguay

_Clelia bicolor;_ Álvarez _et al.,_ 1996: Corrientes, Chaco, and Formosa, Argentina

_Clelia bicolor;_ Couturier & Faivovich, 1996: Santa Fe, Argentina

_Clelia bicolor_ (part.); Aquino _et al.,_ 1996: Paraguay

_Clelia bicolor;_ Yanosky _et al.,_ 1996: Formosa, Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Yanosky _et al.,_ 1996: Formosa, Argentina (see Scrocchi & Giraudo, 2005)

_Clelia bicolor;_ Zaher, 1996: Paraguay and Argentina

_Clelia bicolor;_ Giraudo & Arzamendia, 1997b: Santa Fe, Argentina.

_Clelia bicolor;_ Cacivio, 1999: Misiones, Argentina

_Clelia bicolor;_ Leynaud & Bucher, 1999: Gran Chaco

_Clelia bicolor;_ Cabrera, 2001: Interior Argentina

_Clelia bicolor;_ Giraudo & Scrocchi, 2002: Argentina

_Clelia bicolor;_ Giraudo, 2002: Northeastern Argentina

_Clelia bicolor;_ Álvarez _et al.,_ 2002: Chaco, Formosa, and Corrientes, Argentina

_Clelia bicolor;_ Arzamendia & Giraudo, 2002: Santa Fe, Argentina

_Clelia bicolor;_ Álvarez _et al.,_ 2003: Corrientes, Argentina

_Clelia bicolor;_ Motte _et al.,_ 2004: Paraguay

_Clelia bicolor;_ Scrocchi & Giraudo, 2005: Formosa, Argentina

_Taxonomic History_ – The taxonomic history of _C. bicolor_ is less confused than that of the other species. Since its original description from north of Santa Fe, Santa Fe Province, Argentina (Peracca 1904), it does not appear to have been recorded in the study area under any other specific name, except for Yanosky (1989a,b) and Yanosky _et al._ (1993, 1996). Because of the location and the low number of ventrals, Peracca (1895) appears to have also had an earlier specimen from Resistencia, Chaco Province, Argentina.

_Diagnosis – Clelia bicolor_ in the study area can be distinguished from all other _Boiruna_ and _Clelia_ by the low number of ventral scales (163-187; Appendix 4, Fig. 4). Its gray or brown dorsum is never as dark as that of _C. clelia, C. plumbea,_ and _Boiruna._ Except for the lateral tips of the ventrals, the venter of _C. bicolor_ is always clear ivory. In _C. bicolor_ of all sizes, the border between the dark dorsal head coloration and the lighter supralabials is sharp and distinct at the dorsal edge of the supralabial row (photographs in Cei, 1993; Giraudo, 2002). The general coloration of _C. bicolor_ is similar to that of _C. quimi;_ however, the color transition on the side of the head is more gradual in _C. quimi,_ and the dark dorsal color extends further onto the supralabials (see illustration in Franco _et al.,_ 1997).

_Clelia bicolor_ is the smallest species (maximum total length 990 mm; Fig. 3). _Clelia bicolor_ and _C. quimi_ generally have 8 supralabials on each side; the other _Clelia_ and _Boiruna_ generally have 7 (Appendix 1).

A dark dorsal stripe is seen in hatchling _C. bicolor, C. quimi,_ and _B. maculata._ A white nape band may be distinct in hatchlings or almost lacking.

_Description_ – Descriptions of _C. bicolor_ can be found in Peracca (1904), Scrocchi & Viñas (1990), Cei (1993), Zaher (1996), Franco _et al._ (1997) and Giraudo (2002). Photographs are in Cei (1993), Giraudo (2002), Scrocchi & Giraudo (2005), and Figure 8.

_Clelia bicolor_ is the smallest of the species under consideration; the smallest and largest of 52 specimens were 179 mm and 990 mm (Fig. 3). There is no significant difference between the lengths of the sexes (t–test; P>0.91).

_Clelia bicolor_ has fewer ventrals than any other species, but the tail is relatively long, and subcaudal counts overlap those of _C. quimi_ (Appendix 4, Fig. 4). Like _C. quimi,_ and in contrast to the other species, _C. bicolor_ usually has 8 supralabials on each side of the head (Appendix 1). The loreal is normal-sized, usually contacting supralabials 2 and 3 (Appendix 3, Fig. 1D).

The hemipenes of our small sample of _C. bicolor_ have two or three pairs of intrasulcal spines and 25–40 extrasulcal enlarged spines (Appendix 2). They are similar to the photographs in Zaher (1996, 1999).

Adult _C. bicolor_ have a dark, almost black, dorsal head color that contrasts sharply with the ivory-colored supralabials. Except for the side of the head, they are colored much like _C. quimi_ (Franco _et al.,_ 1997, Giraudo, 2002). The dorsal head color extends posteriorly as a dark dorsal stripe 9 scale rows wide. The sides are a dusky tan or gray, paler than the dorsal stripe. Underneath, the body and tail are clear ivory except for the lateral tips of the ventrals and a faint zigzag stripe of dark pigment down the center of the tail.

The largest snakes tend to be paler and more gray than the smaller specimens, which tend to be brown. _Clelia bicolor_ never shows the large, irregular white patches seen in some other species.

Hatchlings have a dark head dorsum, which color extends along the back of the body as an almost black stripe 3 scale rows wide (photograph in Giraudo, 2002). Lateral body scales are orange or red, and the venter is white. They usually have a white or orange collar that starts behind the parietals and extends posteriorly 3–4 scale rows. However even in hatchlings, the collar may be only faintly indicated. The collar is often partially or completely divided by the dark dorsal color; in extreme cases it may be reduced to a pair of white patches on the nape. The collar is gradually lost through ontogeny, although a faint indication may be seen even in some large adults.

Juveniles and young adults are tan laterally, sometimes with a pinkish hue (photograph in Giraudo, 2002). As the snake grows, the dark dorsal color invades the sides, until, in the largest specimens, it extends to the tips of the ventral scales (Cei, 1993). In the intermediate sizes, the lateral scales become reticulate, similar to the coloration in _C. rustica.

Distribution – Clelia bicolor_ is restricted to the Paraguay-Paraná river drainages in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina (Fig. 9). The presence of _C. bicolor_ in Tucumán Province needs to be confirmed. The locality cited by Zaher (1996; FML 0819) for Escaba, Río Marapa, is probably incorrect; no other specimens have been taken from this well-collected locality. The Horco Molle, Tucumán Province locality (CENAI 3806) may be correct. Isolated northern records from Jujuy Province have been recently reconfirmed (INBIAL 312, Jorge Baldo, pers. comm.)

Peruvian records referred to _C. bicolor_ (Dixon & Soini, 1986; Vanzolini, 1986) probably refer to a different species (Strussman & Sazima, 1993). The old Butantan record (IB 1818) from Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul in coastal southern Brazil is probably also incorrect (Bailey, 1970; Franco _et al.,_ 1997). Bailey's (1970) citation of San Luis Province, Argentina is distant from any other record and needs confirmation (Giraudo, 2002; Giraudo & Scrocchi, 2002).

Most of the habitat of _C. bicolor_ is Chaco, either dry forest or that subject to flooding. The Misiones Province, Argentina record by Cacivio (1999) extended the known range up the Paraná River into an area of transition between Humid Chaco and wet Atlantic Forest.

*Clelia clelia (Daudin 1803)*

_Coluber clelia_ Daudin, 1803: Original description, type locality: Surinam

_Brachyrhytum occipitoluteum;_ Boettger, 1885: Paraguay

_Oxyrhopus Cloelia_ (part.); Serié, 1915: Department Central, Paraguay

_Clelia clelia clelia;_ Bailey, 1970: Argentina and Paraguay

_Clelia clelia clelia_ (part.); Scrocchi & Viñas, 1990: Corrientes, Argentina and Department San Pedro, Paraguay

_Clelia clelia clelia_ (part.); Cei, 1993: Northwestern and eastern Argentina

_Clelia clelia_ (part.); Aquino _et al.,_ 1996: 6 departments in Paraguay

_Boiruna maculata_ (part.); Giraudo & Scrocchi, 2002: Argentina

_Boiruna maculata_ (part.); Giraudo, 2002: Northeastern Argentina

_Boiruna maculata_ (part.); Arzamendia & Giraudo, 2002: Santa Fe, Argentina

_Boiruna maculata_ (part.); Álvarez _et al.,_ 2002: Corrientes, Argentina

_Clelia clelia;_ Motte _et al.,_ 2004: Paraguay

_Taxonomic History_ – Because of the low number of ventrals, Boettger's (1885) _Brachyrhytum occipitoluteum_ from Paraguay is probably the first record of _C. clelia_ from the study area. Subsequently, from 1914 to 1979, a number of checklists recorded the species _"clelia"_ under the genera _Oxyrhopus, Pseudoboa,_ and _Clelia._ However, all or most of those citations, here placed in _Incertae Sedis,_ were composites of two or more species (_B. maculata, C. clelia, C. plumbea,_ and even _C. rustica_), and they may not have included any true _C. clelia._ Bailey (1970) was probably the only author during this period that had a clear concept of the limits of _C. clelia clelia._ Starting in about 1985, the taxa _C. occipitolutea_ (= _Boiruna maculata_) and true _C. clelia_ became confused under the name _C. clelia_ (e.g., Scrocchi & Viñas, 1990).

Two papers were pivotal in determining the concept of _C. clelia_ in Paraguay and Argentina. Scrocchi & Viñas (1990) codified the reigning confusion, explicitly combining all Argentine specimens of _C. occipitolutea_ and _C. clelia_ into one taxon: _C. c. clelia._ This taxonomy prevailed until Zaher (1996) showed that the correct name for _C. occipitolutea_ was _Boiruna maculata,_ and many Southern Cone specimens previously dubbed _C. clelia_ pertained to that species. He saw no specimens of true _C. clelia_ from localities south of Santa Cruz Province, Bolivia. This led subsequent authors to the conclusion that _B. maculata_ was the only member of the two taxa (_Boiruna maculata, C. clelia_) in Argentina and Paraguay. All citations of Argentine _B. maculata_ up to the present may include _C. clelia._

Zaher (1996) further clarified the taxonomic puzzle by recognizing _C. plumbea_ as a full species instead of a subspecies of _C. clelia._ This enabled Giraudo (2002) to separate specimens of _C. plumbea_ from his _Boiruna-C. clelia_ composite in northeastern Argentina. Although Giraudo (2002) recognized that specimens of _C. clelia_ from northeastern Argentina fit descriptions of that species, he provisionally placed them in _B. maculata_ because, according to Zaher (1996), _C. clelia_ did not occur anywhere near Argentina.

_Diagnosis_ – A low number of ventrals distinguishes most _C. clelia_ from the two other large species (_B. maculata_ and _C. plumbea_), although there is overlap in ventral scale counts of females of _C. clelia_ (maximum 218) and _B. maculata_ (minimum 214; Appendix 4, Fig. 4). Like _B. maculata, C. plumbea,_ and _C. rustica, C. clelia_ usually has 7 supralabials on each side (Appendix 1). The loreal of _C. clelia_ is usually larger than that of _C. plumbea,_ contacting supralabials 2 and 3; in _C. plumbea_ the loreal seldom contacts any but the second supralabial, or it may be indistinguishably fused with the postnasal or prefrontal (Appendix 3).

The adult ventral color pattern can differentiate _C. clelia_ and _B. maculata_. In _C. clelia,_ the dark dorsal coloration is present at least on the lateral tips of the ventral scales. In some specimens, the dark color extends towards the midventral line along the free edge of the ventral scale, but the center of the scale is usually free of dark pigment. Exceptionally the entire free border of posterior ventrals may be pigmented, but the entire ventral is never completely dark-colored as in _B. maculata._

Giraudo (2002) discovered a color pattern detail that separates adult _C. clelia_ and _C. plumbea._ Both species are dark gray or black dorsally, with largely ivory venters. However, in _C. plumbea,_ the border between the dark dorsal color and the ivory venter forms a straight line on the lateral tips of the ventrals (Fig. 1, photograph in Giraudo, 2002). In _C. clelia,_ this border is dentate, with the dark color extending further on the free margin of the ventral than it does on the base of the scale (Fig. 1; photograph in Kempff Mercado, 1975).

Coloration in hatchling _C. clelia_ and _C. plumbea_ are similar. Both have uniformly red dorsal body scales, a black spot on the anterior dorsum, preceded by a white nape band and a black head cap (Fig. 10). Ventral surfaces are mostly white with some black pigment under the tail and on the chin. Hatchlings of _B. maculata, C. bicolor_ and _C. quimi_ may have red lateral scales, a white collar, and a dark head cap; but they also have a dark stripe the same color as the head cap down the center of the back.

_Description_ – There are no descriptions of _C. clelia_ from the Southern Cone that are not mixed with those of other large species, usually _B. maculata_ or _C. plumbea._ Zaher's (1996) description is uncontaminated by observations on other species, but it is sketchy and covers the species throughout its huge distribution. His southernmost specimens were from central Bolivia. Kempff Mercado (1975) has a photograph of a Bolivian specimen, and Figure 11 is an Argentine specimen.










_Clelia clelia_ vies with _C. plumbea_ for being the largest member of the genus (Fig. 3). The total lengths of the smallest and largest of 19 _C. clelia_ were 421 mm and 2200 mm. In our sample, there is no difference in size between the sexes (t–test; P>0.52).

_Clelia clelia_ in Argentina and Paraguay has 193218 ventrals, 6288 subcaudals, and generally 7 supralabials (rarely 8 or 9; Appendix 1 and 4, Fig. 4). The loreal scale is of a size normal for most colubrids, contacting the second and third supralabials (Appendix 3, Fig. 2A).

The hemipenis of _C. clelia,_ illustrated and described by Zaher (1996), shows a large degree of variation. With one exception, our specimens have a relatively low number of extrasulcal spines (1522; Appendix 2). A specimen from northeastern Paraguay (MNHP 6695) that is geographically and ecologically isolated from the remainder of our sample has 37 extrasulcal spines (Fig. 12). The _C. clelia_ hemipenis illustrated by Zaher (1996: Plate 4) from French Guiana is spineless except for a pair of extremely large extrasulcal spines. This hemipenis is so different from any that we observed that it may belong to a separate species; alternatively, it may belong to a hybrid or intergrade with _C. plumbea,_ which has a spineless hemipenis.

cont....


----------



## loxocemus

The number of intrasulcal spines is also variable (Appendix 2). Most specimens have a single pair of spines, but MNHNP 3957 has only a single intrasulcal spine, and FML 11964 has none. The intrasulcal spines are unusually large in MNHNP 8489 from Paraguay.

Adult _C. clelia_ are a uniform dark gray or black dorsally, with an essentially ivory-colored venter. Supralabials and infralabials are dusky, forming a transition between the dorsal and ventral colors. The lateral tips of the ventrals are dark like the dorsum. In some specimens, the dark color extends towards the midventral line along the free edge of the ventral scale. The center of the ventral scale is usually free of dark pigment. Exceptionally, the entire free border of posterior ventrals may be pigmented, but the entire ventral scale is never completely dark-colored. The underside of the tail often has a dark zigzag stripe where the pairs of subcaudals meet.

As in _B. maculata, C. plumbea,_ and some _Pseudoboa,_ occasional specimens of _C. clelia_ can have large irregular blotches of white pigment.

Hatchling _C. clelia_ have a bright red body dorsum and a white venter. A black cap covers the head, extending latero-ventrally as dusky coloration on the supralabials and mental. The cap may only reach the anterior tips of the parietals, or it may cover them. A white nape band follows the black cap, extending 34 scale rows posterior to the parietals. A black blotch 69 scale rows long and extending down the sides of the neck follows the white band. The underside of the tail may have a dark zigzag down the center and the tip may be black. A black-and-white photograph is in Dixon & Soini (1986).

As the juveniles grow, black pigment appears on the free tip of each dorsal scale. The pattern results in an overall darkening of the red body and white collar, but it never appears reticulate, as it may in juveniles of all of the other species except _C. plumbea._ The middorsal scales begin to darken first, but there is never a distinct middorsal stripe as in juvenile _B. maculata, C. bicolor,_ and _C. quimi._ Further extension of the dark pigment results in the unicolor dorsum seen in adults. Faint indications of the white collar may persist in small adults.

_Distribution_ – _Clelia clelia_ has the widest distribution of any pseudoboine snake-indeed it has one of the largest ranges of any New World snake. From the northern limits in central México it extends south through Paraguay to central Argentina (Bailey, 1970). It is widespread in tropical México, Central America, and South America north of the Amazon River, but Zaher (1996) had only four records south of the Amazon, in Perú and Bolivia. Our recognition that _C. clelia_ occurs in Argentina and Paraguay extends the accepted distribution more than 900 km south of Santa Cruz, Bolivia to Santa Fe Province, Argentina.

Strussman & Sazima (1993) recorded the species from the Panatanal of western Brazil, and it may occur in the poorly sampled area where Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay come together. However, the Strussman & Sazima specimens may be _B. maculata,_ which may also occur in the area.

In Paraguay and Argentina, _C. clelia_ is found along the Río Paraguay in the upper Chaco, usually in areas subject to occasional flooding. The distribution extends eastward along large tributaries into moist forests in eastern Paraguay.

*Clelia plumbea (Wied-Neuwied 1820)*

_Coluber plumbeus_ Wied-Neuwied, 1820: Type locality: Between Cabo Frio and Rio São João, Brazil

_Clelia clelia plumbea;_ Bailey, 1970: Misiones, Argentina

_Clelia clelia plumbea;_ Abalos & Mischis, 1975: Argentina

_Clelia clelia;_ Acosta _et al.,_ 1994: Misiones, Argentina.

_Clelia clelia clelia;_ Duré Rodas, 1995: Eastern Paraguay

_Clelia clelia_ ssp. (part.); Chebez, 1996: Misiones, Argentina

_Clelia clelia_ (part.); Aquino _et al.,_ 1996: Paraguay

_Clelia plumbea;_ Zaher, 1996; Asunción, Paraguay (incorrect locality)

_Clelia plumbea;_ Giraudo & Scrocchi, 2002: Argentina

_Clelia plumbea;_ Giraudo, 2002: Northeastern Argentina

_Taxonomic History_ – It is difficult to say if the earlier workers on Paraguayan-Argentinean snakes had specimens of _C. plumbea_ that they did not distinguish from _Boiruna_ or _C. clelia._ The first explicit recognition of the taxon in the area was Bailey (1970), who considered it a subspecies of _C. clelia._ He did not explain the large area of apparent overlap between _C. clelia clelia_ and _C. c. plumbea_ in southern Brazil and eastern Argentina. Zaher (1996) cleared up that confusion by recognizing that _C. plumbea_ was a valid species. He recorded a specimen from Asunción, Paraguay; however the locality is probably incorrect.

Abalos & Mischis (1975) first recorded the species from Argentina, but its presence was not acknowledged again until Giraudo (2002) and Giraudo & Scrocchi (2002) recognized it in northeastern Argentina.

_Diagnosis_ – Adult _C. plumbea_ differ from _Boiruna_ in having dark pigmentation only on the outer lateral tips of the ventral scales; _Boiruna_ has posterior ventrals that are completely covered with dark pigmentation. They may be distinguished from _C. clelia_ by the higher number of ventrals (Appendix 4, Fig. 4) and by the straight line (dentate in _C. clelia_) on the tips of the ventrals demarking the change between the dark dorsal color and the ivory venter (Fig. 1; Giraudo, 2002). The smallest species (_C. bicolor, C. quimi_) also have fewer ventrals. Ventral counts for the intermediate-sized form, _C. rustica,_ overlap slightly with counts for _C. plumbea_ (Appendix 4, Fig. 4).

_Clelia plumbea_ tends to have a smaller loreal than the other species (Fig. 2B); it was the only species that occasionally lacked a loreal when it was fused with either the posterior nasal or the prefrontal (Appendix 3). In all but one specimen, the loreal was absent or only contacted the second supralabial; in one specimen, the loreal touched supralabials 2 and 3 on both sides of the head. In _B. maculata_ and _C. rustica,_ about half of the loreals contacted one scale and half touched two supralabials; in the rest of the species the loreal always had a joint suture with two or even three supralabials.

Hatchling _C. plumbea_ are colored like _C. clelia,_ with a red body, white venter and nape band, and a black dorsal head and neck spot (photograph in Giraudo, 2002; Fig. 10). Ontogentic color changes proceed as in _C. clelia._ They lack the dark dorsal stripe of _B. maculata_ and _C. bicolor,_ and are not uniformly colored like hatchling _C. rustica.

Description_ – Giraudo (2002) has the only description of _C. plumbea_ from the study area. _Clelia plumbea_ may be longest species of _Clelia;_ in our collection, the shortest and longest were 435 mm and 2300 mm total length. Zaher (1996) recorded a female with a total length of 2585 mm. There is probably no significant difference in length between the sexes (t–test; P>0.07), although the largest specimens are usually females.

_Clelia plumbea_ has a relatively high number of ventrals (215–240) and subcaudals (69–90; Appendix 4, Fig. 4). They usually have 7 supralabials on each side (Appendix 1). The relatively small loreal is discussed in the Diagnosis above.

The hemipenis of _C. plumbea_ entirely lacks enlarged spines (Appendix 2, Zaher, 1996 with photograph, 1999).

Adults are very similar in color to _C. clelia,_ with a dark gray or black dorsum and ventral scales that are mostly ivory with dark tips. A dark zigzag is usually present along the suture where the pairs of subcaudals meet. The supraoculars are dusky and there may be some melanin on the infralabials and mental. Like some related species, specimens may be irregularly spotted with white. We see no differences between the coloration and ontogeny of coloration of juvenile _C. clelia_ and _C. plumbea;_ see the former description and Giraudo (2002) for details.

_Distribution_ – Although Bailey (1970) recognized the presence of _Clelia plumbea_ in Misiones Province, Argentina, Zaher (1996) had the first published report of a specimen from the study area. However, the Instituto Butantan specimen (IB 10100) from "Assunción" is almost certainly an incorrect locality. All of the other records from the study area are in the wet Atlantic forests close to the Parana River (Fig. 12).

*Clelia quimi Franco, Marquez and Puorto 1997*

_Clelia bicolor_ (part.); Aquino _et al.,_ 1996: Departamento Itapúa, Paraguay

_Clelia quimi_ Franco, Marques, y Puorto, 1997: Type locality: Itu, São Paulo, Brazil

_Clelia quimi;_ Giraudo, 1999: Posadas, Misiones Province, Argentina

_Clelia quimi;_ Giraudo & Scrocchi, 2002: Argentina

_Clelia quimi;_ Giraudo, 2002: Northeastern Argentina

_Clelia quimi;_ Giraudo & Arzamendia, 2004: Río Paraná drainage, Argentina

_Taxonomic History_ – _Clelia quimi_ was described from southern Brazil (Franco _et al.,_ 1997). In the past, populations of this species have been confused with _C. bicolor.

Diagnosis_ – The low number of ventrals (186–205) distinguishes _C. quimi_ from _B. maculata_ and _C. plumbea_ (Appendix 4, Fig. 4). It seems to invariably have 8 supralabials on each side, in contrast to _B. maculata, C. clelia, C. plumbea,_ and _C. rustica,_ which usually have 7 (Franco _et al.,_ 1997; Appendix 1). It is a medium-sized species (maximum total length 1277 mm; Fig. 3, Franco _et al.,_ 1997).

_Clelia quimi_ is most similar to _C. bicolor_ in size, color, and squamation; it differs in having a higher number of ventrals (186–205 vs. 165–177) and in details of coloration. The line of demarcation on the sides of the head between the dark dorsal color and the light ventral color is sharp and distinct on the dorsal border of the supralabials in _C. bicolor;_ in _C. quimi_ the dorsal color fades gradually, continuing as a dusky color over the entire supralabial (Franco _et al.,_ 1997).

_Description_ – _Clelia quimi_ is a medium-sized species; our four specimens were 370–955 in total length (Fig. 3), although Franco _et al._ (1997) had a specimen 1277 mm long. _Clelia quimi_ has a relatively low number of ventrals (186–205) and subcaudals (6074) (Appendix 4, Fig. 4). _Clelia quimi_ has 8 supralabials on each side of the head (Appendix 1). The loreal is like the stereotypic colubrid pattern in size and position, contacting 2 supralabials (Appendix 3).

The hemipenis of _C. quimi_ is illustrated in Franco _et al._ (1997) and Zaher (1999). It most resembles the hemipenes of _C. bicolor_ and _C. rustica;_ all three species have more than one pair of enlarged intrasulcal spines (Appendix 2).

Except for the differences in the color pattern on the side of the head described in the Diagnosis, adult _C. quimi_ are colored very much like _C. bicolor._ The dorsal dark stripe is 9 scale rows wide, the paler (pink?) sides are reticulate and the venter is clear. Indications of a pale collar may persist, especially on the sides of the neck. The large, irregular white patches found in some other pseudoboines have not been seen in _C. quimi._

The coloration of a live specimen described as "adult" by Franco _et al._ (1997) is probably a large juvenile (total length 480 mm). It had a dark head and vertebral stripe 7 scale rows wide, with scarlet sides of the body and a white venter. The supralabials were paler than the head dorsum.

The coloration of live hatchlings has not been published. Franco _et al._ (1997) described a color pattern of a preserved juvenile that was very similar to that of _C. bicolor_ and _B. maculata;_ consisting of a dark head, a light nape band interrupted dorsally, a dark dorsal stripe, and pink (red?) sides. These authors did not mention the ventral color.

_Distribution_ – Giraudo (1999) recorded the first specimen known from our area, from Posadas, Misiones Province, Argentina. The two specimens in the MNHNP from Departamento Itapúa are the first records from Paraguay. The two localities are on the upper Parana River in wet Atlantic forest (Fig. 9).

*Clelia rustica (Cope 1878)*

_Oxyrhopus rusticus_ Cope, 1878[1877]: Type locality: Argentina

_Oxyrhopus rusticus;_ Boulenger, 1896: Argentina

_Oxyrhopus rusticus;_ Berg, 1898; Argentina

_Oxyrrhopus maculatus;_ Boettger, 1898: Buenos Aires, Argentina

_Oxyrrhopus rusticus;_ Boettger, 1898: Buenos Aires, Argentina

_Oxyrhopus rusticus;_ Koslowski, 1898: Argentina

_Pseudoboa rustica;_ Serié, 1921: Argentina

_Pseudoboa rustica;_ Serié, 1936: Argentina

_Pseudoboa rustica;_ Saporiti, 1946: La Pampa, Argentina

_Pseudoboa rustica;_ Amaral, 1925: Tucumán, Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Bailey 1970: Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Abalos & Mischis, 1975: Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Gallardo, 1976: Buenos Aires, Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Gallardo, 1977: Buenos Aires, Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Laurent & Terán, 1981: Tucumán, Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Miranda _et al.,_ 1983: Buenos Aires, Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Halloy and Laurent, 1984: Northern Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Cei, 1986: Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Scrocchi & Viñas, 1990: Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Cei, 1993: Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Chebez, 1996: Misiones, Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Zaher, 1996: Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Giraudo & Arzamendia, 1997a: Mendoza, Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Giraudo & Arzamendia, 1997b: Santa Fe, Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Leynaud & Bucher, 1999: Gran Chaco, Argentina and Paraguay

_Clelia rustica;_ Cabrera, 2001: Interior Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Giraudo & Scrocchi, 2002: Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Giraudo, 2002: Northeastern Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Arzamendia & Giraudo, 2002: Santa Fe, Argentina

_Clelia rustica;_ Scolaro, 2005: Patagonia.

_Taxonomic History_ – After Cope (1878) described _C. rustica_ from Argentina, it was discovered in southern Brazil and Uruguay, but all of the records from "Paraguay" are suspect, as we have seen no specimens from the country. It almost certainly occurs in southeastern Paraguay, and Bertoni (1914) may have observed it, but Schouten (1931, 1937) and Gatti (1955) seemed to be simply copying Bertoni. The _C. rustica_ record in Aquino _et al._ (1996) is based on a specimen that has been reidentified as _B. maculata._ This publication is probably the source of the erroneous Paraguayan Chaco record in Leynaud & Bucher (1999), showing the errors that can be made by uncritically using museum lists without examining the specimens.

_Diagnosis_ – The reticulate dorsal color pattern and olive ground color can distinguish all specimens of _C. rustica,_ except the rare unicolor exceptions, from the other species treated here (Fig. 13). Hatchlings may lack the pale nuchal collar that is present in all of the other species. In contrast to _C. bicolor_ and _C. quimi, C. rustica_ usually has 7 supralabials (Appendix 1). The snout is short, and the loreal scale often touches the first supralabial, a condition seen only rarely in _Boiruna_ and not at all in the other species (Appendix 3).










Many or all of the various records of _C. rustica_ from Paraguay are probably based on specimens of _Boiruna_ with a _rustica_-like reticulate pattern on the sides of the body. True _C. rustica_ have a uniform dorsal pattern (Fig. 13), and lack the broad dark dorsal stripe present in these _Boiruna._

The hemipenis of _C. rustica_ is spined, not spineless as in _C. plumbea,_ with usually two pairs of intrasulcal spines (Zaher, 1996); _C. clelia_ and _Boiruna_ never have more than one pair of intrasulcal spines (Appendix 2).

_Description_ – Descriptions of _C. rustica_ can be found in Cope (1878), Achaval (1973), Gallardo (1977), Cei (1986, 1993), Scrocchi & Viñas (1990), Zaher (1996), Achaval & Olmos (1997, 2003), Giraudo (2002), and Carreira _et al._ (2005). Photographs of adults are in Cei (1993) Achaval & Olmos (1997, 2003), and Scolaro (2005), Halloy and Laurent (1984) and Yanosky (1989a) have the same photograph of a large juvenile, and Giraudo (2002) has a photograph of the venter of a preserved juvenile.

_Clelia rustica_ is middle-sized, being larger than _C. bicolor_ and _C. quimi_ but smaller than _Boiruna, C. clelia,_ and _C. plumbea_ (Fig. 3). Total lengths of the smallest and largest _C. rustica_ that we observed were 224 mm and 1583 mm, respectively.

Ventral counts for _C. rustica_ (187224) overlap those of all of the other species except _C. bicolor_ (Appendix 4, Fig. 4). _Clelia rustica_ has a relatively short tail; tail proportions are shorter than those of _C. bicolor, C. plumbea, C. quimi,_ and probably _C. clelia_ (Fig. 5). The species has a lower range of subcaudal counts (45–69; Appendix 4) than any of the other species considered here.

The hemipenis of _C. rustica_ is illustrated in Zaher (1996). According to him, there are two pairs of intrasulcal spines and 16–17 enlarged spines on each side of the _sulcus._ We found more variation in our small sample, with fewer extrasulcal spines and 1–3 pairs of intrasulcal spines (Appendix 2).

Juvenile and adult _C. rustica_ are similarly colored. Only the very smallest specimens may have a white collar (Gallardo, 1977). The dorsal ground color is usually a clear to dark yellowish-olive, with contrasting dark pigment on the bases the scales. The scales on the dorsum of the head may be edged in black. The dark pigment may be quite diffuse and occasional specimens may be almost unicolor (CENAI 3303, 3063; see Cei, 1993). Ventral scales are more yellow than the dorsal ground color. In contrast to other Southern Cone species of _Clelia_ and _Boiruna,_ where dark pigment invades the ventrals along their lateral and free margins, _C. rustica_ may or may not have black pigment along the bases of the ventrals (Zaher, 1996). In extreme cases the ventrals may be almost entirely black (photograph of CENAI 3083 in Giraudo, 2002: Plate 6). The large, irregular white patches found in other large pseudoboines are not seen in _C. rustica.

Distribution_ – The first member of the _Clelia-Boiruna_ group to be reported from the area was Cope's (1878) original description of _Oxyrhopus rusticus_ (now _Clelia rustica_) from the Page Expedition to Argentina and Paraguay. Cope's specimen probably came from present-day Argentina.

_Clelia rustica_ is endemic to the Southern Cone, including Uruguay (Achaval Elena, 2001). It is a temperate forest and steppe species that enters the tropical zone only in the cool Atlantic Forest and the foothills of the Andes in northern Argentina (Fig. 14). The _"C. rustica"_ cited by Yanosky _et al.,_ (1996) for Formosa, Argentina is a _C. bicolor_ (Scrocchi & Giraudo, 2005). The species is the southernmost member of the genus _Clelia_ (Marcus _et al.,_ 2000).










A reviewer raised the intriguing possibility that the newly described _Clelia langeri_ (Reichle & Embert, 2005) from Bolivia might be present among the snakes in northwestern Argentina that we identified as _C. rustica._ We reexamined 57 specimens of _C. rustica_ in the collection of the Fundación Miguel Lillo (FML) from the provinces of Jujuy, Salta, and Tucumán. None had the two pairs of loreals and 21 nuchal scale rows that distinguish _C. langeri_ from all other _Clelia,_ and their ventral and subcaudal numbers were much lower than those of _C. langeri.

*Incertae Sedis*

Oxyrhopus Cloelia;_ Berg, 1898; Argentina

_Oxyrhopus Cloelia;_ Koslowski, 1898: Argentina

_Oxyrhopus maculatus;_ Koslowski, 1898: Argentina

_Oxyrhopus Cloelia;_ Bertoni, 1913: Paraguay

_Oxyrhopus Cloelia;_ Bertoni, 1914: Paraguay

_Oxyrhopus occipitoluteus;_ Bertoni, 1914: Paraguay

_Oxyrhopus rusticus;_ Bertoni, 1914: Paraguay?

_Oxyrhopus Cloelia;_ Bertoni, 1921: Paraguay

_Pseudoboa cloelia;_ Serié, 1919: Argentina

_Pseudoboa maculata;_ Serié, 1919: Argentina

_Pseudoboa cloelia;_ Serié, 1921: Argentina

_Pseudoboa maculata;_ Serié, 1921: Argentina

_Pseudoboa cloelia;_ Schouten, 1931: Paraguay

_Pseudoboa rusticus;_ Schouten, 1931: Paraguay

_Pseudoboa cloelia;_ Serié, 1936: Argentina

_Pseudoboa maculata;_ Serié, 1936: Argentina

_Pseudoboa occipitolutea;_ Serié, 1936: Chaco, Argentina

_Pseudoboa cloelia;_ Schouten, 1937: Paraguay

_Pseudoboa rusticus;_ Schouten, 1937: Paraguay

_Pseudoboa occipitoluteus;_ Schouten, 1937: Paraguay

_Oxyrhopus Cloelia;_ Bertoni, 1939: Paraguay

_Pseudoboa cloelia;_ Freiberg, 1939: Entre Ríos, Argentina

_Pseudoboa maculata;_ Freiberg, 1939; Entre Ríos, Argentina

_Pseudoboa occipitolutea;_ Freiberg, 1939; Entre Ríos, Argentina

_Pseudoboa cloelia;_ Abalos, 1949: Argentina

_Pseudoboa cloelia;_ Fernández Barrán & Freiberg, 1951. Argentina

_Pseudoboa cloelia;_ Gatti, 1955: Paraguay

_Pseudoboa occipitolutea;_ Gatti, 1955: Paraguay

_Pseudoboa rustica;_ Gatti, 1955: Paraguay

_Clelia occipitolutea;_ Talbot, 1979: Paraguay

_Clelia clelia;_ Talbot, 1979: Paraguay

_Clelia clelia;_ Gallardo, 1979: Argentina

_Clelia clelia;_ López & Álvarez, 1985: Corrientes, Argentina

_Clelia_ sp.; López & Álvarez, 1985: Corrientes, Argentina

_Clelia clelia clelia;_ Cei, 1986: Western, central, and southern Argentina

_Clelia clelia clelia;_ Cei, 1993: Northwestern and eastern Argentina

_Clelia clelia_ ssp.; Chebez, 1996: Misiones, Argentina

_Discussion_ – _Clelia clelia_ has the largest geographical distribution of the species in our study area, but _B. maculata_ has the widest ecological amplitude, tolerating xerophytic habitats in the Monte Desert and the dry Chaco, but also penetrating wet habitats in the Humid Chaco and, in Argentina, the forests of Misiones Province and the Mesopotamian Region between the Paraná and Uruguay rivers. The two species are sympatric in the Humid Chaco along the Paraguay and Paraná rivers. _Boiruna maculata_ seems to be less common in wet forests and areas subject to inundation along the large rivers, where it may be replaced by _Clelia clelia_ or _Clelia plumbea_ (Figs. 7 and 12).

As described by Giraudo (2002), the zone of transition along the Upper Paraná River (below Posadas), between the western open plant formations of the Humid Chaco and the eastern wet Atlantic forests, is an important area of mixing and parapatry for various pairs of snake species and subspecies.

Two pairs of species of _Clelia_ are parapatric in this region. _Clelia clelia_ in the Upper Paraná is replaced by _C. plumbea_ in the Alto Paraná watershed, and sympatry is unknown (Fig. 12). In fact, parapatry between _C. clelia_ to the west and _C. plumbea_ to the east seems to be the pattern throughout their ranges (Zaher, 1996). _Clelia bicolor_ also seems to be parapatric with _C. quimi_ in this same part of the Paraná River.

To a large degree, the distribution of _C. rustica_ is parapatric to that of _C. bicolor; C. rustica_ being a species of cooler forest and steppe, and _C. bicolor_ inhabiting the warmer, drier Chaco habitats. The distributions of the two species overlap each other only in extreme northern Argentina in the Andean foothill province of Jujuy, possibly in Tucumán and Salta, and on the Lower Paraná (Figs. 9 and 14).

The variation in the size and position of the scales of the snout, especially the loreal region may be of phylogenetic and ecological importance (Appendix 3, Fig. 2). _Clelia clelia, C. bicolor,_ and _C. quimi_ have a single loreal of "normal" colubrid size and position, that is, it spans parts of the second and third supralabials. In our species, we detected two distinct trends away from this configuration: A tendency to reduce or eliminate the loreal (_B. maculata, C. plumbea_), and a tendency to both reduce the loreal and shorten the length of the snout, so that the loreal often contacts the first supralabial (_C. rustica_). A third trend is seen in the recently described Bolivian species, _C. langeri,_ which has two loreals (Reichle & Embert, 2005). The ecological significance of these differences in number, size, and position of the loreal is not clear.

With regards to the loreal, _B. maculata_ is the most variable species. It has a somewhat reduced loreal; about half the time, the loreal is completely included in the second supralabial; in two instances, there was the tendency for the loreal to be in a more forward position, contacting the first supralabial. _Clelia rustica_ also shows reduction in loreal size; the loreal contacts only a single supralabial in almost 1/3 of the examples. A more forward loreal position is common; in the majority of cases, the loreal contacts the first supralabial. In _C. plumbea,_ the loreal is most reduced; in the majority of cases it contacts only the second supralabial, and it is occasionally missing, its position being filled by extensions of either the prefrontal or postnasal or both (Appendix 3, Fig. 2).

A major character that Zaher (1996) used to diagnose the new genus _Boiruna_ was the absence of enlarged spines in the intrasulcal region of the hemipenis, contrasting it with their presence in the genus _Clelia._ Two of our specimens of _C. clelia_ also lacked one or both of these spines (Appendix 2).



*ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS*

We thank Nora K. de Pérez Carbajal (FML), who drew Figure 2, Vanesa Arzamendia (INALI) who helped construct the maps, and Sonia Kretzschmar (FML), who wrote the Portuguese abstract. We are also indebted to the following people who helped us examine specimens in their care: Beatriz B. Álvarez and Jorge A. Céspedez (UNNEC), Esteban Lavilla, Sonia Kretzschmar, and Marta Cánepa (FML), Jorge Baldo (INBIAL), Gustavo Carrizo (CENAI, CFA, MACN), Andrés Duré (MAI), Karina Núñez and Francisco Brusquetti (MNHNP), Jorge Williams (MLP), H. Lagiglia (MSR), and Robert P. Reynolds and Steve Gotte (USNM). Reviewers were helpful in pointing out errors and inconsistencies, and for suggesting that _C. langeri_ might occur in Argentina. Our respective spouses and companions provided the time, space, and understanding necessary for us to complete the task.


Now if that doesn't explain the confusion well, tough!

rgds
ed


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## loxocemus

*QUICKCARE* *for Porphyraceus (Oreocryptophis porphyraceus coxi, applies to Latacinctus , Pulchra and Vaillanti as well)*

Day temps- 68-85 degrees F
Night temps- 64-72 degrees F


Setup- A good soil substrate works great for adults, well moistened. Cypress Mulch also works well. We use paper towels or Cypress for hatchlings. Small, tight hide spots, good sized water dish, separate hide spot with moistened sphagnum moss. Be sure to maintain higher humidity areas, and be sure to have LOWER temp areas to offset your warmer areas.

Daily care- Keep substrate and sphagnum misted, moisture is important. Spot clean as necessary.

Feeding- Feed one appropriately sized mouse once a week. Thawed prey items are typically fine, these are very enthusiastic feeders.

Notes- These snakes are kept in Pro Exotics coolest room, in the coolest spot. They dehydrate in dry setups, which is the most common captive husbandry problem. Aspen bedding is NOT a suitable substrate.










-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Thai Red Mountain Ratsnake Care Guide Written by Sue Knight *

*Common Name:* Thai Red mountain Ratsnake/Racer

*Widely accepted Scientific Name: *_Oreocryptophis porphyraceus coxi_ (Schulz & Helfenberger, 1998)
*Previous Scientific Name:* _Elaphe porphyracea coxi_

*Etymology*
_Oreocryptophis_
*Greek: *oreo meaning Mountain
*Greek:* kryptos meaning hidden or secretive
*Greek:* ophis meaning Snake

_porphyraceus_
*Greek:* porphyra means Purple, Red
acea: suffix denoting orders and classes in zoology, belonging to, of the nature of

_coxi_
Named after Merel J. Cox, herpetologist and author including: Snakes of Thailand and Their Husbandry

*Ventral Scale Count:* 213
*Sub-Caudal:* 62
*Dorsal: *19










*Introduction
*
The front cover of "A Monograph of the Colubrid Snakes of the Genus _Elaphe _Fitzinger by Klaus-Dieter Schultz (commonly referred to as 'The Ratsnake Bible') has a beautiful specimen depicted on the front cover and was responsible for creating a huge "buzz" within the hobby at the time of it's release. It was THE snake that every Ratsnake enthusiast at that time dreamt of having in their collection. Nearly 15 years later andThe Thai Red Mountain Ratsnake is still a very sought after species, which is becoming more readily available and affordable.

There are several subspecies of the Red mountain Ratsnake as listed below, _O. p. coxi _is unique amongst these, as it is the only one that is born striped, and does not undergo an ontenogenic pattern/colour change. although as they mature they will loose a little of the juvenile brightness.

Four of the _porphyraceus_ subspecies are being bred in captivity with some regularity at present these being, _coxi, latincincta, pulchra _and _vaillanti_. The nominate species _O.p.p_ has been bred on a few occasions.


*Brief Taxonomic History*

Thai Red Mountain Ratsnakes belong to the family Colubridae, which resides in the subfamily Colubrinae, they further belong to the genus _Oreocryptophis_, species _porphyraceus_ and subspecies (trinominal name) _coxi_. The species porphyraceus has eight subspecies of which seven are recognized, the subspecies _nigrofasciata _has been denoted as synomoumous_ with O. p. vaillanti_

First described in 1998 by Schulz & Helfenberger, this species has formerly been known by two other names; _Elaphe porphyracea coxi_ and _Oreophis porphyraceus_ _coxi._

In 2002 Utiger, Schätti, Helfenberger and colleagues demonstrated that along with some other Asiatic ‘Elaphe’ species that the Thai Red Mountain Ratsnakes were not closely related to other species in the former encompass all Elaphe genus, and moved all of the subspecies into their own genus. The generic name of “_Oreophis_” was proposed but this was in error as this is preoccupied by _Oreophis boulengeri _DUGÈS 1897, a synonym of _Lampropeltis mexicana_.

Such name changes are common, as studies into Ratsnake systematics shed more light on the understanding of the relationship (phylogeny) between them and subsequently their evolution from a single common ancestor (monophyletic relationship or paraphyletic relationship if not all of the descendants are represented in a particular lineage).

The proposal above is readily accepted by those who wish to differentiate between Asiatic ‘Racer-like Ratsnakes’ and their more_ Elaphe_-like Ratsnake cousins e.g._ E. schrencki, _(Russian Ratsnake)_ E. dione, _(Dione Ratsnake) _E. climacophora _(Japanese ratsnake)_._

*Subspecies*
Red Mountain Ratsnake - _O. p. porphyraceus _(Cantor, 1839)
Thai Red Mountain Ratsnake - _O. p. coxi _(Schulz & Helfenberger, 1998)
Yunnan Mountain Ratsnake_ - O. p. pulchra _(Schmidt, 1925)
Hainan Bamboo Ratsnake - _O. p. hainana_ (MELL, 1929)
Taiwan Bamboo Ratsnake - _O. p. kawakamii _(Oshima, 1911)
Chinese Bamboo Ratsnake - _O. p. vaillanti _(Sauvage, 1876)
Broad Banded Mountain Ratsnake - _O. p. laticinctus_ (Schulz & Helfenberger, 1998)
Red Bamboo Snake - _O. p. nigrofasciata_ (Cantor, 1839)

* Natural History:*
Thai Red Mountain Ratsnakes live in the damp undergrowth of sub-tropical semi evergreen mountain forests, at altitudes over 800 meters in the provinces of Loei and Petchaban in Northeast Thailand. To date they have only been found in the Dong Phaya Yen Mountains, once known as Dong Phaya Fai or 'Jungle of the Fire Lord' because the area was once a vast forest where malaria was rife. Due to deforestation in the early 20th century, its name was changed to Dong Phaya Yen ' the wild forest has been tamed'. The forests are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site which will help conserve it from the building of luxury hotels and golf courses for the tourist trade.

*Captive Origins*
It is commonly believed that at this time that all captive bred specimens originated from one European Breeder, Klaus-Dieter Schulz. The original animals where collected from the Loei region of Thailand in 1994 and imported into the USA, where they were then exported to Klaus. From the group of animals he received, only a few survived. He successfully bred this species in the late 90's and it is these that are the source of all captive bred _O. p. coxi _worldwide. Some of the first hatchlings from this breeding were exported to the Pro Exotics in the USA who have been successful in breeding and supplying hobbyists there since the year 2000.

*Size:*
One of the smaller Ratsnake species, emerging from their eggs at an average hatchling size of 10" (25cm). They grow at an incredible speed and can double their size in the first year. Adults on average attain lengths of 30-36" (76-91cm).*

Temperament:*
Thai Red Mountain Ratsnakes are a shy species that react with surprising speed, agility and defensiveness to disturbances in their enclosure. This is particularly true of juveniles and simply entering there enclosure will see them darting at lightening speed past you in a bid for freedom. When disturbed if flight is not an option they will stand there ground and defend themselves. Often they get so agitated that they somersault when attempting to strike. Some subtle signs to look out for is their head raised off the substrate and the tail which will often curl into a spiral when they get nervous.

The temperament of adult snakes can be quite variable with some calming down, but as a rule all remain nervous to some degree. Very much a flight or fight species.

This is not a species to handle recreationally, and doing so may stress the animal into refusing food. The warmth of our hands is another consideration, which for a species that likes cool temperatures, must feel very uncomfortable if handled for any extended length of time.

One other note on behavioural traits is how occasionally they are found resting totally upside down under a hide with their pearly white belly upper-most. This can be worrying for those who first witness this behaviour, which has also been noted in at least one other species (_Rhadinophis (Gonyosoma) prasinus_). The reason why they do this has not really been researched but might be related to body temperature regulation.
*
Diet:*
In captivity _O. p. coxi _will readily accept a diet of rodents. They have a marked preference for smaller food items and larger items may be ignored or constricted and left. Therefore it is recommended to offer several smaller food items rather than one larger one. Both sexes have voracious appetites and it is easy to over feed, which can result in fatty deposits being laid down near the vent and around the internal organs which can lead to premature death.

Hatchlings will readily accept small pinkies as their first meal, with a feeding regime of approximately every five to seven days for the first six months with the size and quantity of food being increased as they grow. Stubborn feeders maybe enticed into eating by offering multi mammate mice which they seem to be particularly fond of.

A feeding regime of approx every 5 days for breeding females is advised, for the males or non producing females every 10-14 days is adequate to maintain good body weight and meet nutritional needs. The intense feeding schedule for breeding females is essential to maintain good body weight because of there prolific breeding abilities. Reducing this food intake after a clutch, may successfully reduce the rate at which they reproduce, with a view to a more sensible regime for curtailing the rate at which they are physically capable of reproduction.

As a general guide when feeding snakes the meal you offer them should only just be seen in the stomach, if the scales are stretched around the stomach after you have fed a food item next time offer something smaller, like wise if you can't see that the snake has eaten then increase the size or quantity of the next meal.

Food items should be thoroughly defrosted before being offered and slightly warmed through, some keepers defrost there snakes food in a plastic bag in a bowl of warm water, changing the water when it chills this helps to warm the mouse all the way through. Others will defrost the food naturally at room temperature and then warm it through by placing it on a heat mat or localizing heat with the aid of a hairdryer. Defrosting prey items directly in warm water is not recommended because some vitamins and minerals can be lost in this process, with them being leached into the water.

Never defrost your snake’s dinner in the microwave, at the worst it will explode and at best, the extremities will be cooked!
*
Sloughing:*
All snakes periodically slough (shed, ecdysis) their outer layer of skin, how often mainly depends on the growth of the snake, hatchlings can slough as often as every four to six weeks but there is no set time pattern for this. Adults will shed less often maybe only 5 times a year.

At the onset of a shedding cycle your snakes’ appearance will become somewhat duller, the usual black markings may take on a more grey appearance and the overall appearance is muted. What is happening is that a milky secretion is separating the outer layer from the inner layers of skin, loosening the outer layer ready for it to be discarded. This opaque appearance will affect the eyes too and they will take on a blue appearance, you may hear other keepers say my snake is in the blue, this is what they are referring to. At this point the snakes eyesight is very poor and the skin quiet delicate, you should not handle your snake until they have finished the shedding process completely. They may become aggressive whilst in shed; this is due to their restricted eye sight and subsequent uneasiness. Food should not be offered whilst a snake is in shed as the bulge in its tummy can hamper the shedding process and the discarding skin can act as a tourniquet. Also, energy is used in the sloughing process that may otherwise have been used to digest the meal, putting further unwanted effort into the process.

The eyes will remain milky for approximately three days and then gradually clear, this is because the secretion has been absorbed into the top layer now making it pliable and easily removed. The snake will look more or less normal now but within 2-3 days it will find a suitable rough object in the vivarium to rub its snout on, breaking the skin free away from the jaw lines, it will crawl out of it’s old skin. This process may only take 5-10 minutes and many keepers miss this unique experience. The whole sloughing process from start to finish lasts approximately 10 days.
Healthy snakes usually have little or no difficulty with shedding and tend to shed their skins in one entire piece. Exceptions to this include snakes with injuries and those housed in enclosures with suboptimal temperatures and/or humidity levels.

Thai Red mountain Ratsnake are especially prone to sloughing problems and dehydration if not provided with the correct humidity requirements as set out below._
_
*Vivarium Size:

Hatchlings:*
Hatchlings can be raised in 3 litre well ventilated containers heated by thermostatically controlled heat mats (these should be placed under the tank and not cover more than one third of the tank). This set-up will be fine for the first few months, progressing to larger tubs as they grow.
*
Adults*_*:*_
A 24 x 18 x 18" well ventilated viviarium or similar sized container is suitable for an adult. Too large an enclosure is likely to stress this species. Heating wise a thermostatically controlled heat mat is the best option, as ceramic bulbs tend to dry the air too much, making the proper humidity hard to maintain, which, may lead to dehydration, and related problems such as bad sloughs and respiratory infections.

Males and females should be housed separately and only introduced for breeding attempts. Failure to keep them separate can result in the female becoming gravid too young which can lead to complications. The prolific nature of this species also presents additional problems when housed together (Also see Breeding Section )
*
Temperature and Humidity:*
The Thai Red Mountain Ratsnake as mentioned before live in altitudes of 800m and above, at these altitudes the temperature is lower than those recorded for most parts of Northeastern Thailand. Therefore in captivity they require a cool environment with temperatures between 73-77°F. (23-25°C). A night time drop to 64-68°F(18-20°C) is also beneficial.

Temperatures over 82°F can be detrimental or even fatal to this species, and during the summer months may need a cooling devise to lower the temperatures such as an air conditioning unit.

Humidity is vital to _Oreocryptophis porphyraceus coxi _as they can dehydrate very quickly. Relative humidity should be 65 - 75% , one or more humidity boxes should also be offered throughout the cage. In addition areas of the substrate should be kept moist (see section on Substrate below). Adequate ventilation is also a must to stop the air inside the vivarium becoming stale and to stop fungi and bacteria growing. We suggest a vivarium with at least two ventilation grills, one high up and one lower down at opposite ends of the vivarium, this will allow a good air flow through the enclosure, while also helping to achieve a thermal gradient and a good exchange of fresh air.

Snakes are poikilothermic, also often referred to as ectothermic and as such, rely on an external heat source to maintain their preferred body temperature. Ectothermic means that they use external environmental conditions to control their body temperature, poikilothermic means that their internal temperatures vary while performing different bodily functions, such as shedding, feeding etc. and again this is largely achieved via external environmental conditions.

A reptile’s ability to digest food, use energy and its ability to protect itself from disease, are dependent upon reaching the correct body temperature. Snakes can change their body temperature by moving back and forth from a warmer part of the cage to a cooler part and vice versa. If snakes are kept in temperatures which are too warm or too cold, this places stress on their immune system and can lead to problems.




*Loei Average Months Temperature**Jan**Feb**Mar**Apr**May**Jun**Jul**Aug**Sep**Oct**Nov**Dec**Year**°C*21.925.227.129.328.628.528.027.927.426.224.120.726.3*°F*71.477.480.884.783.583.382.482.281.379.275.469.379.3*
Loei Average Months Rainfall**mm*6.914.347.286.0188.4158.4141.2195.1250.3101.213.34.21206.8*inches*0.30.61.93.47.46.25.67.79.94.00.50.247.5*
Loei Average Months Relative humidity**%*62605962757777798279746971
Weather Station approx 150m above sea level, which is much warmer than the 800+m altitude that _O. p. coxi _originate from
*
Substrate:*
A deep substrate of 2"(5cm) plus is appreciated by this burrowing species. Two methods are generally used, the first of which is providing half of the enclosure with a damp area this should be kept moist but not water logged. The second is keeping the underneath of the substrate damp but the top dry. Both work equally well, the first mentioned may be a little easier to maintain as the dampness of the substrate can be assessed by looking at it, by its obvious darker colouration.

If the substrate is too wet this may cause scale rot or other bacterial skin problems. With such a moist environment, as mentioned above, good ventilation is essential, otherwise it won't be long before the substrate and other cage furnishing are covered by mould; the spores of which can cause respiratory problems.

Suitable substrates include sphagnum peat moss, coconut coir, eco-earth, cypress mulch, orchid bark or forest bedding or a mix of two or more of these.

Cedar shavings should never be used for any reptile as they are toxic and cause respiratory problems, acting as a skin irritant.
*
Vivarium Decor:*
Thai Red mountain Ratsnakes despite being a burrowing species may also make use of branches if they are supplied. These should be secured to the sides of the vivarium to prevent any accidents. Reptile branches can be bought from most reptile shops. If you are going to find your own branch, perhaps from your garden then be aware that some woods are toxic to snakes, willow, birch, beech and fruit trees are non-toxic and therefore safe to use. It is also important to sterilize the branch first before using it, to kill any bugs that may be lurking in the bark.

Other additions to the cage could be plants, plastic are easier to clean than silk and for a more naturalistic setup live plants can be used such as sub-tropical ferns that will thrive in the cool moist conditions.

Large rocks that cannot be upturned, not only serve as an interesting addition to the cage furniture to explore but also gives the snake a solid rough object to begin the sloughing process on.

*Hides: *Hides are a very important part of this shy and secretive species decor to make them feel secure. Thai Red Mountain Ratsnakes require one or more humid hides, this can be a simple plastic container filled with damp sphagnum moss or a commercially bought more aesthetically pleasing one. It is also important to offer them somewhere dry to hide if they wish. The hides should be changed at least once a month or more if they become soiled and the container disinfected and rinsed well. Being a burrowing species subterranean hides may also be offered either filled with loose damp moss or left empty, plastic plumbing pipes serves this purpose well; there are also several subterranean hides commercially manufactured specifically for reptiles. Flat hides are most appreciated, as naturally they would hide in the leaf litter or under fallen logs.
Do not let the substrate or humid hides dry out as this can lead to the snake quickly becoming dehydrated.

*Water: *Fresh water should be available at all times and presented in a sturdy water container, that isn’t easily turned over causing spillages and large enough for them to soak in if they want. Thai Red Mountain Ratsnakes are not renowed for soaking and prolonged soaking may be an indication that the cage is too warm or not humid enough*. *There are other reasons why a snake may soak, including during its sloughing period and because it has external parasites such as mites.

*Brumation:*

To prepare your snake for brumation make sure it has had no food for three to four weeks prior to cooling and that the temperature is normal during this time allowing the snake to fully digest it's last meal and empty it's guts. It is essential that the snake is completely empty before cooling begins as any food left in the gut/intestines could produce toxins that could kill it. After this the temperature should be lowered gradually over a few weeks until its at the desired temperature ( 47-55°F ) for brumation or 55-60°F if cooling . The snake should not be fed during this period but fresh drinking water should be available at all times. As long as you can maintain these lower temperatures your snake can be left in it's vivarium. A more common practice is to prepare a box with a well fitting lid that is well ventilated, and transfer the snake to this moving it to somewhere where the temperature is within the range they require. Perhaps a spare bedroom, or under the stairs, somewhere where it is easy to get to so as you can check the snake and change it's water regularly, but equally important some where quiet and out of bright light. After 10-12 weeks the snake can gradually be warmed up over a one to two week period and can then be offered food again.

Brumating / cooling coxi should have access to both dry and moist areas and fresh water at all times.

Brumation has been reported to not be required for successful breeding, but a cooling period at 55-60°F is recommended. The lower temperatures of a brumation period will help to maintain there body weight better and can help in ensuring a higher fertility rate for the breeding season*.*

One thing that must be noted here is, females because of there prolific breeding ability may actually be producing eggs when entering into brumation. For this reason it would be wise to give females access to some form of heating during brumation, perhaps a heat strip at one end of the enclosure which they can utilize if they wish, to avoid any complications.

*Breeding:*

Thai Red Mountain Ratsnakes can mature at an early age and females have been reported to have ovulated at under one year of age and lay their first clutch at 14 months of age. However it is advised that females should be at least 70cm before any breeding attempts are tried. It is not unusal for a virgin female to lay an inferile clutch without being with a male. Breeding a female too young can result in early death and a few breeders have lost females by being too eager. As mentioned above 70cm would be a minimum to breed from but as well as the length they should have some girth to them.

Thai Red Mountain Ratsnakes are a prolific breeders and may produce several clutches in a season. Typically 4-6 eggs are produced in the first clutch of the season and generally less in subsequent clutches. Young adults first clutches may be smaller and consist of 2-4 eggs. As many as seven clutches have been recorded for this species in one season. The females will store sperm (Amphigonia retarda) and 3-4 fertile clutches can be achieved from one mating, although pairing every second clutch may be more successful in insuring the fertility of the clutches.

After brumation and the females post brumation slough, they can be introduced to one another. Males will sometimes not eat at this time being more interested in breeding than eating. Once several copulations have been witnessed or the female looks fatter in the mid body introductions should be stopped. The female should be fed regularly, as often as every five days is advised. If she refuses food in her early days of pregnancy try enticing her to eat with much smaller food items than usual, she may as her pregnancy progresses refuse food all together, this is normal. The most important thing for a gravid snake is a stress free environment.

Males and females should be housed separately and only introduced for breeding attempts for a few days at a time until it is obvious that she is gravid. Failure to keep them separate can result in the death of either one, the males being more interested in breeding, will not eat and will put all their energies into reproduction at the cost of their health. The females receiving all this attention will get stressed, likely refuse food, loose body condition and become egg bound.

Copulation can be a lengthy affair with pairs hooked up for 14 hours, often with there heads at opposing ends of the cage.

The gestation period isn't known but generally the first clutch is laid approx 2 months from introducing the pair, subsequent clutches are typically laid 6 weeks or more apart. Females don't always follow a set pattern for laying either and this can occur any time after her pre-laying slough from 1-14 days and in some instances whilst she is blue. As a humid hide is a permanent feature of their enclosure and areas of the cage kept damp, she will seek out one of these places to lay her eggs.

* Incubation:

*
It is always best to have your egg boxes ready in the incubator for when they are needed, this way the temperature of the incubation substrate is right and you have had time to experiment with the right water / substrate ratio, usually 1.1 by weight is right for most colubrid species including The Thai Red Mountain Ratsnake.

Female Thai Red Mountain Ratsnake will typically lay between 2-10 eggs. These should be removed from the laying box to the incubation box preferably wearing a pair of latex gloves to stop the transfer of oils from the hand to the eggs, which could impede the oxygen/carbon dioxide transfer through the shell during incubation.

One method of incubation (there are several that have successfully been used) is to fill a plastic container two thirds full with damp vermiculite (when a handful is squeezed in the palm of the hand, it clumps together and only no water should be produced). Vermiculite is a sterile medium that can be purchased from your local garden centre. Don't unnecessarily handle the eggs and make sure the female has completely finished laying before removing them, as unduly disturbing her whilst in the process of laying can result in her stressing and holding on to the remainder of the eggs (resulting in her becoming egg bound - dystocia). The incubation box should have a fitted lid, and the humidity inside should be between 95- 100%, some condensation will form on the lid but if this is too much and is dripping on the eggs, this means the incubation medium is too wet. Wipe the lid with some kitchen towel and sprinkle a little dry vermiculite over the surface of the eggs to take up the moisture.

The eggs should be checked weekly removing the lid will give a good exchange of air, towards the end of the incubation period once every couple of days is advised. Developing eggs actually breathe they take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. If the carbon dioxide builds up to dangerous levels, then the eggs will fail. Also for this reason, egg boxes should not be over crowded and ideally eggs should be laid in the box singularly not in a clump. Although this isn't usually a problem with _coxi _eggs as they don't tend to lay them in a clump, if the eggs have adhered to each other it is advised that no attempt is made to separate them, as damage can be caused in doing so.

For best results _coxi_ eggs should be incubated between 73-80F (23-27C), expect them to hatch after 54-80 days. Typically eggs incubated at 80F (27C) will begin pipping after 58 days. With cooler incubation temperatures the eggs will take longer to hatch.

Eggs hatched at temperatures over 82F (28C) have been reported to fail or result in hatchlings with kinked spines, congenital defects, internal organ failure and weird non genetic patterning.

In the earlier days of hobbyists incubating _coxi_ eggs, those that were incubated at 82F (28C) a male heavy clutch was reported, when temperatures where lowered as more was learnt about their reproductive biology and egg care, then the clutches were more even in the sex ratio.

The cooler temperatures are generally favoured by breeders which result in stronger, healthier babies. Eggs can be incubated at room temperature with out the need for an incubator as long as room temperatures are within the range above.

Eggs that are incubated on too a wet medium may absorb more water and this subsequently can lead to lose of nutrients for the developing embryo resulting in weak hatchlings, too wet an incubation substrate can also lead to dead in egg, in the final stages of incubation the hatchling will absorb a lot of moisture from the egg, thereby letting the egg shell become more pliable for piping if the eggs have become water logged through too wet a substrate this can hinder this natural process. It is better to err on the side of caution aiming for slightly drier than too wet, as this is easier to rectify. If the eggs look dimpled then they are too dry (eggs however do dimple towards the end of incubation as they are getting ready to hatch). Do not spray eggs directly, just simply pour a little water around them, they will regain their shape within a day.*


Morphs:*

There are no known genetic morphs of The Thai Red Mountain Ratsnake being bred in captivity at this present time There are currently black back, aberrant and semi patternless though polygenic projects ongoing.*

Variations:
*
Various variations of the 'normal' striped pattern have occured including thick striped, pin stripe, missing pattern, black back and various degrees of blotches between the stripes.*
*
With line breeding these traits can have a better chance of reoccurring within a clutch, it has been reported that blotched _coxi _when bred together have produced more blotched babies in some instances with up to 10 blotches along there backs, more usually its between 1 and 5. These markings however fade as the snake matures and in most instances disappear altogether. Missing pattern specimens keep this anomaly into adulthood and when bred to like have produced more. The black back baby that was hatched by Stephen & Kelli Hammack, matured into a very interesting, dark specimen with a webbed or net like pattern down the centre of his back, breeding trials in the future will likely determine if there is any mode of inheritance.


*Quarantine:
*
The first and often only purpose of a quarantine is to protect your established collection from unwanted diseases and parasites that may possibly be carried by newly acquired animals. All new snakes and reptiles that you bring into your home where there are others, need to be quarantined for at least three months or the maximum time known for the incubation of diseases that affect the species you are keeping. This should be regardless of whether it is a captive bred specimen or wild caught animal. The most commonly seen parasite is the snake mite, these can be seen as tiny black crawling bugs on your snake or in the enclosure, these need to be dealt with as quickly as possible to stop the spread to other snakes in your collection and to stop them multiplying to a stage where they pose a serious risk to your snake. There are many products available from reptile stores especially for eradicating these mites, please read the instructions carefully or take advice from your vet. It is not within the scope of this guide to give advice on treatments of parasites and diseases but just to make you aware that there are some and how important the quarantine period is to monitor the health or your new snake.

Captive bred snakes however are usually disease and parasite free, but why take the risk of infecting other animals when a period of solitude away from others can prevent the spread?

During quarantine, you should not share water bowls or any other cage equipment between vivaria, including feeding tongs. Don’t handle established stock on the same day as dealing with your new snake or if you have to, deal with the established stock first then the new snake. Always shower and change your clothes after dealing with a snake in quarantine before tending to your established stock.

This really is an important step in keeping your collection healthy, disease and parasite free and we strongly suggest that you read more about it.

Special Notes:

Record keeping is a good way of monitoring your snakes health, and events such as feeding, sloughs, weight and lengths can then be looked back on if there is ever a problem with your snake.
*
References & Further Reading*
1. Schulz, K.-D. & Helfenberger, N. (1998): Eine Revision des Unterarten-Komplexes der Roten Bambusnatter_ Elaphe porphyracea _( Cantor , 1839), Sauria, Berlin, 1: 25-45
2. Cox, Merel J. The Snakes of Thailand and their Husbandry
3. WorldClimate.com
4. Porhymania - http://Bushmaster.ch/HTML/porphy-start.htm
5. Schulz, K.-D. (1996) A Monograph of the colubrid Snakes of the Genus _Elaphe_ FITZINGER
6. Schulz, K.-D. (2000): Haltung und Zucht von_ Elaphe porphyracea coxi _( Schulz & Helfenberger , 1998) und _Elaphe porphyracea vaillanti_ ( Sauvage , 1876), Sauria, Berlin, 3: 11-16
7. H.I.S.S - http://www.brittneygougeon.com/kellih/hiss/snakecollection.html (Black Back)


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## loxocemus

I had probiotic advice here, but I'm not comfortable promoting invasive techniques (especially for corallus), so pretty filler pic


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## loxocemus

*RED COFFEE-SNAKE Ninia sebae *

Workers on the property of Elvira Jimenez near Ek Balam north of Valladolid, Yucatan ran into several Red Coffee-Snakes, _Ninia sebae_, of which one is pictured at the right. Of course the workers assured Elvira that they were deadly poisonous, and killed them all.

These are wonderful, perfectly harmless little snakes who feed mostly on earthworms, slugs and land snails. They make a half-hearted attempt at mimicking the venomous coral snake, but that species has broad bands of red, yellow and black. Note how this individual is flattening his front part to make himself look more threatening. It's all bluff. Please don't kill this snake.

This is a commonly encountered species, in Spanish often known as _Basurera_, which means "hanging about in the rubbish." It's also known as _dormilona_, or "sleeper," because sometimes when he knows he's been discovered he holds still, on the theory that you might overlook him.

The species occurs from Veracruz and Oaxaca through Central America to Costa Rica. Having such a large distribution, its appearance displays wide geographic variation. Some individuals have no black markings on the top while others are black-spotted on the front two-thirds of their bodies. At least in Guatemala sometimes distinctive black crossbands across the top are narrowly edged with yellow.










*From the November 29, 2009 Newsletter issued from Hacienda Chichen Resort beside Chichén Itzá Ruins, central Yucatán, MÉXICO
A FAINTING, GARBAGE-LOVING SNAKE*
Paulino told me he'd come upon a coral snake while macheteing around the compost heap and had the snake in a bottle in case I wanted to see it. The snake was about a foot long and red except for a black head and a black band behind the neck. I didn't think it was a coral, but I wasn't sure enough to venture emptying the bottle into my hand, for coral snakes are very venomous.

The problem is that the coral snake we have here isn't the Eastern Coral Snake with its distinctive red, yellow and black banding but rather the Variable Coral Snake which, as the name suggests, is very variable. Add in undeveloped patterns of immature individuals -- and Paulino's snake was small enough to be a young one -- and geographic variation, and IDing gets hard. I dumped the snake onto the ground and took the picture below:










The snake raised its head and somewhat flattened his upper part. This didn't seem like coral snake behavior at all, but it did remind me of some neck-spreading exhibited by a snake in a picture sent to me some time ago by a reader down here. You can see that picture at the top of this page.

I tried maneuvering the snake into a more photogenic setting, but instead of moving he did what's shown below:










The poor thing just keeled over, his head lying sidewise on the ground, and no amount of nudging would stir him! I'd have thought I had a snake suffering a heart attack, but I'd read that the spread-headed snake in the first picture above does this very thing -- plays dead when its vicious-looking head-spreading doesn't frighten away predators. Now I knew that I had that same snake. It was the Red Coffee-Snake NINIA SEBAE, a perfectly harmless little being who couldn't hurt you if he tried.

One Spanish name for this snake is "Basurera Roja," or "Red Garbage-Dump Snake," because it's so often found in garbage dumps. Another name is "Dormilona," or "Sleeper," because of the "fainting" behavior shown above.

This little snake does a great job scaring people and other animals who know how dangerous coral snakes are. But in this world with lots of machete-wielding men, its pseudo-coral coloration, patterning and threatening head-spreading behavior get most that are caught cut to pieces.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The redback coffee snake, Ninia sebae frequents lowlands and premontane slopes from Veracruz and Oaxaca, Mexico, southward through Central America to southern Costa Rica where it is known from 4-1,100 m; it is a secretive, nocturnal leaf litter inhabitant (Savage 2002). There is anecdotal information on its reproductive biology in Gaige (1936); Stuart (1948); Alavrez del Toro (1960); Greene (1975); Campbell (1998); Lee (2000); Solorzano (2004). The purpose of this paper is to add additional information on the reproductive biology of N. sebae from a histological examination of museum specimens from southern Mexico and Central America as part of an ongoing study of the reproductive cycles of neotropical snakes.

A sample of adult specimens of 56 N. sebae was examined (females n = 33, mean snout-vent length [SVL] = 245 mm [+ or -] 28 SD, range = 191-305 mm; males n = 23, SVL = 216 mm [+ or -] 25 SD, range = = 160-263 mm) from the herpetology collection of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (LACM), Los Angeles, California. This sample included specimens from Mexico (1 female, 1 male), Guatemala (26 females, 17 males), Costa Rica (3 females, 2 males) and Honduras (3 females, 3 males). Snakes were collected 1963-1980. Counts were made of enlarged ovarian follicles (> 5 mm length) or oviductal eggs. The left testis and vas deferens were removed from males and the left ovary was removed from females for histological examination. Tissues were embedded in paraffin and sectioned at 5 [micro]m. Slides with tissue sections were stained with Harris' hematoxylin followed by eosin counterstain (Presnell & Schreibman 1997). Histological slides were examined to determine the stage of the testicular cycle and for the presence of yolk deposition or corpora lutea. There were too few egg clutches to compare mean clutch sizes between different countries. The relationship between female SVL and clutch size was examined by linear regression analysis. An unpaired t-test was used to compare mean body sizes (SVL) between males and females. Statistical tests were performed using Instat, vers 3.0b (Graphpad Software, San Diego, CA). 

Material examined. -- The following specimens of Ninia sebae were examined: COSTA RICA (5). Limon Province LACM 154183, 154184, Guanacaste Province LACM 154186, 154190, San Jose Province LACM 154188 GUATEMALA (43). Huehuetenango Department LACM 40056, 40058-40066, 40068-40070, 40073-40076, 40078-40081, 40083-40087, 40090-40096, 40098, 40100-40106, Izabel Department LACM 59119, 59120 HONDURAS (6). Cortes Department LACM 45275 45336 45340, 45341, Copan Department LACM 45388, 45389; MEXICO (2). Veracruz State LACM 103629, 134846.

The testicular histology of N. sebae was similar to that reported by Goldberg (2004a) for Ninia maculata. All testes examined exhibited spermiogenesis with metamorphosing spermatids and sperm present. Vasa deferentia contained sperm. The following numbers of males were undergoing spermiogenesis by month: February (1); March (3); April (15); May (1); July (1); September (1); December (1). The smallest male to undergo spermiogenesis measured 160 mm SVL (LACM 134846) and was from December. Even with no samples from several months, it is apparent N. sebae has a prolonged period of spermiogenesis that encompasses most, if not the entire year. Prolonged periods of spermiogenesis have been reported for other species of snakes from Central America (Goldberg 2003a; 2003b; Goldberg 2004a; 2004b; 2004c; Goldberg 2006a; 2006b; Goldberg 2007a; 2007b; 2007c; Goldberg 2007d; Goldberg 2007e; Goldberg 2008).

Females were significantly larger (SVL) than males (df = 54, t = 4.05, P = 0.0002). The monthly changes in the ovarian cycle of N. sebae are summarized in Table 1. Mean clutch size for 23 females was 3.2 [+ or -] 0.83, range = 2-5. Linear regression analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between female body size (SVL) in mm and clutch size for 23 N. sebae females: Y = -1.55 + 0.02 X, r = 0.53, P = 0.0091. The smallest reproductively active female (oviductal eggs) measured 208 mm SVL (LACM 45336) and was from Honduras. Other records of N. sebae clutches are in Table 2. Two females from Honduras, each with clutches of five eggs (LACM 45275, 45388) are new maximum clutch sizes for N. sebae. Three females from Guatemala with oviductal eggs (LACM 40062, 40063, 40080) exhibited concurrent yolk deposition for a subsequent clutch indicating N. sebae likely produces more than one clutch per year.

At this point it appears that prolonged periods of spermiogenesis may be typical for Central American snakes. Also, in view of the prolonged period of reproductive activity, production of multiple clutches may also be common. More work is needed before the variations in the reproductive cycles of Central American snakes can be ascertained.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank Christine Thacker (LACM) for permission to examine specimens Dustin Goto (Whittier College) assisted with histology. The snakes from Costa Rica are part of the Costa Rica Expeditions (CRE) collection donated to LACM by Jay Savage. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Department of Biology, Whittier College

Whittier, California 90608Table 1. Monthly distribution of stages in the ovarian cycle of 33 Ninia
sebae. Values shown are the numbers of females exhibiting each of the
four conditions.

Enlarged
No yolk Early yolk follicles Oviductal Corpora
Month n deposition deposition > 12 mm length eggs lutea only

Mar. 3 0 0 1 2 0
Apr. 25 5 3 3 13 1
July 2 0 1 0 1 0
Aug. 1 0 0 0 1 0
Sept. 1 0 0 1 0 0
Nov. 1 0 0 0 1 0

Table 2. Clutch sizes of Ninbia sebae from the literature.

Clutch Size Locality Date Source

not given Yucatan, Mexico July Gaige 1936
not given Alta Verapaz, March-June Stuart 1948
Guatemala
2-4 Chiapas, Mexico August Burger & Werler 1954
3 or 4 Chiapas, Mexico not given Alvarez del Toro 1960
3 Atlantida, Honduras 21 July Meyer 1966
1-3 Veracruz, Mexico 28 August-6 Greene 1975
September
2 Belize January Bohuslavek 1996
1-4 Peten, Guatemala March-September Campbell 1998
2-4 Yucatan, Mexico summer Lee 2000
up to 4 Costa Rica not given Solorzano 2004


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## loxocemus

*Rufous Beaked Snake* - _Rhamphiophis Rostratus_ 










*General Information*

A rear fanged, active, diurnal colubrid found along much of the coast of East Africa, south to Botswana, and north to Sudan and Ethiopia. It prefers a wide range of habitats, from semidesert to moist savannas. They are remembered by their pointed snout and their dark eye line, among many other characteristics of course. They also have a peculiar habit of jerking their head side to side.

Rufous Beaked Snakes are enthusiastic rodent feeders. They hunt their prey by burrowing, and when they find it, they kill by envenomation, and sometimes constriction. Captive specimens will do fine on F/T mice, appropriately sized. Wild Rostratus will prey upon rodents, lizards, small snakes, frogs and small birds. Juveniles will even eat insects.

Reported envemonations are limited to swelling in the bite area, probably due to the person's specific allergy to the venom; no fatalaties have been reported, as their venom is of no real consequence to humans.

Adults average around four feet long, though there have been specimens documented over six feet.

Typically these snakes are very easy to handle, seldom showing signs of aggression. Juveniles may hiss, but it's usually just a bluff. Another added bonus is they generally have a very good feeding response. They are curious and very alert.

*Housing*

Housing is fairly simple. They typically do not have problems shedding, so no major attention to humidity is needed. Although a humid hide always helps with shedding, and of course can double as an egg laying hide. Large specimens need 2'L x 16"W x 6"H. Younger Rufous can be kept in 12"L x 6"W x 6"H. This may be an american's point of view but it seems on the small side. They can be kept well in racks, and on aspen bedding, although other substrates may be used. Of course, not pine or cedar (a friendly reminder to those who do not know). Provide at least two inches of bedding, as this snake is an avid burrower.

And of course temperature. Warm side of the cage around 86F and cool side around 78F. There doesn't need to be a drop at night. Of course these settings are geared more towards a rack setting. However in individual cages there will probably be a few degrees drop at night. That's fine.

*Reproduction*

Rufous Beaked Snakes can, under proper care, double their size within the first year of their life. They usually are sexually mature at 18 months. They are oviparous, laying 7 to 18 eggs in the midsummer. The young are typically around 12 inches.

Interesting stuff, R Rostratus experience an ontogenetic change from juvenile to adult; they hatch out either light gray, pinkish, or tan. They can also show a chain-link pattern, and reddish speckles or dots (not to be confused with Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus). As they mature, these juvenile patterns will disappear. This change usually happens when the snake is around 2 feet long.

*Related species*

Western Striped Beaked Snake -_ Rhamphiophis acutus togoensis_
Striped Beaked Snake - _Rhamphiophis a. acutus_
De Witte's Striped Beaked Snake - _Rhamphiophis acutus wittei_
Dwarf Rufous Beaked Snake - _Rhamphiophis maradiensis_
Western Brown Beaked Snake - _Rhamphiophis oxyrhynchus_
Red Spotted Beaked Snake - _Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus_ 









---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Breeding The Rufous-Beaked Snake*

In the fall of 1996, I introduced one of my male rufous-beaked snakes (_Rhamphiophis rostratus_) to my first female. By then she had grown to an impressive 4 feet in length. The male was roughly 3 feet in length. First I placed the female in a breeding enclosure and gave her a few days to settle in before I introduced the male. Sometimes using extra males increases the chances of copulation.










The author incubated his rufous-beaked snake eggs at 82 degrees Fahrenheit, and they hatched after 58 days.
Measuring 4 feet long by 2 feet wide by 2 feet tall, this breeding enclosure is a melamine cage with a glass front. The glass allows me to observe the snakes and make sure problems such as cannibalism don’t happen.

I didn’t cool them down before introducing them because these rufous-beaked snakes originated from Tanzania. There the climate ranges between 68 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit during the cooler months of June through August and can reach 86 degrees and higher between the months of December through March.

Within a few hours of introducing the male to the female, the male began courting her with rapid head motions, jerking his head from side to side. Although, the species normally displays this type of behaviour, these particular motions were more pronounced and continuous after the introduction. That evening I witnessed the first copulation. The following day I witnessed copulation twice more before I removed the male.

I returned the female to her regular bin and placed an egg box measuring 12 inches long by 10 inches wide by 3 inches tall with damp sphagnum moss in her enclosure. Within the first month after copulation I noticed the female went into her pre-laying shed. Thirty-nine days after copulation the female laid eight eggs. They were about the same size as snake eggs from the genus _Pituophis_.

*Incubation Instruction*
I incubated the eggs at 82 degrees in a small plastic bin. This incubating bin can be any size as long as it’s at least 5 inches tall with a cover and it’s adjusted to fit a varying number of eggs.

In this bin I placed a plastic crate, which was a fluorescent-light-diffuser panel cut to fit. This crate had open square cells, so it looked like a checkerboard from above. I filled the incubating bin with perlite until it almost reached the top of the plastic crate’s cells and added water until it was slightly below the top of the cells. Then I placed the eggs on top of the plastic crate.

I prefer to double the layer of plastic crate, so in the end the eggs sat just above about 2 inches of the perlite and water mix. The goal was to lift the eggs high enough so they did not come into contact with the moist perlite, basically suspending them in an atmosphere of 100 percent humidity. This humidity automatically saturates the air inside the bin if it is sealed properly. I always poke a few tiny holes on two opposing sides of the bin to allow some circulation of air, so the eggs can breathe.

After 58 days of incubation the eggs began to hatch, and within 24 hours all eight eggs hatched. Each hatchling measured about 14 inches long.

*Smelly Mice Wanted*
After the snakes’ first shed, I tried some freshly thawed pinky mice, but they refused them. I tried live pinkies, and again they refused. I started to worry.

Then, by chance, I happened to thaw some pinkies but left them out for a few hours due to an unexpected emergency. They sat at room temperature, and by the time I returned home, the pinkies had a slight smell. Rather than waste them, I tried them with the hatchlings. They immediately gobbled them up. So I concluded that when you feed your baby rufous-beaked snakes it is best to thaw out the pinky mouse in the morning, allow it to sit for the day until it has a slight smell, and then feed it to the snakes. This procedure only needed to be done for the first few feedings. After that they readily accepted freshly thawed pinkies.





































*Local effects of a bite by a captive Western beaked snake, Rhamphiophis oxyrhynchus







*

Panel. (A) Dorsal view of left hand, 20 min after bite. Note that the edema rapidly involved the entire thenar aspect of the hand. The bite was infl icted on the metacarpal of the left index fi nger and the snake was attached for some 20 s (photo courtesy of Zack West, used with permission). Panel (B) Dorsal view of left forearm approximately 3 h after bite. The edema has progressed and involves the mid-forearm. The victim reported severe pain shortly after sustaining the bite (photo courtesy of Zack West, used with permission). Panel (C) A representative specimen of Rhamphiophis spp ., the rufous beaked snake, R. rostratus . There are three taxa of Rhamphiophis , an exclusively African genus of active, semi-fossorial snakes. The illustrated species was previously assigned a subspecies ( R. oxyrhynchus rostratus Broadley and Howell, 1991), but was later given full species status ( R. rostratus Spawls et al., 2001) [photo courtesy of and copyright to Milan Korinek


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## loxocemus

*Gonyosoma (Rhynchophis) boulengeri *(i seem to remember a 2nd species/subsp being described recently mostly based on scalation and region)

Short description
This is a really special ratsnake witch can be found in north vietnam and south China. Its horn on top of his nose makes him special and unique. She is quite easy to maintain in captivity and should normal not bring many problems. It is remarkable that you can handle this species so easily, they never try to escape or bite me. Only when they are young it is sometimes difficult to get them started to eat, you can try frogs and fish witch normally should work, it not try to force-feed them till their first hibernation, after their first hibernation they normally start eating by themselves.
It is also very typical for this species that hatchlings are born grey and will change their colour to green in 2 years.

Behaviour
They are really calm and you can handle them without any problem. When you give them a big enough terrarium with a big water bowl and climbing branches they will feel themselves good and they are also seen at daytime, witch make this species really attractive, also their colour is very nice green. They are never aggressive and will never bite you, only some baby’s will feel themselves attacked and will strike at you, but they are small and you don’t feel a thing.

Enclosure

We have two very big cages of 125*60*60. In cage one we have 4 females and in cage 2 we have 3 males. In each cage we have several hiding places and 1 very big water bowl (they often use it). There are also many climbing branches and you can see them often in the climbing branches warming their body by the sun.
Because of the big water bowl and high temperatures (about 30 degrees Celsius) there is a high humanity, about 80-90%.

Food

In the nature they live in a area with many water, so in nature they eat many frogs, fishes and lizards. But from time to time they will also eat some birds or a mouse. In captivity we feed them by mice and rats, because it is more easy to get this kind of rodents. But for specimens that don’t eat you can try to feed them by small frogs, they will eat it. Also live mice is better than dead mice, the offspring’s will take live mice quicker than dead or thawed mice.

Breeding

They need a hibernation of about two months with a temperature of about 12-16 degrees Celsius. After their hibernation you can feed them and keep males and females separately and after their first shedding you can introduce males to females, you will see copulations. Now you can give females much food, and after two months you can expect eggs (5-10). In that time you must put a hiding box filled with moist sphagnum moss inside cages of gravid females, the females with almost automatically drop their eggs in those boxes, so check them often.

I've had 5 juveniles of these and i kept them individually in 9lt rub's, they are so tiny to begin with, they can fit in-between the edge of the tub and the lid. i would unclip the lid, not seeing this tiny (stupidly tiny) baby sleeping on the box edge, which would then fall off onto the table or whatever, id search the box, no snake!, a breakout! an escape!, then id look down on the table and see this tiny half asleep rhino baby, wondering wtf?. So i lined the edge of the rub tub with 2mm self adhesive foam tape, so when the lid was clipped it would compress the foam tape, filling the space.











DistributionN Vietnam (Ha Tinh, Vinh-Phu, Bac-Thai, Yen-Bai, Phu Yen, Quang Binh),
China (Guangxi, Hainan)

Type locality: Baie d’Along, Isle de Norway (= Bai Tu Long?, Ha Long Bay), Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam.

*Size:* Usually 100-120 cm in total size but sometimes up to 150 cm.

*Natural History Notes:* The species lives in subtropical rainforests between 300 and 1100 m elevation and has often been found in stream valleys. It is an aboreal snake which is mainly active during the night. The prey includes small rodents (mice), birds, and possible other vertebrates. Mating takes place between April and May. A clutch usually contains 5 to 10 eggs which will hatch after about 60 days. The hatchlings are 300-350 mm in total size and their color is brownish grey with several dorsal scales having dark edges. With increasing age the color of the snakes change into steel grey and later into bluish green. Adult coloration (green) is reached after about 2 years. Specimens which keep the subadult color phase (steel grey) throughout life are known but rare.










*Captive Care and Breeding:* Long-term experiences with this interesting snake in captivity are still rare. In general the husbandry of this species is very similar to that of Rat Snakes. Especially captive bred animal can be considered as absolutely easy to keep. Wildcaughts are very shy and often regurgitate their food when they are disturbed._ Rhynchophis boulengeri_ requires a spacious vivarium with branches for climbing. The temperature should range between 22 and 28 °C (71.6 and 82.4 °F) during the day and may be reduced to about 18 °C (64,4 °F) at night. In captivity the species has reproduced several times. Most juveniles refuse new-born mice as food but they can be forced to bite into a dead mouse, which they normally swallow. Usually 1 or 2 month later they start on feeding mice by their own and grow quickly.









_*Rhynchophis*_* as fish eater:* First we thought that mice are a major element in the diet of _Rhynchophis boulengeri _(see pic 1. above). When we tried to feed them fish they grasp this prey right away










*Caresheet for baby Rhino Ratsnakes (Rhynchophis boulengeri).
By Thomas J. Weaver and Robert Stone High Plains Herpetoculture*

FEEDING

I would like to start off by saying that hatchling and juvenile Rhino Ratsnakes can be difficult to get established feeding on frozen thawed pink mice. We have tried a few different strategies to get them started, and the information in this care sheet is the method we have found most effective. First off, every baby is an individual, and what works for one may not work for others, even others from the same clutch. The critical thing to keep in mind is patience; allow yourself time to give each specimen a chance to get started.
After raising more than a handful of clutches, I’ve started feeding babies small pinky heads. There have been a lot attempts by others to raise them on live guppies fed out in the water bowl, or live frogs, anoles, or geckos released in the enclosure. I don’t use these other foods as starter prey; switching them to a rodent diet once they are established feeding will present as much, if not even more, a challenge than starting them on a rodent diet from birth. Considering the increased nutritional value of rodents relative to the other prey items we have heard of folks trying with their baby Rhinos, and the potential parasite transfer that non-rodent prey items offer, it’s an easy decision we don’t regret.
Baby Rhino’s can be spastic and flighty, which can make feeding very difficult. Babies that do not flee and will stand their ground and strike back are the easiest to get started. Most that react this way will strike a few times and then try to flee. Baby snake behaviour does vary; there is a distinct difference between defensive bites/ posture and gaping than hunger reactions. In either case, a striking snake will be easier to feed than one that cowers, flees, or will not open its mouth.

To get started I will start out with a small pinky head. Use small to medium haemostat's (less than 12 inches), take the pinky head, and dip it into some water. This will lubricate the food item and make swallowing easier on the baby. Without this lubrication, the food will be dry, sticky, and generally more resistant to consumption- none of which is desirable when trying to feed stubborn babies. I pick up the baby, and let it slither through your fingers and clamp down your fingers, forcing the snake to stop and rear up into a strike position. Remain still and offer the pinky head nose first. Have the snake strike and hold onto the head. It is best offered so that the snake has the least amount of trouble trying to swallow it. As soon as the snake bites the pinky head and holds on, you have to remain still and let the snake take its time. As babies get food in their
mouth they will probably stop moving and go into a feeding mode. During this time it is important that you allow the baby to swallow the prey item and be as still as possible. This process may take five or more minutes, and multiple attempts, before the animal eats. A large part of this process seems to be wearing out the animal so that the desire to feed outweighs the desire to flee. This feeding behaviour is quite similar to baby Green Tree Pythons (Morelia viridis) and various arboreal tree vipers, though holding tree vipers for this method is definitely not recommended. Getting bitten by the baby is possible, but the bite is typically inconsequential, and if anything, provides an incentive to get your baby going strong that much more quickly.

The snakes are very sensitive to movement around them at this time; you should keep movement to a minimum. It also seems that if you offer them a prey item that is too large they will give up on it and spit it out. If you have the time and patience, we recommend that you try and repeat this procedure two or three times per feeding attempt. Once your animal does this on a regular basis, you can try feeding larger prey. Eventually your animal should be accustomed to feeding, and require less and less effort to entice. From this point, the next step is to offer the animal food while not picking it up. This is best done as soon as you open the cage without hesitation. Do not give the animal an opportunity to run and hide.

The set up for your baby Rhino is very important. The main theory behind setting up any Asian Ratsnake species is to offer them small, dark, confined, habitats. We have learned that you need to think like a snake and not a mammal. Large open habitats might work for some animals, but a lot of Ratsnake species, especially wild caught specimens, prefer secretive habitats. Once they are established, eating and doing well, you can move them to exhibits or larger habitats. We start babies in shoe box type rack systems. We use newspaper for substrate, a ceramic hide box, and water bowl. It is important to use a substrate that will not dehydrate the baby. I have used paper towels in the past, but these tend to dehydrate young Ratsnakes. These are simple set-ups that are easy to keep clean. The rack area of our facility is not exposed to direct drafts or heat
sources. These can dehydrate enclosures very quickly; enclosures can dry out over night in this situation. Your temps should be around 82 degrees during the daytime, and feature a night time drop of about 5 degrees, to around 77. In addition to avoiding drafts and heat, I like to put them in a dark area that does not have a lot of traffic around it.
Despite intense effort, some babies simply will not feed off of haemostat's or of their own volition. These require assist (NOT FORCE) feeding. This is a course of last resort; however, it must be started when babies are still in suitable condition to take food. If you take to long to get food into them, as with all baby snakes, you run the risk losing the baby; there is a point at which snakes become too weak to process food, and die as the food rots, rather than digests, inside the baby. Assist feeding is different from force feeding. Force feeding is an attempt to get food down an animal only for the purpose of keeping them alive and healthy. This process does not teach the snake how to consume food, while assist feeding does exactly that. There are many behaviour's that a baby snake needs to learn to completely consume their prey. These behaviour's seem to be learned through trial and error, rather than innate knowledge; it seems to take a couple “chance” feeding encounters for babies to learn the eating process. Again, we must ask ourselves, “How do these things survive in the wild”? Well, the answer may well be that a lot of them do not survive. Clutch survival rate in the wild is very low. It makes more sense when you’re spending so much time on each individual.

Assist feeding is a stressful process on a baby, so any attempts to assist feed must be quick and easy. The longer you handle the baby the less likely the process is going to work. This process is basically similar to what you do when you are attempting to feed, just one step further. Pick up the baby and gently hold the head with your thumb and middle and index finger (as the picture shows). Place the pinky head in the mouth of the baby and push it into the back of the throat so that it is still in the mouth and then let go of the animal and freeze while the baby has to eat. There will be attempts by the baby to shake out the food item and they may succeed. If so, start this process over again. If the baby still shakes the pinky head out you might want lightly squeeze its mouth shut on the pinky head and this will make the baby sink its teeth into the pinky head and get it stuck in the mouth. A Leaf Nosed Ratsnakes dentition is designed to catch prey and hold on. After letting go of the snake I think there is a process where the animal is in shock and will freeze up. Give it a moment and what you can hope for is that the animal will click into feeding mode and continue to swallow the prey. This does nothing for teaching the snake to strike, coil up, and find the head of the prey and start to swallow it. Although, when you are dealing with a trouble feeder your goal should be to get food in it and these other behaviour's will fall into place as the baby grows and becomes hungrier. As hatchlings are starting out I like to attempt feeding at least twice a week. I always start out with attempting to feed off haemostat's while the baby is in a strike position on the bottom of the shoe box. If this fails, then pick up the animal and try the hand feeding procedure. If this fails, you should go to the assist feeding procedure. If the animal has good weight, and looks healthy stop, come back later and try again. If the animal looks thin and need nourishment I would go ahead and force feed it to the point of pushing the prey item down into its stomach. I would like to reemphasize the importance of being prepared and making this a quick process. The last thing you want is a baby that gets into the habit into regurgitating the food item. This is a behaviour where the animal will twist and kink its body to force the food item out. When a baby starts this, it is very difficult to stop this behaviour. If you see this, I think the best thing is to go ahead and force feed the baby. Get the food item as far down the animal as possible and tease the baby into forgetting what just happened. Hopefully the baby will start to give you warning strikes and forget all about what just happened. Usually, if the baby has got food in it throat and is has moved on to finding a place to hide or is striking at you, the movement of the food item down the oesophagus is natural, and the snake will go through these motions without a thinking.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

The most important thing to consider when getting any tough feeder established, is that if you have success with any method, whether it be feeding live pinkies in a deli cup or hand feeding off haemostat's, it is essential that you remember what worked for that specimen and repeat that same technique the next time you feed. This might force you out of your ordinary routine, but the most important thing is getting that individual baby established. Once the animal had proven itself to be a strong feeder, then you can consider changing your strategy to make it more convenient for your routine. Tough feeders can be frustrating and time consuming; a lot of babies probably do not survive because their keepers have become frustrated with or lose interest in the animal. It is not
uncommon to take one step forward and two steps back when getting babies established. Any change in enclosure or maintenance techniques can modify the feeding response you are get. We like to get our babies well established before we send them out to a client, but be please be aware that a baby feeding on frozen thawed pinkies here, at our facility, may have to go back to pinky heads or assist feeding to get going again after being shipped. Establishing babies may be a long process, and just when you think you are over the hump you may in fact have multiple months of effort ahead.
These are amazing snakes, and even though the babies are for the most part difficult feeders, it is well worth the effort spent to see a little grey baby thrive and turn into a beautiful blue or green specimen. It is important to remember that even though these steps have worked for us, they are only suggestions and it is important to keep an open mind. Sharing new and different strategies with other keepers and enthusiasts can only help in the success of any species in captivity.


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## loxocemus

(one of my dream species along with a lot of others included in this thread)

*MADAGASCAR TREE BOAS*
Sanzinia madagascariensis volontony by Douglas Taylor



*SCOPE*​
This caresheet is for the Mandarin Phase/Western subspecies of the Madagascar Tree Boa or Sanzinia. I'll cover the general husbandry that I've used and the breeding strategy employed for successful reproduction. This is not intended as the final word on care and breeding of Sanzinia.

This caresheet is based on my experience with the 2.2 that I have and the clutches of babies they have produced for me. It may be better called a “report” than a “caresheet”. I got my original breeding pair in late 1998, a second male in late 1999 and a small female in early 2001. They were all adults or young adults so I don't have any experience raising the babies to adulthood.

You will see some pictures of the Green Phase, or _Sanzinia madagascariensis madagascariesis_. These are pictures of a pair that were under my care for a short time. I do have a young pair of Green phase animals, but I have neither raised them to adulthood or had any reproduction from them. As such, a caresheet would be a bit premature. 









A green phase or _S.m.madagascariensis_ posing in good Tree Boa form 

*TAXONOMY*​
The name "Sanzinia" comes from an early explorer and catalouguer of Madagascar by the name of R. Sanzin. Early references to these snakes called them "Sanzin's Tree Boa".

A recent paper by Miguel Vences and Frank Glaw conclude that the Eastern (Green Phase) and the Western (Mandarin Phase) are distinct enough to deserve subspecific classification and perhaps future reclassification as distinct species. The Green Phase is now considered _Sanzinia madagascariensis madagascariensis_ and the Mandarin Phase is now _Sanzinia madagascariensis volontony_. Volontony means "Earth Colored". If I understand the name, it means Earth Colored Sanzinia from Madagascar. 

*ARBOREAL?*​Madagascar Tree Boa is something of an odd name in that they aren't nearly as arboreal as the other arboreal boids. Emerald Tree Boas and Amazon Tree Boas are certainly more arboreal; spending most of their lives perched on branches. My MTB's seem to spend most of the time on the ground, taking advantage of climbing opportunities when they are out looking for food. Usually they are found in a hidebox.

The babies climb and hang out on branches more than the adults. My adult males, who are smaller than the female, spend more time perched on shelves in the cages or climbing around. They do this much more than the larger females. Females can be found perched on high spots, just not as often. This leads me to conclude that the tendency to climb has a lot to do with overall size. All of my animals can span impressive distances and I'm sure they would be marvelous climbers.

Wild specimens are frequently found high in trees and Compared to the other Madagascan Boas, _Acrantophis madagascarensis_ and _Acrantophis dumerili_, they are much more likely to be found in trees, so maybe “Tree Boa” isn't too much of a misnomer. 










*SIZE*​
Mandarin Madagascar Tree Boas are medium sized boas. They are from the western side of the island of Madagascar and also a small island off Madagascar called Nosy Be. They are larger and more robust than the Green Eastern subspecies. Mine range from 6 feet and about 7 lbs for the males to over 8 feet and 13-16 lbs for the females. There are reports of individual females reaching up to 30 lbs. I would guess that mine are about average size for the subspecies. Greens don't get nearly as large, maybe only ½ to 1/3 the size.
*ATTITUDE*​
MTB's have an undeserved reputation for being quick to bite. Mine are all very pleasant animals. The babies usually are quick to strike during the first week after birth, but soon become as calm as the adults. All of the breeders of MTB's that I have talked to say the same thing, that MTB's are generally calm and mellow captives.

They hold on very tightly when held. This makes them easy to hold, but sometimes hard to get back into the cage. This also can lead to you thinking the animal is holding tightly on your arm and when you look away, he's stretched out and has his head and neck around your computer monitor and he's trying to pull it off the desk.

*HOUSING*​
The caging requirements for MTB's can be as elaborate or spartan as you wish to make them. Give them the chance to climb and they will take advantage of the opportunity. They do not need fancy cages to do well. I have cages without any climbing available and some cages with shelves and such. All of the snakes do well.

A hide box is important and will be used daily. I usually use an 8 qt or larger opaque plastic container with either damp peat moss or just plain pine shavings. There have been times when the hide box had pine shavings and the snake would not go into it. I've replaced the pine shavings with damp peat moss and the snake uses it for a couple of months. Then it refuses to use it until I replace it with dry pine again. Whatever makes the snake happy is what you want to use.

I use shaved aspen as a substrate. Butcher paper, newspaper, paper towels, terry cloth, peat moss or whatever type of substrate you prefer is probably just fine with an MTB. As always, NEVER use cedar shavings for anything but starting a fire.

The size of the cages I have used range from 4'x18”x18” for males to 4'x3'x2' for females.

*TEMPERATURES AND HUMIDITY*​
From the first of April until about October 31st, I just keep the cages at 65-70 at night and 75-80 in the day. The cage will get a bit warmer during the day if the female is gravid. If she isn't gravid, I let it go like the males cages. I cover winter temperatures in the “Breeding” section.

For humidity I just keep a large water dish in the cage. It seems to be enough. I also keep a humidity box in the female's cage. They seem to tolerate a wide range of temperatures and humidity. The babies have been kept at room temperature without any sort of external heat and they are doing fine.

In a nutshell, they don't need much heat to do well, quite unlike any other arboreal. In fact, I'm finding them to be almost as easy to keep as any snake I've had.

*FEEDING*​








Yummy

My experience with MTB's and their feeding habits was frustrating at first, but with a little experience and research, became quite tolerable. I was used to feeding Eastern Indigos, which are absolute eating machines. MTB's eat when they want, and that isn't often. They have slow, efficient metabolisms and they just don't need to eat a lot.

My males usually begin eating sometime around April and will eat about once a month, sometimes more, sometimes less, until about October. In October, they quit eating, especially if a female is nearby, and they have less interest in food until daytime and temperatures increase again. Males, once adults, essentially don't need more than 6-8 medium sized meals per year. If the male is looking too skinny, toss a few extra meals his way. Fat males are ugly and poor breeders. 










The female's feeding behavior is different. Due to their increased size and extra needs due to reproduction, females will eat once or twice a month, year round. They will eat a little bit less in the winter, but shouldn't have any trouble digesting even in the coldest months. One of my females has even eaten when the lows dropped near 60! When a female is gravid, she loses all interest in food and will refuse all food offered until she has dropped her babies and had a post-lay shed.

They also seem a little sensitive about being held and later eating. I avoid handling them if I plan to feed them soon. They are nocturnal feeders and are normally more willing to accept prey at night than in the day. The males almost never accept food for me during the day. I just feed them at night now.

*BREEDING*​*







*

Madagascar Tree Boas have a reputation of being tough to breed. I agree with this to an extent. They may not reproduce annually. I breed mine every other year with a rest year in between. They have slow metabolisms and take quite a while to build up the energy reserves they need for reproduction. I suspect that reproduction happens every 2nd or 3rd year in most cases. Large females may produce more often.

They like to mate, a lot. I have seen mating every month of the year. But successful mating does not guarantee reproduction. It just means the snakes are having a good time. I expect that the best time to put the pair together is around November and separate them around early February. Some breeders, myself included, feel that multiple males help with reproduction.

I put the males together in the same cage as the female. The males will ignore her and wrestle. I pull out the “loser” and leave the “winner” (the one I want to mate with the female) in the cage with the female. I've never seen anything other than “wrestling” behavior. I keep an eye on them to make sure that they aren't actually biting each other. 

This is the hardest part. If I plan on the pair actually reproducing, in November I drop the Night Time Lows (NTL's) to around 60f. I let the temps drop that low for 2 months. During this time I let the Daytime Highs (DTH's) get to about 70f. For about a week in late December I might let the NTL's get as low as 55f and with the DTH's no higher than 70. To bring them out of the winter months, I return the temps back to normal, except that the female's basking area temperature will be much warmer, around 90-100f. The rest of her cage will be just a little warmer than normal. 










These temperatures are really low and it's hard for snake keepers to allow the temp's to drop so low because of fear of respiratory infections and such. One could always drop the temps and if the snakes appear ill affected by it, turn the heat back on.

If the female is gravid, she'll let you know. First, she'll begin to bask. My females never basks unless gravid.Second, gravid MTB females darken significantly, presumably to better absorb heat. They remain darker until after they drop the babies. Then after the babies are delivered, the female sheds the dark colors off. The female will drop the babies around July. Most of the breeders I contacted agreed that the birth coincided with the arrival of a large storm front. Watch for babies when a storm comes! 









Here's a gravid female showing the darkening of colors

Gravid females usually refuse to eat during the entire gestation. My female refused to eat from October of 1999 until August of 2000, about 2 weeks after she had her babies. In 2002, the gravid female fasted for 9 months. Once she dropped and shed, she ate every 3-7 days and regained most all of her lost mass. Having a snake go 8-9 months without eating can be a difficult time for the keeper.

The males may also refuse to eat through most of this time, especially if there is a female in the same room, but should be willing to eat once April rolls around. Mine don't seem to be ill affected by a 4-7 month fast.

*HATCHLINGS*​
*







*

The babies will probably be quick to strike at first, but should calm down once in hand. They quickly lose the defensive strike behavior. Newborn MTB's will probably want medium sized fuzzy mice right away and will accept thawed prey soon. I keep my babies at room temperatures, with no extra heat. They come out at night and love to climb around.











*SEXING*​I use a somewhat controversial method to sex my MTB's. I look at the spurs. If they are visible, it's a male. If there is little to nothing for spurs, I consider it female.









A male showing prominent spurs


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## loxocemus

A female showing the lack of prominent spurs

*CAST IRON SNAKES*​
In the past few years, I've made a few mistakes with caging, temperatures, and humidity, whatever. They have always come out of it just fine. The first year I had them, I kept them more like emeralds with higher temperatures and humidity, even misting them daily. They were fine except that they didn't reproduce that year.

Another time, I put damp peat moss in the hide box of one of the male's. I didn't check into his cage for probably 3-4 weeks. When I did, I realized he was sitting in a muddy mess. I had put way too much water in the box. I checked him out and there was nothing wrong with him, even though he had sat in a puddle for almost a month.

At night, one of my males will climb onto his basking lights and unscrew them. Regardless of all the goof ups I've made, they have continued to prove they are “Cast Iron” snakes.

The females love to soak. They will spend days or weeks at a time soaking. There has never been any skin problems. At first I thought it was because it was too warm, but she would stay in the water even at night when it was much cooler. So perhaps this "Tree Boa" is "Semi-Aquatic". Perhaps it is something related to ovulation.


*CONCLUSION*​
Madagascar Tree Boas are, overall, a very easy snake to keep. They tolerate handling, don't need a lot of heat, don't need a lot of feeding, don't have any unusual requirements and don't get too big. They have neat markings, come in a few colors and sizes and have the coolest looking HEAD of any boa. I think that as they become more common and cheaper, that they will be seen as a good “first boid”. Hopefully more breeders will have success with these snakes and more people will begin to be able to enjoy keeping them.

I want to thank David Tracer, Dr Adolf Maas DVM, Rene Voss, Steve Hammack, Joe Dembinski, Ken Counts, John Hollister, Terry Lilly, Stuart at www.pythons.net, Bobby Pruett, Ron Huffaker, and any Mad' Tree Boa breeders I may have forgotten, who have been willing to share information about care and keeping of Sanzinia madagascariensis. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*BY ROD FOSTER* 

Common Name:Madagascar Tree Boa​ Scientific Name:Sanzinia madagascariensis Distribution:Madagascar CITES Listing:Appendix 1 (04/02/77)

Firstly let’s deal with the subject of the Madagascar Tree Boas (MTB) scientific name.

Sanzinia madagascariensis madagascariensis; Sanzinia volontony; Boa Mandrita and Sanzinia madagascariensis are the scientific names currently being used to describe the Madagascar Tree Boa.

A 2003 paper by Miguel Vences and Frank Glaw concludes that the Eastern (Green Phase) and the Western (Mandarin Phase) are distinct enough to deserve sub specific classification and possibly reclassification as distinct species in the future.

They propose the Green Phase to be classified as Sanzinia madagascariensis madagascariensis and the Mandarin Phase to be classified as Sanzinia madagascariensis volontony.

If you wish to read their paper in its entirety then follow this link http://www.mvences.de/p/p2/Vences_B83.pdf

The history of the re-classification to the genus Boa can be traced to a paper produced by A.G Kluge - 1991.

If you would like to see what Dr. Marinus S Hoogmoed, Chairman of the CITES Nomenclature Committee had to say in April 2000 then follow this link http://www.cites.org/common/cop/11/info/06.pdf but in summary this document proposes the continuation of the Madagascan boids to remain unchanged. 

I am in the fortunate position to have many unrelated examples of both phases in my collection and over the years have seen many many more. The 2 ‘phases’ do have some distinct differences but they are confined to primarily colour variations and to a lesser extent adult size.

When D.E.F.R.A in the UK issue me with the CITES article 10 certificates required for MTB's they continue to refer to them as Sanzinia madagascariensis. They do not distinguish between the ''Green Phase'' and the ''Mandarin Phase'' and nor do they subscribe to the reclassification to Boa genus - so for now I will continue referring to my MTB's as Sanzinia madagascariensis.
The Madagascar tree boa is classified as vulnerable (VU A1cd) on the IUCN Red List 2003 and is listed on Appendix I of CITES 

Description / Range

Sanzinia are medium size boas and they originate from across Madagascar with the exception of the extreme southwest corner.

There are 2 colour variations or ‘phases’. Prevalent mainly in the eastern half of the range is the green form which tends to be smaller than the mandarin form which occurs in the western side of the range.

As adults the green phase probably not unsurprisingly is usually green. The colouration of the green phase is highly variable. Some individuals are lime green, some dark green, some have vivid white dorsal spots on dark brown saddles some have dull white on reddish saddles and every combination in between. Some have clear belly scales and some in my collection have red belly scales the linking factor is that they exhibit green colouration.

The adult Mandarin phase is always a dark brown green with yellow and cream dorsal markings and dark saddles. I have seen significantly less colour variation in Mandarin specimens than I have in Green phase specimens.

Green Phase (the most sought after)









Mandarin Phase









An Arboreal Species ? 

You would rightly expect a Tree Boa to be just that, arboreal. The words Tree Boa conjures images in the mind that this is a boa that is similar in habit to an Emerald Tree Boa or Amazon Tree Boa or for that matter a Green Tree Python all of which spend a great majority of their time on perches off the ground. This is not so with the Madagascar Tree Boa, yes they are an arboreal species and climb but they are best described as a ‘’part time’’ arboreal species. 

As adults they prefer to spend their days in a hide box at ground level and only come out to night to climb around their perches. I have some adults that used to exhibit this arboreal behavior and as they got older and larger stopped climbing altogether. 

As neonates they are certainly more arboreal but again prefer to spend their days in a hide box. So if you only provided them with elaborate perches and nowhere to retreat to and hide in the day you may well find they do not thrive as well.

Captive Husbandry 
Vivarium / Housing Requirements 

This species as sub adults (1.5 to 3 years old) and adults (3 – 5 years old) require a vivarium. They are not suitable for housing in the seemingly ever popular plastic tub (RUB’s). As neonates they can be kept in small arboreal set ups and at a push providing that you can set up sufficient perches of varying height then a plastic tub may suffice for their first six months but after that they are going to need a vivarium and progress up in size as they grow. When they are 6 months old I transfer mine to a Herptek 2 foot square cube, furnished with perches and a hide box at ground level.

By adulthood I keep them in a vivarium that is at least 5 feet long by 2 feet high and 2 feet deep – with sturdy perches across the length of the vivarium. They do not need an elaborately decorated vivarium and if you spend time setting up fake plants be sure to fix them well as they will be destroyed in the night after they have finished their nocturnal wanderings. For substrate I use newspaper. A hide box is an essential item as is a water bowl that is heavy enough not to be turned over.

Temperature and Humidity requirements 

This is an area where new keepers of Sanzinia generally get it wrong. It’s another problem that when you think of Madagascar you generally think tropical, hot and humid all year round. This leads to Sanzinia being kept at temperatures that are too high and in too humid conditions. This is not the climate of Madagascar; it does not stay at 95 degrees and 90% humidity day in day out. For day to day maintenance this species is extremely hardy and forgiving of their keeper’s lack of knowledge, they will still feed, thrive and shed well but if breeding is in your plans then keeping them too hot will put a stop to any successful breeding.

So the daily temperatures are: Ambient Day Time High (DTH) 75- 8o degrees Fahrenheit with a hot spot of 85 degrees. Night Time Low (NTL) 65 – 70 degrees with hot spot of 75 degrees. I maintain my adults at these temps between April and October. Breeding temperatures are covered later under in the breeding section.

For humidity I leave a large water dish in the vivarium and humidity needs to be no more than 60% or thereabouts for the April to October period. High humidity and daily misting is not necessary. Sanzinia will drink from a water bowl without any problem.

As I say they are very hardy boas and if you get it wrong it won’t have any detrimental affect upon them it will just put any breeding plans to an immediate halt.

Feeding 
The second most common mistake made with Sanzinia is with regard to what we expect them to eat.

Adults and Sub adults don’t each as much as you would expect. If you are used to ‘’power feeding’’ your snakes and expect them to eat every 5-7 days then you will become frustrated with Sanzinia.

As adults males eat less than females. An adult male will eat a large rat every 2-3 weeks from April to breeding season begins. Sometimes they will want more and again by observation you will know when this is as they will appear in hunting mode at dusk. But they will fast for most of the breeding season and some will fast for 6-7 months per year whether they are being cycled for breeding or not. An obese male is not a healthy male and will make a poor breeder.

Females require more and will eat approximately twice as much as a male providing they are not gravid in which case they will cease feeding altogether until the neonates are born. If offered food when gravid they will sometimes strike, constrict then release the food. This is a good sign.

Breeding 
Here we go...this is what I get asked about the most. ''How do I breed my MTB's''

Sanzinia have a reputation for being difficult to impossible to breed. It is true that they are not as commonly bred as other species but this can be attributed predominantly to two reasons, firstly they are relatively uncommon in collections (due to lack of breeding) and secondly in my experience females breed bi-annually and it takes some nerve and considerable patience on behalf of the keeper to successfully breed them.

Sanzinia will actually mate with ease, at any time of the year at any temperature at any time of day and whatever condition they are in. This is the source of much excitement for owners of Sanzinia as they see mating and conclude that they will soon have neonate Sanzinia. Nothing could be farther from the truth. They mate seemingly for ‘’fun’’. Simply pair a male and a female and mating will soon begin. They mate more than any other Boa or Python species I have ever kept. Successful mating is entirely different and as there is not a great deal of breeding information to help the potential breeder here is my strategy. Although it is a work in progress and I’m sure over the coming years it will be improved and refined as my knowledge increases, it has never the less served me well and allowed me to witness many births of Sanzinia over the last few years.

Sexual maturity 
Females are generally sexually mature and of sufficient size and weight to begin breeding trials at 4 years. I have bred females at 3 years and the results were not successful with all infertile ova being produced. As I have previously stated I believe Sanzinia are at best bi-annual breeders. 

I have had females breed annually but the results were again poor with the 1st year yielding live healthy neonates only to be followed with either all slugs or only 2 or 3 small neonates the next.

Males mature much sooner and 3 years is when I begin to use males for breeding.

Temperature Cycling 
This is the part that requires nerve on your part. Consider carefully before you embark on this cycling regime as if you are unable to spend time observing your animals or they are not in optimum condition you may be initiating health problems including severe periods of fasting (up to a year) or encourage respiratory issues. In other words don’t just cycle your animals and walk away and let them get on with it, they require your attention, monitor and observe them; they will let you know whether to continue or to cease cycling. I stress again this is my strategy, detailed here for consideration, you are responsible for your animals and their health and well being so if you are in any doubt that you can deal with potential issues or devote the necessary time then simply don’t embark on temperature cycling and breeding trials.

A week before the end of October I begin to drop the temperatures. Over the following 2 weeks I gradually drop the DTH to 70 and the NTL to 60 degrees F. I maintain these temperatures until the last week of December at which point I drop the NTL down to 53 – 55 degrees F.

From 1st January I begin to increase the temps back up and by the end of January they are in their normal range again. But then I add in a basking spot that is 95-100 Degrees F. This basking spot is important and gravid females will bask for several weeks and their body temperature when measured with a non contact laser thermometer will reach in excess of 100 degrees F. Your vivarium such be designed that you can still create a thermal gradient but due to the basking spot that a gravid female requires the ambient temperature will undoubtedly increase. Mine increases up to 85 degrees F.

Only animals that are in optimum condition should be cycled.

Pairing, Ovulation and Gravid females 
I maintain my Sanzinia separately unless they are in breeding trials. I introduce the male in late November to the female’s vivarium. I have found that male combat is sometimes beneficial and sometimes it is not necessary. I have had equal success with both methods and I believe that it is down to the personal ‘’preferences’’ of the Sanzinia. If you are going to use male combat then introduce both males to the female enclosure. Combat will begin very soon after introduction. It is more of a wrestling match and they will chase each other around the vivarium. I have never witnessed any true aggression between males, for example them biting each other but it is only prudent to never leave them unattended for too long and to keep a close eye on them. After a day or so remove the loser and leave the victor (irrespective of the actual result you decide who the winner is)

Mating will then begin soon after, it can be at any time of day but usually occurs at night in a hide box. Repeated mating will go on until you separate the pair which I do towards the end of February or soon after I witness Ovulation.











You may be lucky enough to witness Ovulation but the female will spend most of her time pre ovulation in a hide box and I don’t like to disturb her too often. She will need to feel secure. There are a few indicators that the female is gravid. Firstly she will cease feeding. She will also begin to darken significantly and show her gravid colouration. These are 2 good indicators that your breeding is going to plan. She will also spend a good portion of her time soaking so once I see her colour change I provide a large water tray for her. She will spend a lot of her night time soaking with just her nostril protruding from the water. During the day she will bask and her body temperature will increase to 100 degrees F or more. 









All of this however still does not mean you will be getting viable neonates. All of this is possible and then a clutch of infertile orange ova are delivered (also referred to as a Slug). This happens and I believe this is due to 2 reasons, firstly the female did not have sufficient fat reserves to complete the process and secondly the male was not cooled enough to enable him to produce viable sperm.

The female will continue with her daily routine and maintain her gravid colouration until she delivers the clutch.

My females will normally deliver their litter in July. I watch them carefully from the beginning of July. As they approach the point of delivery they become very active roaming around the vivarium from dusk onwards and they always deliver at night.

Of note I have found that it is important to get the female to accept a small meal before she goes into her post lay shed. I find that if she feeds before this shed then she will feed with gusto after shedding and this will help her regain lost wait sooner. Females that don’t eat before the shed can take some time to get feeding again.









Green phase female showing her dark green gravid colouration 


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## loxocemus

If it all goes to plan - live healthy neonates









If it doesn't go to plan - infertile ova


Neonates

If all goes to plan you will get a nice healthy litter of neonate Sanzinia in July.
They are feisty when born and happy to strike at anything that moves. They shed in the 1st 24 hours some shed within an hour or two of being born. I take advantage of their striking and I offer all neonate Sanzinia their first meal immediately after their 1st shed and 80% plus of them will readily take a defrosted fuzzy mouse that has been thoroughly warmed through. They soon calm down and stop striking at anything that moves and if you have them established at feeding then you will have no problem raising them









1 day old green phase starting his 1st meal

I house them all separately in small enclosures with a small hide box and a perch. They will spend the days in the hide box and take to their perch in the evenings which is when I feed them.

Occasionally I have difficult feeders and I find that to get them going feed at night with no light and heat the head of a fuzzy mouse in hot water and a strike will usually follow. Once they strike don’t move ! If they detect movement they will release and you have to start again.

My Green Phase Sanzinia are born red (or brownish red) with white dorsal spots on chocolate brown saddle and colour change begins at about 18 months of age when the red becomes lime green.

Summary 
Sanzinia are hardy snakes and thrive in captivity. I do not consider them suitable for beginners and experience with other boids and particularly arboreal boas is desirable.

They can look viscous animals, jaw lines filled with thermal detection pits, numerous sharp teeth they are certainly equipped to inflict a painful bite – but very rarely do. They are generally calm and don’t mind being handled unless they have just eaten in which case they should be left alone for 3 days.

They don’t grow too big, are undemanding in terms of day to day environmental conditions and feeding so I do consider them an excellent species to keep for those who have experience of other boids and are looking to move onto something that little bit rarer and more challenging to breed.

They are however strong boas and can hold onto you with some pretty amazing force and this must not be forgotten. Treat them with respect.

I hope they are bred more often in the future by other owners and as our understanding of them improves that they begin to feature more in collections.

If other Sanzinia owners or breeders would like to comment or add to any of the above then I would be glad to hear from you. The pooling and sharing of knowledge and experience should lead to more of these beautiful boas being produced and featuring in collections.

Hope you found the above interesting and helpful

Best Regards

Rod Foster


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## loxocemus

*Captive husbandry and reproduction of the Madagascan tree boa
Sanzinia madagascariensis* (Duméril & Bibron, 1844) Adam Radovan 

Sanzinia madagascariensis is one of the most
spectacular of all species from the Boidae.
Its distinguishing features include a large off-set
head and colour ranging from dark to light green
with large rhomboid markings that continue down
the body. In some individuals these markings are
heavily bordered with white (Henkel & Schmidt,
2000). Neonates are a reddish-brown for the first
few months of life (Henkel & Schmidt, 2000).
The species is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN
Red List and CITES appendix 1 (IUCN, 2011). S.
madagascariensis can inhabit a range of habitats
from dry and moist forests, to savanna grasslands
and is distributed throughout northwestern,
northern and eastern Madagascar (O’Shea, 2007). It
has heat sensitive pits between the upper and lower
labial scales which is a feature not shared with
the other two Madagascan boa species (Mattison,
1998). Juveniles lead an arboreal life whilst adults
are commonly found basking on the ground or in
low branches (Henkel & Schmidt, 2000). Their
diet comprises small mammals and birds (O’Shea,
2007). S. madagascariensis is ovoviviparous with
four to sixteen young born after a gestation period
of six to eight months (Ross & Marzec, 1990).

Management
Three S. madagascariensis were used for the
breeding programme (one male/two females). The
male was an 11-year-old wild caught specimen.
Both females were eight-year-old first generation
captive bred specimens. Female 1 (Fig. 1) was the
larger specimen and weighed 2500 g, female 2
weighed 2100 g. The snakes were housed individually and
only introduced together for breeding purposes.
Specimens were housed in large fibreglass
vivariums measuring 120 x 60 x 60 cm. Abundant
branches were provided inside enclosures to
facilitate climbing. A large basking area was also
provided. Ambient day temperature was 24 to 28°C with
a basking area that reached up to 35°C. Ambient
night temperature was 20 to 22°C. Humidity was
maintained at 40 to 60% RH by spraying with
warm water every two days. Specimens were fed
on one adult rat every three to five weeks.
Reproduction The decision was made to breed the larger
female (female 1) in year one (end of 2008-2009)
and the smaller female (female 2) in year 2
(end of 2009-2010). Breeding behaviour was very
similar in both females. Therefore the breeding
observations from both years are presented
together. From November to February, night time
temperatures were gradually lowered between
14 to 16°C over five days. On day six, the
male was introduced to the female’s enclosure
and copulation commenced 30 minutes later.
The male was observed using his spurs during
every introduction. Copulation was observed mainly in the morning
from 8:00 to 11:00 when body temperatures were
between 16 and 18°C. Copulation was sporadic
throughout November and the male was removed.
All specimens refused food after their first
introduction. The male was then reintroduced in
December when female behaviour became constant
in activity and thermoregulation. The male was
deliberately introduced when it showed increased
rapid tongue flicking. Copulation was frequently
observed for a few days after reintroduction. After a
week together, copulation was induced by spraying
the enclosure and the specimens with warm water.
When mating behaviour and copulation ceased, the
male was removed. This method was continued 
from December through January. Copulation was
observed on sixteen separate occasions with female
1 and on six occasions with female 2.
Ovulation in both females could not be
observed but continued periods of basking were,
from mid-March (2009) in female 1 and the
beginning of March (2010) in female 2. Basking
occurred every morning and usually lasted all
day in both specimens. Female 1 raised her body
temperature to 38°C by the afternoon whilst female
2 sought shelter if her body temperature had risen
above 33°C. Temperatures were taken using an
infrared heat gun. Both females began to darken
in colour after their first slough to retain body
heat for longer to bring on the developing ova
(Ross & Marzec, 1990). This continued through
to parturition.
Female 1 sloughed almost two months prior
to giving birth and female 2 was in slough whilst
giving birth. The day prior to parturition, female 1
was offered, and consumed, one large rat whereas
female 2 refused food until her post parturition
slough. Female 1 gave birth to three live neonates
at the end of August weighing 52 to 56 g and
six infertile ova. Female 2 gave birth to five live
neonates (Fig. 2) at the end of August weighing 42
to 47 g, three still-born weighing 25 to 44 g and one
infertile ova. Both specimens returned to normal
colours after a post parturition slough.

Rearing Neonates
All three neonates from female 1 were housed
individually in contico boxes on a rack system
measuring 37 x 25 x 13 cm (L x W x H). Bark
chippings and sphagnum moss were used as
substrate and small sticks were used to provide
climbing opportunities. Neonates were offered one
small thawed mouse each. For the first two months
specimens struck at food items but released and
did not eat. After this period freshly killed mice
were offered and all three specimens accepted.
Eventually all three were weaned on to thawed mice
after four months. All five neonates from female 2
were housed individually in plastic Hagen tanks
measuring 27 x 16 x 20 cm.The enclosures were
furnished using the same method as the neonates
from female 1. All neonates accepted thawed,
small mice after a month from birth.

Humidity lower than 40% RH resulted in dry
sloughs and neonates had to be submerged in warm
water for a few hours for the skin to be manually
removed. Humidity was generally kept above 50%
RH and sphagnum moss piles were always damp.
Neonates were kept between 25 to 30°C.
After approximately four sloughs, and over
six to eight months, the juvenile boas began their
ontogenetic colour change from a red/brown to a
light/dark green background (Fig. 3 and 4).
Discussion
Sanzinia madagascariensis has been kept at the
Birmingham Nature Centre for over 15 years.
Specimens have included wild caught and captive
bred individuals. Various methods for breeding
have been tried over the years with the three
specimens used in this breeding programme but
with no success. The first successful breeding
occurred using the above method. This was later
replicated using a different female confirming the
factors necessary for successful reproduction.
From the observations made herein, S.
madagascariensis copulates readily in captivity.
This was observed more frequently in female 1 and
could possibly be caused by compatibility between
individuals although in both cases, fertile mating
took place.
S. madagascariensis seemed to be able to
withstand lower temperatures during the cycling
period than other boa species, without becoming
susceptible to respiratory infections (pers. obs.).
Keeping S. madagascariensis at temperatures
as low as 14°C for short periods of time may aid
fertility in the species (Ross & Marzec, 1990).
In previous breeding attempts, specimens were
introduced only at the end of the temperature
cycling period. Introducing the sexes at the
beginning and throughout the cycling period may
be beneficial in allowing the male to mate during
the onset of ovulation. Sanzinia madagascariensis
will mate throughout the year if introduced
together under the correct conditions (pers. obs).
However, successful reproduction appears to occur
only with temperature fluctuations from November
and neonates being born in August of the following
year. You'll (2007) observed similar breeding
success during these months.




























During gestation, S. madagascariensis basks
continually, however, if the basking temperature is
not appropriate (between 30 to 38°C in this study)
it may cause the developing ova to be re-absorbed
(Ross & Marzec, 1990). Whilst writing this paper
(July 2011) female 1 gave birth again nearly two
years after her first breeding success using the
same method for breeding.
Further studies of future breeding of S.
madagascariensis in larger numbers may help to
define whether the method for breeding used in
this study can be successfully replicated in other
collections. Captive breeding of snakes often needs
to be performed more than once to allow accurate
analysis of results and to determine factors that
may or may not affect reproduction.
AcknowledgEments
A special thanks to Roland Griffin and Charlotte
Radovanovic for comments on the manuscript and
to the staff and keepers at Birmingham Nature
Centre for their excellent animal husbandry. Also
a special thanks to Les Basford, Manager of
Birmingham Nature Centre for his guidance and
knowledge throughout the project.









Figure 4. Juvenile Sanzinia madagascariensis after ontogenetic colour change at approximately eight months from birth. Specimen is showing adult coloration.

My apologises for the text layout, i don't have the patience to fix it.


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## loxocemus

*FIRST BREEDING OF Sanzinia madagascariensis (SERPENTES: BOIDAE) IN RUSSIA*
Arslan H. Valeev and Dmitrii A. Antonov

Submitted August 17, 2012.
The data on the results of the first captive breeding of rare boid snake Sanzinia madagascariensis in Russia are presented. Characteristics of the reproductive biology of Madagascar tree boa are discussed in the present paper. The data on copulation, gestation, size, weight, and the number of newborn snakes, temperatures during hibernation
and the activity periods, temperature of gestation period, a diet during different seasons are given in the result of a successful breeding.

INTRODUCTION
Malagasy tree boas are one of the most interesting
reptile species from biogeographic point of view in the
world (Kluge, 1991; Austin, 2000; Noonan and Chippindale,
2006; Auffenberg, 1958). There are only three genera
of Boinae subfamily in OldWorld, two of them live in
Madagascar: Acrantophis, Sanzinia, and third one is
Candoia from Pacific region. Despite the enigmatic geographic
position, high attractiveness by their sizes (up to
2.5 m) and color, a great importance for private terrariumists
and zoos, their contribution into the regulation of
rodents number, and their rarity (The Madagascar tree
boa is classified as vulnerable (VU A1cd) on the IUCN
Red List 2003 and is listed on Appendix I of CITES), not
much known about methods of their captive breeding,
and there was no breeding of Sanzinia madagascariensis
in Russia since Marat Dilmukhamedov (1940 – 1994)
first brought them to Soviet Union in 1981.
The problem is due to several factors, first and one of
the most important is the presence in Madagascar of
many isolated tree boa populations with two described
subspecies: eastern Sanzinia madagascariensis madagascariensis
Duméril et Bibron 1844 and western Sanzinia
madagascariensis volontany Vences et Glaw 2004 (Vences
and Glow, 2003), from the experience of many zoos
and private hobbyists we can assume with a high degree
of probability that the subspecies of Malagasy tree boa do
not produce offspring. Perhaps, this reproductive isolation
is working on the population level too, this requires
further study, often, locality of most specimens in terrariums
is unknown and it’s not possible to recognize the
subspecies only by adult coloration. The second problem
is associated with the peculiarities of the weather conditions
in Madagascar, well known about large differences
between night and daytime temperatures, during the year,
the temperature and humidity also vary widely. The coolest
temperatures from April to March, can drop to less
than 10°C (http:www.antananarivo.climatemps.com).
Breeding of Malagasy tree boa, especially publications
on this topic are extremely rare worldwide, not
much information known about it. The greatest worldwide
success achieved in breeding of western subspecies,
breeding of eastern boas more rare. The vast majority of
boas and pythons are grown without the seasonal changes
till maturity, seasonal changes are only important for
breeding time, even ground Malagasy boas from genus
Acrantophis. Maybe it applies to Malagasy tree boas too;
in this article this issue is being investigated.
Characteristics of the reproductive biology of boid
snake Sanzinia madagascariensis, data on mating, gestation
and incubation, size and weight of newborn snakes,
temperatures during hibernation and activity periods,
temperature of incubation, a diet during different seasons
are given in the result of a two successful breedings.









Fig. 1. Sanzinia madagascariensis madagascariensis female No. 1 and males No. 1 and 2 color type. Color is light green with much white









Fig. 2. Sanzinia madagascariensis madagascariensis female No. 2
and male No. 3 color type. Brownish green color with low white.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
We have 3 adult males: male No. 1 (L 1350 mm,
weight of 1300 g, age 4 years old); male No. 2 (L 1400 mm,
weight of 1340 g, age 4 years old); male No. 3 (L
1490 mm, weight of 1600 g, age 8 years old) and 2 adult
females: female No. 1 (L 1540 mm, weight of 1650 g,
age 4 years old); female No. 2 (L 1670 mm, weight of
2200 g, age 8 years old) of Sanzinia madagascariensis
madagascariensis. Incoming CITES document
No. 99US0147509 for ancestors of those boas.
All six Malagasy tree boas were kept separately in
glass terrariums with the sizes of 400 × 500 × 700 mm.
The terrariums were equipped with water dishes, coconut
chips as substrate and bulb lamps (60W) for heating with
dimmer.
Daytime, temperatures changes depending on season
for one female (female No. 1) and two males (males
No. 1 and 2) from baby size, they were from one locality,
color is light green with much white (Fig. 1). Presumably,
date of birth was in August 2008. Normally daytime
temperature was 23 – 25, in hot spot 32 – 33 and 20 – 22
at night, also there was winter period every year for three
month (November – January) with night temperature
10 – 15°C and daytime temperature 20 – 22°C without
hot spot, at this period boas did not feed. The humidity
was always 60 – 70%. At other times, boas were feeding
once in 10 days with increasing of food item (mice, rat)
depending on the growth.
Another pair (female No. 2 and male No. 3) was also
from one locality (presumably, date of birth in August 2004),

















Fig. 3. Mating of Sanzinia madagascariensis madagascariensis









Fig. 4. Sanzinia madagascariensis madagascariensis gravid dark colored females

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## loxocemus

the color is brownish green with less white
(Fig. 2). There was no season changing before the age of
4 years, daytime temperature was always in interval
24 – 26°C, and 30 – 33°C on hot spot, at night temperature
fell to 20 – 22°C. First hibernation of boas from second
pair was at the age of five years, it lasted for 2 month,
first month temperature was in interval: 15 – 17°C and
second month temperature was lower: 6 – 8°C.
Breeding glass terrarium 500 × 500 × 750 mm included
hiding box with wet moss (300 – 200 – 250 mm,
diameter of hall 80 mm), water dishes, transverse
wooden sticks 4 cm in diameter on different levels, 60W
spot bulb lamp with dimmer in terrarium and 160W spot
light lamp (Raptor) is located on the cage cover, a distance
of 5 cm from the nearest branch.
RESULTS
From October to November of 2011 summer temperature
in terrarium gradually dropped from normal
23 – 25 to winter temperatures 10 – 15°C (sometimes
5°C). Hot spot 30 – 33°C was 8 hour a day, regardless of
the overall temperature in the terrarium and was regulated
by dimmer. Last feeding was on 2nd of November.
On 3rd of November all males were put together under
supervision for one day in one breeding terrarium
with one more extra lamp — Raptor UVB 160W, it was
important to stimulate them before meeting with females
by fighting for territory. On 4th of November 2011 first
male was put together in breeding terrarium with female,
simultaneously, second male was put in second breeding
terrarium with another female, at the same time, right
away, both pairs start mating, copulation lasted during
the entire time the stay of male with female, with short
breaks during the day (Fig. 3). Every female was mating
with four males, one week for one male, each boa female
was kept in one own breeding terrarium









birth

After 28 days each male of Malagasy tree boa sitting
in its own separate area, females were put together in one
breeding terrarium with hiding box and two hot spots,
one with maximum temperature 30 – 33°C and second
with temperature 50 – 55°C, the overall temperature in
the volume remains low 10 – 15°C (sometimes 5°C).
Snakes did not want to eat, most of the time they were
hiding in a box with wet moss, humidity kept high by water 
spraying of volume and inner walls of hiding box. In
early morning they took basking under UVB lamp for
3 – 4 h. Boas used rarely basking under a weak point
with the warm temperatures 30 – 33°C.
On 26 of December female’s skin began to darken, a
large female almost blackened on the dorsal side, a young
female not much has changed color, both females appeared
well noticeable increase in the posterior third of
the body, 27 of march expansion has reached maximum
size (Fig. 4). The conditions were the same until February,
from February night temperatures did not fall below
10°C. On 4th of August both females started shedding,
eyes were blue, color was very dark. At the same time the
overall temperature in the cage was raised within ten
days to 18 – 22°C. Because of the rather low temperature
process was long and ended only on 26th of August, after
shedding the boas again a bright green, and the first time
boas went hunting in the same evening. Each boa was offered
by one rat weighing 120 g, which they eventually
ate. On next day at 9 p.m. female No. 1 went into labor,
which lasted one hour (Fig. 5). The result is: one slug,
two non-viable snakes and ten normal dark red colored
newborn boas, at the same moment they began to slough
(Fig. 6). Duration of pregnancy was 270 – 298 days,
sizes and weight of newborns given in Table 1. All newborn
snakes were placed in one terrarium with 10%UVB
Repti-Glo and 35W halogen lamp, which make it possible
to heat Hot spot over the branches up to 35. The humidity
kept high and provided by everyday water spraying,
day and night temperature 18 – 22. In five days two
smallest baby boas died. 2nd of September female No. 1
ate 150 g rat in separate individual terrarium.
On 4th of September the second female gave birth to
newborn boas, the result is one slug, three non-viable
snakes and nine normal newborn boas with much lighter
color than the previous litter (Fig. 7). Duration of
pregnancy was 278 – 306 days, sizes and weight of newborns
given in Table 2. Conceivably female No. 2 went
into labor at the same day time as female No. 1.

All new-born snakes were placed in one terrarium. On 11th of
September first newborn boa from second litter start to
eat pinky rat. Two successful information on breeding Malagasy
tree boas gave much data about reproductive biology of
this rare snakes, in particular, for eastern Sanzinia madagascariensis
madagascariensis. It can be concluded that
it is not so important to comply with all the seasonal
changes during growth of boas females till mature, it
allows to spend less time and inputs to prepare boas for
breeding. The most important thing is to provide boas
with low overall temperatures with UVB hot spot from
moment of mating till the female give birth. It’s also
better to start breeding Malagasy tree boas at age of
4 years. There are still some questions about locality reproduction
isolation and this problem will explore further
studies.
Acknowledgments.We thank N. L. Orlov for professional
comments and corrections to the manuscript, and H. M. Valeev
and S. U. Valeeva for their patience. We also thank Sergei Prokhorchik
for the valuable contribution to the study of the reproductive
characteristics of Malagasy boas

TABLE 1. Size and Weight of Newborn Sanzinia madagascariensis
from First Litter (female No. 1)
Boa number SVL, mm Weight, g
1 480 46
2 420 40
3 470 45
4 490 47
5 440 42
6 470 46
7 430 42
8 480 45
9 (died in 5 days) 390 30
10 (died in 5 days) 400 29

TABLE 2. Size and weight of Newborn Sanzinia madagascariensis
from second litter (female No. 2)
Boa number SVL, mm Weight, g
1 430 46
2 450 40
3 450 45
4 440 37
5 460 40
6 420 38
7 460 42
8 450 39
9 420 37









Fig. 6. Newborn Sanzinia madagascariensis madagascariensis begin
to slough.









Fig. 7. Sanzinia madagascariensis madagascariensis hatching (female
No. 2).


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## loxocemus

*SOME ADDITIONAL DATA ABOUT REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
OF ENDANGERED SPECIES* Sanzinia madagascariensis (SERPENTES: BOIDAE)
Arslan H. Valeev

The additional data on the results of captive breeding of rare boid snake Sanzinia madagascariensis (Duméril et Bibron, 1844) are given. Peculiarities of Madagascar tree boa reproductive biology are discussed in the present paper.
The data for the study of two pairs of snakes includes interval between first and second breeding, copulating time, gestation in different conditions, weight and number of newborn snakes. Most important factors during the Malagasy boas breeding are confirmed and unusually high fertility for one boa female is recorded.

INTRODUCTION
Reproductive biology of rare boas is quite hard to research;
the only way to get some special data is to breed
them in captivity. The Malagasy boas in present paper are
classified as vulnerable (VU A1cd) on the IUCN Red
List 2003 and is listed on Appendix I of CITES). This boa
species is highly attractive for the pet trade, they are easy
to keep, large and gentle, snakes are not particularly rare
in the wild in present time, although these snakes are under
threat from deforestation in Madagascar (Ross and
Marzec, 1990; Orozco-Terwengel et al., 2008). Genus
Sanzinia consists of two distinct species, eastern Sanzinia
madagascariensis (Duméril et Bibron 1844) and western
Sanzinia volontany Vences et Glaw 2004 (Vences and
Glow, 2003). Sanzinia madagascariensis differs from
Sanzinia volontany by predominantly brownish ground
adult color of western boas, and greenish color of eastern
boas, also there is a difference in newborn juvenile color
of Malagasy boas, the eastern species have much more
red in ground color with white stripes on saddles, western
boas born in orange like color with yellow little stripes on
saddles and much black spots on both sides, also there is
a high genetic differentiation, which is nearly twice as
high as between Acrantophis madagascariensis and
Acrantophis dumerilii (Orozco-Terwengel et al., 2008;
Reynolds et al., 2014). The Malagasy boa phylogenetic
relationships to the other members of the family and
biogeographic point of view strongly debated all the time
(Auffenberg, 1958; Kluge, 1991; Austin, 2000; Noonan
and Chippindale, 2006; Reynolds et al., 2014). Relatively
a lot of information was obtained about the reproductive
biology of snakes of Sanzinia genus, it is ovoviviparous
snake with four to sixteen young born after a gestation
period of six to eight months with low temperatures at
night time and while mating, reach maturity in four years
(Ross and Marzec, 1990; Radovanovic, 2011, Valeev and
Antonov, 2013). However more details are required further
investigation, gathering information about each new
captive breeding.
Characteristics of the reproductive biology of boid
snake Sanzinia madagascariensis, data on mating, gestation,
and weight of newborn snakes, temperatures during
hibernation and activity periods are given in the result of
second successful breeding of the nine year old female.
The main purpose of this paper is to identify the key factors
affecting the successful breeding of boas

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Different snakes including two adult males: male
No. 1 (L = 1400 mm, weight of 1250 g, age 5 years old);
male No. 2 (L = 1470 mm, weight of 1350 g, age 5 years
old) and two adult females: female No. 1 (L = 1540 mm,
weight of 1650 g, age 5 years old); female No. 2 (L =
= 1850 mm, weight of 2800 g, age 9 years old) of Sanzinia
madagascariensis. Incoming CITES document
No. 99US0147509 were issued for ancestors of those
boas. All six Malagasy tree boas were kept separately in
glass terrariums with the sizes of 400 × 500 × 700 mm.
The terrariums were equipped with water dishes, coconut
chips as substrate and bulb lamps (60 W) for heating with
dimmer. Daytime, temperatures changes depending on season
for one female (female No. 1) and two males (males
No. 1, 2) from baby size, they were from one locality,
color is light green with much white (Fig. 1). Assumedly,
date of birth is in August 2008. Normally daytime temperature
was 23 – 25°C, in hot spot 32 – 33°C and
20 – 22°C at night, also there was winter period every
year for three month (November – January) with night
temperature 10 – 15°C and daytime temperature 20 –
22°C without hot spot, at this period boas did not feed.
The humidity was always 60 – 70%. At other times, boas
were feeding once in 10 days with increasing of food
item (mice, rat) depending on the growth.
Female No. 2 (assumedly, date of birth in august
2004), the color is brownish green with less white. There
was no season changing before the age of 4 years, daytime
temperature was always in interval 24 – 26°C, and
30 – 33°C on hot spot, at night temperature fell to 20 –
22°C. First hibernation of boas from second pair was at
the age of five years, it lasted for 2 month, and first
month temperature was in interval: 15 – 17°C and second
month temperature was lower: 6 – 8°C.
Breeding glass terrarium 500 × 500 × 750 mm included
hiding box with wet weight (300 × 200 ×
× 250 mm, diameter of hall 80 mm), water dishes, transverse
wooden sticks 4 cm in diameter on different levels,
60 W spot bulb lamp with dimmer in terrarium, a distance
of 5 cm from the nearest branch.

RESULTS
One season was missed to be better prepared for
breeding snakes (Ross and Marzec, 1990). From October
to November of 2011 summer temperature in terrarium
gradually dropped from normal 23 – 25°C to winter temperatures
15 – 18°C. Hot spot 30 – 33°C acts 8 h a day,
regardless of the overall temperature in the terrarium and
was regulated by dimmer. On November 17 all males were put together under
supervision for one day in one breeding terrarium, it was
important to stimulate them before meeting with females
by fighting for territory, enhances testosterone, next day
first male was put together in breeding terrarium with female,
simultaneously, second male was put in second
breeding terrarium with another female. At the same
time, right away, both pairs start mating, copulation
lasted during the entire time the stay of male with female,
with short breaks during the day (Fig. 1). Every female
was mating with both males, one week for one male; each
boa female was in one own breeding terrarium.
After one month each Malagasy tree boa sitting in its
own separate area, females were put in two breeding terrariums,
female No. 2 in terrarium with hiding box and
one hot spot with maximum temperature 30 – 33 degrees,
the overall temperature in the volume 15 degrees (sometimes
10 degrees), in the same conditions as it was in previous
breeding season (Valeev and Antonov, 2013). Female
No. 1 was moved to another room with higher temperatures,
the overall temperature 22 – 24°C and maximum
hot spot temperature 30 – 33°C. Snakes did not
want to eat, most of the time they were hiding in a box
with wet weight. Boas used basking under hot spot for
3 – 4 hours a day. Female’s skin began to darken, a large
female almost blackened on the dorsal side, a young
female not much has changed color, both females appeared
well noticeable increase in the posterior third of
the body. In August female’s No. 2 overall temperature in
the cage was raised within ten days to 18 – 22°C. 8th of
September female No. 1 gave birth to one dead full sized
newborn boa, on September 25 they changed color to
bright green, nothing was wrong with moving and smelling
(Fig. 2). X-ray showed alive babies inside the middle
part and some strange picture in hind part of the body
(Fig. 3). In the end of October the Malagasy boa female
start to feel bad, movements have become rare, on 4th
November made her cesarean. 15 dead full developed
boa was inside and several deformed newborns, one oviduct
was saved, the second removed. The reason is
twisted end of oviduct. On September 25 the second female gave birth to
newborn boas while shedding, the result is 12 normal females,
9 normal newborn males and 2 males with fetal 
deformity (Fig. 4). Weight of newborns is given in a
Table 1 (Fig. 5). All newborn snakes were placed in one
terrarium (Figs. 6 – 9). First deformed male has fused
neck, while writing this article was alive, second male
has fused neck and underdeveloped head on the side of
well-developed head, died in 50 days (Fig. 10).
Second breeding of Malagasy tree boas gave additional
data about reproductive biology of this endangered
species. In this breeding season used only males with seasonal
changing from newborn sizes, in 2012 there was
third male without seasonal changes while growing and it
was hard to identify if females were impregnated by one
or another male. Now it is difficult to draw a conclusion
about the importance of seasonal cold temperatures while
male grow, can be concluded that it is not so important to
comply with all the seasonal changes during growth of
females till mature, it allows to spend less time and inputs
to prepare boas for breeding. The second breeding season
of the same pairs confirmed the importance of providing
the boas with low overall temperatures from mating till
the female give birth; high temperature during pregnancy
may lead to death of female, although, it does not affect
the intrauterine development problems of boas. Clearly
noticeable the increasing in fertility of Malagasy boas
with each subsequent pregnancy, different females with
different age gave birth about 2 times bigger litter while
second breeding season in their lives. Increase in litter
size does not affect the weight and size of all newborns.
Was recorded high fertility for genus Sanzinia, 21 normal
condition and 2 deformed newborns.

Acknowledgments. I would like to thank N. L. Orlov for
professional comments on the article, and for amendments to it,
thank to H. M. Valeev and S. U.Valeeva for patience. I am very
grateful to my colleagues and friends in the terrariumistik
Internet Resources and to Dmitry Vassilyev for cesarean operation
with the problematic female.









Fig. 1. Mating of Sanzinia madagascariensis









Fig. 2. Female No. 1 changed color to bright green while gravid









Fig. 3. X-ray picture of gravid female No. 1.









Fig. 4. Female No. 2 give birth









Fig. 5. Measuring the weight of each newborn Malagasy boa

TABLE 1. Weights of newborn Sanzinia madagascariensis
Males Females
number weight, g number weight, g
1 40 1 41
2 42 2 42
3 45 3 45
4 44 4 39
5 46 5 44
6 42 6 42
7 40 7 44
8 46 8 42
9 39 9 45
10 (deformed) 36 10 41
11 (deformed) 39 11 42
12 39


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## loxocemus

Something i should point out re some of this husbandry info, a lot of it is quite old, BUT REMEMBER the calabaria of 1996 for example, has not evolved to this day, so what produced viable neonates then, can do so now, use modern tech, modern tweaks but the info by the above authors is invaluable.

rgds
ed


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## loxocemus

the next series are pics i kept because they (to me) were interesting re husbandry


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## loxocemus




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## loxocemus




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## loxocemus

*Southern Scrub Pythons in Captivity by Yasser Moustafa*

The Southern Scrub Python is perhaps one of the greatest reptile predators in the world. They hold a spirit that we feel is unmatched by any other reptile in the world. This paper is hopefully going to provide helpful information in the further understanding in the care and reproduction of the captive Southern Scrub Python. It was originally written for submittal to Reptiles Magazine but we decided against it so we could share the information here.

TAKING A CHANCE
Several years ago, we had 80-90 snakes in our collection. It included some "high-end" Boas and Pythons but it was mostly comprised of good ol' colubrid species. Then, a few years ago, I was conversing with a longtime friend and fellow herper, Kevin Goerger. We got on the subject of these "yellow phase scrub pythons" on an old outdated price list from NERD. We began discussing how we both had wanted for a long time to try our hand at these amethystine pythons we had always heard about but had never seen. The wheels were now set in motion. We tracked down a young pair of Barneck Amethystine Pythons...whatever those were. We had no idea of what we were really getting into. But when Cheyanne and I first laid our eyes on those gems, we both realized that we had never seen anything more beautiful in the reptile world. We were awestruck. From there we sold a majority of our collection to fund the purchase of every scrub python we found available for the next few years.. Now it's 4 years later and we have hatched two clutches of little red babies and as of 2-20-03, we are awaiting the arrival of two more clutches. 

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
The Southern Scrub Python is a snake that can become sexually mature at 7-8 feet and as young as 2 years of age. They grow to an average of 11-13 feet with very rare specimens reaching 16 feet. Being such a lean and agile species, these pythons are adapted to be equally at home in the trees as well as on the ground and in water. They exhibit a variable background colour of brown to straw yellow to olive green. On this background colour is darker green and brown to nearly black scales that make up a complex maze-like pattern. They share the neck bars of their northern cousin, the Barneck. However the colour of the bars tend to be lighter in Southerns. The posterior end of their bodies are usually well marked with high contrast banding while other can be nearly patternless through the tail. Overall, the Southern Scrub Python is very similar in pattern to that of the Australian Scrub Python, Morelia kinghorni. The Southern seems to look much like a hypomelanistic Australian although it must be noted that these two species are genetically and morphologically distinct










HABITAT AND RANGE
The Southern Scrub Python ranges from Southern New Guinea and west thru Southern Irian Jaya. At the time of this writing (2-5-03), Specimens from Aru and Kai Islands are also considered Southerns although it is expected that at least those from Aru will be reclassified. Southerns seem to be geographically separated from the northerly ranging Barneck by a huge mountain range dividing Papua New Guinea. There is a rogue northerly population of the Southern Scrub Python on the island of Biak where it seems they have been isolated from any genetic influence by their northern Barneck relatives. These pythons can occur in a wide variety of habitats from grassy savannahs to thick rainforest regions down to the mangrove swamps and as high as 4500 ft. above sea level. Many are encountered living in close proximity to humans, entering homes and raiding chicken coops. Otherwise they are found along rivers as well as roads and perched in trees. They even have been found hanging up high in caves, waiting for a bat or bird. In the wild, Southerns will consume a wide variety of prey from just about anything warm blooded to various lizard species. For the most part however, they are strict predators of warm blooded creatures.

CAPTIVE HUSBANDRY AND REPRODUCTION
The behaviour of these incredible pythons is very exciting to experience first hand. They will often perch in their branches for several days straight with their heads and anterior third pointing downward towards the floor of the cage. This position is the preferred ambush stance for the Southern Scrub Python. They will stay in this position for hours at times in hopes of an offered meal. The slightest movement in the vicinity of the python will quickly gain its' attention. From this position the scrub python could explode from the perch or wait for further stimulation to verify the movement it recognizes has a heat signature. These pythons are very well equipped with large eyes and many thermosensitive labial pits. Combine these senses with an excellent sense of smell and you have what could be the best predator in the boid world. In our collection, we have noticed a learned behavioral response that many of our scrub pythons have acquired. They seem to follow us around the building with curiosity and will even learn that when the cage lock gets disengaged, it is time to eat. They will learn, with as little as three repetitions, which side of the cage that food will be offered. It is primarily during feeding that an adult scrub python may be possibly dangerous should something go awry. But such is the case for most species that feed well in captivity. When we began investigating an approach to successfully reproduce these pythons, we looked for any climate data of their natural habitat. We looked at the variation in temps of various south Irian Jaya localities but found that the most consistent temperature info was based from Merauke, one of the most populated towns in the region. From there we decided to manipulate the temps provided to our scrubs to directly reflect the temperature variation of their native area. Here are our temperature guidelines that have worked so far.Please note that these temperatures are the body temperatures of the snakes and not the actual thermostat settings. There is a big difference.

Spring: DTH 86 NTL 78
Summer: DTH 88-90 NTL 80-81
Fall: DTH 86-88 NTL 80
Winter: DTH 82 NTL 73 

Now in the Spring, basking spots provided by overhead heating elements are only turned on for about 10 hours. In the summer, this can go up to 14 hours. In Fall, the elements are still on for 14 hours as well. But in winter, after a couple of weeks of transition down to cooler temps, the basking sources are turned off entirely and the room temps are then manipulated to provide the winter temps listed above. The winter period only last about 8-10 weeks with the transition period included. We then warm them back up to Spring temps and settings over the course of about 10 days. About three weeks into the winter cooling period, we simulate the heavy rains that these snakes typically experience by misting them several times a week. Also, this is the time we may begin to introduce pairs for breeding attempts. We try to introduce males when females have just shed but any time during this phase of the cooling period, copulation can occur. We have found that if a basking spot is provided for even a few hours a day, the males will be highly attracted to the warm spot. In turn, they tend to do away with the idea of breeding. In contrast, the females will often seem to try to stay as cool as possible and don't go anywhere near the warm spot. Basically when local heat is given at this time, males will go bask and females will be on the opposite side of the cage then nothing happens...they don't breed until the basking spot is turned back off. When breeding interest does arise, it is in the typical boid courtship behavior. In our record keeping, we watch for and note several things. In various stages, of courtship track the date of the introduction of the males to the females cages, them ales rubbing their noses along the females' body, body alignment, tail search, cloacal alignment, spurring and finally time and duration of copulation.

The duration of actual copulation varies considerably. Sometimes it can be as short as an hour or as long as 8 hours, maybe even longer. As far as frequency of the breeding activity, our Southerns will occasionally breed two times in a 24 hour period and sometimes they will copulate only once and not do so again for 3-4 weeks. Over the past few years,it has occured more than once where we have recorded 15-20 coplulations from just one pair in a single breeding season.

THE ROAD TO OVULATION During the latter end of the cooling period, females will begin to develop follicles. As these follicles mature, the females will tend to stay as cool as possible until about a week or so before ovulation. Then they begin to start spending a few hours a day basking in the warm spot of the cage. Visually, the characteristics of the developing follicles will be a general look of fullness spread out in the posterior half of the body. If the snake looks fatter than it did when the cooling period (and subsequent fasting) began, this is follicular maturation. They will also darken in color a bit to possibly aid them in their sudden need to absorb heat. When ovulation does occur, it is quite noticeable. It is a very localized abdominal swelling that lasts 20-30 hours and can be twice the thickness of the snake.









THE EXPECTING MOTHER
Once ovulation has occured, the female Southern Scrub Python will continue with basking but now will stay glued to the heat. We adjust the thermostat to allow for daytime body temps of 89-91 degrees F. We have noticed that once the gravid female reaches more then 91-92 degrees, she will leave the basking spot. At night, we have the thermostat set to bring the gravid females' body temperature down to 84-85 degrees at the coldest point of the night. We don't let them get any colder than this. Most of the time, females will have refused food since ovulation. This is typical of most boid species. At approximately 29-32 days after ovulation, the gravid mother to be will cast her pre-egglaying shed. At this point, she will be as dark as she gets. She will begin to bask in a beehive shaped coil and at times she will lay inverted from 90 to 180 degrees with their bellies facing up.
Please see pic.









EGG DEPOSITION
In the 24-48 hours preceding egg deposition, the females will usually begin to roam the cage for varying periods of time. They also tend to bask a little more loosely coiled when they are not roaming. We provide a snug egg boxof some sort for the female to deposit the eggs. It is placed halfway between the basking source and the cool side of the cage. We have used pine shavings, Carefresh bedding, or green sphagnum moss as an egglaying substrate and have had equal success with all of them. When it gets close to egg deposition, we begin to heavily mist the enclosure to keep it humid. Please note, we do not spray the egg box at all...just the cage and cage substrate. Egglaying usually occurs during the early morning hours. Our Southerns are usually done laying by noon, usually earlier. Depending on the size of the breeding female, a small clutch or a very large one can be laid. While rare, female Southern Scrub Pythons can reproduce at 7 feet. In one documented case, a female just over 7 feet laid 4 fertile and 3 infertile eggs. Our Southerns bred at these smakller lengths but none finally ovualted until they were over 10 feet. At 10.5 feet a virgin female laid 16 fertile and 7 infertile eggs. We had another female lay 20 fertile and 5 infertile eggs at 8 yrs. of age and 13 feet in length. The fertile eggs we have gotten all weighed between 70-85 grams with an average weight of 79.4 grams. Infertile eggs are typically orange colored and are considerably smaller in size. Most of our infertile eggs were between 25-48 grams.









EGG INCUBATION
Up until 2002, we had used the more typical incubation method using equal weighed parts of vermiculite and water but we have had difficulty in sustaining a constant relative humidity throughout the longer incubation period that scrub python eggs require. So in 2003, we are planning to use the "no-substrate" incubation method that has been used for years with Green Tree Pythons. This method reportedly works very well at maintaining constant humidity for the entire duration of incubation. We will see how well it works for us for our 2003 python clutches. Pictured here is our first Southern clutch we are trying with this method. Altogether, Southern Scrub Python eggs are managed just like other python eggs. The duration of incubation at temperatures of 88-89.5 degrees F is 72-80 days. About 7-14 days prior to hatching, the eggs begin to generate some amount of heat and the eggs will begin to dent in and sweat. Condensation will usually begin to form in the egg box as well. At this time, if possible, we drop the incubator temperature by 1.5-2 degrees. Our results have varied but the temperature alteration seems to keep the neonates from dying in the egg before they can pip. If we catch the clutch just beginning to hatch, we help out the babies by creating a small V shaped slit in the top of each egg that has not yet pipped









NEONATAL CARE
We begin preparing our small shoebox lidless rack unit cages a few days before their expected hatch date. Each container is furnished with a double layer of paper towels and a water dish large enough for the neontes to snugly fit in. We also include a cardboard toilet paper tube for hiding. And finally we outfit the cages with one or two small dowels placed horizontally across the long span of the boxes. They are provided with heat tape on the back underside of the container set to give an 87-88 degree basking area. The cool side is usually around 80-81 degrees. Once the babies each leave the egg entirely, they are weighed and subsequently given their own cage. The neonates can vary in size from 24-56 grams with an average of 39 grams. They can also vary in length from 19.5-24 inches in total length. Neonate Southern Scrubs are very thin skinned and will dehydrate very easily. So upon the arrival of the babies to their cages, the paper towels are promptly soaked with water to the point of almost puddling up. The soaking of the cage will aid in their transition from life in the egg and through the first few days of life. It also allows the snakes to remain moist until the drop off what is left of the umbilicus and yolk sac. Once the yolk sac has been dropped, the neonates promptly have their paper towel substrate changed out but at thispoint, they are kept drier by just pouring small amounts of water over the paper towel from time to time. Most folks think that when they see a snake with wrinkles in the skin, the snake is dehydrated and would benefit from being more moist. With Southern Scrub neonates, such is not the case. They get wrinkles, especially in the neck and head area when kept too moist. Every keeper must find that happy medium for the babies. Our neonates undergo their post-hatch sheds at 10-16 days of age usually but can take as long as 30 days. In the few days prior to this first shed, the cage is soaked again to aid in this activity. Please see the two pics here that show the same snake before its first shed and after. Once the shed has occurred, they are set up again in a dry cage with paper towels. The babies should still be misted regularly but never again kept wet. If any of the hatchlings are looking unusually skinny, then those are offered food immediately after their post-hatch shed. A couple of our babies that took nearly a month to undergo this first shed, were offered food at 3 weeks of age and they in turn ate the meals before their first shed. But if the babies still have good weight, we will typically wait to offer them their first meals for an extra week or two after shedding. In our experience, about 70% of the hatchlings will take their first offered meal. Some will take newborn pinky rats while other hold out for fuzzy mice. We haven't ever had any hatchlings that simply would not feed. In fact, none have ever gone more than 6 weeks after their first shed without eating a mouse pup or rat pinky. We have found that live food works much better than frozen/thawed or even prekilled food. We simply drop the prey item in the cage and leave them overnight if it takes that long. Initially, hatchlings are very nippy and if food is presented on tongs, they will begin to strike at the offered prey defensively without wrapping and consuming it. Leaving it in the cage seems to keep their focus on only the live prey item and its' movements. Southern Scrub Python hatchlings as a whole are very unproblematic to get started on feeding provided the rest of their environmental needs are met. Once they start to feed, they are offered food each week thereafter.




























Their second sheds come 4-6 weeks after their first. After this shed, our little ones are usually thriving and may never miss another meal again. GROWTH AND FEEDING Much like their close Australian relative, the Kinghorns Scrub Python, juvenile Southern Scrub Pythons are capable of growing at great speed. They can reach 4-6 feet in their first year by feeding them just averaged sized meals every 7-14 days. By two years, they will reach lengths of 7.5-9 feet and at this point, we scale back their meals to every 2-4 weeks. Adults 3 years or older are about 10-12 feet and can weigh 15-22 lbs. We do not recommend feeding them too often or too much in hopes of helping in growth rate or reproduction. In fact, fat scrubs do not make good breeders. They dump slugs or don't even ovulate.










ONTOGENETIC COLOR CHANGE When Southern Scrub Pythons first shed, they have a uniform terracotta to red-orange color. Their pattern is often nearly untraceable. With each subsequent shed, they gain a little more contrast to their pattern and the red-orange background color will begin to fade to hues of browns first and later on, greenish gold. By 2 years of age, their color and pattern contrast stabilize into their adult hues.

MORPHS?
As far as we have been able to find, there are a few possible new Southern Scrub Python morphs on the horizon for herpetoculture. There is the patternless morph. We currently are working with 2.2 of these and only 2 other females are known to exist in captivity otherwise. Also, we are working with the only known striped specimen in captivity. And recently we acquired what looked to be a hypo Southern. It is quite striking with copper and gold hues with about 90% reduction of melanin. Finally, we have hatched three specimens that have all shared a similar characteristic about them that we casually refer to as "Aztec". They are very busily patterned and have a bit more contrast to them. Quite possibly, they may not be a morph but we have 1.2 of these and plan to breed them together so in a worst case scenario we can consider this a new multi-generational project. With imports coming in every year, there is bound to be more specimens like these and probably some other new and more exciting morphs for the future of this species in the trade.

TAMING THE SCRUB
Scrub Pythons in general have a bad reputation for being aggressive and bitey. While this is true for wild caught specimens (most of what is available on the market), captive born Scrubs can have good chances of taming down. They are much like nippy baby Jungle Carpet Pythons. Their tempers can vary. Some will calm down in a couple of months without any handling. Others will need to be held for brief periods one to two times a week. In personal communications with many current owners of our past hatchlings, about 70% reported that their Southerns were now tame and relatively trustworthy. Many of these folks purchased these as their first introduction to Scrub Pythons in general. All who have decided to add these fascinating snakes to their collection have expressed how unique and amazing they are. Give 'em a try. But captive born specimens and I guarantee that you will see exactly why we love Scrub Pythons so much.

Scrubs are a measure of a keepers skill in many ways, their not easy snakes or commonly bred, if you are interested in this species and this is your first technical, DO NOT, DO NOT buy wild caught animals, if you are interested enough then have the patience to search out cb specimens, preferably juveniles, they are out there.

An absolutely superb post by member matt83 matt83

*A Description of the five scrub species and localities of amethistina* (1) A Description of the five scrub species and localities of amethistina | Reptile Forums


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## loxocemus

*The Breeding of Simalia amethistina and Simalia nauta:*
_A Review of Six Clutches over Three years, with a Comparison of Breeding Methods, Behaviours and Incubation Temperatures_

*







*

Introduction
The species of the Simalia genus are some of the most enigmatic and mysterious pythons in the hobby today, as well as being some of the most rarely bred pythons. From the small but charismatic Tanimbar Islands python, S. nauta, to the large, graceful amethystine pythons, S. amethistina, this genus captivated me from the day I saw an Australian scrub python, S. kinghorni, on an online video. After that, I was hooked. I began my research into the amethystine pythons, and after merely six months of keeping snakes, I made the jump and obtained my first captive bred Sorong locality S. amethistina. Shortly after this I obtained my first subadults, then adults, within a year. I spoke to breeders of the species, learning as much as I could from what they were willing to share and coming up with a method that suited my way of keeping. That was five years ago.
Since then I have worked on recording as much data as I can during my attempts at breeding S. amethistina and S. nauta, which have resulted in six clutches over the past three years, with varying degrees of success.

Unsuccessful Trials
My first attempt at breeding was in the 2014/2015 season. For this season I was keeping the animals in minimalistic enclosures, measuring 120x50x70cm (lxhxd). Going from what I had been told by other breeders, I halted feeding for a month, from the end of September. At the end of October, I started to lower the night time temperatures from 24C to 20C over four weeks, dropping them 1C each week. After two weeks of dropping the night time temperatures down, I started to introduce the males into the females. As per other breeders’ advice, I left the male in with a female in for a few days at a time before I removed the male for several days, when I saw no breeding activity. I then reintroduced the male after a few days of being separate. I continued this cycle for a month, occasionally dropping the night time temperature to 17-18C for a few hours, before starting the warming process, which was the opposite of the cooling cycle; raising the night time temperatures by 1C every week for 4 weeks.
At the time, it seemed to me that this method of introduction and separation seemed to make the females more stressed with the continual disturbance, and I saw no breeding activity for the duration of the breeding trials. As a result, I spoke to more breeders, and using all the information they’d given me, came up with my own approach to try and breed scrub pythons.

Enclosures; A Different Approach
After the first unsuccessful season, we decided that we would change the enclosures we housed the animals in, going for a larger, more naturalistic approach. We designed them ourselves and decided to have two adjoining enclosures with a removable breeding door between the two. The females would be housed in a 180x60x90cm enclosure, and the males in a 120x60x90cm enclosure next to them. We built the enclosures ourselves. The passage between the two enclosures was a simple semi-circle cut into the left and right end of the males and females enclosure respectively, that matched when they were put side by side. We built Perspex tracks and doors in-between the two enclosures that can be removed easily during breeding trials, allowing the males to move into the females enclosure when they feel the time is right, which is a more natural behaviour during the breeding season and results in less stress on both the animals. We gave the animals horizontal perches and vertical branches and shelves at different levels to give the animals several options to rest. We covered perches and shelves with artificial plants so that they act as a retreat, essentially creating hides by using the plants. We use natural substrate and large water bowls to maintain a suitable level of humidity. For heating, we use a combination of a daylight basking bulb, set to a timer, and radiant heat panels set to a thermostat. We place these on one side of the enclosure, as close to each other as possible. This allows there to be a good thermal gradient within the enclosure. We also provide UVB for the animals. We alter the duration of the daylight hours depending on the time of year using a timer.
We then took this approach to all the enclosures we built in future. Some of the larger enclosures would not have breeding doors between due to the size, but they all were large, tall with multiple perching areas, shelves and retreats to make the animals feel secure. We found that the animals didn’t use hides unless they were gravid due to the amount of fake plants that covered the shelves and perches, which acted as elevated hides for the animals.

Below is an example of our enclosure for a Sorong Barneck pair and a general enclosure layout


















The Journey to Success
We introduced the animals into the new enclosures around six months before the 2015/16 season and they seemed to settle very quickly, all continuing to strike feed. During these breeding trials, we started the cooling slightly later in the year, halting feeding at the start of November. We commenced the lowering of the temperatures at the start of December. The male of one pair started to cruise more often and push against the breeding door, so we decided to remove the door. The male went into the female’s enclosure immediately and started to court her and they locked within the hour. We kept the pair together, changing this from the method of continual introduction and removal of the male told to us by other breeders. Occasionally we would drop the night time temperature down to 17-18C. The pair copulated multiple times before we started warming and continued to copulate during the warm period even when the pair resumed feeding. The female started developing follicles but during this time she started to lose mobility in the posterior half of her body. We brought the female to the vet and had to assist her in passing faeces and urates as she had lost compete muscle control. While removing the faeces, the vet noticed a lump of undigested bone in the faeces which would be an important discovery. The diagnosis was osteomyelitis, a bone infection that affected the spine and caused paralysis. Antibiotic treatment was started. Unfortunately, a few days after this the female died. An autopsy and histopathology were performed. During the autopsy, the vet found that there was a cut in the intestinal wall. The conclusion was that the undigested bone cut the intestinal wall, which allowed bacteria that are commensal in the gut to infiltrate the blood stream causing the infection in the spine. This then led to paralysis of the body to the posterior of the infected area of the spinal column. This paralysis meant that the animal couldn’t pass waste which then led to sepsis from the faeces not being passed. The male of the other pair showed no interest in courting or copulating with the other female.



















Despite this setback, we tried pairing again during the 2016/17 season. We decided to change the males around and use the male that showed breeding behaviours in the 2015/16 season. Similarly, to the previous season, we halted feeding in November and commenced the cooling period at the start of December. Due to other circumstances, we didn’t remove the breeding door until February 12th. The male travelled straight into the female’s enclosure and started courting her within 30 minutes. Within an hour they had started copulating. I left the male in with the female, allowing them to utilise the full extent of the adjoined enclosures. I noticed that when left together, the animals seemed more settled than when the male was removed and reintroduced. The male would court and copulate with the female intensely for a period of 2-4 days, copulating for between 8-18+ hours each time. The male would then stop copulating and courting for 10-14 days before resuming breeding activity. We kept the pair cool until March 1st, a month longer than previous while continuing to drop the night time temperatures down to 17-18C for one night occasionally, before we commenced the warming cycle. Both animals resumed feeding two weeks after the warming cycle was commenced. Two weeks after the warming cycle started, we noticed the female started developing follicles. We would wait until the two animals moved into separate enclosures, replace the doors, and then feed them. We would leave them separate for 48 hours before removing the doors. The male would move back in and attempt to court the female almost immediately. The last time the male copulated with the female was on April 30th. While we did feed them about 10 days after this using the same method mentioned above, when we removed the doors the male showed no interest in returning to the female, and didn’t show any interest several days after so we replaced the door to keep them separate. We continued feeding the female small meals every 7-14 days after this. The female ovulated on May 16th. It is interesting to note that this female continued to eat after her ovulation, when most female pythons would refuse food. She also continued to eat after her pre-lay shed, that occurred 28 days after the ovulation on June 12th. We decided to stop feeding the female 16 days before she was due to lay, to make sure that she didn’t become egg-bound. 35 days after the pre-lay shed, the female laid her clutch of 12 fertile eggs in the nest box we provided.




























Subsequent Clutches
Nauta 2017/18
Our next breeding success was with a different species of Simalia, S. nauta, the Tanimbar Island python. S. nauta are a dwarf species of scrub python, averaging between 1.5-2.1m. This pair was proven by a breeder in Europe before I obtained them in 2016. The female was c7 years old and the male was 8 years old when I bought them. They hadn’t bred for us during the 2016/17 season; we had witnessed multiple copulations but the female never obviously developed follicles or ovulated. For the 2017/2018 season, we only changed one parameter, which was the layout of the enclosure. The female was housed in a 1.2x0.6x0.9m enclosure, with horizontal perches. She was always a very shy and nervous animal, retreating whenever we walked past the enclosure. A few months prior to attempting breeding in December 2017, we added more horizontal and vertical branches and increased the amount of artificial foliage we had, covering the branches to act as elevated hides to make her feel more secure. For previous breeding trials with this pair we had attempted the same cooling procedure as with our first successful clutch. For the 2017/18 season we moved away from this approach and decided to try manipulating just the prey frequency. From previous years we learned that the room this pair were housed in had a natural cycling of temperatures throughout the year; during the summer the night time temperatures would remain steady at 23-24C, dropping to an average of 21-22C during the winter. Occasionally the temperatures during winter would drop down one or two degrees lower, however we use radiant heat panels in the enclosures set to thermostats to maintain a slightly warmer temperature in the enclosures at night. Three months or so before we started introductions, we started to increase the female’s food intake, feeding every 2-3 weeks on slightly smaller meals. The male was fed the same as during the year, approximately every 5-7 weeks. We introduced the male on December 6th and witnessed the first copulation. Similarly to the Oksibils, the male would court and eventually copulate with the female for a few days, before resting for 10-14 days before resuming breeding behaviour. We only witnessed three locks over a period of a month and by the end of December the female ovulated. We separated the male from the female and offered her food, but she refused. It is interesting to note that the female underwent ecdysis the day after her ovulation. 29 days after ovulation, she underwent ecdysis again, which was her pre-lay shed. 35 days after she laid a clutch of 9 eggs and 1 infertile egg.
3 eggs went bad shortly after the start of incubation. The other 6 eggs started hatching 75 days after being laid. 4 eggs pipped and hatched. On day 79 the final two eggs pipped. One egg contained twins, both of which were very small and slightly underdeveloped that died before they exited the egg. The last neonate also died before exiting the egg, managing to cut the egg by itself, but not making it out fully.










Sorong 2018









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## loxocemus

The female of this pair was captive bred, 5 years old and unproven when I obtained her in 2015. I obtained a male in early 2018. After 3 months quarantine I introduced him to the female and cohabited them long term in the same enclosure, measuring 2.4x0.75x1.2m. I removed the male when I fed them, about every 7-9 weeks. I had started to feed the female on small rabbits for the previous two feeds, before I witnessed the first copulation on August 23rd. The male started courting the female in the early morning and after a few hours of courting he succeeded in copulating with the female. This was c.1 week after her last feeding and the start of breeding activity coincided with a period of low-pressure weather and heavy rain. We witnessed two more copulations before the male lost interest in the female and stayed to the other side of the enclosure, compared to staying in close proximity of the female. Follicle development was obvious from September 12th to September 26th. After this the general swelling seemed to subside and she ovulated on the evening of October 2nd. We added a nest box and the female started to use this almost immediately. The female shed 29 days after the ovulation. 35 days after she shed, she stopped using the nest box and started to cruise almost continually. On the evening of day 37 post-shed, we added another nest box in a slightly warmer part of the enclosure. She entered the nest box shortly after and deposited her clutch the following morning, 38 days after her pre-lay shed. Unfortunately, she laid 17 infertile eggs and 1 fertile egg.

It is interesting to note that with this larger enclosure, the female did not use the water bowl to keep cool during follicle development, like all the other females that have bred.
*After this clutch we started keeping animals slightly cooler than previous years, throughout the day in particular. Basking times were reduced by 2-4 hours depending on the weather conditions and time of year; we allow longer basking times over winter. This is because we think the Sorong female had access for too long to a basking spot which resulted in a decrease in fertility/ the male was allowed too much access to a hotspot affecting sperm quality.

Nauta 2018/19
For this pairing we used the same female that bred during the 2017/18 season as she had been rested for three years prior to 2017/18. We used a different, unproven male, obtained in 2015, who was originally wild caught and approximately 10-12 years old at the time of this breeding. Similarly, to before, we increased the frequency of feeding a few months before we planned to introduce the male. The male was introduced on December 1st and within the first hour or so he had courted and copulated with the female. We only witnessed one other copulation on December 18th.
Like other pairs, the male generally stayed close to the female even when not courting, curling up next to or on top of her. Towards mid-January the male started cruising and moving away from the female, so I removed him and attempted to feed the female, who refused food.
A few days later, on Jan 21st, she ovulated. This was almost a month later than the previous year, despite the male being introduced around the same time. Just like the year before, she shed her skin the day after she ovulated. She had her pre-lay shed 25 days after this and laid 37 days after this shed. This time she laid 10 fertile eggs.




























Biak 2019
This was our most anticipated pairing, due to the fact that the Biak locality of amethistina had never been bred in captivity before. There had been one clutch from an imported, gravid female in the mid 1990’s, but this was the first fully captive bred clutch in captivity. I obtained this pair in early 2016 as wild caught specimens. I had seen this pair in 2015, advertised on the importer’s website, when I was first starting to keep scrub pythons. I had opted to leave them as they were WC and was advised to look for a captive bred animal as my first animal of this species. 6-8 months after I got my first scrub python, I contacted the importer and he still had this pair available and I decided to purchase them. The only other photos of Biaks I had seen were a pair owned by Dave and Tracy barker in the US during the 90’s (one was the imported gravid female I mentioned before). These animals were very large, approximately 4.5m. When I first obtained the female, she was approximately 1.2m, eating only on day old chicks according to the importer. While in our care, she started eating a variety of prey from rodents to avian prey, including quails, gerbils and rats. Like all our amethistina we fed her slowly, approximately every 4-6 weeks. Over the next 3 years, she reached approximately 2.4m and was at least 5 years old in 2019.



















I hadn’t planned on pairing her, as I was thinking she would have to be much larger to breed. However, while I was cleaning, I realised how old the pair were and decided to introduce the male into the female’s enclosure and observe their behaviour. I had done no preparation in terms of feeding and the female had actually refused food for approximately 2 months before I introduced the male. On Jan 21st, I introduced the male and to my surprise he started courting her immediately and they copulated soon after. I witnessed one more definite copulation on February 6th, and another possible copulation (not confirmed) on February 14th. I did not notice follicle development this time, but her general behaviour, which I will discuss in greater detail later, was the same as other gravid females I had seen. She ovulated on February 21st, so I removed the male. 23 days later she had her pre-lay shed. This female took the longest to lay from the time she had her pre-lay shed, taking 40 days before she deposited her clutch in the nest box we added after she ovulated. She laid 6 fully fertile, large eggs. She didn’t resume feeding until approximately the time that the eggs hatched, even though after we removed her from the clutch, we followed the same procedure as other females, that all ate the day after we had removed the clutch.










Oksibil 2019
We obtained this pair in early 2016, along with a group of other scrubs from a friend. The female of this pair was approximately 3 years old, 1.5m long when she came and was quite slender. She had suffered some damage to the rostral scales while she was being transported to us and had a slight mouth infection, as well as her mouth being almost completely scabbed over. We treated her with antibiotics for two weeks to treat the infection and applied Silver Sulfadiazine cream on the external wound. She refused food for the first two months and started to drop-feed on a small prey item left in the tub overnight. Eventually, once the wound had healed more, she started to strike feed consistently and never missed a feeding. That was until December 2017 when she refused food for the first time. She didn’t accept food for another two months until mid-February 2018. At this time, she was about 2.1m long. We upgraded her from a 1.2x0.6x0.6m enclosure to a 1.8x0.6x0.9m enclosure in January 2018 and after a time, she resumed feeding. From then, we fed her every 4-8 weeks and she grew to approximately 2.5m. I knew she would always be a smaller animal due to the time that she didn’t feed with me when I obtained her and with the previous owner when he obtained her as a fresh wild caught animal, with a similar wound to the mouth and rostral scales. Like the previous pairs, we doubled the female’s prey intake approximately three months before we planned to introduce a male.
I introduced one unproven male to this female in December and witnessed no breeding interest or activity with this male. In early January I removed that male and introduced another unproven male who started to court the female immediately and copulated with her the same day, January 9th. We witnessed four more copulations throughout January and February. Like all other pairs, the male would stay close to the female, not trying to court her, but staying in the vicinity of her throughout the period of copulations. I started witnessing follicle development with the female in early February. Follicle development reached a peak around February 25th, and the started to subside. By observing previous females closely, and learning their physical and behavioural changes, I was more successful at noticing follicle development and being able at identifying it. I will discuss the behavioural and physical changes that a gravid female goes through from follicle development, to the ovulation, to the deposition of the clutch, later in the article.
The male started to stay further away from her in early March, when we separated them and attempted to feed. The male accepted prey, but the female refused. The female ovulated on March 14th. She had her pre-lay shed 28 days later and deposited her clutch in the nest box provided 37 days after her pre-lay shed. We attempted to let the female incubate the eggs maternally. In the first day of maternal incubation she pushed out two infertile eggs from the egg pile. Over the next 24 hours, she succeeded in pushing out another two infertile eggs. That evening she moved off the clutch to bask and I saw that there were five good eggs and one more infertile egg left. I carefully removed the infertile egg with a pair of forceps and made note of the position of the eggs in the pile. The following morning, she was back on the clutch. She moved off the clutch in the afternoon and I noticed that the eggs had moved position. I decided that due to the number of infertile eggs and the fact the fertile eggs were moving each time she moved off the clutch, that I would remove the clutch and artificially incubate the remaining eggs. As the female was basking, I simply removed the nest box with the clutch inside. The eggs had not bound together, as is usual with a python clutch. and I could separate them easily to place them into the incubator.



















Behavioural and Physical Changes of a Female During Breeding
During the breeding season, a female scrub python will undergo various behavioural and physical changes. I have not seen any significant change in the behaviour or appearance of a female before a male is introduced, that would indicate that she is getting ready to breed. Rather, I feel that from my observations, the actual presence of a male is one stimulus that is required for the female to commence the breeding process.
The first behavioural change that is obvious usually comes after the first 2 or 3 copulations, generally about a month after copulations had started. The female will seek out the coolest area of the enclosure, often using the water bowl to keep herself cool. This is when the start of the swelling around the mid body area occurs. This is not a dramatic swelling, but rather a general appearance of being thicker and more rounded, that takes approximately two weeks from the time the female starts staying as cool as possible to become easily noticeable. This behaviour of staying to the coolest part of the cage (between 18-22C) lasts for between 2-4 weeks in my experience.










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## loxocemus

After this, the female changes her behaviour again and starts staying at mid-range temperatures, between 24-27C. Her appearance will also start to change, and she will become gradually darker. On dark coloured animals this can be difficult to tell, but on light-coloured animals the edges of the light scales will start to darken. Occasionally the female will bask for a few hours before moving back to the mid-range temperatures. The female will become noticeably thicker, to the point that when the female moves, some scale stretch will be observed, almost like she has eaten a medium sized prey item.



















The swelling will reach a peak and then will start to subside about 2 weeks before the ovulation. By this time, the female is noticeably darker than her usual appearance. In the few days prior to the ovulation, the female will bask more than she has done in the preceding weeks. She will also become far more restless, moving around more in the day or so before the ovulation. The most obvious difference between the follicle development swelling and the swelling for the ovulation is that it is much more sudden and larger, the female’s body swelling to 1.5-2x the usual thickness. The swelling is very abrupt and there will be a slightly stretched out appearance in the body preceding the area of the swelling. Scale stretch is obvious during the ovulation and is much greater than during follicle development. Ovulation generally lasts for 24-36 hours and is quite difficult to miss. After this the female’s appearance will be more normal in terms of thickness, but she will be gradually getting darker.



















Generally, I will only add a nest box after I’ve witnessed an ovulation as, in my experience, members of the Simalia genus that I work with (apart from S. tracyae) very rarely use a hide or nest box. After the ovulation, the female will bask more, and will very rarely venture down to the coolest end of the enclosure. Approximately 25 days after the ovulation the female will have her pre-lay shed. The female will appear incredibly dark, with a very prominent iridescent sheen to the skin. The female’s behaviour will be back to almost normal at this stage, except when she basks, she will be very loosely coiled, often with parts of her body hanging down, if a branch is provided. The female will occasionally investigate the nest box, pushing underneath the sphagnum moss inside the nest, but she will not spend a significant amount of time inside the nest box until about a week or so before she is going to deposit her clutch.



















Approximately two weeks before the female is due to lay, egg masses will be obviously visible about 15-30cm preceding the anal vent, depending on the size of the female. By now the female will be spending the majority of her time in the nest box, especially if the nest box is heated from below. In enclosures that are stacked two high, the nest box in the top enclosure is placed over the radiant heat-panels in the enclosure below so the heat rises and warms the nest box to 26-27C. In enclosures on the floor, I place a thermostat probe into the nest and place a heat mat under the enclosure, where the nest box will be. This maintains the nest box to the desired temperature.



















The female will continue to bask occasionally up until the day or so before she is due to lay. She will stay in the nest box almost continuously preceding egg deposition. During the 12-24 hours before the female lays, she will be twisting and moving position in the nest box regularly, as she starts to move the eggs down closer to the anal vent. She will also start pushing the moss to the sides of the nest box so the floor of the nest where she is lying is clear of moss. Egg deposition usually lasts approximately 3-4 hours.










Incubation Notes
Incubation has been an issue that I have experimented with over the six clutches I have had, and I have had better results with the most recent clutches, compared to my first time incubating a Simalia clutch. I was told by a breeder in the United States to incubate at 31-31.5C and 95-100% humidity. I used this temperature for the 2017 Oksibil clutch.
After approximately two weeks of incubation, the eggs started to dimple. I ensured that the humidity was high enough by making sure the incubation medium was moist enough and placing the eggs slightly deeper into the medium. After a few days the eggs were continuing to dimple so I decided to lower the incubation temperatures down to 30.5-31C and place sphagnum moss loosely around the eggs. Finally, the eggs started to swell back and after a few more days looked perfect again, except for one egg that continued to sink and eventually started to mould. The neonates started to cut the egg shell and emerge after 69 days. Nine of the eleven eggs hatched, and the last two eggs contained almost fully formed neonates that had died. Of the nine neonates, three had obvious neurological problems. Of the six remaining, a few had slightly deformed heads, with a pronounced bump at the top of the heads. Only one was what I would consider a perfectly formed animal, with a flat head and no other neurological issues. The three animals with neurological issues died after approximately 3 months, even though they were all feeding well. Five of the other neonates continued to eat well, with only one refusing any prey offered. Approximately 8 months after they had hatched, we lost the 5 neonates that were feeding in a matter of weeks, all of them succumbing to the same bacterial infection of the intestine. The sire and dam were tested, and it was found that only the sire carried the bacteria that had affected the neonates. The conclusion was that these animals had possibly had some internal abnormalities, specifically with the lymph gland that produces the white blood cells needed to combat infections, especially as there were other more obvious developmental abnormalities with some of the other offspring. The one neonate that did not eat for approximately 6 months was the only animal to have survived and continues to do well 2 years later.
For the second clutch (S. nauta), I decided to try cooler incubation temperatures, choosing to range from 29-30C. Of the nine eggs the female laid, three out of the nine had no veins present. These eggs deteriorated after 4-5 weeks and were removed from the incubator. The other six eggs did not dimple in the first few weeks unlike the first clutch. These eggs made it through incubation and the first egg pipped with the neonate emerging on day 75. Three more neonates emerged in the following few days. The last two eggs took until day 85 to pip. One of these eggs contained twins, one patterned and one patternless. Unfortunately, the twins and the single neonate in the other egg died before they had fully emerged from the egg. The 4 neonates all started eating on frozen-thawed prey.
The Sorong Barneck clutch contained one fertile egg and seventeen infertile eggs. Because of this I wanted to experiment with dropping the temperatures of the incubation at night after observing a female Papuan carpet python maternally incubate her eggs. We noticed that when the carpet python female incubated the eggs, the temperature on the probe we placed within the clutch dropped approximately 2C at night. I mimicked this with the incubation of the single egg, keeping it at 29.5C maximum during the day, dropping to 27.5C for 6 hours at night. Unfortunately, this did not work. While the egg did not deteriorate, the neonate that was in the egg was small and not fully formed when I cut the egg open at day 95.
For the fourth and fifth clutches (S. nauta and S. amethistina “Biak Island”) I started the incubation at 28.5-29.5C for the first two weeks of incubation after I read that lower temperatures at the start of incubation often help in reducing the chance of deformities. These two clutches were laid approximately a month after each other, so I decided to go for the same incubation temperatures for both. After the first two weeks I raised the temperatures to 29.5-30C. For the nauta clutch, the eggs started to pip on day 89 (compared to day 75 for the first S. nauta clutch, incubated at 29-30C throughout the incubation). Out of ten eggs laid, all of the eggs made it through incubation without any dimpling and all ten eggs hatched. This was our first clutch with 100% hatching rate. Some egg sac was still present on each neonate when it emerged. The S. amethistina “Biak” clutch took 97 days for the first egg to pip and the neonate emerge. These eggs were significantly larger than the S. nauta as was expected. Similarly, to the S. nauta clutch, we had 100% hatch rate, but also all the neonates had some egg sac remaining when they emerged from the egg. The majority of the nauta started strike feeding on frozen-thawed prey quickly. Those that didn’t strike feed, fed on quail or chick scented mice left in the enclosure overnight. The Biaks were much harder to feed, with three of the six eating at the time of writing.
The sixth clutch, S. amethistina “Oksibil”, comprised of four perfect eggs and one partly shelled egg. I decided to try incubating slightly warmer than the previous two clutches, even though this clutch was laid while the other two 2019 clutches were still incubating. I started the incubation at 29.5-30C for the first two weeks, raising to 30-30.5C for the remainder of the incubation. These eggs started to hatch on day 93 and all five eggs had hatched by day 97. This was the fastest hatching time for an entire clutch we had observed and again, we had 100% hatch rate. One obvious factor was that these neonates were relatively larger than the Biak amethistina, even though the eggs were approximately the same size. They were more defensive, and all of the five neonates had absorbed the egg sac fully before they emerged from the egg. These were also the easiest neonates I have had to start feeding, with all five neonates strike feeding on frozen-thawed baby rats or mice.
From these six clutches, I have concluded that the best incubation temperature for the Simalia genus is between 29.5-30.5C. I have spoken to the few breeders of Simalia boeleni, and the breeders that incubated at 31.5C had their clutches deteriorate, and the one breeder who has had multiple boeleni clutches, has found that 30-30.5C resulted in the best neonates with no egg sac remaining when they hatched. While you can incubate at higher temperatures, it is a risk. I have been told that other breeders in the States that incubated at 31-31.5C have had bad hatch rates, with eggs deteriorating towards the end of incubation, or most of the neonates that hatched were severely kinked or deformed. If I get another clutch, I will incubate at 30-30.5C for the entirety of the incubation to compare the results with starting the incubation slightly cooler for the first two weeks.

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## loxocemus

Summary and Conclusions
When people ask me about my success with the Simalia genus, and what I attribute that success to, my response is always the same… enclosure size and design, paying attention to the individual animal, and, no small amount of luck. In my opinion, the enclosures are what makes the difference between continual success and occasional breeding. There are multiple aspects to the enclosures that I consider have helped contribute to the successes we have had. From my experience, there is not just one method that leads to success with breeding S. amethistina or S. nauta. Indeed, the traditional method of python breeding of halting feeding and manually cooling animals, which more people are finding outdated especially for tropical-subtropical species, is not necessarily needed to breed at some members of the Simalia genus (except for S. boeleni perhaps).
The first aspect is the actual size of the enclosure. The minimum size enclosure that I have used to breed is a 1.2x0.6x0.9m enclosure. I use these enclosures for females that range in size from 1.5-2.1m. For females between 2.1-3m I use 1.8x0.6x0.9m. Any females over this size are housed in 2.4x0.6x1.2m enclosures. The reason I believe that the size of the enclosure has contributed to the breeding success we’ve had is because they allow the female access to a wide range of temperatures throughout the year, from a 28-30C basking spot for 4-6 hours, 25-27C side during the day that drops to 24C at night, down to a 22C cool end that drops to 20C, or occasionally lower, at night. This means that the manual cooling method is effectively unneeded as the female has access to these temperatures at the time that she feels is necessary, rather than the keeper judging when they should cool her down and for how long they should keep her cool. From what I have observed from the six successful breeding’s and two unsuccessful breeding’s, the cooling cycle does not seem to be a key factor to induce cycling with the female. From what I have observed, the biggest factor that starts a female cycling is the presence or introduction and courting of a male. It is only after the first few copulations that the female’s behaviour changes obviously. By maintaining the temperature in a large enclosure, after the copulations the female can access whatever temperatures she needs to stimulate follicle growth and ovulation. It is interesting to note that the only female that hasn’t used a water bowl during follicle development was the Sorong female housed in a 2.4x0.6x0.9m enclosure, which obviously meant that the size of the enclosure allowed her to get as cool as she needed to be to develop follicles without using a water bowl.
The second aspect to consider is the style of enclosure in relation to the individual female in question and her personality. Each animal is very different in their character and personality, and as a keeper you must learn how to read the individual animal. For the S. nauta female that I tried and failed to breed the first year, I noticed that she was a very shy and nervous animal. Any time I walked past the enclosure she would retreat, and she only ever drop feed overnight. It was only after I upgraded her enclosure, adding more perches and artificial foliage that she became more confident and would strike feed regularly. As a good friend of mine told me when I started trying to breed these snakes, you must be a “student of the serpent”. If you have a particularly nervous female, giving her as many covered perches and retreats as possible is key to getting her settled enough to breed. A female that is not as nervous won’t need the same level of cover to become settled.
When it comes to breeding, a well settled female is key to success. Part of this is keeping interactions where you physically interact with the animal to a minimum. This includes removing them solely for handling or to take pictures of them. I very rarely remove the animals from the enclosure unless for essential maintenance or extensive cleaning of the enclosure. Another factor of the larger cages with natural substrate means that spot cleaning can be easily done with the animals still in the enclosures. When I spot clean, I never remove all faeces, urates or sheds. This is because Ari Flagle has noted that in the wild, there is often piles of faeces and shed skin around the nesting sites of S. boeleni. I believe that this is a factor in making the animals feel more secure and settled and that the enclosure is essentially their domain.
From the successful breeding’s I have had, I believe that the feeding regime does not seem to be a factor in inducing breeding, follicle development or ovulation. I have only had one female that I have fed in the time immediately prior to an ovulation. All the other females either ovulated so quickly that I didn’t feed them after the introductions, or they simply refused food after the male had been introduced. It seems that the act of courting by a male is what is a factor to triggering the female to start the breeding cycle.

Similarly, the continual introductions and removal of a male to stimulate breeding does not seem to be affect the success, intensity or duration of the copulations. If the female is ready to breed, once a male has been introduced, he will start to court the female and if she is receptive, will copulate the same day as being introduced. When the male is left in with the female, he will generally stay close to the female, coiled next to, or on top of her. A male will generally copulate for 3-18+ hours over one or two days and will then usually rest for 7-14 days before starting to court the female again. I have found that the continual introduction and reintroduction of a male to a female can disturb the female simply due to the amount of movement when removing a male. Anywhere from 2-7 copulations have been witnessed with the pairings I have bred.
The time from the first copulation to follicle development is reasonably consistent, taking 30 days on average. The length of follicle development seems to vary between species but there is no consistent pattern that I have been able to tell, except that the Oksibil locality S. amethistina seems to take longer than the other localities or species. The time between ovulation and pre-lay shed is more consistent, taking 26 days on average. Similarly, the time between pre-lay shed and egg deposition is also more consistent than the length of follicle development, taking 37 days on average. I have noticed that since keeping the animals slightly cooler, the time between pre-lay shed and egg deposition is longer.
As mentioned before, from trying different temperatures during incubation, so far I have found that starting the eggs at 29.5-30C for the first two weeks, and then raising the temperatures to 30-30.5C for the remainder of the incubation seems to result in larger, stronger hatchlings that emerge from the egg with no egg sac attached compared to slightly cooler or slightly higher temperatures. While higher temperatures may result in faster incubation times, it seems to have a detrimental affect on the size, quality and health of the neonates. The slightly cooler temperatures seem to produce slightly smaller neonates, but I have not seen the same obvious deformities or neurological issues as when I incubated at 31-31.5C.
In general, I have found that neonates are quite easy to start feeding, either taking unscented, frozen-thawed mice from forceps, or drop feeding on quail or chick scented, frozen-thawed mice left in a small enclosure overnight. I have only had to assist feed a few neonates that refused food continually. These usually start strike feeding after several assist feeds. I raise the neonates in 30x45x45cm (lxhxd) enclosures, with perches, artificial plants and a mixture of moss and bark as substrate. I generally only offer food at night until the neonates are feeding regularly. I have noticed that, in general, neonates of the S. amethistina and S. nauta live a predominantly arboreal lifestyle, but initially after they hatch, they are more fossorial and stay buried in the moss for the majority of the time until they have had their first shed. In my experience, the best way to get the neonates to feed is to warm the prey to approximately body temperature, and then lure them with the prey. It is important not touch the neonate too violently with the prey item. This often results in the neonate fleeing and can set the individual back when it comes to feeding. The method I use is to move the prey item as if it was alive, taking it away to warm it again if necessary. If the neonate does not strike immediately, I will move the prey until the neonate starts to follow it and then I will either move it back towards the neonate, or will hold it still, with just the movement from my hand causing the prey item to twitch. I will wait while the neonate advances towards the prey and starts to move around it and usually the neonate will gently strike the prey.
To finalise, I don’t believe that these species are particularly difficult to breed. The most difficult aspect of breeding these species is to succeed in getting the females comfortable and settled into a new environment once you have obtained them. I believe that the key to this is as little interaction as possible and large enclosures that provide the animals with enough retreats, covered areas and perches to feel secure, whether it be a naturalistic style or a more minimalistic style of keeping. In my opinion, large enclosures with heating localised to one side reduce, or even eliminate, the need to manually cool the animals as they allow the female to access whatever temperature she feels is necessary or needed throughout the year. It is crucial to pay attention to the individual animals behaviours and characteristics, as each animal is a unique individual; some may be comfortable with limited cover, whereas more timid females may need a lot more cover. Another important part of breeding these species is to become accustomed to the seasonality of where you live. I noticed that in the years I failed to breed, that no breeding activity was witnessed in November when I introduced the animals then. However, I did notice that in general, I saw more breeding activity in January to February. Below is a table that documents as much information as possible that I have recorded from my past three years of breeding these amazing species.


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## loxocemus

*Jackson's Tree Snakes by Skiploder*

Just under 13 years ago I received my first 2.3 group of what are now probably my favorite species of snake. After battling intestinal parasites on my young imports for months (and finding two juvi dispholidus in the group) plus trying trial and error on husbandry, they eventually began to thrive and I got them to successfully mate 3 years later.

This was before the internet was a good way to get the word out on species care and also before the internet was an effective way to sell oddball snake species. So after two breedings and finding few takers, I decided to retire my group and keep them as pets.

This year I bred them again. I figured that seeing as my group was aging, it might be worth it to get some younger CB animals rolling. Two of my females produced a combined total of 19 eggs. Unfortunately, due to complications arising from surgery at the time one of the females was gravid, only 7 babies survived. I'm unsure at this time whether I will be selling some or keeping them all. All of my adult animals are pretty old..................maybe the next batch will be offered for sale.

I'm referring to Jackson's Tree Snakes, or Thrasops Jacksonii. A member of the dispholidine family. An animal at first glance that looks like a black boomslang and according Dr. Fry, packs a similar venom.

Luckily, they don't have the scary large rear double daggers that dispholidus do, nor the compressor muscles, which means that aren't nearly as dangerous. Still, they can make live prey bleed out in very short time.

I've never seen a care sheet available, so I'm going to post what I've learned in my time keeping these animals.

*Description :*
Jackson’s Tree snakes are almost uniformly black in color, however they do not start out that way. Thrasops are born with green heads, and a black and green body. The belly on neonates is often black and light blue with a black with yellow spotted tail.

The first batch of animals I had imported in completely lost their juvenile coloration by their 16th month. Subsequent clutches went completely black anywhere from 13 to 17 months in age. Color change was completely independent of the length or weight of the animal. All have large eyes relative to the size of their heads with round, black pupils.

The average adult size of thrasops jacksonii is about 68” and 540 to 650 grams, depending on sex. Males are nominally larger.

*Habitat:*
 Arboreal. Thrasops Jacksonii inhabit both tropical rain and mountain rain forests and are found at elevations from 1,200 to 6,500 feet above sea level. They are diurnal.

*Temperature:*
Thrasops need to be offered a basking spot in the neighborhood of 88 to 90 degrees for digestion. Non-digesting animals prefer to hang out in areas that are in the 75 to 77 degree range. I routinely let the bottom areas of my cages dip to the high 60s and low 70s at night.

These snakes naturally occur in humid areas and need relatively high humidity to maintain their health. I keep all of my thrasops between 65 and 75 percent humidity with higher spikes during shedding cycles.

It's important that in maintaining the required humidity levels, that proper ventilation is also supplied. I used CPU cooling fans and an automatic misting system to maintain both high humidity and high levels of ventilation.

These animals are prone to low humidity related bad sheds. They will often retain spectacles and unlike many other species, will actively attempt to rub the retained spectacles off. This can result in damage to the eye.

*Diet and Digestion:*
Jackson’s Tree Snakes are aggressive feeders that will consume multiple prey items at a sitting. Suitable diets for neonates include appropriate sized rodents and young quail pieces . Neonates can be tricky to get onto a rodent diet, but will readily take rodents dipped in chicken broth or scented with anoles or amphibian prey.

Adults can be maintained on average sized adult mice, quail and feeder anoles. As my animals have aged, I am finding almost a uniform predilection for fat deposits. These may be related to feeding them an all rodent diet. I am going to raise the next generation on a more naturally occurring diet to see if this is indeed a byproduct of an all-rodent diet.

Jackson’s Tree snakes have a quick metabolism and, if given a proper basking site, will digest prey within 48 hours.

I maintained my original group of adults on 3 to 4 small adult mice a week depending on size. Every three months or so, I varied their diet and would offer a run of quail, anoles or other reptilian prey.

Due to their aggressive feeding response and their toxic venom, Jackson’s Tree snakes should never been hand fed or handled within an hour of feeding – as they will remain in feed mode for an extended period of time.

Additionally, if keeping these animals in pairs, they should be fed in separate enclosures and kept apart for a minimum of an hour after feeding. While I have never observed intentional cannibalism, once on the scent of prey, these snakes will attack the head of anything that moves, including mates with whom the normally coexist peacefully.

*Venom:*
Thrasops Jacksonii are close cousins to both Thelatornis and Dispholidus and have been discovered to possess a similar hemorrhagic venom as their deadly cousins. Prey items are dispatched as quickly as 135 seconds, with blood streaming from eyes, the nose and the mouth. Unlike Thelatornis and Dispholidus, Thrasops have nominally enlarged rear fangs and therefore can be safely handled with gloves and long sleeves. While most individuals are not prone to biting in self-defense, some exceptions can be more aggressive and they are extremely aggressive in their feeding responses. They should be handled and treated with extreme respect and never by children or inexperienced handlers.

Being arboreal, they do not ride a hook like other animals and can quickly turn direction and ride up a handle. They are incredibly aware of changes to their surrounding and will often track multiple people or animals. Oftentimes just changing the position of a water dish or a branch will result in several days of agitated behavior.

They are also incredibly fast and until accustomed to being handled, will seek to escape with amazing speed and agility.

*Behavior:*
Thrasops are inquisitive and relatively intelligent animals. They are acutely aware of changes to their surroundings and as previously noted, may initially stress easy when even small items in their enclosures are changes.

With gentle and patient handling, they quickly become accustomed to human interaction, but will remain wary of new people and new surroundings.

When agitated, they will give a horizontal neck display and open their mouths – almost exactly like their cousin, the boomslang.

*Housing:*
I keep all of my adults in pairs. Cages for adult pairs are 36” wide, by 30” deep by 48” tall. A radiant heat panel that is almost as wide as the cage supplies heat. Branches, and artificial foliage are used for climbing and hollow cork branches and birdhouses are used as hides. I used aspen or pine substrate, but coconut coir can also be used.

At a height of 4’, a 120-watt RHP provides a 90 degrees basking site 9” from the panel and a daytime temp of 74 degrees at the bottom of the enclosure.

Lone adults are kept in 3x2x2 cages. Again, climbing perches are used, but these animals will also cruise the floor of their cages.

*Shedding :*
Thrasops Jacksonii shed their black skins on a 5 to 6 week average. As stated earlier, property humidity must be maintained as retained eye caps are a problem with this species.

Thrasops have been described as having a celery or anise scent to them – this intensifies after a shed.

*Breeding:  *
This species will mate with little provocation – usually turning off their over head heat for three to four weeks will get them in the mood. I wait until my females are about 54” long and at least 450 grams before I turn off the heat.

Pairs will copulate off and on for up to five days. 7 weeks after a successful mating the female will deposit her eggs in her arboreal hide box.

I incubate the eggs at 80 to 82 degrees for 80 to 88 days.

I have had little success having uninitiated animals copulate or even calm down around each other. This is one species that will breed easier if kept together year round.

Females will prefer to lay in an arboreal hide. I use either small birdhouses or lidded CD cases with a hole cut in them. If the hide is offered in and area of the enclosure in which the temperature is between 80 and 82 degrees, the female should have no issues retaining eggs.

Some of my animals:

Typical home made adult (pair) enclosure - unfinished: 

















































































the first time i saw an adult jackson's i think i rather embarrassed myself, because i kept saying, "look at that skin, look at it" to their friggin owner, he kept them in large glass caging with hydroleca as a substrate and they were scale perfect, watching them move was like watching a black rainbow.


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## loxocemus

*Viper Boa Care *_*Candoia aspera*_

*Candoia Info:*
There are currently three recognized species of Candoia, with six subspecies. In general, the genus is not well researched and taxonomic reclassification is ongoing. There are likely many species of Candoia yet to be discovered, as many of the islands the genus is known to exist on are uninhabited by humans and have not been thoroughly explored. A species being referred to as the Halmahera ground boa (pictured at bottom were my male and female), which is believed to be a subspecies of Candoia carinata was recently discovered, in 1996, and has yet to be formally classified even though it has been available in the exotic pet trade since then. Candoia boas are small and native to the south pacific islands, including New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Fiji and Indonesia. Viper boas are very nippy when young but calm with frequent handling. WC specimens rarely acclimate well.


*Appearance:*

The viper boa is very short and thick, much like a typical terrestrial viper. Its average size is between 20”-28” with females being larger and more plump than males. Maximum size would be 29”-36” but rarely do they fall in this range. They have a very triangular flat head that resembles an arrowhead. The viper boa looks venomous and in its native habitat it is killed routinely from a mistaken identity, as it looks like the highly venomous death adder. Colors range from black, brown, tan and gold, with most specimens having a variety of these colors. Captive breeding has produced extremely high red morphs as well as hypomelanistic morphs. All Aspera are either blotched or heavily banded.


*Housing:*
Since viper boas are a small stout snake this makes them perfect for reptile rack housing. I have used both newspaper and cypress mulch and find they spend the majority of the day soaking in their water bowls, regardless of humidity levels, so newspaper makes cleaning much easier. Large and heavy water bowls are necessary as they spend much of their time around lip or edge of the bowl when not soaking, light bowls will tip constantly. Supplemental lighting is not necessary as these snakes prefer never to be seen. Hide boxes are essential, be it plastic or cardboard. I used small plastic as it can be thrown in the dishwasher instead of constantly going through boxes. A full grown viper boa should be kept in an enclosure at least 20” X 16”. Height is not important when caging viper boas.
Ambient temperature should be kept between 80-85. A hot spot is not necessary as these boas become agitated if ever exposed to temperatures over 88 degrees for extended periods. Even gravid females tend to avoid temperatures above 85. Humidity is generally kept between 50-70%.


*Feeding:*

Neonates and juveniles should be fed an appropriate sized rodent every 10-14 days. Adult viper boas do not need to feed as often as other boids. Adult specimens need one large rodent every 3 or 4 weeks. Most viper boas prefer rat pups over adult mice. Scenting may be needed to wean neonates. Many adult specimens will often go off feeding for as much as 6 months for males and a full 8 months for gravid females with no ill effects. Many people shy away from purchasing viper boas because of the myth that babies or juveniles do not eat. This is only partly true. Pinkie mice are an acquired taste for most neonate viper boas. Many will start out on small lizards and treefrogs before they switch over to pinkies. All neonate viper boas shed their skin immediately upon birth. When a litter is born, it is important to wait at least 2 weeks before offering any food. Many neonates are born with big yolk reserves and are just not hungry for the first few weeks after birth. Many breeders keep a small deli cup of anoles, house geckos and treefrogs in the freezer. Place a newborn pinkie in the deli cup with the thawed out frogs and lizards, add a few drops of water to create a slightly wet “broth”. Let the pinkie roll around on top of the mixture for approximately 1 hour. This will allow the pinkie to absorb the scents onto its skin. This method should be done only at night. Carefully place the pinkie in with the snake. You can then refreeze the deli cup. You can use the same deli cup mixture for a month or so before discarding. 50% of babies will take pinkies within the first 2 months. Other viper boa enthusiasts have tried earthworms, minnows, feeder guppies and tiny goldfish that were all accepted as first meals by neonate vipers. Some used tuna fish to scent pinkies with amazing results. Neonates that accept pinkies on the first try are often the exception as most baby Vipers instinctively prefer to reach out and grab swift moving prey items such as lizards or frogs. Luckily newborn viper boas are the best pinkie feeders compared to other species of Candoia.


*Sexing:*
Luckily sexing all species of Candoia is straight forward. Males will have spurs and females will never have spurs. This has proved 100% accurate so far unlike with other species of snakes. If un-trusting, you can always pop neonates, or probe at any age.


*Breeding:*
I cannot stress enough the importance of reverse trios, or all out “sword fights.” The more males you have to females the better your breeding attempt will go. It is very very unlikely to produce with a 1.1 pair. Males spar to initiate breeding.
Viper boas require a 6-8 week cool-down period to ensure breeding success. Drop the temperature to the mid to upper 60’s at night. Make sure you bring the ambient temperature back up to near 80 degrees during the day. After the cool-down time has passed, place a female with a few males in a large cage. It will become immediately apparent which male is compatible with that particular female. Although there is no real combat, male vipers will jerk their bodies and try to push their competitors off the females back. You can then separate that pair and place them in a cage by themselves. Do not think that you can save money and skip buying extra males. This step may be very short and quick, but is very necessary. Copulation can last for weeks or even several months with males and females being rotated to ensure diversity and a higher fertility rate. After 7-8 months an average of 5-20 young will pop out.


*Difficulty:*
Keeping viper boas is very simple and pleasing. They are hardy boas that once weaned to rodents take minimal maintenance. They are very odd looking little boas with interesting personalities. Breeding may pose a far greater challenge. Few breeders routinely offer these boas CB.
































































breeding




























I remember an observation by a herper who saw wild aspera perched, head down, classic strike pose that most chondro keepers would recognise, waiting for prey to pass by (at night).


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## loxocemus

*Viper Boa Care (Candoia aspera aspera)  by Chris M Jones 2006*

Viper Boas are a wonderful species of snake to look at. They are very robust, with tough 'keeled' scales and an arrow like head. They are usually a fairly dull brown, although can be a wonderful bright red or orange. They do however, change colour with seasons, temperature and perhaps mood changes. I have had wonderful orangey specimens turn a dark brown with time. Nearly all Viper Boas are wild caught, in fact, I have not heard of any successful breeder who has bred and reared these. Gravid (pregnant) females are often imported and have their young in captivity. However, most of these die within 6 months for little or no apparent reason. In time, we can hopefully learn more about this species and successfully reproduce it in captivity. Viper Boas are fairly calm snakes, but when handled incorrectly can swipe from side to side with lighting speed. Although they are non-venomous, they have quite a nasty bite. Adult females can reach 80cm; males are less than half the size.

*Housing*

When keeping any snake as a pet, you generally want to be able to view the snake from the outside of its enclosure, in the most natural surroundings you can offer. This will be more aesthetically pleasing and also aid in the general condition of the snake. If the snake likes its surroundings, it will have a better feeding response and generally grow quicker. A larger vivarium also offers more interest to the snake's life, and by adding branches and other natural products you will enhance the quality of life the snake has, and stop it from becoming lethargic and overweight. Also, being stronger it should have more of a resistance to any viral infections or any other problems that it may encounter later in life.

For an adult Viper Boa, a vivarium 60cm Length x 45cm Width x 45cm Height is ample. This is a timid species; many specimens when bought into captivity can go for many months without feeding. It is important that this transitional period is as stress-free as possible. A small, confined enclosure with no added lighting, away from human 'traffic' may be needed. Once the boa is feeding on a regular basis, a larger vivarium with lighting may be offered.

Snake enclosures can be made from a number of materials. Most commonly used is a melamine coated wood which covers all sides except the front, which has glass sliding doors. Aquariums can also be used for Viper Boas, although a specialist lid should be bought or made rather than the original aquarium lid. It is essential when thinking about what type of enclosure you use, you think about these 6 'SSSHHH' factors:

1) Safety - Can the snake or owner injure itself from the enclosure or any appliances held within?

2) Secure - Can the snake escape through any small hole or cavity?

3) Size - Will the enclosure be appropriately sized?

4) Heating - Is the enclosure able to regulate the temperature properly?

5) Humidity - Will the enclosure last well in humid conditions? Is there enough ventilation for the moisture to escape?

6) Hygienic - Will the enclosure build up a lot of bacteria in small cavities? Is it easy to clean?

By following the steps above, you can have a suitable enclosure made from a variety of materials.

*Décor*

Décor in your tank serves two purposes. First being extra cover for your snake and second, allowing for a more natural and pleasing appearance. When choosing décor, think about the safety of the snake. Make sure that whatever you decide to use, it is securely fixed and that no rocks, wood or anything heavy can fall and possibly injure, or even kill the snake. You must also make sure that everything used is parasite free. If anything has been picked up from outside, or has originally come from outside, such as cork bark, you should either boil it, or place the item in the oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 30 minutes. Freezing works for some parasites, however others have been known to survive months in freezing conditions. Some parasites found in English conditions last winters in minus temperatures, so it is not entirely effective.

Once all your décor is parasite free, it is then safe to place inside your enclosure. As a general rule, if you can put pressure on an item to knock it down, a Viper Boa is certainly capable of doing so. When positioning rocks or heavy objects, make sure they are completely secure. If it is still uneasy, screw them or use superglue to fix them securely. If it is not possible, the rule is simple: Do not place the item in the vivarium!

If you decide to go for a larger enclosure, you must provide plenty of cover and hiding areas. A hiding place can be anything from a tupperware box with a hole cut out to a naturalistic piece of cork bark. There are many brands of fake plants and décor you can use which is both safe for the animal and pleasing to the eye. Cork bark is available from almost any reptile pet shop in the UK, and can be ordered in if they do not have it in stock. This is excellent cover for any reptile and is 100% natural. One thing you must consider when thinking about the size of the vivarium, is the bigger you go, the more hiding areas you must provide. I recommend at least one hiding place per foot in length of the enclosure.

NOTE: Never use sticky tape in an enclosure; this is an accident waiting to happen. Believe me; removing sticky tape from any snake is no easy task!

*Heating*

Viper Boas are found on dense forest floors and are exposed to a fairly constant air temperature. They do not bask in the sun and so it is not as important to provide them with a dedicated hot spot. Instead, having a fairly constant air temperature of 85-90ºF during the day and 80-85ºF during the night is fine. A large water bowl should be offered for the snake to fully submerge if required. If your viper boa does this constantly, the vivarium is most probably too hot and should be cooled down slightly.

In my opinion, the ideal way of heating a Viper Boa's enclosure is to use a power plate. This is a small thin square plate, about 25mm thick which is screwed into the top of the vivarium. It does not need to be protected, as there is no way a snake can grip onto it. It is almost invisible to the eye as it simply sits on the ceiling of the vivarium. The only brand available in the UK is HabiStat Reptile Radiator; it is 75 Watts and is sufficient for any vivarium up to 4ft long and possibly larger. It produces no light and therefore in a vivarium you will need a form of lighting as well. A power plate should be used in conjunction with a HabiStat Pulse Proportional Thermostat, which will stop the power reaching the power plate as soon as the temperature goes above the setting, and turn back on as soon as it is too cool. This is one of the most accurate thermostats on the market today.

Ceramic heaters, spot bulbs and heat mats are also ways of heating a vivarium. These all have their advantages and disadvantages, but in my opinion, none quite weigh out to be as good as a power plate.

*Lighting*

Viper Boas are primarily nocturnal, meaning they venture out in the dark of night. This is when their main predators are sleeping, and their prey is awake. Lighting for this species is not important. However, having artificial light in a vivarium is aesthetically pleasing to the owner, and is a good addition to a snake's enclosure. They will use this as a photo-period, and their regular time clock will generally adjust to the settings on which you have your light set to.

They do not require any form of special lighting, such as a D3 Ultra-Violet light commonly used for diurnal species. An Arcadia Natural Sunlight Fluorescent Lamp is a good form of lighting. This comes in lengths of 12" up to 48" and I suggest you use the largest size able to fit inside your vivarium.

*Humidity*

Viper Boas occur over much of New Guinea and surrounding Islands and therefore are exposed to a high humidity. This should be replicated in captivity to aid to the general health and well-being of your snake. A 80-90% humidity range will allow to snake to slough it's skin properly and become less prone to any problems such as respiratory infections.

*Feeding*

Juveniles or males should be offered fuzzy or small mice, and as they grow the mice or rats should become larger. An adult female viper boa should be fed on weaner rats. One of these every 2 weeks is ample. An adult male may take fuzzy rats or large mice. Juveniles should be fed on a regular basis, every 7 days is ideal. Their metabolic rate is higher than adults and as they are growing, they need a lot more food to keep them going. Viper Boas have a low metabolism compared to many snakes, they move very little and do not require the same quantity of food that many other species do. Snakes have the capability of building up a huge fat reserve, and become obese very easily. Taking the weight off however, is a much more difficult task. Obese snakes will not live nearly the length as a healthy snake would due to liver and kidney problems. If you are unsure about your snake's weight, check with a reptile veterinarian.



















albino aspera owned by Albinos Unlimited


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## loxocemus

*The Pacific Boas: Natural History and Husbandry of Candoia *Christopher Carille Garden of Eden Exotics & Chris Carille Photography, New York, USA Photographs by the author except where noted 

No other boas can be found within thousands of miles. They most likely had to raft across the Pacific to get to where they now reside. Triangular-shaped viper-like heads, up-turned snouts, no heat-sensitive pits, and thick-keeled scales with flattened bodies separate them in structure. Some are semi-fossorial and some have prehensile tails. Adult sizes range from a diminutive pencil-thin 40 cm to over 2 m. Like many other boas, they live in rainforests with dense undergrowth, high humidity, and lots of rain and prey. However, these boas thrive equally well in dry grasslands, woodlands, plantations, and around human dwellings. The genus Candoia is like no other boid genus. They are unique in distribution and appearance, but are overlooked by herpetological hobbyists Candoia is one of 13 genera in three subfamilies in the family Boidae (Henderson and Powell 2007). Other familiar genera are Boa (boas), Eunectes (anacondas), Epicrates (West Indian and rainbow boas), and Corallus (Neotropical treeboas) of the Americas. However, snakes in the genus Candoia possess neither the size of Eunectes, the iridescence of Epicrates, the bright Technicolor coloration of some Corallus, nor the popularity of Boa. Jerry Conway, one of the first hobbyists to give Candoia a real chance, and the first innovator of their care, said it best: “[Candoia] are naturally beautiful … there are no ‘morphs’ … no man-made nonsense involved with Candoia at all … they are underdogs of the snake world … true, primitive wonders of the wild.” These boas are hidden gems that have been sitting out in the open. Husbandry is easy, as is properly determining the sex of individuals, which are naturally calmer than most of their relatives, naturally variable, and beautifully unique among the boids 









This Fiji Island Boa (Candoia bibroni bibroni) from Viti Levu is quite at home both on and off the ground. Photograph by Helen R. Sykes.









This female albino Viper Boa (Candoia aspera) was wild-caught at about 3 years of age. Photograph courtesy of Albinos Unlimited.

















Two color phases in the Solomon Islands Tree Boa (Candoia bibroni australis).

Species and Subspecies Candoia aspera (Viper Boa, aka New Guinea Ground Boa) is the best-known species. More frequently encountered in the reptile industry than its congeners, these snakes are relatively abundant throughout their range. They occur on their namesake island, New Guinea, on Irian Jaya, and on hundreds of other Indonesian islands and islets. Viper Boas are short and stocky, resembling death adders, and display a lot of variation in their coloring. They run the gamut from black and brown to orange, yellow, and gold, and can be blotched or banded. The most impressive individuals are fire-engine red with red ventral scales. These snakes have the thickest keeled scales of all Candoia, range in length from about 55 to over 90 cm (2–3 ft) as adults, and spend a lot of their time in their water bowls, although in nature they are completely terrestrial and even semi-fossorial. Two subspecies are recognized: C. a. aspera (Bismarck Ground Boa) and C. a. schmidti (New Guinea Ground Boa). Two subspecies of Candoia bibroni are recognized. Candoia b. australis (Solomon Islands Tree Boa) is probably the second most well known species of Candoia, although not nearly as widely available as C. aspera. Solomon Islands Tree Boas are found throughout the islands, usually in coastal mangroves or cultivated areas. They vary considerably in color and pattern, with colors including reds, pinks, oranges, yellows, browns, grays, and black. Patterns may be blotched or splotchy, lacking altogether (uniformly colored), or with an almost zigzag dorsal stripe. Additionally, these snakes can become lighter or darker in the course of a day. I have seen individuals change from a dark brownish-red with heavy patterning to a light pinkish-tan with faint patterning over the course of a few hours. The habits of Solomon Islands Tree Boas are almost completely opposite to those of the Viper Boas. They are arboreal 90% of the time, sometimes even draped over limbs in the classic fashion of a Green Tree Python (Morelia viridis). Their thin bodies lend themselves nicely to an arboreal lifestyle, where they can stretch across and move between branches with ease. Only rarely will you encounter individuals coiled on the ground. Males range from about 90 to over 120 cm (3–4 ft) in length, while the larger females can exceed 180 cm (>6 ft). Candoia b. bibroni (Fiji Island Boa) is known from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and other small Solomon Islands. These boas are mostly terrestrial, rarely climbing. Fiji Island Boas are dark reddish-brown, usually with faint blotching or banding. Ventral scales on these boas are normally cream or brownish, but occasional individuals have red or orange ventrals.

















Boas in the genus Candoia have characteristic thick, keeled scales, as seen in this Solomon Islands Tree Boa (C. bibroni australis; top) and this Pacific Ground Boa (C. paulsoni; bottom).

These are the largest boas in the genus; although males grow from about 90 to over 120 cm (3–4 ft) in length, adult females can exceed 210 cm (~7 ft). Relatively little is known about Fiji Island Boas, although they are protected throughout their range. Candoia carinata (New Guinea, Pacific, or Waigeo Island Tree Boa) is by far the smallest and most variable in pattern of species in the genus. These snakes frequently are encountered on low shrubbery around human dwellings and plantations. New Guinea Tree Boas can be found climbing, coiled on the ground, and even burrowing. Individuals are usually blotched, with flowery patterning, but they can be striped, banded, or uniformly colored. Ground colors can be gray, tan, yellow, cream, or reddish-brown, with most a mottled gray and white similar to Hyla marmorata (the Marbled Tree Frog). Mottled individuals are quite cryptic, blending extremely well with tree bark. All individuals have a distinctive yellow-cream dorsal stripe just anterior to and a white ventral spot posterior to the cloaca. Adult sizes range from ~40–60 cm (16–24 in), and even the larger snakes are not much thicker than a Sharpie highlighter. Snakes from Waigeo Island are almost always brown and tan with a dark stripe running dorsally from the head all the way to the tip of the tail. Some individuals have a broken dorsal stripe. Some authorities have suggested that Waigeo Island Candoia are a separate subspecies of C. carinata, but this has not been verified. Two subspecies are recognized, C. c. carinata (Western New Guinea Tree Boa) and C. c. tepedeleni (Tepedelen’s Tree Boa). Candoia paulsoni (Pacific or Solomon Islands Ground Boa) prefers dry grasslands and wooded areas, but can be found on the ground and climbing through pineapple and coffee plantations. Background colors in this species run the gamut from red, gold, orange, and tan to bluish-brown. A few leucistic individuals have been found. Patterns consist of a dark dorsal zigzag from head to tail. The Isabel Island Boa (the prettiest of all Candoia), a possible subspecies, is a local pattern variant that usually has a white ground color with dark dorsal striping. Similar to C. australis, C. paulsoni has the ability to become darker and lighter throughout the day. Adults of this species average about 90 cm (~3 ft) for males and about 150 cm (~5 ft) for females. Six subspecies are recognized, C. p. paulsoni (Solomon Ground Boa), C. p. vindumi (Vindum’s Ground Boa), C. p. tasmai (Tasma’s Ground Boa), C. p. mcdowelli (McDowell’s Ground Boa), C. p. sadlieri (Sadlier’s Ground Boa), and C. p. rosadoi (Rosado’s Ground Boa). Candoia superciliosa (Palau Bevel-nosed Boa) is the least known species of Candoia. Until recently (within the last ten years), these boas were considered a subspecies of Candoia carinata, therefore much of the information on them actually applies to the natural history of the New Guinea Tree Boa. They are found on the islands of Palau and Ngeaur (Angaur island). Adapting well to disturbance, these boas live in deforested areas, as well as banana and taro plantations. As with C. carinata, they are thin, arboreal snakes with prehensile tails that can be found in low shrubbery and on the ground. Coloration in the Palau Bevel-nosed Boa varies from yellow and red to black, with patterns of dull or brightly contrasting stripes, spots, mottling, or zigzags. These boas have the distinctive white spot behind the cloaca, characteristic of the New Guinea Tree Boa, and enlarged scales above the eyes. Two subspecies are currently recognized, C. s. superciliosa (Northern Belau Bevel-nosed Boa) and C. s. crombiei (Ngeaur Bevel-nosed Boa). Candoia in the Reptile Trade Captive bred-and-born Candoia are virtually impossible to find, and this does not bode well for conservation. I am not a tree-hugging conservation nut — I’ve worked for tree companies, clearing acres of land; keep dozens of snakes; and create a huge carbon imprint with all of my traveling. I am, however, against the importation and exportation of many species. Animals suffer and many die or are ill, malnourished, or infested with parasites. Inadvertently imported mites can infect otherwise healthy individuals in collections. I believe that small numbers of popular species should be imported, bred, and distributed. Whatever can be done to limit deaths, minimize parasitic infections, and increase the numbers of healthy, “tame” snakes in the trade is the best option. Snakes make great pets, but without conservation we cannot maintain viable wild populations. I would hate to see a species disappear from the wild because I wanted to put a snake in a tank just to admire it. That said, almost all available Candoia are wild-caught, are usually dehydrated, and many come infested with mites or other parasites. With the exception of C. aspera, Candoia are naturally calm, but you want to look for an individual that looks healthy and is active when held. You should try to buy your snake from a vendor that has some knowledge of the species rather than a person who can only tell you the country from which it was exported. As with all new snakes, they should be quarantined, rehydrated, and left alone until they acclimate. Once home, I’ll soak the snake in a water bath to rehydrate it. This means putting the snake in a Rubbermaid container for a few hours with a few inches of clean water and a branch on which it can climb. After rehydration, I hold new individuals in a separate room for two to four months, checking for mites and other illnesses (and treating them as necessary) before I merge them into the rest of my collection. Disposition.—Almost all Candoia are hesitant to bite, and if they do, it is only to determine what you are (i.e., to see if you’re tasty). Candoia b. australis rarely ever bites unless you are restraining it; C. carinata will bite for the same reason, but is so small that it can barely bite a pinky finger; C. b. bibroni and C. paulsoni will bite when unsettled, but most will sit still for a cage cleaning as long as they are not moved too much. Contrary to all the other species of Candoia, C. aspera can be downright mean. They are by far the Candoia most inclined to bite. However, as with all snakes, captive-bred individuals will almost always be more docile than individuals that are wild-caught, and even the latter can be calmed if handled frequently and gently.

Morphs.—Until the end of 2011, no Candoia morphs were known (other than a single leucistic C. paulsoni with which Jerry Conway had been working). Recently, several albino projects have popped up. Albinos Unlimited, Inc. announced the importation of a wild-caught albino C. aspera. If all goes well (and if the trait proves to be recessive), albinos should enter the hobby within the next couple of years. Another private hobbyist is currently working with possible het albino Isabel Island Ground Boas (C. paulsoni) and hypomelanistic Candoia sp. Still another private hobbyist is working on producing calico C. aspera from a dark male with random orange and white splotches. Lastly, although I am not aware of any proven lines of hypos, some hypo C. carinata, C. aspera, and C. b. australis are floating around in private collections 

Husbandry Housing & humidity.—Adults can be kept in 20 to 50-gallon aquaria, dependent on the size of the snake. Candoia paulsoni and C. bibroni will utilize larger enclosures, whereas the more diminutive species will be comfortable in smaller tanks. The tanks should have secure tops since Candoia will surely test their enclosures for escape routes. Large water bowls are also a must to allow the snakes to soak. Candoia aspera can often be found soaking throughout the day. Humidity should be kept at 50–80% with daytime temperatures around 85°F. A temperature gradient should be created using a heat lamp or outside-of-the-tank heating mat, with a hot spot at 90°F. Nighttime temperatures should not drop below the mid-70s. The cage should be misted two or three times a week to allow snakes to drink water off the sides and help with shedding. A healthy Candoia will shed about once every two months. Provide plenty of branches for climbing and two or more refugia at different heights. Arboreal species, such as C. b. australis and C. carinata, are better housed in taller terraria in which they can climb higher. The more terrestrial species, such as C. paulsoni and C. aspera, can be housed is shorter terraria equipped with a thick substrate into which snakes can burrow. Many people like Aspen tree shavings, but I particularly like Zoo Med Repti Bark (fir tree pieces) for its control of “snake smell” and its ability to hold moisture. Candoia are all ambush predators and will use the branches to wait in a coiled “S,” burrow and wait for prey to come by, or sit by the entrance of their hide and strike when prey is in range. Feeding.—Adults should be fed once every three weeks. They have a fairly slow metabolism and can go off feed for months without losing large amounts of weight. Most will eat more frequently — my adults will eat two adult mice every 15–20 days, but you need to watch that they do not become overweight. Also, when dealing with a new acquisition, wait at least one week before offering food. This time allows the snake to acclimate, without which it can become stressed and go off feed permanently. Since Candoia are nocturnal and hunt mostly at night, appropriately sized prey should be offered after dark. Food items should only be slightly larger than the diameter of the snake. If the food item is much larger, regurgitation is likely. Cutting slits in the skin of the food item will speed digestion. Most adult Candoia readily accept rodents. For example, C. b. australis and C. b. bibroni will eat rodents, but many individuals favor birds (chicks and quail are favorites). Candoia carinata and C. paulsoni may be picky and eat only lizards or tree frogs (Hemidactylus spp. and Hyla spp. are the easiest to obtain). I imagine that C. superciliosa follows suit since they are so similar to C. carinata. Viper Boas (C. aspera) are the easiest to feed. As the most terrestrial of its congeners, its diet probably includes more rodents than those of the other species. Consequently, most individuals readily accept frozen/thawed rodents.

Breeding Start cooling your Candoia in early November, gradually dropping night-time temperatures 2–3°F each week until they reach ~68°F, while keeping the daytime temperature around 83°F. This regimen should be maintained for two months before increasing temperatures back to normal. Once the cooling period is done, introduce multiple males into a female’s enclosure. Males should be at least three years old, while females should be at least four years old. I am in no rush when it comes to breeding. Losing a snake because it was overly stressed by being bred when too small or too young is not a recommended tactic. MULTIPLE MALES, MULTIPLE MALES, MULTIPLE MALES!!! When breeding Candoia you need to use three to four males per female. One or two males might work, but the odds of successful mating greatly increase when three or more males areengaged. Of course, you need to monitor the snakes carefully since “wrestling,” a series of twisting and constricting motions, may occur between the males and you don’t want any of them being injured. After some competition, the winner is selected. If a male has paired with the female, remove the other males. Copulation may take place for a couple weeks, after which the female will become noticeably swollen. At this point, I leave the male with the female for another week to ensure that the female is gravid. Most of my Candoia will breed throughout January. Gestation lasts up to nine months in Candoia, during which the female may go off her feed for weeks or even a couple of months. If your female continues to feed, use smaller prey items than you normally would to prevent regurgitation. During this period, many females avoid the hot spot, so care should be taken to ensure a heat gradient throughout the enclosure. Since gestation lasts so long and females may go off feed during much of the pregnancy, they should only be bred once every two years. Giving them a year off allows them to recoup the lost body weight and get back to breeding size without undue stress. Neonate Care Candoia, like all boas, are viviparous. They give birth to anywhere from two to over 70 live little wrigglers. For the most part, neonate care is identical across the genus, what varies is the number of babies that will require care. Candoia carinata produces small litters of two to six offspring, whereas C. bibroni and C. aspera produce litters of intermediate size (3–35) and C. paulsoni and C. superciliosa, with 20 to upwards of 80 and 12 to 50 young, respectively, produce the largest litters. Outliers exist, and as in most snakes, litter size is extremely dependent on the size, age, and health of the parents. You can sex most neonates immediately by looking for spurs — in most species of Candoia they will be clearly evident in males and absent in females. You will want to house them individually in small enclosures as cannibalism has been reported. Size will depend on the species, but generally a 5-gallon aquarium is adequate. Make sure any holes are too small for the neonates to escape. Using a paper-towel substrate facilitates cleaning and ensures that no wood chips or debris will be accidentally ingested. Temperatures should be a few degrees cooler during the day than what is provided for adults, maxing out around 86°F. As always, a temperature gradient should be provided as much as is possible in a small enclosure so the snakes can thermoregulate. Humidity should be kept at 50–70%, with cage misting two to three times a week and a water bowl deep enough for soaking. A small hide and some climbing branches complete the enclosures, providing neonates with a place of security and a location to wait for prey. Neonates will shed their skin immediately after birth, but you should not feed them for at least two weeks. At this time, small pinky mice can be offered. Most neonates, especially C. b. australis and C. carinata, will refuse this first offering. Some neonates may be too small to comfortably eat a pinky mouse (C. carinata is born about as long as a pinky finger and as thin as a piece of string). Since Candoia feed on lizards in the wild, gecko tails can be used to initiate feeding. You could also start them with mouse tails or assisted feeding methods, but I would strongly suggest the latter only for an experienced keeper. After feeding gecko tails for two cycles (every two weeks), no food should be offered for three weeks and a lizard-scented pinky mouse should then be offered. This usually does the trick in starting neonates on mice. In some cases, neonates will still refuse food and will have to continue to be fed with lizards. Other hobbyists have reported feeding successes with earthworms, minnows, and even tuna fish. Inhabiting hundreds of islands in the South Pacific, new species may be waiting to be discovered, the same way Candoia are waiting to be discovered by snake enthusiasts. Now, however, is the time to start keeping the more interesting species. Instead of following the crowd of people salivating over Ball Python morphs, become a more knowledgeable keeper. Add a Candoia to your collection. Help stop the importation of animals by adding captive-bred individuals to the hobby. Who knows, you may even find a new morph… Hey, that’s what made Ball Pythons so popular! Acknowledgements Special thanks to my parents for giving me the opportunity and funds for schooling and for letting me explore my passion for herpetology; to my siblings Dan and Katie for putting up with my random requests to take care of my snakes when I’m away; to Lindsay, who hasencouraged meto keep writing and re-read; and to Jerry Conway for offering a quote about his experiences with Candoia. 









Fiji Island Boas (Candoia bibroni bibroni) from Viti Levu tend to have a dorsum more blotched than striped and venters variously marbled with black. These boas are the largest in the genus, reaching lengths exceeding 210 cm (~7 ft). Photograph by Helen R. Sykes.









Despite their common name, New Guinea Tree Boas (Candoia carinata) are not infrequently encountered on the ground.









These Fiji Island Boas (Candoia bibroni bibroni) from Teveuni Island typically have a distinct dorsal diamond pattern when compared to snakes from other localities. Photograph by Helen R. Sykes.









Tiny New Guinea Tree Boas (Candoia carinata) clearly demonstrate the “viper-like” heads that characterize snakes in this genus.

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## loxocemus

Adult female New Guinea Tree Boas (Candoia carinata) reach much larger sizes than males 

























Pacific Ground Boas (Candoia paulsoni) can get darker or lighter throughout the day (all three images are of the same individual).









The characteristic dark dorsal zigzag pattern is evident in this Pacific Ground Boa (Candoia paulsoni).









Teeth of Solomon Islands Tree Boas (Candoia bibroni australis), like those of many boids, are capable of firmly holding and facilitating the swallowing of prey — and of delivering a painful bite.









This rather elaborate enclosure is home to several Solomon Islands Tree Boas (Candoia bibroni australis). It consists of a 40-gallon breeder tank turned upright and equipped with climbing vines, a birdhouse with fake vines as a makeshift hide and hangout, climbing mesh, a big water bowl, and tropical sphagnum and peat substrate to help maintain humidity. Temperature and humidity are more difficult to control in such a large container and need to be carefully monitored.









Except for Viper Boas (Candoia aspera), species in the genus Candoia tend to be slender-bodied snakes capable of exploiting a number of lifestyles, including arboreality. This is Candoia carinata









This Fiji Island Boa (Candoia bibroni bibroni) from Kadavu Island is shedding. Note the elevated perch. Photograph by Helen R. Sykes.










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## loxocemus

Male Solomon Islands Tree Boas (Candoia bibroni australis) have spurs that allow for accurate sex determination even for neonates


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## loxocemus

Off topic but fascinating (links are intact)
*This lizard lays eggs and gives live birth. We think it’s undergoing a major evolutionary transition*

Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young.

There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species either lay eggs or have live births. However, as is often the case in biology, things aren’t as simple as they first appear, and there are a handful of vertebrate animals that do both.

One of these is the three-toed skink (_Saiphos equalis_). Our recent research suggests the egg-laying _S. equalis_ may currently be in the process of transitioning from egg-laying to giving live birth.

Studying them gives us a unique opportunity to watch evolution in action.

look at those tiny legs and feet 








_Saiphos equalis_ has a distinctive yellow belly, and a long, slender body, ideal for its underground lifestyle. Charles Foster

*From eggs to babies, and back again?*
There are two main reproductive strategies in vertebrates.

Animals that lay eggs are called “oviparous”. For instance, many fish species spawn eggs that are fertilised externally. In other oviparous species, including birds and some lizards and snakes, eggs are fertilised inside the mother, an eggshell is added, and then eggs are laid.

Depending on the species, much or all of the nutrition needed to grow a healthy baby is supplied in the egg yolk.

In contrast, “viviparous” animals carry embryos internally until they are fully developed. The embryos can rely entirely on yolk for nutrition, or the parents can provide supplementary nutrition, sometimes via a placenta (as in humans).

There is strong evidence that egg-laying is ancestral to live birth, meaning it came first. Many physiological changes were necessary for live birth to have evolved from egg-laying. With this transition, some structures were lost, including the hard outer eggshell. Other mechanisms were gained to ensure embryonic survival within the parent, including the supply of adequate oxygen and water during development.

The evolution of live birth has occurred frequently, including at least 121 times in independent groups of reptiles.

Evolutionary “reversals” to egg-laying are much rarer, probably because regaining the physiological machinery for producing eggshells would be exceptionally difficult.

Despite the vast differences between egg-laying and live birth, some species can do both. This phenomenon called “bimodal reproduction” is exceptionally rare. There are more than 6500 species of lizards worldwide, but only three exhibit bimodal reproduction.

We’re lucky enough to have two of these in Australia. Our research group at the University of Sydney studies the bimodally reproductive three-toed skink, in the hope of understanding how live birth evolved.

In northern NSW, the three-toed skink gives birth to live young, but near Sydney, they lay eggs. Even though they reproduce differently, previous research has shown these lizards are a single species.









The three-toed skink displays geographic variation in reproductive mode. It has four very tiny legs, and only three toes per foot. Yi-Kai Tea

Even the egg-laying members of the species are odd, as the eggs are retained within the mother for a relatively long time. After being laid, ordinary skink eggs are incubated for at least 35 days before they hatch, but some three-toed skink eggs hatch in as few as five days after being laid.

One female even laid eggs and gave birth to a live baby in the same litter.









An egg-laying three-toed skink from near Sydney with its clutch of eggs. Photo: Stephanie Liang

*The genetics behind different reproductive modes*
Most aspects of an animal’s development are controlled by its genes, but not every gene is always active. Genes can be expressed (switched on) to different degrees, and gene expression can stop when not needed.

An egg-laying skink uterus undergoes only a couple of genetic changes between being empty and holding an egg.

A live-bearing skink uterus is different. It undergoes thousands of genetic changes to help support the developing baby, including genes that probably help provide oxygen and water, and regulate the mother’s immune system to keep the baby safe from immunological attack.

*Unexpected similarities between the egg-laying and the live-bearing*
Our research measured changes in gene expression between egg-laying and live-birth in the three-toed skink. We investigated how the expression of all genes in the uterus differed between when the uterus was empty and when it held an egg or embryo.

As expected, live-bearing _S. equalis_, undergo thousands of genetic changes during pregnancy to produce a healthy baby.

But surprisingly, when we looked at the uterus of the egg-laying _S. equalis_, we found these also undergo thousands of genetic changes, many of which are similar to those in their live-bearing counterparts.

Some of the most important genetic changes in gene expression in egg-laying _S. equalis_ allow embryos to develop within the mother for a long time. These genes also seem to allow the uterus to remodel to accommodate a growing embryo, and drive the same kinds of functions required for the embryonic development in live-birthing three-toed skinks.









Embryos of egg-laying Saiphos equalis are nearly completely developed at the time of laying. Photo: Stephanie Liang

*Are ‘reversals’ to egg-laying easier than previously thought?*
Our findings are important because they demonstrate that egg-laying three-toed skinks are an evolutionary intermediate between “true” egg-laying and live birth.

We now know that uterine gene expression in egg-laying _S. equalis_ mirrors live-bearing skinks much more closely than true egg-laying skinks. These results may explain why it’s possible for a female three-toed skink to lay eggs and give birth to a live baby in a single pregnancy.

The similarities in gene expression between egg-laying and live-bearing three-toed skink uteri might also mean “reversals” from live birth back to egg-laying could be be easier than previously thought. However, this may be restricted to species in which live-birth has evolved recently, such as the three-toed skink.

This article was written by *Dr Camilla Whittington*, in the School of Life and Evironmental Sciences, and *Charles Foster*, a Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Sydney. The article was first published in *The Conversation* as: _"This lizard lays eggs and gives live birth. We think it’s undergoing a major evolutionary transition"_

i think there are several snake sp capable of this too, there are @3600 known snake species, how much do we actually know.

i remember reading of a snake species (of course I'm blanking on its name), it lays its eggs on the riverbank when the levels are normal to low, but when its a high rain/high level year she retains them and gives birth to live young! (it was definitely tropical, india asia, how's that for narrowing it down)


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## loxocemus

an excellent hide, easy to make, cuts don't have to be perfect just sanded smooth, hole saws are perfect for the holes, 20 seconds, done and lots of sizes available.










square end stops them rolling but so does a stone sat in front









a good hide is a dark hide, a good hide provides contact security





































you can get generic waste pipe caps









back in the day i made this very design, id find the pipe on building sites, anyway it was for the drawers of applegate caging, so no end caps needed, the drawer sides were the ends, BUT I'd keep forgetting inside the pipe was smooth and unless u hold them level and/or cap the end with a hand (i didn't), you would hear this soft "whoosh" and a sleeping snake shot out the end onto the carpet.

these hides can be buried on a mat, with a top access hole, put in drawers, attached to the cage ceiling etc, their easily sterilized, always make the access hole twice the diameter of the adults body thickness, ie 4cm thick snake 8cm diameter hole. ideally offset the access point away from the light source or hide it under a bit of bark, leaves whatever. you can fill the hide with moss, excellent for shedding, egglaying, feeding (leave a mouse's head on the access hole edge for nervous snakes) ....

rgds
ed


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## loxocemus

*These albino lizards are the world's first gene-edited reptiles*

Meet the world's first gene-edited reptiles: albino lizards roughly the size of your index finger. Researchers used CRISPR-Cas9 to make the lizards, providing a technique for gene editing outside of major animal models. In their study, publishing August 27 in the journal _Cell Reports_, the researchers also show that the lizards can successfully pass gene-edited alleles for albinism to their offspring. 










"For quite some time we've been wrestling with how to modify reptile genomes and manipulate genes in reptiles, but we've been stuck in the mode of how gene editing is being done in the major model systems," says corresponding author Doug Menke, an associate professor at the University of Georgia. "We wanted to explore anole lizards to study the evolution of gene regulation, since they've experienced a series of speciation events on Caribbean islands, much like Darwin's finches of the Galapagos."

The way gene editing is performed in most model systems is to inject CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing reagents into freshly fertilized eggs or single-cell zygotes. But this technique cannot be used in reptiles, Menke says, because lizards have internal fertilization and the time of fertilization cannot be predicted. An isolated single-cell embryo from a female lizard also cannot be easily transferred, making it almost impossible to manipulate outside of the lizard.

But Menke and his research team noticed that the transparent membrane over the ovary allowed them to see all of the developing eggs, including which eggs were going to be ovulated and fertilized next. They decided to inject the CRISPR reagents into the unfertilized eggs within the ovaries and see if the CRISPR would still work.

"Because we are injecting unfertilized eggs, we thought that we would only be able to perform gene editing on the alleles inherited from the mother. Paternal DNA isn't in these unfertilized oocytes," Menke says. "We had to wait three months for the lizards to hatch, so it's a bit like slow-motion gene editing. But it turns out that when we did this procedure, about half of the mutant lizards that we generated had gene-editing events on the maternal allele and the paternal allele."

This suggests that the CRISPR components remain active for several days, or even weeks, within the unfertilized eggs. After screening the offspring, the researchers found that about 6% to 9% of the oocytes, depending on their size, produced offspring with gene-editing events.

"Relative to the very established model systems that can have efficiencies up to 80% or higher, 6% seems low, but no one has been able to do these sorts of manipulations in any reptile before," Menke says. "There's not a large community of developmental geneticists that are studying reptiles, so we're hoping to tap into exciting functional biology that has been unexplored."

Menke says that his team had two reasons for making the lizards albino, as opposed to editing other traits. First, when the tyrosinase albinism gene is knocked out, it results in a loss of pigmentation without being lethal to the animal. Second, since humans with albinism often have vision problems, the researchers hope to use the lizards as a model to study how the loss of this gene impacts retina development.

"Humans and other primates have a feature in the eye called the fovea, which is a pit-like structure in the retina that's critical for high-acuity vision. The fovea is absent in major model systems, but is present in anole lizards, as they rely on high-acuity vision to prey on insects," Menke says.

Studying gene functions in reptiles offers new opportunities for exploring aspects of development that are best studied in non-established animal models, Menke says. And ultimately, this gene-editing technique could be translated for use in other animals.

"We never know where the next major insights are going to come from, and if we can't even study how genes work in a huge group of animals, then there's no way to know if we've explored everything there is to explore in the realm of gene function in animals," Menke says. "Each species undoubtedly has things to tell us, if we take the time to develop the methods to perform gene editing."


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## loxocemus

*Coordinated Hunting by Cuban Boas* Vladimir Dinets University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

Abstract - Coordinated hunting, in which individual predators relate in time and space to each other’s actions, is uncommon in animals, and is often difficult to distinguish from simply hunting in non-coordinated groups, which is much more common. The author tested if Cuban boas (Chilabothrus angulifer) hunting bats in cave passages take into account other boas’ positions when choosing hunting sites, and whether their choices increase hunting efficiency. Snakes arriving to the hunting area were significantly more likely to position themselves in the part of the passage where other snakes were already present, forming a “fence” across the passage and thus more effectively blocking the flight path of the prey, significantly increasing hunting efficiency. This is the first study to test for coordination between hunting reptiles, rather than assume such coordination based on perceived complexity of hunting behavior.

Coordinated hunting, in which individual predators relate in time and space to each other’s actions, is uncommon but widespread in animals (Bailey, Myatt, & Wilson, 2012). Among vertebrates, coordinated hunting is presently known with certainty in hominid primates (Boesch & Boesch, 1989; Stiner, Barkai, & Gopher, 2009), a few carnivores (Bailey et al., 2012; Creel & Creel, 1995; Eaton, 2009; Mech, 2007; Stander, 1992), cetaceans (Gazda, Connor, Edgar, & Cox, 2005; Smith, Siniff, Reichle, & Stone, 1981), two species of raptors (Bednarz, 1988; Leonardi, 1999), two species of corvids (Bowman, 2003; Yosef & Yosef, 2010), a few species of fish (Bshary, Hohner, Ait-El-Djoudi, & Fricke, 2006; Herbert-Read et al., 2016; Lönnstedt, Ferrari, & Chivers, 2014), crocodilians (Dinets, 2015), and monitor lizards (James & Fox, 2007; Pitman, 1931). As for invertebrates, coordination has never been demonstrated in any of the taxa known to hunt in groups (see Hyodo, Himuro, & Fujisaki, 2014), although coordination in post-hunt transportation of prey is known in ants (Lioni, Sauwens, Theraulaz, & Deneubourg, 2001).
Although coordinated hunting is likely more widespread than is currently known, it is often difficult to distinguish from hunting in non-coordinated groups, which is common (both types are often indiscriminately called “cooperative hunting”). To confirm that coordination does occur, one has to demonstrate that the predators take each other’s positions and/or actions into account, rather than simply gather in the same area due to following the same stimuli. When proving this is impossible or impractical, coordination is often assumed based on perceived complexity of hunting patterns, such as in all reported cases of apparent coordination in reptiles, where some of the hunters drive the prey towards others, distract prey to facilitate the attack by others, or force prey into a compact area and then take turns attacking it (Cott, 1961; Dinets, 2015; Horn, 1999; James & Fox, 2007; Pitman, 1931).
Dinets 25

Coordinated hunting requires higher behavioral complexity because each animal has to take other hunters’ actions into account (Bernard, André, & Bredeche, 2016) and is usually implied to increase the effectiveness of the hunt, but this is not necessarily true: for example, studies of gray wolves (Canis lupus) have shown that coordinated hunting in large packs does not necessarily increase food intake per individual and might have social functions (Mech & Boitani, 2003). There are only a handful of species for which coordinated hunting has been shown to increase food intake per individual (e.g., Bowen, 1981; Herbert-Read et al., 2016; Lönnstedt et al., 2014).

Snakes sometimes congregate at hunting locations (Doody, Burghardt, & Dinets, in press; Nedyalkov, 1967), but it is unknown if they coordinate their hunting behavior with other participants. Puerto Rican (Chilabothrus inornatus) and Cuban (C. angulifer) boas are known to form aggregations in cave passages when hunting bats are flying in or out of roosts (Hardy, 1957; Rodriguez & Reagan, 1984). In the present study the author tested if Cuban boas hunting bats in a cave take into account other boas’ positions in a way that allows them to most effectively block the bats’ flight path and maximize the effectiveness of hunting.

Method Materials and Procedure
For eight days in March 2016, the author observed Cuban boas hunting Jamaican fruit bats (Artibeus jamaicensis) in a sinkhole cave in Desembarco del Granma National Park, Cuba. The cave was inhabited by nine boas, easily recognizable by individual markings (Figure 1), ranging from 110 to 210 cm long (sizes estimated visually). The passage from the roosts to the cave entrance was 1.8 – 2.5 m wide, up to 2.2 m high, and 12 m long (measured by tape measure), with the ceiling dotted with numerous small pits providing ample support for climbing boas. During the day and on moonlit nights, some visible (to a human observer) light from the entrance penetrated the entire length of the passage.
After sunset and before dawn, some of the boas entered the passage that connected the roosting chamber with the entrance chamber, and hunted by suspending themselves from the ceiling and grabbing passing bats.





























All visual observations were conducted using red light (Energizer 5 LED headlamp), laser distance meter (Johnston), and 8x42 binoculars (Nikon Aculon A211). The observations were started as soon as a boa was seen entering the passage, and ended when all boas left it. The author divided the passage into 24 longitudinal sections 50 cm long (using a measuring tape), each marked with two numbered rocks positioned at the base of the passage walls. Then he recorded which sections were chosen by boas as they arrived to the passage and climbed to the ceiling to hunt. An exact binomial probability test was used to assess whether the second and the third boas to arrive (if present) were more likely to position themselves in the same segment as the first one. When three boas were present, the choices by the second and the third boas were treated as independent events. Only some of the eight segments closest to the cave entrance were chosen during evening hunts, and only some of the 11 segments closest to the roost chamber were chosen during pre-dawn hunts (see Results), so these two sets of hunts were analyzed separately with n = 8 and n = 11, respectively. To test for individual preferences, all segment choices made by each individual boa were recorded.

The author also recorded the times between the beginning of the bat flight (defined as having five or more bats simultaneously in flight within the observer’s field of view) and each prey capture (or, if the hunt failed, the departure of the boa from the passage ceiling). To test if the times from the beginning of bat flight to the captures were significantly different between hunts with different numbers of boas present, the author used lme4 package in R (Pinheiro, Bates, DebRoy, Sarkar, & R Core Team, 2016) to perform GLMM analysis, with the number of participating boas as a fixed effect and boa ID as a random effect. P-values were obtained by likelihood ratio tests of the full model with the effect in question against the model without the effect in question. Failed hunts were dropped from this analysis.
Fisher Exact Tests, 2-tailed, were used to find if there was a difference in hunt failure probability between one-boa and multiple-boas hunts, and a 2-tailed t-test to compare average food intake per boa between solitary and group hunts (in these cases using GLMM would be unnecessary since food intake per snake was always “1” during successful hunts (see Results) and the two observed failed hunts were not by the same boas, so individual variation in hunting success between boas could not play a measurable role).

Results
Every day during the observation period, most or all boas spent the daylight hours around the cave entrance, and most of the night in the chamber where a few hundred bats roosted during the day (Figure 2A), possibly because that chamber was the warmest part of the cave at night, and/or because dead bats could occasionally be found there.
In the evening some of the boas would arrive to the passage 10 – 30 min before the beginning of the bat flight and assume hunting positions on the ceiling. In pre-dawn hours, they arrived 20 – 60 min before the onset of the mass return of the bats. As there were two hunting periods per day, a total of 16 hunts was observed. The maximum number of boas observed hunting simultaneously was three. If multiple boas were present, they positioned themselves in the same part of the passa
passage, forming a barrier (Figure 2B).
Of 16 observed hunting events, a single boa was present in three cases (three different individuals), two boas were present in nine cases, and three boas were present in four cases. In 12 of 13 cases when more than one boa participated in the hunt, the second snake to arrive chose the same segment as the first one (in the one remaining case it was an adjacent segment). In all four cases when three boas participated, the third snake chose the same segment as the other two. This preference was significant (p < 0.001) for both evening and pre-dawn hunts.
An alternative explanation for the boas choosing the same part of the passage would be that they had similar individual preferences. Indeed, a preference for segments near passage ends was obvious: six of the eight segments closest to the cave entrance were the only ones chosen during evening hunts, and seven of the 11 segments closest to the roost chamber were the only ones chosen during pre-dawn hunts. That preference for segments near the ends of the passage was excluded as an alternative explanation by using only these segments as possible outcomes during the analysis, as noted in the Method section. However, no individual boa ever used the same segment more than once, so the tendency to use the same segment as other boas was not due to similar individual preferences for particular segments.










Figure 2. Schematic map of the study cave in Desembarco del Granma National Park, Cuba. (a) One vertical entrance, two bat roosts, three daytime boa basking areas, four connecting passages where boas hunt bats. (b) A typical sequence (1 – 3) of hunting site choice by boas arriving for bat hunting.

When a bat was captured, the boa consumed it and left the passage, so no more than one bat was caught by each boa during each hunt. In all hunting attempts by all snakes (N = 33) except two, a bat was captured. Both unsuccessful hunts happened when there was only one boa present. In these cases, the boas abandoned their hunting positions after 22 and 29 min (after the peak intensity of bat flight but before the number of passing bats dropped to less than five bats simultaneously in the observer’s field of view). The mean time from the onset of bat flight to prey capture was 19 min when there was one boa present (N = 1); 10.2 min when there were two (N = 18), and 6.7 min when there were three (N = 12). The number of boas present had a significant effect on the time to capture (slope estimate -6.442, error 0.8115, t(30) = -7.94, p < 0.01).
Despite the small sample size for hunts by just one boa, such hunts were significantly more likely to result in failure (p < 0.01). Average food intake was 0.33 bats per boa during individual hunts, and 1 bat per boa during group hunts (t(15) = 9.81, p < 0.001).
Visual observations suggested that most bats were able to avoid flying near boas when there were one or two boas present, but with three boas present the bats had to fly either within striking distance from one of them (often colliding with the boas), or very low above the passage floor. Confirming these differences in bat flight patterns would require video recordings with an infrared camera.

Discussion
The present study suggests that boas take the positions of other individuals into account when choosing the hunting location. They position themselves in a way that allows them to form a barrier across a cave passage. This significantly improves the effectiveness of the hunt, apparently because they can most effectively block the prey’s flight path and easily intercept passing bats.
This is the first scientifically documented case of coordinated hunting by snakes. It is also the first study on reptiles to statistically test for coordination between hunters and to show that coordination increases hunting success.

Studies of social behavior in reptiles in the wild are few, the prevalence of such behavior appears to be highly underestimated, and many important observations remain unpublished (Doody, Burghardt, & Dinets, 2013). There are videos of a number of snake species hunting in large groups, for example, of banded sea kraits (Laticauda colubrina) hunting in apparent coordination between themselves and with two species of predatory fish (see BBC One - Planet Earth, Shallow Seas, Sea krait hunt) *(This clip is awesome)*, and of Galapagos racers (Philodryas biserialis) hunting iguana hatchlings (see BBC Earth | Home), but these observations have never been published scientifically. It is possible that boas are not unique among snakes, and that coordinated hunting is not particularly rare. This possibility suggests that at least some snakes are not the “solitary animals” they are commonly considered to be, and that they are capable of high behavioral complexity required for such hunting (Bernard et al., 2016).

Acknowledgements
I thank Mico Balboa and Sergei Kolenov for help with various aspects of field research, Boris Krasnov for help with statistics, and the anonymous reviewers for extensive editorial input.


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## loxocemus

A neonate ridged-nosed rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi) enjoys a Scolopendra centipede by randy babb


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## loxocemus

*Boaedon (e.g. Lamprophis) mentalis








*
Bug Eye House Snake or Namibian large eyes house snake 










This snake could resemble the fuliginosus but clearer. Without any pattern, its color varies from light brown to red to orange. What makes it special...: the size of his eyes!!! They are huge; already those of the sp. lineatus are larger than fuliginosus, capensis and maculatus, but here we reach records! Her "makeup" is also often more supported than other sp. Boaedon mentalis have many advantages: their good character, their simple and affordable maintenance conditions, and their small size. Only, this last argument is not always an advantage: the youngest are difficult to feed as they are minus!
They are still extremely little present in terrariophilia. I discovered this species in a photo on the net around 2004. I found a German breeder in 2012. The only specimens I have seen with my own eyes are my own!










They look smaller than other Boaedon. I think that an adult male specimen should timidly reach 70cm.

Longevity
The Boaedon live more than fifteen years. Individuals (sp. diff. de mentalis) reaching 20years of age are rare in captivity. Which is quite long compared to other snakes.










Conditions for maintenance

Terrarium
– Temperature:
a hot spot at 33 °. I advise not to make a temperature variation at night for this species.

– Humidity:
about 50%-60%.
Spray at the time of molting, as the young have delicate eyes and the bezel sometimes has trouble removing.

– Substrate:
I recommend beech shards bought in pet stores. (Aspen)

– As always: several hiding places placed hot spot and cold spot.

– As always a water tank large enough for them to soak in.
– One or more branches. Some individuals like to climb, others are more terrestrial 

– Size of the terrarium:
we can give as a general rule: 1 x 1/2 x 1/2 of the length of the snake. We can therefore accommodate an adult couple in 700 x 350 x 350. Which makes a very small terra! It is therefore a real asset for this friendly snake. Currently, mine are in small breeding boxes. As soon as they are well started and a little less small, they will be housed with my capensis and my lineatus in the 600 x 500 x 300, then in my 1200 x 500 x 450. Tell yourself that the greater the terra, the better, of course! But BE CAREFUL not to house a baby or a juvenile in a terrarium too large: he would risk losing his bearings and no longer eating properly.










Feeding
In its natural environment, its diet consists of geckos, rodents, bats. In captivity, newborns are to be started with crickets and the smallest possible. They can be force-fed with mouse tails. I strongly advise to heat the breeding boxes to 27 – 28 C ° day and night and to have patience, because it takes time for them to eat regularly. I read a South African breeder post that fed them gecko tails!
In case of prolonged refusal, I would try to give them mice rubbed on a gecko (or a piece of molt).
I have never seen them eat crickets, but as sometimes they disappear from the breeding boxes of the little mentalis, I conclude that they must eat them from time to time.










This small snake has the particularity of having huge eyes with vertical pupils. This is surely explained by its nocturnal behavior. This singularity earned it the English vernacular names of "Bug Eye House Snake" and "Namibian large eyes house snake".










Reproduction
In general, snakes of the genus Boaedon are among the most prolific snakes in the world! Their growth is very fast, they can reach sexual maturity around two years already. The female can lay about ten eggs... more than 5 times a year!!! That is why it is vital to generously feed the female to prevent her from weakening. I advise not to keep an adult couple together all year round. As a general rule, we can mention the following:
-Incubation temperature: between 28 and 29 °C.
-Hygrometry in the incubator: 95%.
-Incubation period: between 55 and 65 days.
Note that the conditions may differ somewhat for the sp. mentalis discussed here. It seems that
Boaedon mentalis are more delicate to maintain, reproduce, and start. I should like to point out that I personally have not reproduced this species.

My opinion
Its large eyes seem to observe the world with great wonder, which makes this species so quickly endearing.

(translated from french)


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## loxocemus

capensis









t- capensis









lineatus









olivaceus









the black house snake now bred in decent numbers









mentalis


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## loxocemus

Conservation genetics of Boelen’s python (Morelia boeleni) from New Guinea: reduced genetic diversity and divergence of captive and wild animals
Christopher C. Austin Marc Spataro
Stacy Peterson Joshua Jordan John D. McVay

Abstract Boelen’s python (Morelia boeleni) is a montane
New Guinea endemic found in highlands above
1000 m and below the tree line. The ecology, natural history,
distribution, population size, and conservation status
of this species are largely unknown. It has a protected
status in Papua New Guinea but not in Indonesian Papua
and several US and European zoos have active captive
breeding programs that have been largely unsuccessful. To
understand the degree of genetic diversity in wild and
captive animals we undertook a genetic analysis of 90 M.
boeleni for which we sequenced two mtDNA loci and one
nuclear locus for a total of 1,418 bp of sequence data per
individual. All 16 wild-caught M. boeleni from Indonesia
and all captive M. boeleni are genetically uniform for all
three loci. The single wild-caught animal from Papua New
Guinea showed extremely low levels of genetic divergence
and diversity from the Indonesian and captive samples.
Data from two congeners, M. amethistina and M. viridis,
suggests that M. boeleni have reduced genetic variation
with a small effective population size possibly due to historical
bottlenecks. These data demonstrate the need for
further studies of genetic diversity of M. boeleni from
across its range and raise particular concern for the limited
genetic diversity of M. boeleni used captive breeding
programs in zoological parks.

Introduction
The tropical island of New Guinea has been identified as
one of the world’s five High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas
(Mittermeier et al. 2003). New Guinea occupies less than
0.6% of global land area yet harbors 5–7% of the world’s
biodiversity (Beehler 1993; Dinerstein and Wikramanyake
1993; Myers et al. 2000). The herpetofauna of New Guinea
currently accounts for approximately 5% of the world’s
reptile and amphibian diversity yet surprisingly this is an
underestimate of true diversity; species accumulation
curves for both lizards and frogs continue to increase
dramatically without hint of plateau (Austin et al. 2008). A
defining feature of the island is the 2,500 km long central
cordillera that forms the central highlands. The tallest peak
exceeds 5,000 m and many other peaks exceed 3,000 m.
The rugged highlands regions are geologically young
(\5 mya) and the rugged montane topography encompasses
a wide range of habitat types with a highly endemic
fauna and flora (Hill and Gleadow 1989; Davies 1990;
Audley-Charles 1991; Crowhurst et al. 1996).
A fairly recent discovery to science, Boelen’s Python
(Morelia boeleni), is an uncommon snake found only in the
New Guinea highlands above 1000 m and below the tree
line (Brongersma 1953; O’Shea 1996). In Papua New
Guinea, an independent country in the eastern half of the
island (Figs. 1, 2), M. boeleni is a protected species and is
afforded the same stringent legal status as birds of paradise
(O’Shea 1996). In the western half of the island, the
Indonesian province of Papua, M. boeleni has no country
specific protection although both Indonesia and Papua New 
Guinea are CITES signatories and regulate trade of M.
boeleni as a CITES Appendix II listed species. Virtually
nothing is known about the natural history, ecology, or
physiology of this montane endemic python. In addition,
there is no data on population size, structure, or genetics of
this species despite its conservation importance.









Fig. 1 Map of the approximate distribution of M. boeleni along the
central cordillera (in red from above 1000 m to the tree line) and
disjunct distributions in the Huon Peninsula and Goodenough Island
based on museum records and elevation (redrawn and modified with
permission from the Bishop Museum Papuan database http://www.
bishopmuseum.org/research/pbs/pngherps/index.html). The vertical
line is the international border between Papua New Guinea to the east
and the Indonesian province of Papua to the west. Samples of
M. boeleni from Papua Indonesia came from the dashed box region
(1) and the single M. boeleni from Papua New Guinea came from the
dashed circle region (2). Although precise localities are known, we
draw vague localities for protection of this species (Stuart et al. 2006).
Samples of M. amethistina came from locality (3) and M. viridis came
from localities (3) and (4)

The current distribution of montane forest in New
Guinea is a large swath of habitat along the New Guinea
central cordillera as well as several isolated mountain
ranges that are separated from the central cordillera by
lowland forests. Very little precise distributional data is
available for M. boeleni but it is found throughout the
central cordillera as well as in allopatric populations on the
Huon Peninsula and Goodenough Island (Fig. 1). It is
unknown if M. boeleni in the central cordillera represent
one contiguous interbreeding population or a series of
isolated mountain-top populations with limited, reduced, or
no gene flow with one another, but limited locality data
suggests the latter as there appear to be two disjunct populations
in the central cordillera (Fig. 1). The two known
allopatric populations on the Huon Peninsula and Goodenough
Island are likely currently genetically isolated
from the central cordillera population(s) because the
intervening lowland forest is not suitable habitat. Morelia
boeleni therefore consists of multiple allopatrically 
The current distribution of montane forest in New
Guinea is a large swath of habitat along the New Guinea
central cordillera as well as several isolated mountain
ranges that are separated from the central cordillera by
lowland forests. Very little precise distributional data is
available for M. boeleni but it is found throughout the
central cordillera as well as in allopatric populations on the
Huon Peninsula and Goodenough Island (Fig. 1). It is
unknown if M. boeleni in the central cordillera represent
one contiguous interbreeding population or a series of
isolated mountain-top populations with limited, reduced, or
no gene flow with one another, but limited locality data
suggests the latter as there appear to be two disjunct populations
in the central cordillera (Fig. 1). The two known
allopatric populations on the Huon Peninsula and Goodenough
Island are likely currently genetically isolated
from the central cordillera population(s) because the
intervening lowland forest is not suitable habitat. Morelia
boeleni therefore consists of multiple allopatrically
distributed populations that may be lineages of a single or
multiple species.
Historically, live specimens M. boeleni have been
imported into the USA since the mid 1970s. International
Species Information System (ISIS) records indicate that
127 legal specimens have entered zoological institutions
and currently 44 (21 male; 23 female) of those specimens
are alive. There are 102 (38 male; 64 female) specimens
accountable in private ownership; this population includes
animals in USA, UK, Spain, Japan, and Germany. Most of
these specimens are thought to have originated from one
population found in the Western Highlands of Papua,
Indonesia. This species has gained the reputation of being
difficult to maintain and reproduce in captivity. However,
this reputation has diminished due to current natural history
studies (Spataro and Baldogo: http://www.boelenspythons.
com/home.html) and exporters offering captive hatched
specimens. Throughout their short captive history, there has
been a concentrated effort at breeding this species yet efforts
have been successful only four times, with none of these
occurring in zoological institutions. Current wild populations
seem to be non-threatened, receiving little pressure
from its two known predators: humans and the New Guinea
Harpy Eagle (Harpyopsis novaeguineae). Their status may
change, however, as the human population increases or more
natural resources are discovered on the island resulting in
more habitat destruction. For these reasons this species
should be considered a target species in need of a wellstructured
wild and captive management plan.










Upon discovering this species, Brongersma (1953)
described it as a member of the genus Liasis (Gray 1842),
where it remained until Kluge (2003) placed it within
Morelia (Gray 1842), based on morphological and genetic
analysis. Morelia boeleni are referred to by the following
common names: Boelen’s Python, Black Python, and
Sanca bulan. Genetic analysis has shown that this species’
closest extant relative is Morelia amethistina (Harvey et al.
2000; Rawlings et al. 2008), which also occurs on the
island of New Guinea.
The objectives of this study are to elucidate general
patterns of genetic structure for M. boeleni and to understand
the levels of genetic variation in captive animals in
zoological parks that are used for captive breeding purposes.
We use DNA sequence data from two mitochondrial
(mtDNA) genes and one nuclear (nDNA) gene to examine
the amount of genetic variation from wild and captive
animals. The mtDNA cytochrome b (cytb) gene has been
widely used to detect population and specific level variation
in boas and pythons (Austin 2000; Keogh et al. 2001;
Vences et al. 2001; Auliya et al. 2002; Rawlings and
Donnellan 2003; Lawson et al. 2004; Rawlings et al. 2008;
Tzika et al. 2008) as well as other snakes. The second
mtDNA gene region sequenced, cytochrome oxidase I
(COI), has also been used extensively in snakes, reptiles,
and other animals (Daniels et al. 2002; Melville et al. 2004;
Utiger and Schatti 2004; Plaisance et al. 2008). The nDNA
gene region sequenced, melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R),
has been shown to be variable in snakes, lizards, and other
vertebrates (Theron et al. 2001; Rosenblum et al. 2004,
2007; Fajardo et al. 2008). This is the first phylogeographic
study for any montane New Guinea reptile. As such these
genetic data will provide a better understanding of estimates
of the timing of population divergence and inferences
of the historical population-level processes that
generate and sustain the current patterns of genetic variation.
Results of this study have implications for conservation
of this species in the wild as well as providing
important genetic data for captive breeding programs.
Materials and methods
We examined 108 specimens representing three python
species from New Guinea. Two congeners of M. boeleni,
M. amethistina and M. viridis, were incorporated to compare
molecular divergence and diversity within the genus.
DNA was extracted from 90 M. boeleni shed skins or tissue,
and from liver from six M. amethistina, and 12 M.
viridis, using a guanidine thiocyanate or ammonium acetate
salt extraction protocol (Socrates and Berkeley Scholars Web Hosting Services Have Been Retired | Web Platform Services
*fujita/protocols/DNA_Extraction.pdf). Sheds of M. boeleni
were donated from various zoological parks and private
collectors (see ‘‘Appendix’’). One nuclear (MC1R)
and two mitochondrial (cytb and COI) gene fragments
were amplified via PCR for each individual; each reaction
contained the following: 25–50 ng template, 5 pmoles each
primer (see Table 1 for primer sequences), 1.25 nmoles
each dNTP, 19 PCR Buffer (New England Biolabs, Ipswich,
MA), 0.5 units Taq polymerase (New England Biolabs,
Ipswich, MA), and nuclease-free H2 0–25 ll. Primers
for MC1R were designed from squamte sequences in
GenBank. Amplicons were purified using Exo-SAP IT
(USB Corp., Cleveland, OH). Cleaned products were cycle
sequenced with Big Dye 3.1 (Applied Biosystems, Foster
City, CA) following manufacturer’s protocols. Excess dye
terminator was removed via sephadex column filtration,
and products were electrophoresed on an ABI-3100
Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA).
Sequence output was aligned and edited with Sequencher
4.7 (Gene Codes Corp., Ann Arbor, MI).
Of the 90 individuals of M. boeleni, 17 total sheds were
classified as ‘wild-caught’, 16 from Indonesian Papua, and
one museum specimen (BPBM 11611) was collected
*1200 km away in Morobe Province in eastern Papua
New Guinea (PNG) (Fig. 1). The remaining 73 individual
M. boeleni are of unknown origin but are presumed to have
come from Indonesia as this has been the source of all
known exports. All M. amethistina were from one locality
(Milne Bay Province, PNG) and the M. viridis were collected
from two localities (Sandaun and Milne Bay Provinces,
PNG) *1600 km distant (Fig. 1; ‘‘Appendix’’).
To compliment the empirical data, we performed a
power analysis in order to assess the ability to detect
presence of rare haplotypes with a sample of this size (16).
Under the conservative assumption that these individuals
were collected from the same locality, we calculated the
probability of detecting more than one haplotype (P[1) as
1 - q16, while varying the proportion (q) of the most
common haplotype in the population between 0.5 and 1.

Results
All wild-caught specimens from Indonesia and all captive
individuals of M. boeleni were genetically uniform across
all three loci. No single nucleotide polymorphisms or
insertion/deletion mutations were detected from the
1,418 bp of total aligned sequence data (cytb: 370 bp; COI:
553 bp; MC1R: 495 bp). For the nuclear locus no heterozygotes
were detected as inferred from lack of double
peaks in the electropherograms (Brumfield et al. 2003).
The single haplotype seen in the cytb fragment sequenced
from our Indonesian samples was identical to that obtained
by Harvey et al. (2000). The single individual from eastern
New Guinea (Morobe Province, PNG) *1200 km distant
from the Indonesian locality differed from the western
samples by B1.1% sequence divergence for both mitochondrial
genes, but the MC1R sequence was identical to
the Indonesian M. boeleni. In contrast, sequences from the
six M. amethistina and 12 M. viridis both yielded multiple
haplotypes for each gene with mean intrapopulation
divergence ranging from 0.24 to 0.41% and mean interpopulation
divergence ranging from 6.8 to 7.5% for the
mitochondrial genes and mean intrapopulation divergence
ranging from 0.20 to 0.38% for the nuclear locus (Table 2).
Results from the power analysis are shown in Fig. 3 and all
sequences are deposited in GenBank (FJ864817-
FJ865133).

Discussion
The lack of genetic variation for all 89 M. boeleni from
wild-caught and captive sheds from Indonesia was
unexpected. Although only 16 of the 89 Indonesian M.
boeleni were recorded as wild-caught we would still expect
to detect some degree of haplotype diversity with this
sample size, given the results from the congeners and
molecular results from other pythons (Table 2; Austin
2000; Harvey et al. 2000; Rawlings and Donnellan 2003;
Rawlings et al. 2008). These results may be attributed to
differences in lineage histories, however, results of the
power analysis suggest that a sample of this size is likely to
reveal diversity even when a single haplotype comprises
the majority of a population. While an analysis that
incorporated the 2 N nuclear data would have more power
to detect diversity ([95% detectable on average when a
single allele is 91% of the population and \5% when a
single allele is 99.8% of the population). The single
M. boeleni from eastern New Guinea (Morobe Province,
PNG) showed limited mtDNA divergence [COI (0.82%);
cytb (1.1%)] despite being 1200 km distant. In contrast,
M. viridis was sampled from two localities 1600 km apart
and showed an almost ten-fold increase in mtDNA divergence
and increased haplotype diversity [COI (6.8%), 4
haplotypes; cytb (7.5%), 5 haplotypes]. For the nuclear
locus MC1R, M. amethistina from a single population
showed intrapopulation level divergence (0.88%) for two
haplotypes and M. viridis from two populations also showed
intrapopulation level divergence (0.20%). These data from
the two congeners closely mirror data collected for other
pythons and suggests that M. boeleni shows reduced genetic
diversity and divergence at both mtDNA and nuclear
genomes (Austin 2000; Harvey et al. 2000; Rawlings and
Donnellan 2003; Rawlings et al. 2008).

Low levels of genetic variability have been observed in
many other vertebrates (O’Brian et al. 1985; Gray 1995;
Kretzmann et al. 1996; Rivera et al. 2006; Vargas-Ramirez
et al. 2007). Reduced levels of genetic variability are
typically explained by historical bottleneck(s) in population
size from either natural or human mediated processes.
Inbreeding depression results from an increase in homozygosity
and this loss of genetic variability has a variety of
negative consequences including decreased fitness from
reduced fecundity and lower survival. In addition, small or
declining populations may be susceptible to mutational
meltdown where deleterious mutations do not have the
opportunity to be eliminated by natural selection (Amos
and Balmford 2001).
The genetic uniformity of all 89 M. boeleni from
Indonesia can best be explained by all our samples from
captive and wild-caught animals coming from a single
highly genetically uniform population. We only have precise
locality data for four sheds collected from the wild by
MS. The other sheds from wild-caught animals and the one
shed from the USF&W confiscation may or may not come
from our one known Indonesian locality but this would be
the most parsimonious assumption based on the genetic
data. Even if this were the case, the lack of haplotype
diversity is surprising as most wild reptile populations have
moderate amounts of haplotype diversity that would be
detected with this sample size and is evident from our
much smaller congener samples (Austin 2000; Harvey
et al. 2000; Rawlings and Donnellan 2003; Rawlings et al.
2008). Given the broad, allopatric, and topographically
varied distribution of M. boeleni our a priori expectation
was that the species would show at least some degree of
genetic variation even if most samples were from a single
locality. One possible explanation for the genetic uniformity
of a single population of M. boeleni would be a recent
bottleneck associated with paleoclimatological oscillations.
Montane reptiles may be particularly sensitive to rapid
climate change and alterations or fluctuations in environmental
conditions that shift populations up or down an
elevational gradient may lead to genetic bottlenecks as one
or a few individuals are able to colonize new climate
suitable elevations. In particular, multiple rapid oscillations
of climate may cause severe bottlenecks. Our results are
still surprising given that examination of genetic diversity
of populations that are resulted from postglacial recolonization
still show moderate haplotype diversity (Clark et al.
2003; Fuerst and Austin 2004; Ursenbacher et al. 2006).
Future research will be needed to obtain genetic material
from M. boeleni from across its range throughout the
central cordillera and in particular the two known allopatric
populations on the Huon Peninsula and Goodenough Island
(Fig. 1). In addition, use of more variable markers such as
microsatellites may provide further refinement of our
estimates of genetic structure in M. boeleni (Jordan et al.
2002). Further natural history studies are needed to
increase our knowledge on this species. This data will
hopefully help unlock the secrets as to why this is such a
difficult species to reproduce in captivity and in return
larger captive populations will be established. Institutions
maintaining this species are encouraged to put forth more
effort to assure their success with this species based on
genetic and natural history information. Current CITES
status should remain in effect, with better regulations of
exportation on specimens originating from Indonesia.
Genealogical relationships and the harbored genetic
diversity are important data for the use of developing a
comprehensive captive breeding plan for any threatened or
endangered species (Miller 1995). This study highlights the
important need for further genetic sampling of M. boeleni
from precise localities from across its range in order to
assess if this species is actually highly genetically uniform
and thus susceptible to inbreeding depression and in need
of increased conservation protection and management.


Acknowledgments We thank the following museums, zoological
parks, and individuals for donating genetic material for the genetic
work: The Denver, Fort Worth, Houston, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City,
Riverside, St. Louis, and San Diego Zoos as well as the Bishop
Museum; A. Allison, J. Baylin, R. Beard, D. Bellis, N. Bottini, N.
Hoover, M. Jodney, T. Koegen, Y. Kuto, J. Leware, R. Maugg, F.
Memmo, J. Rosenstarch, O. Robert, G. Schiavino, B. Simpson, M.
Smith, J. Sola, D. Taylor, K. Tepedelen, S. Wari and G. Womer. We
thank B. Roy, V. Kula, and B. Wilmot from the PNG Department of
Environment and Conservation, and J. Robins from the PNG National
Research Institute who have provided research assistance in Papua
New Guinea. This manuscript was improved from comments from the
Austin lab group. This research was funded by National Science
Foundation grants DEB 0445213 and DBI 0400797 to CCA.


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## loxocemus

Breeding the Rufous-Beaked Snake By Michael McDonald

In the fall of 1996, I introduced one of my male rufous beaked snakes (Rhamphiophis rostratus) to my first female. By then she had grown to an impressive 4 feet in length. The male was roughly 3 feet in length. First I placed the female in a breeding enclosure and gave her a few days to settle in before I introduced the male. Sometimes using extra males increases the chances of copulation. Measuring 4 feet long by 2 feet wide by 2 feet tall, this breeding enclosure is a melamine cage with a glass front. The glass allows me to observe the snakes and make sure problems such as cannibalism don’t happen. I didn’t cool them down before introducing them because these rufous-beaked snakes originated from Tanzania. There the climate ranges between 68 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit during the cooler months of June through August and can reach 86 degrees and higher between the months of December through March.

Within a few hours of introducing the male to the female, the male began courting her with rapid head motions, jerking his head from side to side. Although, the species normally displays this type of behavior, these particular motions were more pronounced and continuous after the introduction. That evening I witnessed the first copulation. The following day I witnessed copulation twice more before I removed the male. I returned the female to her regular bin and placed an egg box measuring 12 inches long by 10 inches wide by 3 inches tall with damp sphagnum moss in her enclosure. Within the first month after copulation I noticed the female went into her pre-laying shed. Thirty-nine days after copulation the female laid eight eggs. They were about the same size as snake eggs from the genus Pituophis. Incubation Instruction I incubated the eggs at 82 degrees in a small plastic bin. This incubating bin can be any size as long as it’s at least 5 inches tall with a cover and it’s adjusted to fit a varying number of eggs.
In this bin I placed a plastic crate, which was a fluorescent-light-diffuser panel cut to fit. This crate had open square cells, so it looked like a checkerboard from above. I filled the incubating bin with perlite until it almost reached the top of the plastic crate’s cells and added water until it was slightly below the top of the cells. Then I placed the eggs on top of the plastic crate.

I prefer to double the layer of plastic crate, so in the end the eggs sat just above about 2 inches of the perlite and water mix. The goal was to lift the eggs high enough so they did not come into contact with the moist perlite, basically suspending them in an atmosphere of 100 percent humidity. This humidity
automatically saturates the air inside the bin if it is sealed properly. I always poke a few tiny holes on two opposing sides of the bin to allow some circulation of air, so the eggs can breathe. After 58 days of incubation the eggs began to hatch, and within 24 hours all eight eggs hatched. Each hatchling measured about 14 inches long.

Smelly Mice Wanted
After the snakes’ first shed, I tried some freshly thawed pinky mice, but they refused them. I tried live pinkies, and again they refused. I started to worry.
Then, by chance, I happened to thaw some pinkies but left them out for a few hours due to an unexpected emergency. They sat at room temperature, and by the time I returned home, the pinkies had a slight smell. Rather than waste them, I tried them with the hatchlings. They immediately gobbled them up. So I concluded that when you feed your baby rufous-beaked snakes it is best to thaw out the pinky mouse in the morning, allow it to sit for the day until it has a slight smell, and then feed it to the snakes. This procedure only needed to be done for the first few feedings. After that they readily accepted freshly
thawed pinkies.


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## loxocemus

False Chain Viper (Macropisthodon rudis).

A short note about the contents of the False Chain Viper Macropisthodon rudis, exclusively from personal experience, therefore My information may differ from other sources.

The content experience is not so big with me, but still some conclusions can already be drawn. Since 2013, these animals have been living with me. At first there were only naturalists, last year I left myself several babies born to a natural female (everyone is alive and well), this year there are more babies and I will try to make several groups with different feeding diets.

In my opinion, animals are not at all difficult to maintain if the necessary conditions are met. Since the habitat of my animals was China, Guangdong, then I tried to create conditions close to natural. Accordingly, the temperature of the content did not exceed 27 degrees. Adult animals, I have large females about a meter long, are kept in terrariums, with very good ventilation, the size of the terrarium is 70 x 50 x 30 (height), I think that a cage is also suitable, but there will be a lot of holes, despite the fact that animals need humidity, they need good ventilation no less. I keep it on diapers (napkins, newspapers, and paper are also suitable).

It can be contained in two ways (I used both, equally successfully). The first method: Daytime temperature 24-26 (namely with a difference, i.e. morning 24, day 26, evening 24), at night 20-21 degrees. This temperature is in my room with animals, no additional heat sources were used. Spraying once a week, the diaper is slightly damp, they do not need a high humidity (swamp). The second method: a constant temperature of 21-22 degrees at a warming point of 26-27, heating is turned off at night, spraying is also once a day. Both that and another way quite are suitable. Kids eat much more actively and feel better when the temperature drops to 18 degrees at night. That is, during the day the temperature can rise to 26 degrees, and at night it should drop to 18.

Feeding: frogs, almost all switched to food from the tweezers with thawed frogs, as well as their pieces. This year I tried to give the most gluttonous fish, they ate and did not buzz, but feeding only fish is strictly prohibited, fish can be added to the diet no more than 1-2 times a month for adults and once every 2 weeks for babies. I feed adults a large frog once a week, babies every 3-4 days with a frog of the appropriate size, and they swallow quite large in comparison with their own size.

Kids grow up quickly and by the year reach the size of almost half of an adult.

There are 2 important features:

1. I use soft water from the filter (reverse osmosis).
2. During molting in the terrarium (cage) you need to monitor the humidity (drying out during molting can be fatal).

Is it necessary to give toads, as it is written in some sources? I don’t know, there is information that after feeding a toad some individuals died, either our toads are not the same, or it is extremely rare to give them. I gave adult animal toads a couple of times, they were digested normally, there were no complications, but without the toads, one female, 2 years, lives quite well. So I do not have a definite answer to this question.

This year I made an easy wintering for my snakes (since I did not have males and I did not prepare for breeding females). Both children and adults wintered for 2 months at a temperature of 17-20 degrees.

In my opinion, the animals are very interesting, I did not notice the aggressiveness in their behavior, it is quite easy to pick up, they don’t even try to bite (maybe I came across such good-natured creatures). If hungry, then they can try to hunt for hands. Some sources have written about the toxicity of these snakes. I do not presume to say anything, but a couple of times it was during the hunt that they grabbed my hand, I didn’t have any reaction (well, except for small wounds, like from a bite of a maize snake or a royal python). Of course, it is impossible to exclude an allergic reaction to saliva, but then nothing can be predicted in advance.

translated from Russian ( a bit rough i know but still interesting)








































































Macropisthodon rudis - YouTube










Зефирка Macropisthodon rudis - YouTube


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## loxocemus

Mandarin Ratsnake Care Sheet
by Robert Seib 

Mandarin Ratsnakes are shy, secretive snakes. Especially as babies, they do not like to be held. They prefer to hide in a place where they feel secure. Avoid setups using bright lights, or those that completely expose the snake to view. As babies and well into their first year, I keep mandarins in plastic shoeboxes on a substrate of dust-free pine shavings (never cedar) with a water dish, and another dish covered by a paper towel. I always place the pinky mouse inside the second dish where they consume it. They often rest either in that dish, or on the shavings underneath the paper towel.
I believe temperature and rate of feeding are the most important variables to control once you have purchased a captive born mandarin ratsnake that is already proven to be feeding well and on schedule.
First, temperature. My entire collection of mandarins from neonates to adults have never been exposed to temperatures as high as 80 degrees. During the non brumation period, from say, March to September or so, they can be at the room temperature of your colubrid or other room. That may start out in the low 60's following brumation and work up to the mid to high 70's. If the room is warmer than that, you can keep them on the floor. But they do well at about 75 degrees. When it gets cool in the room as you approach brumation, many of the animals will continue to feed, even at lower temperatures.
Do not over feed your mandarins. I offer neonates and yearlings food every 5 to 7 days, then once a week throughout their life (except for gravid females-they will need more). If they pass up a meal, they are offered another meal in another 5 to 7 days with the rest of the mandarins. Males may not eat very much during the breeding season.. They grow relatively slowly, live at relatively low temperatures, and do not require a lot of food.
Do not feed your mandarins large meals. They cannot digest a large rodent the way a kingsnake can. There should not be a large lump in your mandarin after it feeds. A kingsnake can go to its heat source to digest a large meal, but a mandarin does not have a heat source. It gets smaller meals.
When it gets cold, or it's about late September or early October, most mandarins start to slow down and will soon brumate. At about that time I have ceased feeding, and I open the window to my colubrid room. Temperatures average in the 50's and 60's mostly, but they occasionally get down into the low 40's. On March 1st I close the window. In a couple of weeks my other colubrids are warming up with heat sources and the temperature in the room gradually builds up to the 70's. The annual cycle repeats.
Substrate seems less important. I have used a variety of shavings and paper products with equal results.
Humidity might be important. But I just keep a moist and a dry hide box in each tray. The animal can move around and choose the appropriate humidity for that moment.
Enclosure size does not seem too important. Mandarins are relatively small snakes. I use shoe boxes for babies, and 5" high bus trays for adults. You can go larger and use aquaria. Keep in mind that mandarins are often secretive snakes that tend to avoid the limelight. So ensure that they have a place to hide where they may feel secure.
For babies that are still feeding during the brumation period, I move them to my python room where the background temperature in the winter is 75 degrees. It is critical to monitor temperature throughout the year. Whereas cold temperatures are OK, 80 degrees is not OK. I would consider it an emergency and find another place in the house to move the snakes. The best way to monitor temperature is with a reliable laser temperature gun.
I believe mandarin ratsnakes are one of the easiest snakes to keep as both pets and as breeders. They often breed in 18 months, many of them double clutch, and they live for a long time. Since they do not require a heat source, their care is even easier than that of kingsnakes. They do not require large cages, and cleaning is relatively easy. 





































Albino Mandarin









Axanthic (if i remember right they hatch normal and gradually lose the color...)


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## loxocemus

*MANDARIN RAT SNAKE – (EUPREPIOPHIS MANDARINUS) ARTICLE BY: ROLF DENNISON*











When you first see a Mandarin Rat Snake it is hard to believe that it is real. Its colourings and markings are so unique and different from any other rat snake or even any other snake. They have a grey background colour with horizontal diamond markings along their backs, with black borders and highlights of luminous yellow in the middle of the diamond marking. Some specimens have a red streak in the middle of each grey scale! There are quite a few different colour and marking variations, mostly due to their different natural localities, but even within the different localities there is a lot of variation in colour and patterning. These variations are always a great thing as breeders have started selectively breeding for these different and favourable traits.

The Mandarin Rat Snake occurs naturally in south-eastern Asia from upper Burma through southern China to northern Vietnam, inhabiting mountain forests and rocky slopes covered with bushes. Originally thought to be a montane species, they are now known to live at elevations below 500 meters in some parts of its range. Most commonly found at elevations of 2000-2500 meters, they have also been recorded at as high as 3000 meters in Tibet.

It seems that when dealing with captive bred specimens, Mandarin Rat Snakes are easier to keep then previously believed. Correct temperatures are one of the most important factors when dealing with this species and if they are kept too warm they can become sick very easily

For a long time, and I am sure still today, many Mandarins that were available were wild caught. This is slowly changing as more and more Mandarin Rat Snakes are being bred in captivity. Wild caught animals struggle to adapt to a captive environment, and most of the time are heavily infected with parasites. They also usually arrive much stressed and in poor condition due to prolonged transport. It has been known that only a very small percentage of wild caught Mandarin Rat Snakes survive in captivity. Due to all these factors everything should be done to purchase captive bred animals rather than wild caught. Moscow Zoo reported treating their wild caught snakes as follows: “As a routine, we treat all newly arrived snakes with Metronidasol (Flagyl) 250mg/kg. repeated after 10 days; 2,59c Albendasol ( Val-basen) 0,20,4 ml/kg, repeated twice every 7 days if symptoms persist; Prasiquantel (Baytril) 5mg/kg every 24 hours for 3-5 days, depending on clinical signs.”

*Husbandry*

A common husbandry mistake that is made with Mandarin Rat Snakes is keeping them too warm. Overheating these snakes will cause health problems, so keep in mind that temperatures for these snakes will need to maintained at 22 – 26°C and night time temperatures at 16 -18°C. Humidity must be maintained at a rather high level, and this can be achieved by spraying the enclosure every couple of days.

Adults reach sizes of around 100 – 120cm, and can be kept in the same kind of enclosure that we would keep a Milk Snake, Kingsnake or Corn Snake. Almost any type of typical snake housing will do. I keep mine in Rubbermaid bins in a rack system. A glass aquarium, PVC enclosure, or even a homemade wooden terrarium will do. Size appropriate, of course, with areas to hide.









Mandarin rat snake – Jonathan Cleverly
Mandarin Rat Snakes enjoy burrowing, so aspen bedding or dust free sawdust is best used. A thick layer of 10cm or so covering the bottom of the enclosure is ideal. I am sure other substrates could be as well. It provides a great hiding area for them that is often used as they burrow under and through it. Paper is not a suitable substrate for these snakes. Make sure to also provide a humid hide half filled with damp sphagnum moss, which will be enjoyed for hours at a time on a daily basis.

*Feeding*

It is important to note that as these snakes come from a cooler environment, and the fact that we keep them at cooler temperatures, means that they digest at a slower rate and therefore need to be fed smaller meals. Mandarin Rat Snakes will readily accept mice, which can be offered once a week. They seem to prefer meals on the small side, so rather feed items that are too small than too large.

With babies a good way to stimulate them to eat is to loosely wrap a pinkie in paper towel and then bury it into the sawdust, and leave it there over night. When the snake discovers this during its nocturnal forage it stimulates a natural feeding behaviour quite nicely, as a newborn rodent in an underground burrow.

*Breeding*

When it comes to breeding Mandarin Rat Snakes they will need to be put through a hibernation period similar to that of Corn Snakes and Kingsnakes. About 3 weeks before hibernation all feeding stops and temperatures are slowly reduced until you reach 11 -14°C. This temperature is then maintained for 3 months after which temperatures are slowly brought back to normal over two weeks. During the brumation period do not offer food and do not disturb them. Just make sure they have fresh water at all times and check on them about once a week, just to make sure that they are looking healthy. After the brumation period and once temperatures have been returned to normal you can then start offering food once again. When feeding at this time, feed a bit more than usual, up to twice a week. About 3 weeks after hibernation you can start introducing the female into the male’s enclosure, after which you should start seeing signs of copulation, with the male often biting the neck of the female. After successful copulation the snakes can be separated again. This process can be repeated up to 5 times. After about 2 months of successful copulation 2 – 9 eggs are laid. Eggs can be incubated the same as we incubate other colubrid eggs. Vermiculite is a good medium to use for incubation and water will need to be added to it at a 1:1 water to vermiculite weight ratio. Eggs must be incubated at 25-28°C and will hatch at around 45 – 60 days. Babies will take 7-10 days to have their first shed, after which they will then be ready to feed. Feeding is usually never a problem with Mandarin Rat Snake hatchlings and they will happily eat pinkie mice and grow fast.

As we mentioned, certain international breeders are now working with varieties of Mandarin Rat Snakes from different localities. These localities are Vietnam, Sichuan, and Hunan, along with a few mutations such as the recessive anerythristic and the high yellow and high red line bred varieties, which are exciting to see! There apparently was a Hypomelansitc mutation at one time, which is no longer around. In 1998 a US trader offered $10 000 for a female Albino Mandarin Rat Snake, and this was the only known specimen at the time and no others have been seen since. I am sure as more breeders start to work with captive bred animals and start breeding these snakes on a larger scale we will start to see some more exciting mutations popping up.

It seems that when dealing with captive bred specimens, Mandarin Rat Snakes are easier to keep then previously believed. Correct temperatures are one of the most important factors when dealing with this species and if they are kept too warm they can become sick very easily. Another thing to keep in mind is that they are very shy snakes, and therefore it is important that they have lots of places to hide in their enclosure, which will allow them to feel secure.

The Mandarin Rat Snake is very popular and highly sought after for so many reasons like their vibrant colours, incredible pattern, lack of special heating or lighting requirements, and manageable size. They are easy to care for and with their small meals they are inexpensive to keep, so all round they are awesome snakes that will become the “crown jewel” of any collection!


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## loxocemus

awesome awesome video Chinese Banded King Cobra Breeding Project - YouTube


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## loxocemus

cottonmouth by tim spuckler









A partially melanistic Eastern Garter Snake produced by and owned by tim spuckler









WC Nebraska White Plains Garter Snake tim spuckler


















true axanthic Red sided Garter Snake owned by tim spuckler


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## loxocemus

Ponchatoula (Louisiana) Broadbands by darkhorse herpetoculture


















i don't know why nerodia haven't caught on here, i think neil little has some stunners

a perfect rhino and a perfect pic, by colubralab









rhino's like baroni, gonyosoma become almost completely arboreal as adults, if you allow them too. so when considering the adult caging, pay as much, if not more, attention to the upper half when designing the layout, cork branches (like above) are excellent choices, height for the rhino baroni min 600mm, gonyosoma 800mm (and very large baroni). don't go nuts thinking of the humidity setup, a nice soil base, bioactive if you like, plants and gonyosoma go well together (ditto mangroves), the perfect one is that cheap plant im blanking on (philodendron?), like in the pic above, heart shape leaves variegated form etc, very easy to grow and can withstand a sleeping snake.

Funky coloured Saharan sand boa owned by christen jacques, this could be a very interesting project.










F2 Female muelleri ovulation owned john q pigott (a very talented keeper with a unique skillset for the oddballs), ovulation must be very uncomfortable, so they may do this to relieve the discomfort, or maybe its to help the ova progress, who knows, pythons will do this too when gravid, i remember an aussie post about a spotted python basking on the riverbank, completely inverted. ( i remember a video post of a chondro going through ovulation, it was obvious she was in great pain, this was an unusual case though.)









eggs (from a boa, calabaria, jayakari too) notice the pink colour, calabaria eggs exhibit this too, but calabaria embryos are not as advanced at laying as the muelleri and jayakari sandboas are.










incubation, setup is interesting, especially the media, it resembles python incubation, ie keep the eggs dry but humidity high. "incubation" is short, @14-17 days, your not growing a foetal bundle but rather just finishing the cooking, they are an example of evolution in play, they are evolving to be completely live-bearing like the other eryx (that's the theory put forward by some academics).










F3's! maybe the most advanced cb muelleri generation to date, certainly up there, muelleri are usually ignored by eryx lovers, there are some UK CB on morphmarket.eu









you may notice muelleri have no egg tooth, the egg is more of a balloon, the same is true for jayakari, evolution at play....


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## loxocemus

a beautiful kopstein's bronzeback, to see one hatch would be awesome.









Cylindrophis Ruffus by rio ferdinanto, this looks like a subadult, an ideal captive for tropical fossorial, leaf litter lovers, they have almost no scutes, its mostly small scales, a fossorial adaption i would think. I've always liked them.









i like these (females scotts garter), if you've always admired garters but thought they were too small, the eques clan are for you, their like a garter in a corns body. they are vey very enthusiastic feeders so the classic "group of shifty little garters around a dish" would be difficult to replicate with them. caging should be larger @1200x600x600, use all the space, garters are decent climbers, so a good branch system to take advantage of the heat and uv. garters are often thought of as relatively short-lived @10-12yrs, but this is often not true, the eques clan should be able to routinely pass 15yrs, i believe the oldest garter is in the US or Canada is 23 or 24yrs old.. the below scotti subsp may be unique in being able to double clutch, which is virtually unheard of in livebearers, other garters have done it, but usually experimentally and not consistently. eques grow very very quickly with the right care, if you like garters the man to know is steven bol Garter Snakes by Steven Bol - Steven Bol Garter Snakes


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## ian14

I had a pair of Lake Zacapu garters. The female was big enough to take day old chicks.


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## loxocemus

that's not a garter, THIS! is a garter! (in aussie accent)

ed



ian14 said:


> I had a pair of Lake Zacapu garters. The female was big enough to take day old chicks.


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## loxocemus

Gonyosoma oxycephalum denez ar

























euro line blk tail, scott prior









happy garter, u can clearly see the glottis and inhalation, the glottis is strengthened with rings of cartilage, this allows the snake to breathe while ingesting a large meal









Hierophis viridiflavus carbonarius by tomaz jagar









Freshly shed Malpolon insignitus pair Tomaz Jagar









Modestus Erenis in Datca by Semih Yanik









Male Platyceps najadum dahlii Andrea Letosnikova


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## loxocemus

Vipera kaznakovi Hopa Local Semih Yanik









Iberian grass snake Natrix astreptophora portugal Frank Paul Photography









(Natrix natrix) Czech Republic 2014 Ondrej Nagl









Hemorrhois hippocrepis juan manuel jim









Vipera latastei gaditana female cb2021 rene house









Ptyas nigromarginata Dieter Vernijns









Italian Aesculapian snake. Z.lineatus Ferry van Stralen









А large Montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus) bulgaria Anton Sokolov









Dahl's whipsnake (Platyceps najadum) bulgaria 2021 Anton Sokolov


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## loxocemus

Elaphe urartica, claus bekston









*[Herpetology • 2019] Elaphe urartica • The Biogeography of Elaphe sauromates (Pallas, 1814), with A Description of A New Rat Snake Species*










*Abstract
Background: *
The rat snake genus _Elaphe _once comprised several dozens of species distributed in temperate through tropical zones of the New and Old World. Based on molecular-genetic analyses in early 2000s, the genus was split into several separate genera, leaving only 15 Palearctic and Oriental species as its members. One of the three species also occurring in Europe is _Elaphe sauromates_, a robust snake from the Balkans, Anatolia, Caucasus, Ponto-Caspian steppes, and Levant that has been suspected to be composed of two or more genetically diverse populations. Here, we studied the genetic structure and morphological variation of _E. sauromates_, aiming to better understand its inter-population relationships and biogeography, and subsequently revise its taxonomy.

*Methods: *
We reconstructed the phylogeography and analyzed the genetic structure of_ E. sauromates _populations originating from most of its geographic range using both mitochondrial (COI, ND4) and nuclear (C-MOS, MC1R, PRLR, RAG1) DNA gene fragments. We employed Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods for the phylogenetic tree reconstructions, supplemented with species delimitation methods, analysis of haplotype networks, and calculation of uncorrected p-distances. Morphological variation in 15 metric and 18 meristic characters was studied using parametric univariate tests as well as multivariate general linearized models. In total, we analyzed sequences originating from 63 specimens and morphological data from 95 specimens of _E_. _sauromates _sensu lato.

*Results: *
The molecular phylogeny identified two clearly divergent sister lineages within _E. sauromates_, with both forming a lineage sister to _E. quatuorlineata_. The genetic distance between them (5.80–8.24% in mtDNA) is similar to the distances among several other species of the genus Elaphe. Both lineages are also moderately morphologically differentiated and, while none of the characters are exclusively diagnostic, their combination can be used for confident lineage identification. Here, following the criteria of genetic and evolutionary species concepts, we describe the lineage from eastern Anatolia and parts of the Lesser and Great Caucasus as *a new species *_*Elaphe urartica *_*sp. nov.

Discussion: *
_Elaphe urartica _sp. nov. represents a cryptic species whose ancestors presumably diverged from their common ancestor with _E. sauromates_ around the Miocene-Pliocene boundary. The intraspecific genetic structure indicates that the recent diversity of both species has been predominantly shaped by Pleistocene climatic oscillations, with glacial refugia mainly located in the Balkans, Crimea, and/or Anatolia in _E. sauromates_ and Anatolia and/or the Caucasus in_ E. urartica _sp. nov.



















*Family *Colubridae

*Genus*: _Elaphe _Fitzinger in Wagler, 1833

*Elaphe urartica* Jablonski, Kukushkin, Avcı, Bunyatova, Ilgaz, Tuniyev _et _Jandzik sp. nov.

*Diagnosis. *A new species of western Palearctic genus _Elaphe_, very similar to _E. sauromates_ (Pallas, 1814), characterized by the combination of the following characters: total length usually does not exceed 1,200 mm (796–1,205 mm), snout-vent (SVL) length usually less than 1,000 mm (650–970 mm), tail length less than 250 mm (146–245 mm) (see Tables 4 and 6). Tail forms about 25% of the SVL in males and about 21% in females. Head relatively large, distinguished from the body. Snout in prefrontal and internasal area is conspicuously convex which usually forms a hook-nosed head profile. Pileus length on average 1.8–1.9 times larger than its width. Frontal plate 1.2–1.3 times longer than wide. Anterior inframaxillar scute relatively large and wide, 1.2–1.3 times longer than the narrow posterior inframaxillar scute. One or two preocular scales, one loreal, two postoculars, two temporals, three or four posttemporals, eight labials, 10–11 sublabials on each side of the head. Eye in contact with fourth and fifth labials (Table 5; Table S3). Variation in head scale counts is relatively low (see Table S3). Usually two gulars located the anterior inframaxillars. The total number of gulars between inframaxillars and first preventral scale exceeds 12. Number of ventrals is 154–211 (154–206 in males, 194–211 in females), 60–74 subcaudal pairs (65–74 in males, 60–72 in females). 23–25 longitudinal rows of scales are around the midbody, with well-developed keels on 18–21 rows of body scales. The background of dorsal surfaces of the body and lateral surfaces of the head are yellowish or whitish, or seldomly bright yellow. The pattern of the dorsal surface of the body is composed of 50–65 rounded brown or black large ellipsoid spots, which may have whitish edges. Spots can be extended transversely in the posterior part of the body. Pileus is dark, often almost black, slightly lighter on the tip of the snout. Upper preoculars and temporals are dark forming a postocular stripe extending toward the mouth corner. This stripe blends with the dark dorsolateral head coloration anterior to the eye. Pale spots on the labials, only barely visible or lacking on sublabials. Ventral side of the body is whitish to pale yellow, sometimes with pinkish tint. There are marbled patterns of numerous small irregular dark brown and light gray spots with reddish contours that are more pronounced on the lateral sides of ventral plates. Throat is light, with numerous reddish-orange or brownish speckles on the lower jaws and anterior ventral plates. Iris is dark brown or almost black with a thin light rim around the pupil.


















*Figure 5: *Habitat at the type locality (Kısıklı, Süphan Mts., Turkey) of *Elaphe urartica* *sp. nov.* in south-eastern Turkey (photo by Boris Tuniyev).


















*Distribution and habitat. *The geographic range of _E. urartica_ sp. nov. is bordered by the Armenian Plateau, south-eastern foothills of the Great Caucasus, Alazan Valley, Kur-Aras, Lenkoran Lowlands, and the area of Qobustan. The species is distributed in Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Iran, and Russia. In Turkey, it can be found east of the Anatolian Diagonal with reliable records from Kars, Bitlis, Diyarbakır, and Van Provinces, presumably also in Erzurum, Iğdır, and Ağrı Provinces (Baran et al., 2012). In eastern Transcaucasia E. urartica sp. nov. is distributed from south-eastern Georgia to the Zalka Plateau or to Suramskyi Ridge in Southern Ossetia in the West, throughout most of the Armenian territory, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan with the exception of the Abşeron Peninsula. The eastern part of the range lies in northern Iran to the Golestan Province to the East, and Kermanshah and Semnan Provinces to the South (Alekperov & Loginov, 1953; Muskhelishvili, 1970; Flärdh, 1983; Schulz, 1996; Sindaco et al., 2000; Arakelyan et al., 2011; Bunyatova, Akhmedov & Dzhafarov, 2012; Bunyatova, 2013; Najafov, Hashimov & Isgenderov, 2013; Safaei-Mahroo et al., 2015). In the Russian Federation, _E. urartica _sp. nov. occurs in Samur-Devichi Lowlands of southern Dagestan and probably in the Dagestan Intermontane Region as well (Ananjeva et al., 2006; Mazanaeva & Askenderov, 2014). The species could also occur in the extreme northern regions of Iraq (Sindaco, Venchi & Grieco, 2013).

The snake occurs in a wide range of altitudes—from ca. 25 m below sea level in the Lenkoran foredeep to about 2,600 m a.s.l. in the Shirak Province in Armenia (Arakelyan et al., 2011). It is an eurytopic species inhabiting a wide variety of landscapes: mountain and lowland semi deserts, different types of the steppe, semi subtropical savannah-like forest-steppes with oreoxerophytes, sparse juniper forests, montane broad-leaved forests, and alpine meadows (Fig. 5). The climate within the E. urartica sp. nov. range varies from the subtropical in Lenkoran and piedmont area of eastern Transcaucasia to cold mountain climate in Armenia and north-eastern Anatolia. Humidity varies from highly arid (with annual precipitation of less than 200 mm) to moderately humid (1,400–1,600 mm per year; Clark & Clark, 1973; Arakelyan et al., 2011; Bunyatova, Akhmedov & Dzhafarov, 2012; Şensoy et al., 2016).

_Elaphe urartica _sp. nov. is sympatric with_ E. dione_ in Dagestan, central-eastern Azerbaijan, eastern Georgia, and presumably in north-eastern Turkey, southern Armenia, and northern Iran. All other species of the genus Elaphe have allopatric distribution relative to E. urartica sp. nov. Since the species occurs in a region of southern Russia (Dagestan), north of the Caucasus, that is geographically and politically considered a part of Europe (Sillero _et al._, 2014),_ E. urartica_ sp. nov. is considered another member of the European herpetofauna.

*Etymology. *The specific epithet is a feminine adjective derived from the name of the ancient kingdom of *Urartu *that flourished in the Armenian Highlands and around lake Van, an area of recent distribution of_ E. urartica_ sp. nov., in the 9th–6th century BCE (Asher & Asher, 2009). We are choosing this name out of respect for Peter Simon Pallas, who proposed the name for_ E. sauromates_, now the sister species of _E. urartica_, which most likely refers to Sarmatians (Sauromatae; Σαυρομαται in Greek), a confederation of nomadic peoples inhabiting vast portions of the recent range of _E_. _sauromates _between the 5th century BCE and 4th century CE.

*Proposal of common names. *We propose the English name “Urartian Rat Snake” for_ E. urartica_ sp. nov. Along with the name “Blotched rat snake”, we also suggest using the name “Sarmatian Rat Snake” for _E. sauromates_, instead of the older “Eastern Four-lined Rat Snake” derived as a subspecific name from the common name of _E. quatuorlineata_. The newly proposed name would decrease confusion and also better reflects the scientific name of _E. sauromates_.

Daniel Jablonski, Oleg V. Kukushkin, Aziz Avcı, Sabina Bunyatova, Yusuf Kumlutaş, Çetin Ilgaz, Ekaterina Polyakova, Konstantin Shiryaev, Boris Tuniyev and David Jandzik. 2019. The Biogeography of _Elaphe sauromates _(Pallas, 1814), with A Description of A New Rat Snake Species. *PeerJ. *7:e6944. DOI: _10.7717/peerj.6944

Elaphe urartica clutch, claus bekston







_


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## loxocemus

Juvenile Aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus) bulgaria, anton sokolov









Zamenis longissimus t-, andre ernst rettenbacher









Viper aspis francisciredi, gregoire meier, "oh that feels good..."









1.0. Vipera ammodytes ammodytes, Nils Kley









Vipera aspis atra .... lunchtime. Bo Wa


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## LiasisUK

Some good stuff in here! Thanks for the read. 



loxocemus said:


> i let out a big sigh when i look at this photo because i wish they were mine, a group of tropdophis melanurus, their from cuba and nearby islands, they eat mainly small lizards. juveniles especially will caudal lure. captive neonates can be difficult, often requiring extended force feeding, their live bearers with small decent sized babies compared to the mum (but still small). ps there's quite a few sp distributed around the islands surrounding cuba. when stressed they will auto hemorrhage from their eyes.


You may be interested (or annoyed) to hear I should be getting some of these within the next few months.


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## loxocemus

jealousy, seething jealousy mostly, good luck with them  

rgds
ed



LiasisUK said:


> Some good stuff in here! Thanks for the read.
> 
> 
> 
> You may be interested (or annoyed) to hear I should be getting some of these within the next few months.


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## loxocemus

Banana Black Pastel Clown SCConstrictors (clown combos seem to be one of the few retaining their value)









Jaguar OGS Tiger ph Purple female SCConstrrictors









off topic Ice (Type 2 T-) sleepy varanus SCConstrictors









brongersmai pied SCConstrictors









GHI Mojave Ghost SCConstrictors









Anthill Python ovulation SCConstrictors









male Purple Anthrax Sunfire SCConstrictors









Anthill Python pair breeding SCConstrictors









2021 Male Pixel 100% het T+ nick bottini









2021 Female T+ Albino Batrix cold blooded earth


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## loxocemus

T+ Albino Golden Eye Ivory Batik Red Blood Python nick bottini









T+ Albino Ivory Batik nick bottini









Golden Eye Ivory Red Blood Pythons nick bottini









the alterna seems completely hidden, Supercorn Alterna female cornsnakecave









this morph, probably because its leucistic (paradox) has the chance of producing bug eyed animals, seemingly afflicting males more than females, DO NOT pay the going rate for a bug eyed animal. palmetto, cornsnakecave









Jungle Alterna het. Palmetto 0.1 cornsnakecave


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## loxocemus

Crotalus atrox (hyper melanistic) renzo de clerk









Ophiophagus hannah king cobra. China - Sichuan









King cobra feeding mark van campenhout









king cobra feeding on ball python









t.melanurus courtship/lock owned john q pigott (you can see the obvious sexual dimorphism)


















female waglers Rhett Stanberry (also sexually dimorphic)


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## LiasisUK

loxocemus said:


> jealousy, seething jealousy mostly, good luck with them
> 
> rgds
> ed


I'll put you on the list for if I manage to breed them  Just got to get the papers sorted to get them into the country first.


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## loxocemus

Lycodonomorphus inornatus by thomas klein









Albino brazilian outback reptiles









calabaria feed by john baldwin









calabaria group by john baldwin









greedy calabaria feed by john baldwin









simple calabaria housing by john baldwin









calabaria shedding by john baldwin


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## loxocemus

fertile calabaria eggs









Hypo cateater female 2014 burm x natal by salvatore fortuna









Boiga trigonata, one of the few species you don’t really have to worry about humidity. Their color pattern mimics Echis carinatus, a viper species that inhabits the same range by Dan Sheehan









2020 eastern indigo tim brophy









leioheterodon madagascariensis (giant hognose) by yvan torrente segarra (can be very stubborn snakes, can be kept and bred in small groups)









CBB Female Glossy Snake arizona elegans spitfire reptiles









17 month old eastern indigo female and typical indigo egg Rapid growth with this species is obvious. by tim brophy









Lampropeltis triangulum gaigeae carlos ibarra









Grabowskyi by katie MC









0.1 Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia CBB 2020 thomas lindner


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## loxocemus

female mussurana by rocco pariser









boiga cyanea by rocco pariser









Albino Chinese king rats by rocco pariser









small male super pied mussurana by rocco pariser









Hydrodynastes gigas









95 days later and 100% hatch. Spunky little buggers, too. by travis wyman









95 days later and 100% hatch.. by travis wyman









Malagasy speckled hognose by krystal Kugelman

















2019 female Phrynonax poecilonotus by smoldering serpents


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## loxocemus

CAPTIVE HATCHED baby African File Snakes outback reptiles

















ridley on the run. mw ophidians









Boiga melanota mw ophidians









Boiga cyanea by mw ophidians









CB20 Orthriophis taeniurus ridleyi mw ophidians









Atheris ceratophora mw ophidians









Anterasia perthensis mw ophidians









Boiga drapeizii mw ophidians









Sibon nebulatus mw ophidians


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## loxocemus

adult female trimorphodon biscutatus by andres vel









oxyrhopus fitzingeri by stan grumbeck









Some variation in color in Oxyrhopus fitzingeri by stan grumbeck

























Hatchling Paraguayan Yellow Bellied Swamp snake by spitfire reptiles


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## loxocemus

an exceptional off topic picture. a black bear cub sleeps while its mother searches for food, a juvenile bald eagle looks on, a bit confused.

(click on the pic)


rgds
ed


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## loxocemus

Chironius carinatus by cheyenne filz (The MacheteSavane (_Chironius carinatus_), is a very large, but slender colubrid snake - adults may grow to 3m (9.8 ft). Although nonvenomous, this snake is well known for its aggressive behaviour. It is found only in: the Guianas, northern Brazil to Costa Rica, eastern Venezuela, and Trinidad and Tobago. In the wild it feeds on frogs, mice, and birds. Adults can range in colour from brown to deep yellow or gold, with the tail being generally darker than the body. The belly is often a bright shade of yellow or orange.)









Gonyosoma hainanensis









A new species of the genus _Gonyosoma_ Wagler, 1828 is described herein based on six specimens from the Diaoluoshan Mountains, Hainan Island, Hainan Province, China. The new species, _Gonyosoma hainanense_ *sp. nov.*, is most similar to its continental sister species, _Gonyosoma boulengeri_ (Mocquard, 1897). Both taxa have a scaled protrusion on the anterior portion of the rostrum, distinct from other congeners. However, _Gonyosoma hainanense_ *sp. nov.* can be distinguished from _G_. _boulengeri_ by two significant morphological characters: (1) black orbital stripe absent in adults (vs. present in _G_. _boulengeri_); and (2) two loreals (vs. one loreal in _G. boulengeri_). The new species is also genetically divergent and forms a unique clade from its sister species and all other congeners based on sequences of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome _b_ (cyt _b_).









Albino Leptodeira ashmeadi









(often described as a subsp of annulata) Other common names: Mapepire, mapepire valsyn, annulated night snake, banded night snake, false mapepire, cat eyed night snake, chunkhead, garden snake, night snake.
Size: 1065 mm SVL, 435 mm tail; but most specimens are less than 500 mm in total length. The only Trinidad and Tobago snake with 19 (or 21) rows of smooth scales that are reduced to 15 rows near the vent, vertebral row slightly enlarged; a vertical pupil; a tan or brown dorsum with black blotches (may number 36–38) along the back that may fuse to form a stripe, or multiple stripes along the vertebral line. Rostral visible from above; nasal divided; loreal single; one or two preoculars; one or two postoculars; seven to eight upper labials; 8−10 lower labials; ventrals 177−180; cloacal plate divided; 76−90 paired subcaudals. A habitat generalist, using forests, savanna, agricultural areas, and urban gardens. Nocturnal. Diet: Often found in the vicinity of frog choruses, where it will prey on adult frogs, frog eggs, and larvae. Females have been reported to lay 3−11 eggs in arboreal situations such as cavities in bamboo stems and termitaria, as well as terrestrial sites such as leaf cutter ant nests; females have been found carrying eggs in July. Like many rear fanged snakes this species has been reported to cause mild cases of envenomation in humans.


















1.1 Leptodeira ashmeadii (male albino) - Venezuela by mauricio alejandro suarez ron


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## loxocemus

Gonyosoma (Rhadinophis) prasinum by colubralab









Gabino F2 babies Gabino x Gabino by chris nguyen
Ultimate Exotics | The Gabino By David Viaene









a young calabaria enjoying its branches. now, everything you observe in captivity cannot be extrapolated as natural behaviour (the posts tagged with royals, "and people say they don't climb", are a classic example of ignorance mixed with an equal measure of inexperience and stupidity)









tagged calabaria spent more than 80% of their time below ground, the rest was avoiding burrow floods from heavy rain (when they have been observed taking refuge in branches) and the rest searching for mates or new burrow systems to raid/inhabit. so is this behaviour natural or an artefact of captivity

its the latter, when you put an animal in a box with a localised heat focal point you are inducing artificial behaviours by default.









twins easterns emerging (from a wildcaught female) by leo spinner









Spalerosophis atriceps mating (melanistic female) by wiktor jugo









Pink Speckled rattlesnake blending in next to a couple of rocks of feldspar by leo spinner









rare pic of a cribo consuming a cribo by jerry pita









Elaphe carinata yonaguniensis by scott prior (i believe wildcaught are now restricted)









8 eggs, 7 babies and 1 dead in the egg (spilotes) by dylan hognose


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## loxocemus

Hypo Elaphe carinata 1.0 CB21 by adam waz









Thamnophis cyrtopsis ocellatus by julien musial









2021 hold back male Striped San Diego het Applegate Albino. by eric westmorland









handful of honduran by chad gordon









Hierophis caspius by suren smbatian









ATB adult time by david manke Sr (atb's will regularly ground themselves)









T+ Nelsons by shawn wright









2016 ed marino etb's owned by HK Constrictors, LLC









Rhadinea flavilata Pine Woods snake found by a creek with another adult, florida by james brown


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## loxocemus

Rhadinea flavilata









Rhadinaea decorata from costa rica
Histological examination of gonadal material from museum specimens presented new insight on the reproductive cycle of adorned graceful brown snake, Rhadinea decorata (R. decorata) or Colubridae, from Costa Rica. Twenty two specimens of R. decorata were examined from the herpetology collection of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (LACM), USA. The left testis and vas deferns and left ovary from females were removed for histological examination and tissues were embedded in paraffin, sectioned at 5 μm and stained with hematoxylin followed by eosin counterstain. The preceding observations on the reproductive cycle of males and females revealed that R. decorata has a prolonged reproductive cycle, in which both sexes were in reproductive condition through most of the year. The timing of this reproductive cycle was similar to those of other colubrid snakes from north temperate areas of North America and fits into the 'aestival spermatogenesis'. 









A new species of forest snake of the genus _Rhadinaea_ from Tropical Montane Rainforest in the Sierra Madre del Sur of Oaxaca, Mexico _Rhadinaea eduardoi_

A new species of forest snake of the genus Rhadinaea from Tropical Montane Rainforest in the Sierra Madre del Sur of Oaxaca, Mexico (Squamata, Dipsadidae) (pensoft.net)

Head and anterior portion of body of holotype of _Rhadinaea eduardoi_









off topic, over the years I've bred and fed hundreds of live mice and thousands of frozen rats, but i have never, ever, fed a live rat. this stems from keeping rats as pets and seeing their intelligence and emotions towards each other and me, if i was offered a dream snake that only ate live rats I'd have to turn it down, live mice? gimme gimme. its the ultimate hypocrisy that I'm at peace with.

*i generally avoided live as much as possible, especially pinks/fuzzies that larger animals would eat alive without constriction (they instinctively know they present no danger), this stems from an incident many many (many) years ago, i had a large male albino blk rat and some spare hamster pinks/chubs, so you know, he was glass staring for attention, so i handed him a hamster chub (fat pink) and he took it with virtually no movement or excitement from my fingers. i remember him swallowing it and i saw its little legs struggle under the snakes throat/neck skin and i was horrified, the blk rat was in heaven but it scarred me that moment, and i still remember it a lifetime later.


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## loxocemus

speckled king by armando palacios, these are typically from harris county, neil little should produce some this year...









the prairie kings rarer cousin, Lampropeltis rhombomaculata, Amherst County by ruben skjellerup meng









Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum, Amherst County by ruben skjellerup meng, can often be slow starters










Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum, Barnstable County by ruben skjellerup meng









neonate Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum, Dekalb County by ruben skjellerup meng









whitesided speckled king by randi preston









their prettier as babies than the tan adults, they should always have dark/blue eyes, lavender dot dash jeremiah Lloyd









Oreocryptophis porphyraceus by erik stafford patro (i think coxi)









flame garter morph by brett dunn









California Mountain Kingsnake tim spuckler


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## loxocemus

Santa Cruz Garter Snakes hanging out by tim spuckler (2.1 you can see the obvious sexual dimorphism)









mbk by david curl these used to be £50 snakes, then breeders and shops jacked up the prices by 500%, your crazy if you pay £250 for a 2021/22 mbk









an old corn morph aztec corn by tim spuckler









Pituophis Melanoleucus Melanoleucus by reanna zentner I've kept northerns inc albinos and i found them very nice snakes to keep, very reactive, not slobs, you can keep them in pairs but like most other species their best kept alone. because of their adult size (and tendency to sidewind) id recommend 5ft x 30" x 24" cages.









a nice clean well light cage with a high white northern is an impressive sight. don't use paper they like to burrow, aspen is ideal.









female pied black pine by len mastaler










Male snow pine yearling by len mastaler










male roughscale by stampede reptiles (famous for their scales and teeth, their not as reliable breeders as carpets)










striped cape gopher by stampede reptiles (virtually never seen here)










freshly shed pied black pine by stampede reptiles


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## loxocemus

albino cape gopher by stampede reptiles









Pied black x Blizzard Southern by stampede reptiles









pink female mugitis by stampede reptiles









albino - snow Florida pine clutch by stampede reptiles









After 70 days our albino-snow clutch of Southern Pines are starting to emerge by stampede reptiles









female lodingi by stampede reptiles closeup










Cup of Cape by stampede reptiles









white leucistic female Florida pine by stampede reptiles









I've always wanted to try these, they can have very long lifespans, they do best with no hotspot at ambient snakeroom temp, their simple to keep, the males are much smaller and tend not to eat much, a leucistic charina was born last year, a new pic of it will follow somewhere below. female charina bottae by stampede reptiles










pink southern by stampede reptiles


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## loxocemus

female charina bottae by stampede reptiles









charina breeding by stampede reptiles









Albino x Leucistic Southern Pines by stampede reptiles









Vernon BC locale Rubber Boa right after her first shed since waking from her winter nap by stampede reptiles (brumation is almost obligatory with these, even neonates can be cooled to get a better spring feeding response)









snow pine by stampede reptiles









pink and white albino southern by stampede reptiles









female lodingi by stampede reptiles









roughscale python, once unattainable now obtainable at the right price









Striped Cape, het albino by stampede reptiles









Baby rubbers from 2020 by stampede reptiles


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## loxocemus

A spectacular patternless “blue” Florida pine produced by Jennifer Joseph in fresh skin









pied black pine by stampede reptiles









female Kentucky northern pine snake by stampede reptiles









roughscale by stampede reptiles









snow pine by stampede reptiles









silver Madagascan cateye by stampede reptiles, being cb more and more, inc gold and silver phases, try global geckos if your interested in them.









leucistic southern by stampede reptile









intense roughie stare by stampede reptile









rubber by stampede reptile


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## loxocemus

probably the only leucistic charina in the world, i don't know if stampede produced it, or acquired it. leucistic charina by stampede reptiles (the finger twist curl is common charina neonate behaviour)


















gavin murray used to breed high red northern pines high red northern by stampede reptiles

















Mugitas x Pied Lodingi aka cocoa pine by stampede reptiles









neonate charina by stampede reptiles









albino and snow florida pines by stampede reptiles









A very gravid Rubber Boa by stampede reptiles









gold Madagascan cateye by stampede reptiles


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## loxocemus

Malagasy Cat Eyed Snake by stampede reptiles









Pied Lodingi by stampede reptiles









neonate pied lodingi by stampede reptile









pyro het applegate by stampede reptiles









ventral Pied Lodingi by stampede reptiles
*







*

headshot Mugitas x Pied Lodingi aka cocoa pine by stampede reptiles









Yellow phase female Malagasy Cat Eyed snake by stampede reptiles

















475 gram Female Silver phase Malagasy Cat Eyed Snake. by stampede reptiles









neonate pied lodingi by stampede reptile


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## loxocemus

off topic but just fascinating
Shinisaurus born during hibernation?! @Terrarium Channel - YouTube


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## loxocemus

Light coloured eastern by mike eastern




  








Light coloured eastern by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








bask by mike eastern (i wish i had a temp gun when i kept garters, they were always warm when i picked them up)




  








bask by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








Shuett vs het Schuett by mike eastern




  








Shuett vs het Schuett by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








a wild variation, very likely genetic, of the valley garter





  








valley garter.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








eastern flame by mike eastern




  








eastern flame by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








"They find it entertaining to watch when I'm working in the snake room" by mike eastern




  








They find it entertaining to watch when I'm working in the snake room by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








yum by mike eastern




  








yum by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








eastern low expression ery flame by mike eastern




  








eastern low expression ery flame 2 by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








1 month old flame being admired by some Tetrataenia by mike eastern




  








1 month old flame being admired by some Tetrataenia by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








T+ albino Sirtalis Sirtalis by mike eastern




  








T+ albino Sirtalis Sirtalis by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago


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## loxocemus

Thamnophis Sirtalis Tetrataenia by mike eastern




  








Thamnophis Sirtalis Tetrataenia 4 by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago












  








Thamnophis Sirtalis Tetrataenia 3 by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago












  








Thamnophis Sirtalis Tetrataenia by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








eastern low expression ery flame by mike eastern




  








eastern low expression ery flame by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








intense flame by mike eastern




  








intense flame by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








nosey melanistics by mike eastern




  








nosey mels by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








handful by mike eastern




  








handful by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








Erythristic eastern by mike eastern




  








Erythristic eastern by mike eastern.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








Fresh out of shed with a belly full of frogs. 🥰 Dragon Snake (Xenodermus javanicus) chilling after chowing down by scarlet rose nightshade




  








Fresh out of shed with a belly full of frogs. 🥰 Dragon Snake (Xenodermus javanicus) chilling a...jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago








lystrophis (i like the idea of keeping these due to their short lifespans, its debated as to the cause, of course the captive rodent diet would be the most likely culprit, or they could just be naturally short lived, their quite productive as well which can be taxing.)




  








lystrophis by bill william.jpg




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loxocemus


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11 mo ago


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## loxocemus

given the increasing availability and captive breeding of file snakes, mehelya now Gonionotophis specifically the commonly imported crossi but also covering capensis which are much, much harder to source now (and more expensive), i thought I'd do a little basic captive care.

iv included my notes on my capensis but their kind of disjointed and have not aged well out of context.

*Stuff and thoughts and maybe even a fact or two*

so files are south african also inc Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Transvaal, Central African Republic, Namibia, Caprivi Strip, Republic of South Africa, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Cameroon, their preferred habitat is dense forest but will travel savannahs too, on the hunt for cobras and puff adders as well as any non venomous they can overcome etc, they have venom immunity, but its unknown how many species it covers, evolutionary speaking it makes sense their immune to every venomous species they prey on in their given habitats, ie a tanzania animal will very like have a different immunity to a cameroon animal even when feeding on the same prey species, as the prey species venom also varies by area too. their diet also includes rodents and frogs and likely more, especially as neonates.

capensis









crossi










files are famous for their scalation, when you hold one their like a very keeled pituophis, like a lot of snake eaters their bodies are triangular in cross section, very "spinal" like kraits, its an interesting parallel evolutionary adaptation. they also have a lot of bare thin skin in-between their scales (obviously i have theories on both)

head study crossi, often called poensis on import












------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
crossi are often called poensis on import, this is poensis, notice the head, the animal above is crossi











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this is nyassae













poensis and especially nyassae are generally smaller and can be more problematic in rgds to feeding.

anyway onto crossi/capensis, a large file can be 6ft, especially females, they are sexually dimorphic but i didn't notice it much till they passed 18mth'ish. average size is 4ft, they are endearingly benign in behaviour, they never bite and would rather musk and run, their musk will fill the room, and not in a good way.

neonates will musk but quickly grow out of it unless you give them a sudden fright. in the wild they spend their days in termite mounds ground holes ideally space that retain decent humidity. so, my theory no.1, the thin skin will allow dehydration in captive animals if an ambient humidity of @70%+ is not maintained, this interstitial skin is a two way barrier, it allows the animal to stay hydrated given their preference for moist area's, do not treat them as a low humidity, aspen, dry room species, they will likely fail.

files are most active at dusk especially after a rain, now keep that image in mind, because that is captive file care. files have small eyes, though id say their vision is decent but not on a diurnal species level. their very light shy, bright light = exposure, exposure means danger of predation.

capensis are easy to identify via the spinal white stripe, its snow white and really is a lovely touch










i used large polypropylene tubs to house my files, keep them singly, a hungry file is a very dangerous partner, their smarter than cali's, but no less dangerous. i live in scotland, when its not raining its raining so our ambient humidity is very rarely low (this is the reason when i kept rosy boas they only got a water source one day a week, rosys may experience temporary mist and elevated humidity but its not a constant), where was i, oh yes humidity, a good medium for files is the tried and tested coir blocks (dont bother with those new coco chip blocks, they dry out very quickly and are an ingestion risk, plus their overpriced), get ur coir from a gardening source, not a repackaged reptile one with hiked up prices.

o a layer of about 2" of *moist* coir substrate, (or a nice organic soil), just like with xenopeltis keep a constant eye on this substrate, mix it up and respray with lukewarm water regularly, that thin skin and ur substrate care is an important connection, and key to good hydration, sphagnum moss is also a very very useful addition. cork bark is the ideal hide material as it can retain water (or clay pigeon nest bowls), they will emerge as night and sit on the bark, so its an ideal place to leave their meal before "lights out", they will also snatch mice from tongs, sometimes with impressive violence. diet, crossi and capensis both do great on a diet of mice, you can add some adult mouse sized quail, but only big females can handle chicks fat butts., the only difficulty i found was with the neonates i hatched, they point blank refused plain pinks, their about cali king neonate size, so not little fragile things like neo rhino rats. i tried pinks with housesnake skin stuck on them, i was sure they'd snatch them up, but nope, eventually i tried tuna scenting (brine not oil) and what do you know, i had me some tuna killing cape files, makes sense, not. (i have a theory on this, tuna stinks so bad i think it trips the feed switch when combined with hunger). gradually reducing the scent very quickly led to plain pink feeding babies.

temperature, files are not high temp baskers, temps above 30oc can cause distress and food regurgitation, the ideal temp is 28oc/82of, i provided this via a heatmat that they rarely completely left, just like xeno's they would rest around the mat edges (if under cover) to cool off, the floor of their housing should be a network of cork flats/curves rather than the classic hot end/cold end hides. when they go into deep shed they can be quite surreal looking (as do xeno's, xeno's and files share many similarities). feeding, to be honest nothing special, follow a corn like regime, except nocturnally, i often sprayed the tubs at feeding time.

files are not particularly fast growing, a corn would outpace them, but a 3yr old should be considered adult. breeding, in SA its standard practice to cool their nights to 18oc for a couple of months, they will continue to feed just smaller meals every fortnight or so, then warmed up and classic colubrid introductions (DO NOT brumate them). i didn't do any of that, i made sure they both had a full stomach, the female had just shed and i put the male in with the female her skin and a nice light spray, she was irresistible. a couple months later i found 5 nice eggs (this female went on to double clutch, i believe their capable of triple clutching like housesnakes but it would not be the norm), fat corn sized, i incubated at 81-82of, iv forgot the incubation length it was 81days+ though according to my earlier notes, as soon as one pipped i cut the remaining 4 ("mother nature" wasn't drowning anything on my watch), i think i got the ideal 2.3. some breeders have hatch length of 60 days (like a subtropical corn) and straight onto plain pinks, again others have had longer incubations (likely due to eggs not reaching 30oc/86of) and very difficult feeders. crossi if anything is easier than capensis in all respects.

if i was to keep them again id use drawer caging, the single drawer version not the twin (Cage mods) , soil/coir mix with sphagnum moss in the drawer, lots of cork above and below, heatmat below the drawer at 82of, the upper cage heated to 82of via reptile radiator (or similar), cork branches in the upper cage. some type of low light, likely dimmable leds. i don't know if I've already said but files should not be without water for long, and the first thing u should do upon purchasing/delivery is offer them a drink.

i think that's about it, files are the ideal captive and will soon become more popular due to their lovely nature

rgds
ed


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## loxocemus

ridleyi smile by adam roth









neonate bismark, if only they retained this intensity (a t- albino would blow ur goddamn mind, its just a matter of time)









solid 6' of Neotropical bird eating snake, only males have scale texture by adam roth









Leopard rat by adam roth









blonde transpecos by adam roth









Senticolis triaspis intermedia by adam roth









baby blk pine by adam roth









California Lyresnake by adam roth


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## loxocemus

oh i miss them so much 2 year old Eastern Indigo by adam roth









Texas Longnose by leo spinner, i used to have a trio of these 1.1 adult and 0.1 juvenile, I'm pretty sure i got them from gavin murray, one of the old timer greats, along with dave lester, geoff clarke ray hine and jerry cole.









This friendly little fella came crawling out of a Painted Desert Glossy snake!by leo spinner 🤮 









Neonatal Northern Copperheads (demonstrating the tail lure technique) by adam roth









Blaze goini by jen archer









hyperE hypo (female) by archers alleles









Jelly Florida Kings. Jelly is the phenotypic expession of both Peanut Butter and T- albino alleles at the same time. by archers alleles









Mosaic (male) by archers alleles









male ghost (hypo and axanthic) by archers alleles









Eastern Chain King (male) by archers alleles


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## loxocemus

T- Albino (female) brooks-florida by archers alleles

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Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content










Axanthic Jelly by archers alleles









hypo mosaic brooks-florida by archers alleles









New England axanthic brooks by archers alleles









Anerytheristic and Lavender (Snow) het T- brooks by archers alleles









Lavender brooks by archers alleles









Striped Whipsnake (Masticophis taeniatus) by connor wardle









Big bend patchnosed snake (Salvadora hexalepis deserticola) by connor wardle i got offered these once and i turned them down, it was a different time kids, variety was everywhere 









Sonoran Whipsnake by steve tippett









Freshly shed yellow ratsnake by connor wardle


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## loxocemus

Western rat snake, "Pantherophis obsoletus found by my friend in Shawnee co. 9-24-21" shane adamson









1.1 Palo Pinto Tx western coachwhips shane adamson









Shovel nose shane adamson









2021 1.0 cb scarlet king (Lampropeltis elapsoides) connor wardle I've been bitten by one of these lol it was a tiny bite with surprising pressure










Xmas mtn New Mexican milk connor wardle










captive bred Broad-banded Water Snake tim spuckler










Highland sri lankan pitviper chris o dowd










Knoblochi lock chad gordon










Hi white albino cali by chad gordon










black milk by chad gordon (it's not unusual for gaigae to exceed 7ft)


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## loxocemus

tangerine albino by chad gordon 









Zonata Agalma male by chad gordon









2020 reduced black Santa Rita pyro by chad gordon









Andean Milk by chad gordon, I've always wanted to try these

















Sinaloan Cobra by chad gordon










beautiful cali chad gordon, dont overlook cali's, there's lots of combo's, neil little has a goldmine of cali genes, look him up on facebook. cali's are the ideal captive











reduced black Santa Rita pyro by chad gordon










stunning sinaloan by chad gordon










Andean Milk by chad gordon, calmer than hondurans


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## loxocemus

Santa Rita red head by chad gordon









if you love red you need a sinaloan, the babies are hilarious, sinaloan chad gordon









white-sided black rats by smoldering serpents,









5 year old Baron's racer by smoldering serpents, iv had a few of these but my favourite was the female i kept till she was 3or4 i think, just great display snakes, just be aware their back fanged, there's also a brown form and a stupidly overpriced blue form.









Normal and hypo Baird's brothers by smoldering serpents









Kunashir Island Japanese rat by smoldering serpents









younger pair of Phrynonax poecilonotus by smoldering serpents


















Russian rat by smoldering serpents


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## loxocemus

stunning extreme hypo by smoldering serpents









Kunishir island Japanese rat snake by smoldering serpents









Aesculapian snake(Zamensis longissimus) by smoldering serpents









1.0 hypo Everglades by smoldering serpents if orange is ur thing everglades are the go to animal, their great semi arboreal rats


















dark beauty by smoldering serpents, mbk's can be the poor man's indigo, but they are great captives in their own right









Bairds by smoldering serpents









blizzard cali...... by Armando Palacios oh that face, so so beautiful 









ovulation from regius male by หนูเหยื่อ ภูเก็ต


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## LiasisUK

loxocemus said:


> ovulation from regius male by หนูเหยื่อ ภูเก็ต


 funny looking regius


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## loxocemus

from a hybrid attempt with a regius male, they'll be super!!.....balls

forbidden love 

rgds
ed
ps that's why she has that slightly ashamed look




LiasisUK said:


> funny looking regius





LiasisUK said:


> funny looking regius


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## LiasisUK

Ohhhh OK I understand. 

Yes superballs. Have you seen the angry super balls? They were Angolan x royal which was then crossed with a blood. Absolute abomination


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## loxocemus

abomination or genetic wonder! (fraser would call them much worse)

the timor x retic is stupid beautiful, but an abomination to most.

hybrids, the ultimate Pandora's Box, it can't be closed, once their out there, their out there.

rgds
ed



LiasisUK said:


> Ohhhh OK I understand.
> 
> Yes superballs. Have you seen the angry super balls? They were Angolan x royal which was then crossed with a blood. Absolute abomination


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## LiasisUK

I remember seeing a macklots x carpet at one of the last kempton shows. It was the colour of vomit


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## loxocemus

Black-tailed cribo preying on young boa

















i believe this to be a Ring-tailed vontsira preying on an adult eastern sanzinia










"Every shed this concinnus loses some red pigmentation that’s replaced with blue or black" by brian fantana









grabowski often imported as sumatran (cave) ratsnake, (being imported quite commonly across the major herping countries it seems, captive breeding becoming more common. )









mex mex by greg kennon









kentucky female by madison arvin









Lemonghost Toffee Anaconda, aka Paint Maker Anaconda by pembshogs-facebook









T+albino splotch in shed by c j gafaqusalf










blaze eggs 后藤 bejing china


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## loxocemus

abb ext hypo by eric sorrells









hello 萧萧









Aplopletura, ivory exotics evolution is a wonderful artist 

















Striped MSP X Jaguar line leonis by canaan alexander









Knoblochi kingsnake by canaan alexander









Hypo Pueblan by canaan alexander









A trio of abberant patterned leonis by canaan alexander









ghost greyband by canaan alexander









diamond head study


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## loxocemus

atriceps adam gee

























75%gtp Biak x Aru-IJCP by jalu tigatujuh









splotched Sinaloan possible het albino by shawn wright









splotched Sinaloan by shawn wright









Bullseye Sinaloan by shawn wright









"variable ground snake that Ivory Exotics sent a shed in, and from our genetic test we found out is a girl!" (US herpers have access to genetic testing via Rare Genetics, Inc. to sex difficult species or if your just not good with probes, of course this service has been available to the aviary hobby for years. an albino anole was created using the crispr-cas9 editor (Researchers Create Albino Lizards Using CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing | Sci-News.com ), it makes you wonder what the hobby of the future will look like from a technological point of view.)








(ivory exotics has a special talent for the oddball stuff)


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## loxocemus

*Physics of snakeskin sheds light on sidewinding*
by Emory University

_The sidewinder rattlesnake (Crotalus cerastes) is found in the deserts of the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Credit: Wolfgang Wuster_









Most snakes get from A to B by bending their bodies into S-shapes and slithering forward headfirst. A few species, however—found in the deserts of North America, Africa and the Middle East—have an odder way of getting around. Known as "sidewinders," these snakes lead with their mid-sections instead of their heads, slinking sideways across loose sand.

Scientists took a microscopic look at the skin of sidewinders to see if it plays a role in their unique method of movement. They discovered that sidewinders' bellies are studded with tiny pits and have few, if any, of the tiny spikes found on the bellies of other snakes.

The _Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences_ published the discovery, which includes a mathematical model linking these distinct structures to function.

"The specialized locomotion of sidewinders evolved independently in different species in different parts of the world, suggesting that sidewinding is a good solution to a problem," says Jennifer Rieser, assistant professor of physics at Emory University and a first author of the study. "Understanding how and why this example of convergent evolution works may allow us to adapt it for our own needs, such as building robots that can move in challenging environments."

Co-authors of the paper include Joseph Mendelson, a herpetologist and the director of research at Zoo Atlanta; evolutionary biologist Jessica Tingle (University of California, Riverside); and physicists Daniel Goldman (Georgia Tech) and co-first author Tai-De Li (City University of New York).

Rieser's research interests bring together the physics of soft matter—flowable materials like sand—and organismal biology. She studies how animals' surfaces interact with the flowable materials in their environments to get around. Insights from her research may lead to improvements in human technology.

Snakes, and other limbless locomotors, are particularly interesting to Rieser. "Even though snakes have a relatively simple body plan, they are able to navigate a variety of habitats successfully," she says. Their long, flexible bodies are inspiring work on "snake" robots for everything from surgical procedures to search-and-rescue missions in collapsed buildings, she adds.

In a previous paper, Rieser and colleagues found that designing robots to move in serpentine ways may help them to avoid catastrophe when they collide with objects in their path.



_The Mexican lance-headed rattlesnake (Crotalus polystictus) moves by slithering forward. A micrograph from the study, above, of the skin of its belly reveals spikes that are normally invisible to the eye. The micrograph image shows a surface 20 microns wide, or about a third of the width of a human hair. Credit: Tai-De Li_









Sidewinders offered her a chance to dig further into how nature has evolved ways to move across loose sand and other soft matter.


Most snakes tend to keep their bellies largely in contact with the ground as they slide forward, bending their bodies from their heads to their tails. A sidewinder, however, lifts its midsection off the ground, shifting it in a sideways direction.

Previous studies have hypothesized that sidewinding may allow a snake to move better on sandy slopes. "The thought is that sidewinders spread out the forces that their bodies impart to the ground as they move so that they don't cause a sand dune to avalanche as they move across it," Rieser explains.

For the current paper, Rieser and her colleagues investigated whether sidewinders' skin might also play a role in their unique movement style.

They focused on three species of sidewinders, all of them vipers, in residence at zoos: The sidewinder rattlesnake (Crotalus cerastes), found in the deserts of the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico; and the Saharan horned viper (Cerastes cerastes) and the Saharan sand viper (Cerastes vipera), both from the deserts of north Africa.

Skins shed from the sidewinders were collected and scanned with atomic force microscopy, a technique that provides resolution at the atomic level, on the order of fractions of a nanometer. For comparison, they also scanned snake skins shed from non-sidewinders.

As expected, the microscopy revealed tiny, head-to-tail pointing spikes on the skin of the non-sidewinders. Previous research had identified these micro spikes on a variety of other slithering snakes.

The current study, however, found that the skin of sidewinders is different. The two African sidewinders had micro pits on their bellies and no spikes. The skin of the sidewinder rattlesnake was also studded with tiny pits, along with a few, much smaller, spikes—although far fewer spikes than those of the slithering snakes.


_A micrograph of the skin of the Saharan sand viper (Cerastes vipera), a sidewinder, reveals that its belly is studded with pits instead of spikes. Image shows a surface about 20 microns wide. Credit: Tai-De Li







_

The researchers created a mathematical model to test how these different structures affect frictional interactions with a surface. The model showed that head-to-tail pointing spikes enhance the speed and distance of forward undulation but are detrimental to sidewinding.

"You can think about it like the ridges on corduroy material," Rieser says. "When you run your fingers along corduroy in the same direction as the ridges there is less friction than when you slide your fingers across the ridges."

The model also showed that the uniform, non-directional structure of the round pits enhanced sidewinding, but was not as efficient as spikes for forward undulation.

The research provides snapshots at different points in time of convergent evolution—when different species independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments.

Rieser notes that American sandy deserts are much younger than those in Africa. The Mojave of North America accumulated sand about 20,000 years ago while sandy conditions appeared in the Sahara region at least seven million years ago.

"That may explain why the sidewinder rattlesnake still has a few micro spikes left on its belly," she says. "It has not had as much time to evolve specialized locomotion for a sandy environment as the two African species, that have already lost all of their spikes."

Engineers may also want to adapt their robot designs accordingly, Rieser adds. "Depending on what type of surface you need a robot to move on," she says, "you may want to consider designing its surface to have a particular texture to enhance its movement."


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## loxocemus

Papuan









Papuan feeding on juvenile retic









Papuan hatched 2014, a rare event even now









Red milk snake sam balboa









red milk hypo sam balboa









Black house snake night color change, sam balboa









Male spotted house snake sam balboa










Spotted Rock Snake sam balboa









leonis sam balboa


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## loxocemus

Edisto Island SC — mosaic Eastern kingsnake by kru ger









goini feed by Aaron crawford









Hallowell's Housesnake Boaedon virgatus by royal house snakes






















































Boaedon mentalis by royal house snakes









Red kenya albino by royal house snakes


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## loxocemus

Lamprophis aurora by royal house snakes 




































Female Zambian green house snake by royal house snakes









Crossi file snakes by royal house snakes



















__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content










Perfectly aligned by royal house snakes









Het albino x het red kenya albino by royal housesnakes


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## loxocemus

Boaedon fuliginosus Zambian green by royal housesnakes 









Boaedon sp. Mount Kilimanjaro dwarf by royal housesnakes









Red Kenya male by royal house snakes









Boaedon mentalis by royal housesnakes



















Boaedon fuliginosus red Kenya by royal housesnakes



























Male Lycophidion semicinctum by royal house snakes









Boaedon fuliginosus Zambian green fired up night, by royal housesnakes


----------



## loxocemus

Boaedon fuliginosus Zambian green, by royal housesnakes









T+ albino male by royal housesnakes









Hobby olive by royal house snakes









Boaedon fuliginosus Zambian green by royal housesnakes









Boaedon fuliginosus black Togo by royal housesnakes









Boaedon lineatus by royal housesnakes









Amealco Mx Ruthveni female by clint spaar


















Durango by clint spaar (rarely bred these days)


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## loxocemus

pyro by clint spaar




































zebra line pyro by clint spaar


























(if pyro's go on a fast live fuzzies are a good way to break it)









Female Trumbower Knoblochi by clint spaar


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## loxocemus

Black Gap Alterna breeding april by clint spaar









(perfect) alterna phase


----------



## loxocemus

aurora feed by Royal House Snakes (getting aurora's onto pinks can often require lizard scenting)









sinloan by Tim Spuckler of third eye reptiles (this type with a ruddy nose is often called cosala and is very sought after)









juvenile pied blk pine Jay Jacoby (pied hatch chocolate before turning black)









Boiga Melanota 2021 by Aaron Solano









Sulawesi Black Mangrove Snakes by Aaron Solano









Axanthic Mangrove Snake by Aaron Solano









Sulawesi Black Mangrove Snake by Aaron Solano









2020 CB Sulawesi Black Mangrove Snake by Aaron Solano









1.0 Boiga Divergens by Aaron Solano









Boiga Divergens by Aaron Solano


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## loxocemus

Boiga Cyanea by Aaron Solano









Yunnan king Rat Snake neonate by Aaron Solano









Boiga Cyanea by Aaron Solano


















Boiga Divergens luzon mangrove by Aaron Solano (the must have in the mangrove hobby, avoid wc if its ur first mangrove)









Boiga cynodon by Aaron Solano









yellowtail cribo by Aaron Solano (be sure you have the cage space for these)


















adult male baroni by axel marrec (i lost a neonate male due to an enlarged heart, it swelled to the size of a small pea and could be seen obviously beating, it passed away a few weeks later)









8 pretty Elaphe moellendorffi by axel marrec


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## loxocemus

Vietnamese Euprepiophis mandarinus by axel marrec (low temps and privacy are important to mandarins)









eye spy (king R) by axel marrec









situla by axel marrec (can sometimes be stubborn, do best if cooled every year)









situla bubbles by axel marrec (there is a naturally occurring striped form)









Euprepiophis conspicillatus Honshu province by axel marrec









Italian Aesculapian snake (Zamenis "lineatus") neo's by axel marrec (Aesculapian's are the perfect captive, beautiful calm undemanding, there are 3 small uk populations i believe, all traced back to zoo escapes decades ago, there are several albino lines in europe, rare at the moment, all traced back to wc founders)


----------



## loxocemus

Adult Male Euprepiophis conspicillatus Honshu Province by axel marrec









"After 52 days of incubation, the small Zamenis longissimus arrive" by axel marrec









Zamenis persicus melanistic by axel marrec (there is a pied form, very like the blk pine pied in appearance, its rarely seen these days, geoff clarke may still breed them)









Elaphe moellendorffi 7yr old 1st clutch (neonates almost always hatch from the polar ends of the eggs where the shell is easier to cut) by axel marrec









they are usually very well behaved but can sometimes snap at you, they can grow very large approaching 8ft sometimes, a low ambient, long cage is ideal.









situla - lineatus - hohenackeri by axel marrec (hohenackeri being the most rarely kept, usually by euro rat lovers)









Zamenis hohenackeri hohenackeri by axel marrec


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## loxocemus

all kukri's by Vivek Sharma

Tillack's Kukri Snake (Oligodon tillacki). the latest addition to Indian Snake fauna. Notice broad bands on body (broadest on anterior body), an important character to recognize it.
It is mainly distributed in Maharashtra but also found up to regions of Gujarat, western MP and may be south Rajasthan.









Russell's Kukri/Northern Kukri ( Oligodon russelius) from central India. This form is restricted to central and western India from western Chattisgarh to central-eastern Maharashtra, most of the Gujarat and most of the Rajasthan









Russell's Kukri/Northern Kukri ( Oligodon russelius) from West Bengal. This form is most widely distributed from east India to all states around Ganga, north India and Pakistan. Notice thinnest bands in this population.









Russell's Kukri/Northern Kukri ( Oligodon russelius) specimen showing faint striped along the body. That's an additional character to recognize this species.









Common Kukri/Banded Kukri (Oligodon arnensis) from Kerala. It is now restricted to south India, starting from north Karnataka and Telangana to southern limits up to Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. Notice lowest number of bands.









"I am glad to be part of this study that revised taxonomy of widely distributed Common Kukri Snake (Oligodon arnensis). These latest conclusions suggest this single species was keeping three species in it and we are glad to make attempts in sorting this issue by describing a new species from Solapur (Maharashtra) for western India and revising Oligodon russelius from Vizag for central, eastern and northern India. In this study we have left healthy scope to revise Oligodon russelius further with the help of molecular tools so that it can be thoroughly examined from different ranges. According to latest study, Common Kukri (Oligodon arnensis) is strictly restricted to South India and Sri Lanka, new species Tillack's Kukri (Oligodon tillacki) is widely distributed in Maharashtra, regions northwards to Maharashtra and some parts of Central India and Oligodon russelius is most widespread, with distribution in East India (including Bangladesh), whole of Central India, North India (including Nepal), North-west India and Pakistan.
Bandara S. K., Ganesh S. R., Kanishka A. S., Danushka A. D., Sharma V. R., Campbell P. D., Ineich I., Vogel G. & Amarasinghe A. A. T. Taxonomic Composition of the Oligodon arnensis (Shaw 1802) Species Complex (Squamata: Colubridae) with the Description of a New Species from India. Herpetologica, 78(1), 2022, 51–73"


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## loxocemus

Miami Sunkissed female hold back _Eric Westmorland

















Albino Japanese Rat Snake ( Elaphe climacophora ) Eric Westmorland









2021 _Scaleless female from the Orange Flow Line_ Eric Westmorland







_

_Pituophis lineaticollis lineaticollis Eric Westmorland_
_









This snake occurs from about central southern Mexico southward to Mexico City and possibly, continuing into Chiapas (Briggs, 2001). Its range of distribution apparently ends in the northwest region where Pituophis d. deppei occurs. The distribution range of the ssp. gibsoni has no known racial overlap. 
The ground color of this snake is a sand color to light brown, or olive brown, too. Sometimes there are white markings in it. On the back of the fore-body there are 2 longitudinal stripes. Another lateral stripe is on each side. In the mid-body region, the 2 stripes of the back nearly separate into single spots that blend together or overlap each other forming saddle-like markings towards the tail. The coloration of these stripes and spots are is black at the fore-body and the tail region, whereas, the mid-body has spots with light centers. Within the body area, where stripes have broken up into spots, the spots partly wash out or blend with the ground color. Towards the tail, the borders of the saddles become black again. The saddle-like markings number between 39 and 45. On the side of the body, there is a row of larger dark spots between the saddles, which begins as a stripe on the neck, gradually breaking up. Every scale in its center is lighter than on its border. This gives the snake a kind of “speckled“ illusion. The belly is whitish and nearly patternless underneath the tail. The scales are keeled. Scale counts of head: 2 Prefrontals. The snout scale is as broad as high (rostral - nasal 1:1). 
In its habitat, it preys mainly on a variety of small or young rodents. 
The highland territory that these snake inhabit, becomes very cold in the winter, so these snakes must hibernate for a few months each year. 
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2022 O.p.pulcher to start us off for the season_ Eric Westmorland







_

Breeding Oreocryptophis porphyraceus Rat Snakes by Chad Brown

With an awesome background color of red or orange, and sometimes both, complete with black, white or yellow stripes or bands, the _Oreocryptophis porphyraceus _group of rat snakes includes some of the most colorful snakes available today. Snake keepers who need something more than just color and pattern to keep them engaged will find that these snakes are a blast to maintain, are an ideal size, and they have a great habit of keeping their keepers on their toes. For the dedicated snake enthusiast, “porphs” are very rewarding snakes.

_O. p. coxi, O. p. laticincta, O. p. vaillanti_ and _O. p. pulchra_. All are smaller rat snakes (our largest females average a little more than 40 inches in length) that are secretive and fossorial in their habits. Most of their time in the wild is spent under mats of mosses and grasses, as well as beneath logs and rocks where they find cool, moist hiding places. These snakes avoid the hot sun, preferring the cooler temperatures of early morning and late afternoon, when they are most active.

*Four Oreocryptophis porphyraceus Beauties*
_Oreocryptophis porphyraceus coxi_, also known as the Thai red mountain rat snake, has been established in captivity the longest. Its natural distribution is northeastern Thailand, mostly in the Loei and Phuluang provinces at elevations between 2,600 and 3,000 feet, where it inhabits the perimeter of moist secondary rain forests. The primary plants in its range are bamboos and tall grasses.

The body color is bright reddish to orange, with two black stripes that run the length of the body. We noticed early on in this breeding project that a few babies hatched with one to three neck bands, and we decided to try producing highly banded coxi through line breeding. Now, several years later, we have some with ten bands. Working with these banded snakes, we’re hoping to eventually produce fully striped and banded coxi.

Another type of hatchling showed up early on, as well. We call it the “vanishing patterned” coxi, in which the body-length stripes are very thin or even absent in the upper third of the snake’s body. The stripes on these coxi almost entirely disappear as the snakes age. We have succeeded in producing snakes that lack the stripes in the upper half of the body and on which the stripes on the lower half are much lighter in color. We now hope to produce coxi that are entirely red with no evidence of stripes at all.

We’re also working on exaggerating the stripes, and have produced snakes with two very thick, bold stripes that we hope to one day merge into one large, thick stripe down the spine of the snake. Over the past two years breeding the “one stripe” line, we have produced snakes in which 50 percent of the background red color between the stripes was replaced with black.

_Oreocryptophis porphyraceus vaillanti_, or the Chinese bamboo rat snake, was the second subspecies to be established in captivity. It is from southeast China, Laos and northern Vietnam. Its preferred habitat is moist semi-evergreen and deciduous forest at elevations above 2,600 feet. Specimens from China tend to be less boldly patterned than the snakes from Vietnam. Most vaillanti are a soft orange to peach color with brown stripes and bands. As they age, the bands become lighter, often leaving just the outer edge of the bands visible. Vietnamese vaillanti are rare in the hobby and highly prized for their strong banding and crisp contrasts. We find the vaillanti to be the most variable, colorwise, of the four subspecies we breed, as well as the calmest.

_Oreocryptophis porphyraceus laticincta_, or the broad-banded mountain rat snake, became established in the hobby within the last few years. This beautiful snake is found in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia and on the island of Sumatra. It is most often found in montane rain forest habitat above 3,200 feet. Recently, a number of wild-caught specimens entered the U.S. We don’t recommend wild-caught porphs of any type, due to high mortality rates. Why bother with a snake of unknown age and health when awesome captive-born snakes are readily available?

Of the four porphs we breed, adult laticincta are the reddest, with gravid females being by far the brightest red snakes we have ever seen. The irregular black markings make for a great contrast against the red. The hatchlings are awesome orange- and yellow-banded snakes, with the bands separated by thin black and white rings. They are as pretty as snakes come!

_Oreocryptophis porphyraceus pulchra_, commonly known as the Yunnan mountain rat snake, is the most recent porph to be established in the U.S. trade. It is the shortest of the subspecies we work with, and also seems to be the slowest growing. Its natural range is central China, in the provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan and Shaanxi. Like the others, pulchra prefer cooler microclimates within forest habitat. Adults are a dark orange with faded black bands that are framed on both sides by small yellow rings. Hatchlings resemble the adults, but with a brighter overall color and solid black bands.

*Oreocryptophis porphyraceus Enclosures*
We keep hatchling porphs in tubs measuring 18 inches long by 71⁄2 inches wide by 31⁄2 inches tall until they are 9 months to 1 year old, after which they are moved into tubs measuring 20 inches long by 15 inches wide by 51⁄2 inches tall. Large coxi females are kept in tubs measuring 34 inches long by 171⁄2 inches wide and 51⁄2 inches tall. We use Vision rack systems for our snakes, but hobbyists can keep pets in any similarly sized enclosure, including aquariums and Rubbermaid containers. If using plastic tubs or containers with lids, be sure to drill or melt ventilation holes in them, and be aware that these should be very small for hatchling enclosures. If using Vision hatchling tubs, be aware that the pre-drilled holes in the tubs are large enough for hatchlings to escape through. Cover these with foil tape and punch smaller holes in the tape.

Target temperatures should be in the mid- to high-70s Fahrenheit. Temperatures above 84 degrees can cause these snakes distress, and extended exposure to temps in the high 80s will most likely kill them. Heed this warning!

Newly hatched porphs are kept on slightly damp (not wet!) paper towels until their second shed. After that, we keep them on a 1- to 2-inch-thick layer of cypress mulch that allows the snakes to burrow. This mulch provides moisture at the bottom of the substrate and a top that’s dry, providing the snakes with a range of humidity levels to maintain health.

We have used other substrates with our snakes, including coconut coir, peat, aspen and soil. We found that the coir and peat would pack into the corners of the snakes’ mouths when they would burrow. Aspen and similar wood bedding resulted in too dry an environment for our snakes in Colorado, resulting in bad sheds even with a damp sphagnum hide box provided (other keepers in less dry climates have used aspen successfully). Soil worked pretty well, and we never had any bad sheds from snakes kept on it (if your snake has trouble shedding, a one-hour soak in a small amount of water should help). Even so, we now use cypress mulch, as stated previously.

For hides, we provide upside-down clay flower pot saucers covered with a black plastic planter box, with entry holes cut into both. We believe this “double hide” setup provides a greater sense of security.

Water is provided to hatchlings in 8-ounce deli cups, which are rarely tipped over. When the snakes are moved to the larger tubs, we use 16-ounce deli cups for water, nestled inside a 2-inch piece of heavy-gauge PVC. This prevents the snakes from tipping them over.

*Weekly Feedings Are Fine*
With very few exceptions, porph rat snakes will readily accept both live and frozen/thawed mice. Porphs are very strong feeders that will try to eat food items that are much too large for them, and after a failed feeding attempt it could be weeks before a snake is willing to try again. Play it safe by offering multiple smaller food items, such as mice, rather than one larger item, such as a rat.

Feeding once a week will allow you to raise your porph to a great body weight and size. We offer females two to three prey items per feeding, depending on the snakes’ size. Most males are fine with just one food item weekly. Because they are such enthusiastic feeders, you may be tempted to feed a porph two or three times a week. After raising several generations of these snakes over the years, however, we have determined that increased feedings don’t lead to more eggs (for those of you who may want to breed them) or bigger snakes. Feeding several times a week only leads to having to clean the cage several times a week, and who wants that duty?

*Oreocryptophis porphyraceus are Ready Breeders*
If you provide porphs with the proper care as described in this article, you will have a hard time stopping them from breeding. Your best chance for breeding success begins the summer of the year before you plan to actually breed your snakes, when you want your snakes feeding strongly prior to heading into the winter cooling period. We stop feeding about two weeks before cooling to give the snakes a chance to pass their last meals, and we begin cooling during the first week of December.

We have experimented with different cooling methods, including the typical colubrid cool-down process of lowering temps to 50 to 55 degrees for three months. We have also housed porphs in a dark room, with a few hours of light during the day and no food for the cooling period, and we have tried keeping them in a room that got down to 45 to 55 degrees at night, with access during the day to 80 to 85 degrees under a small red light left on for four to eight hours a day. Most of the snakes avoided the heat, but of the 20 females kept in this type of setup, three to five would bask under the light. We offered food once every two weeks and most of the snakes ate when it was offered. We saw no digestion problem despite the cold night temps.

Our most recent cooling experiment was done out of necessity. We recently moved into a rental facility that didn’t allow us to cool the porphs below 65 degrees with any real consistency, so we moved the snakes’ racks against a metal rolling door and stopped feeding them in December. Pro Exotics is located just outside of Denver, Colo., so the outside temps that time of year can be quite cold. Gaps around the metal door allowed cold nighttime air in, and it took about two weeks for the snakes to “get” that the cooling cycle had started. Daytime highs got into the low 70s, and nighttime low cage temps in the high 30s resulted in no ill effect on the snakes. We housed them under these conditions until mid March, when we pulled the racks away from the metal door and resumed feeding. After one or two smaller meals we began offering the usual amount of food items.

Our breeding success has been the same regardless of the cooling methods used, but one of the keys to breeding porphs is to understand that they, for the most part, don’t follow a typical colubrid breeding cycle. We’ve examined our records and the information is too variable to provide any strong conclusions. Therefore, knowing that they are tougher to “read” than most colubrids, we begin to pair them up one to two weeks after warming them to their regular temperatures. Copulation occurs quickly, sometimes within minutes! As Chad moves through the racks, pairing up snakes, he can go back to discover that some that have been paired for only a few minutes have already initiated copulation. If we don’t see breeding action within six hours we separate the pair.

Porphs copulate differently than most other colubrids. We never see males biting the females, and the snakes are often as far apart as they can be while still copulating. Often, the cloacas are the only parts of the snakes that are touching. As for egg deposition, here again, porphs don’t follow the rules. Ours have laid eggs a month after shedding, they may lay while “blue,” or they may lay the day after a shed. Or they may follow the typical colubrid schedule, laying eggs five to seven days after a shed.

Most clutches contain two to five eggs, although large females can lay as many as 12. Double clutching is very common, and many will triple clutch. We once had a female lay seven clutches during a season, though we don’t recommend this and have not repeated it since. It was very hard on the female and took a few years for her to recover.

It is imperative that keepers provide great support to laying females, as they will lay a second, third, and maybe a fourth clutch, quickly depleting their reserves. Again, this means they must be provided great temps, great hides, great substrate, great moisture gradients (substrate can be misted lightly to maintain consistency) and great feeding opportunities.

After a female has a post-laying shed about two weeks after laying eggs, we will pair her up again. Such re-pairing doesn’t always appear necessary, as we have had females lay eggs without re-pairing, but it seems to provide the best chance for healthy second and third clutches with fewer slugs.

*Oreocryptophis porphyraceus Eggs and Incubation*
When we were using soil as a substrate the females would lay their eggs in the very bottom of the cage, under the clay hide, where it was nice and moist. Or they would lay in a box of damp sphagnum moss. Since we switched to a cypress mulch substrate, we stopped providing the sphagnum box, and now we just make sure that the mulch has a slightly moist area when the females are close to laying. They will make a nest in the moist mulch and coil around the eggs as they lay them. We most often find them in the morning, coiled loosely around their eggs, guarding them.

We remove the eggs for incubation at 79 degrees, which in our experience yields a better hatch rate and hatchlings that are larger and stronger than those produced at higher temperatures. We use very slightly damp perlite as an incubation medium. You can determine if your incubation medium is too wet or too dry by the look of the eggs. Within a week, they should be round and full, but not blown up like a balloon. Most eggs hatch after about 55 days.

There is tremendous variability in the size of porph eggs, and females may lay eggs that are twice the size as those from similarly sized snakes. Hatchlings may vary in size, too, but not to the same degree as the eggs.

*Raising Hatchling Oreocryptophis porphyraceus*
As mentioned, we house hatchlings in tubs in Vision racks, on a thick layer of paper towel substrate until their second shed. We provide a damp (not wet) area by spilling a little water when we fill the water bowl. We also provide a clay hide, which offers both security and a rough spot in the cage that the hatchlings can rub against to initiate their sheds.

We offer babies a pink mouse after their first shed, and this first pinky is always less than 3 days old. After a meal or two of this size, larger pinkies, fuzzies, etc. can be offered as the snakes grow larger. Hatchlings should grow quickly on a weekly meal of a single mouse. When they are 4 to 6 months old, you can give them two mice per weekly feeding.

On this schedule our babies usually double in mass within four months, and by the time they are 1 year old, they have about 75 percent of their adult length (but only about 50 percent of their adult mass).

Porphs don’t want to cuddle with you. While they do have their calm and relaxed moments, they also have their “racer” moments, and we highly recommend wearing gloves when handling these snakes. The key to handling highly excitable snakes is confidence, and gloves provide a great deal of confidence. We use nitrile-coated knit gloves available at Home Depot. They are thin but provide a firm grip and enough protection that you don’t have to worry about being bitten.

Some porphs can be quick to bite, and this is a learned behavior. If a snake learns that you will put it down when it bites, guess what? It will continue to bite. By wearing gloves you can stop this bad behavior before it becomes a problem.

Whether or not you choose to wear gloves, we recommend the hand-to-hand handling method. Let the snake cruise from one hand to the other, slightly restraining it to prevent it from flying out of your hands. Trying to force a porph to stay in your hand by clamping down on it isn’t good idea. Instead, allow the snake to feel free from your grip while letting it pass from hand to hand as you hold it.

*Oreocryptophis porphyraceus Intergrades*
In recent years we have experimented with cross-breeding our four porph subspecies, and as of this writing, we have hatched _coxi x vaillanti_, _coxi x laticincta_, pulchra x coxi, _pulchra x laticincta _and vaillanti x laticincta. The last cross to make is _pulchra x vaillanti_.

We know cross-breeding is controversial, but we were curious and decided to give it a try. The babies have been very strong, outgrowing pure porphs of the same age — after a year, most of the crosses are 50-percent larger than snakes from the pure lines. We feed the crosses on the same schedule as our pure snakes, but somehow they grow faster and larger.

Each of the crosses has its own look, which is different from the pure subspecies. In our opinion, there is no mistaking a cross for a purebred. Crosses with laticincta tend to be highly patterned. The pulchra crosses usually exhibit attractive round circles running along the backs of the snakes, and vaillanti crosses display a nice, soft peach color. Crosses of other snake species can be a little disappointing, but not with these guys! Each cross results in a new and unique look that adds something rather than downplaying the beauty of the pure stock. In our opinion, a cross takes the best parts of each subspecies and combines them into one beautiful snake.

*Are You Ready for a Pet Porph?*
Do you like awesome display snakes? What better than an active, bright-red snake with perhaps the strongest hunting drive you’ll ever see? Are you looking for a fun breeding project? How about one with snakes that can lay three or more clutches a year? Maybe you’ve got a room that’s unusually cool, or you want to keep snakes in the basement — porphs are perfect to house in such areas. And if you want a smallish snake with a big personality, a porph can again fill the bill. 

Do you want a snake that will make you a better keeper? Porphs have made us better keepers by forcing us to learn how to “read” them. We have worked with these beautiful snakes for more than a decade and are still learning new things about them. We have sold a number of porphs over the years, and the customer feedback is always the same: “Man, these things are awesome!”


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## loxocemus

Applegate Pyro _Eric Westmorland
The first mutation to appear in captive collections of this species, originated by Robert Applegate - one of the early pioneer breeders and all-around nice guy. Black is completely eliminated from the body rings, and even the black head pattern is reduced to a simple skull cap marking on most. A truly elegant recessive mutation. 







_

*'Baubel' Arizona Mountain Kingsnake*
Breeder Chris Baubel has been carefully line-breeding stock from the Santa Rita Mountains for some years to reduce the amount of black present. The result is snakes almost midway in appearance between normal and 'Applegate'. Startlingly attractive.
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San Luis Potosi Kingsnake _Lampropeltis m. mexicana
Beautiful kingsnakes from the Mexican interior, clad in grays with squarish reddish blotches along the dorsum. Somewhat variable, ranging from very light grays and bright orange-reds to deep charcoal blacks with nearly obscured red blotches. They stay mid-size (three feet usually, four feet max), always feed well and are very docile - making them an excellent choice for beginners! 







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Durango Mountain Kingsnake _Lampropeltis mexicana greeri
Inhabiting mountainous terrain in the Mexican state of Durango, this member of the "mexicana" or "gray-band" complex stays small. Most adults average 30-36 inches in length at best. Stunningly attractive, they are very similar to L. pyromelana forms in terms of care, right down to the difficulties involved in getting hatchlings to feed on mice. However, once established, they thrive and are very popular with skilled keepers. _
*







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'Leonis Phase' Nuevo Leon Kingsnake (_Lampropeltis leonis_)
aka Variable or Thayer's Kingsnake. Found in Tamaulipas, Mexico, this is another lovely small member of the "mexicana" or "gray-band" complex. Most adults average only 24-30 inches in length, although specimens may achieve 36 inches. Extremely variable, and stunningly attractive. Most "leonis" phase have thin orangish or reddish bands on a ground color of tannish gray. Exceptional specimens may have the colors enhanced to yellow, peach, pale orange, or even very intense bright orange, and no two are ever identical, even among siblings. 









'Milksnake Phase' Nuevo Leon Kingsnake (_Lampropeltis leonis_)









Albino Whitewall Speckled Kingsnake (Hatchling) _Lampropeltis _getula holbrooki
Homozygous for Whitewall and Albino, two recessive mutations. With a line of Albino Speckled kings already established in the hobby, it was inevitable that it be combined with the newer Whitewall mutation. Good thing, as they are surprisingly beautiful (although the subtle nature of the golds and yellows is hard to capture in photographs)









Snow White California Kingsnake Lampropeltis getula californiae
A gorgeous selectively bred morph derived originally from crossing Newport genes into BW Desert specimens. The amounts of white are greatly increased, with only the faintest traces of the middorsal stripe remaining. Unbelievable.









Albino High White California Kingsnake Lampropeltis getula californiae
Homozygous for amelanism, a recessive trait. The albino version of the Snow White is simply stunning!










Mosaic California Kingsnake Lampropeltis getula californiae
Specimens of the California Kingsnake found in the vicinity of Newport are highly prized by collectors for their lovely aberrant patterning. Polygenic in nature, no two are ever alike. Breeders have further refined this look by crossing out to desert white forms and striving for banded lower sides with a solid black back to create the gorgeous and unique Mosaic Cal King.


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## loxocemus

Long Beach Hypermelanistic California Kingsnake (_Lampropeltis californiae_)
For years, Long Beach area herpers frequented a few acres of undeveloped land dominated by grease pits and oil wells amidst area homes and businesses. While not common, California Kingsnakes could be found there and are affectionately known to keepers as "Grease Kings". Interestingly, most were very dark snakes with very thin white bands almost obscured by black. Named Hypermelanistic, this look is the result of a recessive gene and already breeders are combining it with other mutations to create some stunning new morphs. Sadly, this tiny site has now been developed into a city park and the fate of any remaining snakes is in doubt. A handful of breeders are working to maintain pure lines of them for posterity. 









Striped Kenyan Sand Boa (_Eryx colubrinus loveridgei_)
In 1933 the subspecies _E. c. rufescens_ was described to science but later invalidated. Only a handful of these were ever imported, but all had a unique almost patternless look to them. Crossing these "rufescens" into typical Kenyan Sand Boas produces the unique striped looking snakes 


















Striped Anerythristic Kenyan Sand Boa (_Eryx colubrinus loveridgei_)
Homozygous for Anerythrism. Crossing "rufescens" into typical Kenyan Sand Boas produces unique striped looking snakes. Adding Anerythrism to the Striped pattern variant creates a unique look! 


















Axanthic Trans-Pecos Ratsnake Bogertophis subocularis
Homozygous for Axanthism, a recessive mutation. The unique axanthic trait popped up unexpectedly in some Blonde Phase Subocs many years ago, and aficionados promptly began efforts to create normally patterned 'silver' individuals by out-crossing. The results were worth the effort!









Blonde Phase Trans-Pecos Ratsnake (_Bogertophis subocularis subocularis_)
Homozygous for Blonde, a naturally occuring recessive trait. Found only in a very restricted area of the 'Big Bend' region of west Texas. Incredibly rare in the wild, we field collected heavily for these for ten years and found a single road-kill! A recessive mutation which removes the typical black ladder pattern of normal specimens, leaving a pale round-blotched appearance behind. Simply beautiful! 









Axanthic Blonde Phase Trans-Pecos Ratsnake (_Bogertophis subocularis subocularis_)
Homozygous for Axanthism and Blonde, two recessive traits. Combining the captive lines of axanthic specimens with the Blonde Phase pattern type results in a rather astonishing appearance! Soft muted blotches of gray-black on pure silver, these snakes look like velvet. As with all Trans-Pecos Ratsnakes, they are incredibly gentle creatures and are wonderful in the hand.


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## loxocemus

All by vmsherps

Blonde Phase Trans-Pecos Ratsnake (_Bogertophis subocularis subocularis_)


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## loxocemus

All by vmsherps

Axanthic Blonde Phase Trans-Pecos Ratsnake (_Bogertophis subocularis subocularis_)


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## loxocemus

Female Albino Japanese Rat Snake _Eric Westmoreland

















normal form











P.d.jani ,aka Northern Mexican Pine Snake. Eric Westmoreland









Santa Cruz Gopher Pituophis catenifer pumilus Eric Westmoreland
The Santa Cruz Island gopher snake is a dwarf endemic species rarely exceeding three feet in length. Contrary to earlier reports of only existing on that island, it is also found on Santa Rosa Island. _
*Appearance*
The Santa Cruz Island gopher snake, _Pituophis catenifer pumilus_ (_pumilio_ is Latin for "dwarf"), is just as its Latin translation indicates, a dwarf race rarely exceeding 3 feet in length. By contrast, the Pacific gopher snake, its mainland cousin, can reach 7 feet in length. The Santa Cruz Island gopher snake is the only dwarf form of the species, even though three other subspecies also occur on islands (_P. c. fulginatus, insulanus_, and _coronalis_).

The Santa Cruz Island gopher snake has a rather narrow head that is only slightly wider than the neck and when compared to other races, has a short and flattened snout and a rounded rostral. The adult coloration is typically a light greenish or grayish-white background with a profuse pattern of gloss-black blotches, becoming "muddied" or less contrasting with age. Males tend to pull up some bright yellow on their anterior ventral surfaces as they grow. Hatchlings are highly contrasted, being a very light grayish-white with black patterning and range in length from 6.5 to 9 inches.

*Range*
The Santa Cruz Island gopher snake is found on Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa islands. On the mainland, gopher snakes are found widely throughout western North America.

*Habitat*
The Santa Cruz Island gopher snake, like its mainland congeners, is a habitat generalist. It can be found in all vegetation associations on the two islands, but it is most common in open areas such as grasslands, dry streambeds, and oak and chaparral woodlands.

*Feeding*
Due to the more limited fauna of the islands, Santa Cruz Island gopher snakes have a less varied diet than other subspecies of gophersnakes. Their diet probably includes mice, lizards, birds' eggs, and nestlings. Juveniles probably take small lizards, mice, and possibly insects.

*Reproduction*
In spring, juveniles and adults emerge from rodent burrows or rock fissures, where they hibernate during the colder months of fall and winter. Adults probably reproduce in May with females depositing clutches (generally, four to six eggs) from late June through July and hatchlings emerging in September and October.

*Conservation Status*
The California Department for Fish and Game lists the Santa Cruz Island gopher snake as a California Species of Special Concern. The recent removal of feral pigs from Santa Cruz Island was beneficial for Santa Cruz Island gopher snakes. Feral pigs destroyed habitat for snakes and preyed on them as well.

reportedly unusually prone to twins
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adult







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## loxocemus

applegate pyro _Eric Westmoreland
















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Drymarchon melanurus melanurus by Simone Poti Nostra 


















Albino bullsnake by Rep-Achno









Ivory ghost x whiteside het hypo by Rep-Achno









Pituophis catenifer sayi cb21 by Rep-Achno









Pituophis catenifer sayi female whitesided by Rep-Achno


























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## loxocemus

Arctic Albino male 2021 by Alfred Guerrero









SuperArctic by Alfred Guerrero

















Color Difference in Lavender and normal het lavender(carrying the recessive lavender gene)when breeding two hets you’ll hatch visual lavender 









Purple line Albino SuprConda female by Alfred Guerrero









GREENLINE TOFEE SUPER CONDA MALE by Alfred Guerrero








by Alfred Guerrero









by Alfred Guerrero









by Alfred Guerrero


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## loxocemus

Pearl Island Boas (B.I.Sabogae) by Justin Hollins

















Tpos Argentine boa by Justin Hollins

















0.1 Tpos Argentine boa 1.0 Motley het Tpos Argentine boa by Justin Hollins









argentines are cites app 1









tpos by Justin Hollins









they can be high strung


















Maxx pink Argentine boa 










The Argentine Boa Constrictor by Fredrick Albury

The Argentine boa constrictor (_Boa constrictor occidentalis_) is one of eight to 10 subspecies of the genus Boa. This relatively heavy-bodied boa ranges in size from 6 to 10 feet in length. They range from black specimens with a high rate of contrasting white to specimens exhibiting varying degrees of burnt-orange to red. Despite their beauty, Argentines have often been overlooked in favour of other color morphs.

The Argentine boa is a heavy-bodied boa that ranges in size from 6 to 10 feet in length.

*The Argentine Boa is Threatened in the Wild*
The Argentine boa is distributed throughout Argentina, between the Andes Mountains and the Parana River south to the Argentine provinces of Cordoba, San Luis and Mendoza. This primarily terrestrial snake occurs in rain forest habitat, which has been decimated in the past 90 years. Only a fraction of its original range still exists. Because of this increased pressure on wild populations, the Argentine boa is the only Boa constrictor subspecies listed on Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix I, which names animals considered threatened with extinction.

Argentine boas vary in color. Some display a dark, almost muddy appearance, and others show a clearly contrasting pattern. For example, stark-white rosettes dorsally contrast nicely with a background color of dark brown to black. Occasionally Argentines displaying an increased amount of rust-red and burnt-orange have been produced in herpetoculture. Even hypomelanistic and T-positive examples are available in today’s reptile market.

Argentine boas possess 242 to 251 ventral scales and 29 to 30 interconnected dorsal blotches. Adults range from 6 to 9 feet long. They also have a high degree of iridescence. The snakes are at their most spectacular immediately following a shed.

*Keeping Argentine Boas*
I keep my Argentine boas between 80 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit year round with night time temperature drops to 78 degrees. This is the ambient air temperature. Undertank heaters under approximately 30 percent of the cage or enclosure should provide a hotspot of 90 degrees. In my opinion, Argentine boas are more cold-tolerant than many other Boa constrictor subspecies; they tolerate dips in temperature down to 65 to 70 degrees.

Humidity plays a vital role for these snakes, especially during their shed cycle. For neonates I put moistened sphagnum moss in small boxes. Argentine young tend to hide in these humidity boxes. I mist subadults and adults as often as twice daily.

I have used several types of cages for my Argentines with varying results. Neonates, which measure 12 to 14 inches, can be kept in appropriate-sized sweater boxes. Subadult and adult Argentine boas need larger quarters. An adult Argentine boa constrictor can be safely and comfortably maintained in a 5-foot-long cage. I’ve used enclosures manufactured by Vision Products and Habitat Systems Limited. These cages are extremely easy to clean and disinfect, and they can be heated from below using heat tape or from above using heat panels or incandescent bulbs. The largest Argentines can be kept in 6-foot-long Vision cages. These plastic-sided, glass-fronted enclosures lend themselves well to the keeping of boas, but other enclosures available are equally functional.

For substrate I use newspaper exclusively for all my large boas. It is cheap and easy to clean, and this means cages are cleaned more often. Snakekeepers who use soil or aspen shavings are more likely to spot clean. Argentines like to soak, so a large water bowl is a necessity. The snakes often defecate in their bowls, as well. Keep bowls clean.

Because of their relatively slow metabolism, adult Argentine boas need only be fed every two to three weeks. Offer them either three large rats or two rabbits of appropriate size. Babies and juveniles are fed much more frequently. I’ll discuss babies later, but juveniles should be offered two medium-sized rats every 10 days.

*Breeding Argentine Boas*
Argentine boas need a six- to eight-week cooling period to initiate the breeding process when kept at 80 to 85 degrees year round. Decrease the temperature to about 70 degrees at night, and increase it to 80 degrees during the day. Do this in November or December, and plan on introducing the animals in early January.

Take male Argentines off of food at the end of August, and stop feeding females at the end of September. Females must have sufficient size and body weight if they are to reproduce successfully and safely. I recommend waiting until females attain a length of 7 feet with good body weight. Males can and will breed at 4 to 5 feet in length.

A recent trend is to breed females at 5 feet in length, which I feel is detrimental to the snakes’ health and yields less-than-desirable results in offspring production. I also find the use of multiple males is not as effective as using one male of an appropriate size and approximately 2 years old. Neither large nor unfit males make the best breeders.

I do not recommend breeding Argentines in consecutive seasons. The year off increases the number of offspring and allows snakes to fully recuperate from the weight loss. If a female produces a litter of babies, give her the next year off.

*Argentine Boa Baby Care*
Argentine boa constrictors can produce large litters. Large females can deliver more than 40 babies at one time, but litters within the 18 to 25 range are more common. Baby Argentines are stout and hardy individuals. Regardless of this vigor, they must be handled delicately and placed in individual shoebox-sized containers with a paper towel substrate.

Don’t offer babies food until after they have undergone their first shed and their egg yolks have been fully absorbed. Offering smaller meals and spacing them widely apart are key. Baby boas have somewhat delicate stomachs, and they initially can’t handle large amounts of food, so don’t feed them heavily. They usually are straightforward feeders, so they usually don’t require any scenting manipulations or other tricks to convince them to feed. Offer two fuzzy mice or pinky rats of an appropriate size every 10 days.

To prevent mishaps, always feed baby Argentines in separate containers. Don’t despair if they don’t feed right away; continue to patiently offer appropriately sized food items. Eventually, the neonates learn to take food outright, and their growth is imminent. Feed these offspring consistently, and they will be ready to breed within three to four years.

Deserving Gems

Much more scientific fieldwork needs to be done with _Boa constrictor occidentalis_. Captive-breeding results have been favorable, but this boa’s natural habitat is being destroyed at an alarming rate.

Although the Argentine boa is often passed over in favor of newer boa morphs, it is an affordable, easy to maintain and beautiful snake. Most are also docile, and new pure color and pattern morphs add to the species’ intrigue. If you give this boa a chance, I think you’ll find, as I have, that it is a gem deserving of our time and study.


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## loxocemus

Midget Faded Rattlesnake (Crotalus concolor) eating a Hopi Chipmunk (Neotamias rufus) in Utah, USA. Snake was left as found. by Dane Conley





































False coral taking a good bite by Daniel Villa









following 5 pics by Eric Krings

juvenile 100 flower









gonyosoma









albino tangerine









aberrant hypo tangerine honduran









cosala sinaloan neonate


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## loxocemus

following pics by Eric Krings 

northern pine couple









juvenile gonyosoma with its striking blue tongue









aesculapian juvenile









juvenile hypomelanistic 100 flower rat









neonate northern pine, like bulls they hatch very large and chunky @15-18"










classic corn









high %pied corn









we used to call these aberrants dot-dash


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## loxocemus

This is a high% Larry Black male to a pure Schuett girl by midgard serpents









A baby 2019 Petsmart purchase (goini) by keith gery

















T positive albino Splotched nelsons milk snake male by mike fedzen (collector of rare/odd wild mutations)









following pics by mike fedzen

Lavender ghost combo - pink pearl california kingsnake









Scaleless FL Water snake male









Light phase Ghost, Caspers and hets hatched out (California Kingsnakes)

















Joker California Kingsnake









Anery New Mexico Milk (Bernallio county NM locale)


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## loxocemus

Transformer Mexican Milk (Hebbronville TX locale) genetic pattern/color mutation by mike fedzen 










The _Yunnan_ Rat _Snake_ (Oreocryptophis p. pulchra) by sara jean

















promising boelens by keith mcpeek









neonate sanzinia by keith mcpeek









bolivian short tail/amarali by keith mcpeek iv owned an adult male, it was less than 5ft and an excellent captive in every regards

















by keith mcpeek so worth paying attention to
NO.1 Let’s talk some SH(T
Snake Crap that is….. If my years with Blood Pythons and Short Tailed Pythons taught me anything it was the potency of defecation within the confines of typical husbandry enclosures. I still get asked about RI’s developing in otherwise healthy snakes that have not been exposed to what most feel are the common causes for this condition. Low humidity or exposure to low temps. My practical experience has taught me that exposure to defecation for even a small amount of time is usually the primary cause for Python RI’s. When explaining this to someone I try and use a fish tank analogy to those who have kept fish. The toxicity of their waste build up within the tank is well known to fish keepers. In a sense the same applies here. Not that I am suggesting to do this but picture yourself in a bathroom shower and spilling a quart of ammonia in the tub and stand there for 1 hour. I bit extreme but I am trying to get you to see the damage that can be done. This exposure can cause chronic RIs in the sensitive airways of pythons . Vet checks on animals that have developed RIs yet show no conclusive cause I would bet this to be the cause. I know keepers and I myself that have had an animal expire in the early days when Blood keepers felt proper husbandry for the species was to keep them in a closed high humidity low ventilation environment, the toxicity level of a large defecation overwhelmed the snake in a few hours of me being at work. Blood Pythons and Short Tails are notorious for hanging on to their waste and then usually letting loose while you are at work or sleeping at night. The exposure to this can and does irritate the airways of these snakes, and this applies to other species as well. The ratio of cubic air space in the cage and waste produced by a Curtus can be overwhelming. These animals are a lot of snake in a short package and keepers can forget this when designing a caging system for them. So how do we as keepers combat this? Just as we consider things like if the animal is arboreal or terrestrial we must consider this aspect for long term Care. Cycles of waste generated and volume…… just like fish keepers do when setting up a filtration system based on fish species to be kept. Obviously diligent cleaning is our first line of defense. But as I stated conditions can go south fast in even as short as an hour if conditions are bad enough. Snake keepers often brag of the fact that they can go away for a weekend without worry of their “pets” if they clean and feed before they go…. So how do we combat?
Proper Ventilation….. Having a few air holes does not constitute proper ventilation to combat toxic conditions. Keeping with using Curtus as my example…. A lot of keepers are using rack systems these days. Top ventilation in a tub wont work for an animal such as the Curtus. Think of the Toxic fumes as being water and you are filling that tub up to the locking lid. The Thick fumes will hang in that tub and the snake will be breathing it in to its lungs in high levels. You must create a release for this toxins on the floor level where the snake is laying until you get home to clean the cage. I recommend drilling appropriate sized holes as close to floor level as possible but you have to consider things like how big is your water bowl and if tipped will it leak out, most times an inch to inch and a half works. We all know that not every defecation is created equal even in the same snake producing it. We have all walked into our snake rooms and felt like you were smacked in the face with “the stank rag”….Imagine what that is like in the animals cage that produced it!
I am convinced that this is a leading cause of Python and Boa’s developing a RI and even a chronic condition once exposed to the point that it is one of my first concerns when thinking of a caging design for a particular species……very odd Topic I know…. but I do feel it important enough to share with new keepers to Curtus specifically, and all new Boid keepers in general.

NO.2
The use of males in your breeding projects.

I don’t know how much thought some keepers put in to their males breeding potential on a yearly bases.
I do not know of any studies on wild male boids that has been conducted to see how many females a male may breed in a season. If you know of a paper written I would love to read it.
In the mean time I have noticed there is some variations within different species the male’s potential in both terms of frequency of viable sperm impregnated into the female, and how many females a male can indeed be successful in having a litter or clutch with.
For my own breeding trials and past experience I feel comfortable with a males potential for a lot of boid species to breed two females a season. My typical routine is to bounce a male between two females continuously during what I feel is the optimum time pre ovulation to get viable sperm into the females. For the easier species to breed this works very well for the following reasons they are deemed …”Easy”….
And remember these are just my thoughts from my personal experience… no hard study has been done by me and I do not offer this as “Facts”…. Merely food for thought…
First I believe some species of boids the females have a large window of opportunity….. I believe these females have a longer ability to retain sperm for use when conditions are optimum for reproduction. I think that they may not have a specific time of year for courtship and breed randomly during the year. The males of these species may have the ability to deliver viable sperm whenever they encounter a random female. These species then ovulate from environmental ques and birth when conditions are prime for the offspring to survive. Species I have worked with that fall into this scenario have reproduced successfully during a wide range of months during the year.
One thing I have not been able to nail down with the above scenario is this…. If a male delivers viable sperm to female one, is there a recovery period he needs to deliver viable sperm to female two….. Or is the male able to deliver multiple viable “doses” at will? Is there only so many viable doses produced per season?
In this group of what I deem “easy to breed boids” some noteworthy observations….. A female Burmese python that had a perfect clutch of 32 eggs one season. She was scheduled to have the following year off so no male was added the following breeding season. She still gave me a viable clutch of 28 eggs that following season not being with a male. With my short tail pythons it was common to get clutches of fertile eggs from the females 3 to 8 months after breeding with a male. Remember this when you breed your females… the clutch the following year could in reality be from the male the year prior…. I always keep this in mind when someone breeds hybrids…. To me that female is not able to be considered to produce pure offspring for years to come. If at all…??
Also what does it take for some boids to produce viable sperm? Many feel cool temps…. Again I hope someone can point me to some papers written (Barkers?)…. But is cool temps needed for viable sperm or simply a stimulant to encourage courtship and copulation? Many species I have bred have not needed cooling to be successful if I use light and humidity as my only cycling stimulant. But I can tell you heat for sure damages sperm in most boids. For females that do not ovulate but seem to build follicles can the reason be non-viable sperm production in your males due to heat and the female subsequently re-absorbs the follicles or delivers slugs….so while cool temps may not be needed to create viable sperm removing basking before breeding may be required to NOT damage sperm before introductions… Most of us with some boid time under our belt feel in the USA most keepers keep their animals to warm …yet continue to do so… Now we are getting into the more challenging species of boids to breed.
So my own experience and talking to others I respect has shown me with more difficult species one male to one female is more contusive to get a viable litter or clutch and two males to one female is even bettering your odds.
Some males of certain species may only breed a single female a season, he may stay with that female or in close proximity and put all his efforts into breeding this one female. She may have a very narrow window were follicles can be fertilized to continue to ovulation. It may take numerous breeding’s from an approved male to stimulate this process. Once ques are given from the female in the form of hormonal scents, rejecting his advance, ETC the male may be satisfied he has performed his Mother Nature’s duty and not look for another female to breed this season.
Additionally a female may require multiple sperm input from multiple males to be successful in a year. It has been proven that several males in python species can father one clutch of eggs. This may be the species survival strategy to keep the genetic pool diversified in the relative small range of the serpents. Without the multiple implantation of multiple males could be the cause for clutches that repeatedly have low viable egg counts. The males of these species may only be able to deliver so many viable tadpoles due to these strategy……
These are just all my thoughts that seem plausible seeing results in this hobby for many years…. This rant is to make those of you that do not put much thought into your males to think outside the box… do not assume one male has it in him to service a couple of females or that one male is only needed

emerald, northern i think









Spooning Boeleni by keith mcpeek









new boeleni viv keith mcpeek


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## loxocemus

woma clutch by keith mcpeek









by keith mcpeek so worth paying attention to
NO.3
Useful mouse sh:t?
Don’t Sh:t where you eat…. It has a ring to it…. It can also have many applications to many of life’s trials and tribulations…
One thing I love doing is just observing nature…. While hiking with my wife daily I am always on the lookout. Stupid little things like a robin with half of a hatched egg shell in its beak gets me thinking. I once saw on a lunch break 40 years ago…we were sitting in a person’s yard of a house we were working on and a Black rat snake climbed the texture one/eleven siding that has vertical grooves in it all the way to the second floor eves to hunt bats hiding out…waiting for night to come under the rake boards. The snake did not wonder around in the search for food, it made a direct path up the siding a good 30’ plus straight up. How did it know the bats were up there….sure it may have “learned” this is a good place to hunt but what gave it the clues originally to go through this effort to reach them. And why did it hunt during the day when the bats would be home when typically I see black rats more actively hunting at night (it was successful and one of the coolest things I ever witnessed) ….. im getting to my point… I swear….. At the time I was painting houses…. One of the worst things in prepping a house to paint was if it had a good population of bats living in it was the bat waste on the siding. I did appreciate the fact that seeing this waste let me know that bats were there as being 30’ in the air on a ladder with my face right where they typically perch and having a scared bat fly out from under the rack board could really get your heart racing…. So my guess was that as the snake crawled the ground near the house foundation and it picked up the scent ques of the bat waste that made it to the ground well… instinct took over and had the snake climb upward to find dinner. Getting back to that Robin with the hatch shell remains in its beak…. Parent birds commonly remove items from the nest site and discard them further away from the nest so as not to attract unwanted attention from predators, even the fledglings waste is removed in some species.
Things like this make me wonder…. I have heard and read observations that the reason a lot of snake species that we find will readily defecate in water is the thought that for the exact same reason that parent robin was removing the egg shell from the nest.. it is to hide the scent of their location?
So working with Emerald tree boas has shown me how they hunt in the wild, the classic hang down coiled ready to strike a few inches off the ground waiting for prey to pass by. Blood Pythons and Short tails are classic ambush hunters that in captivity will hide within their hide box with just the tip of their nose sticking out waiting for prey. In this position many unsuspecting Keepers not taking notice have been startled by a explosive strike when the cage door was opened by the hunting python.
So how do these snakes set up an ambush station…. There must be ques left by the prey species that these hunters use to up their success percentages. Scent trails of the animals themselves must surely be a factor…. But I venture to say waste from prey animals is also a very strong que for the snakes to know where active prey is located….or regularly using a game trail to make setting up an ambush point worthwhile.
So a few years ago I started playing around with this on neo boids that were slow to start feeding. As we all know neo boids can be intimated in captivity when presented with food and feeding trials at first. And aggressive attempts by inpatient keepers can shut the neos down to the point that feeding trials can become a negative interaction shutting down all thoughts of these new to the world boids from ever feeding voluntarily. Using Live prey can a lot of times be a successful trigger over frozen thawed to get shy individuals to feed on their own. But sometimes due to our short comings as keepers we do not provide what these neos need to feel secure enough in their caging that the live prey also intimidates them to the point of shutting off the feeding response.
So with these type animals I have been fooling around for a few years with my feeble thoughts on what could help the situation. And I have had some success so I thought I would share. Depending on the species I will set up an appropriate ambush site. Perhaps a low perch for carpets or emeralds facing the corner of the neo tub. And I will add Mouse droppings to that corner of the box. Or I will set up a hide facing that corner of the box and do the same with the mouse droppings. Unlike leaving a pre killed animal in that spot which gets rotten within a day you can leave the droppings in that spot for days. If I leave the neo boid alone for days in a contact security set up cage a lot of times at night I will cage the neo checking out the intended prey items droppings. And a lot of times I will eventually get them to set up a classic ambush stance over the droppings…. That’s my clue that the neo is ready for a feeding trial. It is a lot better method of confidence building in the shyer neos then shoving a FT in their face off of tongs or have a live hopper mouse climbing all over them shutting down their thoughts of feeding and going all defensive. These are just the ramblings of an old herper that likes to try anything it takes to keep our keeps thriving in captivity……. And likes to share in the hopes it may help even one keeper be successful…

isabel paulsoni by keith mcpeek (heather and carey in scotland work with a group of these and sanzinia east/west savu/silver blk heads and more)









Corallus ruschenbergerii by keith mcpeek



























eastern sanzinia going thru their ontogenetic color change by keith mcpeek



























malagasy ground boas Acrantophis madagascariensis by keith mcpeek, much rarer in captivity than their cousins dumerils


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## loxocemus

Annulated Pair by keith mcpeek


















eastern sanzinia by keith mcpeek









a beautiful malagasy ground boa Acrantophis madagascariensis by keith mcpeek (famous for their enormous babies)









if you have a big collection consider one of these as an addition to ur room/s









just a pile of Boeleni on cleaning day keith mcpeek









"I really like my largest girl for the fact that she has markings on her dorsal all the way to her tail tip" keith mcpeek


















its not hard to get boelens to mate, the magic trick is ovulation, in the wild several markers, maybe 1 or 2 being imperative, tell the female its both safe and the right time to ovulate.









possibly the 1st clutch of sanzinia to be born in captivity by a private keeper keith mcpeek


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## loxocemus

Elaphe carinata "Lemon Yellow"

















albino Florida pine snake — at Stampede Reptiles









Elaphe dione hypo Khabarovsk female by colubralab










Elaphe dione hypo Khabarovsk - this time male colubralab









Elaphe dione Vladivosok colubralab









Axanthic splendida by armando palacios (snow splendida's have been made using the amel splendida)


















_Bogertophis rosaliae _by davante truex (the subocs close cousin, prestige corns (spelling?) produced some, axanthic i think, rosaliae is very rarely bred in any form)









female snow Florida Pine by jay jacoby


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## loxocemus

breeding group Rhynchophis (Gonyosoma) boulengeri by roman sebesta









Borneo Gonyosoma oxycephalum by bree romans









Female Kankakee by tim brophy









2019 bullsnake by tim brophy









Red-orange adult bull by tim brophy


















2021









gravid female basking









2018 female


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## loxocemus

Just had her pre-lay shed Female Kankakee by tim brophy









pit mating hold by tim brophy









Axanthic finishing off her favorite food by tim brophy









"Rat pups all around, bartender!" by tim brophy









red bull lavender snow by tim brophy









Male lavender snow, 10 months old by tim brophy









Lavender snow by tim brophy









Lavender snow bull, red bull, axanthic bull by tim brophy









2014 white-side male, from Tom Stevens


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## loxocemus

Locality: near Zinkwazi, KZN
Date: 23 February
Predator: Southern African python (Python natalensis)
Prey: blue duiker (Philantomba monticola)
Observer: Allan Townsend
A. Townsend found this python dead while checking trails. (cause of the python's death........... who knows, awkward grab that couldn't be disconnected?)


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## loxocemus

gravid Thrasops occidentalis female by wiktor jugo









Female Edisto Island Eastern King by SSuperior SSerpents









T+ splotched by SSuperior SSerpents









Albino Coral Snakes


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## loxocemus

black racer neo's all by leo spinner


















adult blk racer









philothamnus irregularis by leo spinner (i think there's been a recent import of these, they can often insist on lizards at first so if purchasing check what their feeding on)









blairs by greg kennon









Merker, 277 Alterna









Hueco Alterna









River Road Alterna by kyle howard









A Greater Sea Snake (Hydrophis major) snags a striped catfish off new caledonia by aline297 (a rare pic indeed)









A juvenile Greater (or olive headed) Sea Snake (Hydrophis major) feeds on catfish by Berthomier Jack


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## loxocemus

all pyro pics by kyle howard

hypo knoblochi









zebra pyro









megaband knoblochi









partial stripe knoblochi









all mex mex pics by kyle howard

bell line granite









dark mex mex


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## loxocemus

all leonis pics by kyle howard

2021 Veverka Line Leonis by kyle howard









Veverka x Veverka Leonis









leonis milksnake phase









Leonis









female MSP Leonis









Veverka Leonis









Leonis









leonis, (females often feed even when being courted!)









2019 Veverka x Vivid Leonis by kyle howard









2018 Leonis Holdback by kyle howard


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## loxocemus

1.0 Corallus hortulanus CB 2018 by d&m snakes


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## loxocemus

malagasy hog clutch by Buehler Reptiles









River Rd by clay garrett


















o.p.laticinctus eggs sean howlett









o.p.coxi sean howlett


















*



























*


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## loxocemus

coxi eggs from 2.3 group by danny blersch









communal coxi breeding 2.3 by danny blersch









vaillanti sean howlett









Broad banded yearling ,Oreocryptophis porphyraceus laticincta sean howlett


















coxi holdback sean howlett









Oreocryptophis porphyraceus laticinctus neonate 2 sean howlett









coxi neo feed by jochen faust


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## loxocemus

coxi full by jochen faust
*
















*

Thai bamboo rat by kurt kunze









Zhiming Bian amel laticinctus bejing china









Zhiming Bian amel laticinctus lock bejing china









coxi nom nom by squaremountain critters









coxi headstudy Katarína Faturová









Boaedon Capensis Albino by kates snakes


















Lampropeltis triangulum honduriensis Tangerine by kates snakes











*
*


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## loxocemus

Boaedon Capensis female by kates snakes









Lamprophis aurora female by kates snakes









Madagascarophis meridionalis male by kates snakes


















T+ T- ALBINO Lampropeltis triangulum nelsoni. by snakeS.cz









APPLEGATE PHASE and hetero A.P. Lampropeltis pyromelana pyromelana! by snakeS.cz









EXTREME WHITE, ALBINO EXTREME WHITE Lampropeltis getula californiae. by snakeS.cz









Orange LEOPARD L. m. leonis, pure form! by snakeS.cz









Hatching HYPO Lampropeltis alterna alterna Black Gap locality









Aberrant T+Albino LEMON L.t.nelsoni by snakeS.cz


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## loxocemus

T+ Albino Hypoerytristic X Aberrant Albino LEMON Lampropeltis tr. nelsoni. by snakeS.cz









T+ albino Lampropeltis tr. nelsoni by snakeS.cz









Applegate Phase X hetero Applegate Phase Lampropeltis p. pyromelana. by snakeS.cz









EXTREME WHITE hetero albino Lampropeltis getula californiae by snakeS.cz









T + albino Hypo Erythristic X Albino (bouble yellow line). by snakeS.cz









Extreme White, Albino Extreme White Lampropeltis getula californiae by snakeS.cz









Hatching APPLEGATE PHASE Lampropeltis pyromelana pyromelana by snakeS.cz









High White and Extreme White Lampropeltis getula californiae by snakeS.cz









Hatching LEMON Albino Lampropeltis triangulum nelsoni, Aberrant by snakeS.cz









Hatching Yellow, Orange and hetero Pastel King Leopard Line by snakeS.cz


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## loxocemus

Applegate phase X hetero Applegate phase Lampropeltis pyromelana pyromelana. by snakeS.cz


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## LiasisUK

loxocemus said:


> Papuan
> View attachment 360027
> 
> 
> Papuan feeding on juvenile retic
> View attachment 360028
> 
> 
> Papuan hatched 2014, a rare event even now
> View attachment 360029


Who's breeding was this?

Here's a couple of pics of papuana from my house


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## LiasisUK

Some on topic pics of colubrids from our collection 

Pituophis lineaticollis 









Albino Pituophis melanoleucas melanoleucas 









A clutch of weird morph P m mugitus from 2021









Ptyas mucosa (het T+ Albino) 









Coelognathus flavolineatus hatchling from 2021









Huge male Drymarchon corais that's now moved on to a friend


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## loxocemus

what are those Pituophis lineaticollis like to keep, are they different to most pits....

rgds
ed


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## loxocemus

group leonis tommy lundstedt









euro cage leonis tommie lundstedt









adult alterna male in the collection tommie lundstedt










pair of Chilabothrus chrysogaster by evil owl exotics









(perfect) blairs pair by evil owl exotics









Chilabothrus inornatus by evil owl exotics










red paulsoni female by evil owl exotics









Chilabothrus chrysogaster by evil owl exotics









blairs by evil owl exotics









Nelsoni T+ by evil owl exotics (t- and t+ act oddly together in this species, when you pair one of each the resulting offspring are 50/50 t- and t+, i don't know of any other species where this occurs (maybe regius?))


----------



## loxocemus

L. pyromelana Santa Rita locality by evil owl exotics (when pyros hatch some neos wont feed till the following spring, u can either assist feed till then or preferably brumate them just like their parents, they are a good test of your patience, if ur the anxious/worrisome type I'd buy started yearlings+)









1.1 Candoia bibroni australis by evil owl exotics (bibroni can be very variable in colour, their a fascinating species)









san isabel paulsoni female by evil owl exotics









Subflavus by evil owl exotics (fellow member liasisUK produced a litter of these, subflavus is an endangered species requiring cites permits to own)









Red candoia female by evil owl exotics









Malagasy hog by Paul DlDario (this species though easy to keep and often WC is not as easy to breed as one would think of a colubrid, they do require plenty of privacy, especially WC, the hatchlings do well and grow rapidly, in my opinion they are a stunning underrated species)


















black rat preying on a chipmunk


----------



## loxocemus

hey tom regarding your papuan query re the hatching im afraid i don't know the source, it was 8yrs ago i think, il do a bit of digging if i find anything il let you know.

rgds
ed
ps i used to keep albino northerns, the line i had was missing a headscale like albino subocs


----------



## loxocemus

CB21 male Arizona mountain king snake by rainforest-exotics









brumated babies now feeding on unscented by rob bryson









Patternless Red Northern Pinesnake by tanny pituophis









reddish Ocean Co Northern Pine skin detail by tanny pituophis









albino patternless red Northern Pine skin by tanny pituophis









Albino Red Patternless Northern Pine Snake. Lloyd Lemke line. by tanny pituophis (Lloyd is long gone unfortunately but his legacy lives on)









Pituophis vertebralis bimaris by tanny pituophis









pied blk pine origin story









A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... 1986 to be exact, a 20 year old me visited a one Henry Cohen in Buffalo NY to see his quite extensive collection. So many species of snakes, but what caught my eye were his Black Pine Snakes. I’d only seen them in Conant’s field guide and one other photo book before that time. They were an old wild caught pair (legally obtained in the mid-70’s) from Mobile County Alabama. He directed me to his newly hatched clutched and I was in awe. Then, he said “I have a couple odd-looking ones here..” Enter the very first piebald Black Pines. My friendBill 'n Maria Dewhirst bought a pair from him out of that clutch that ended up being hets because he hatched out two from his normal pair in ‘89. He sold me his adult het pair in ‘91, and I raised a visual piebald pair and successfully bred piebald to piebald in ‘94. Some of the very few piebalds from ‘89-‘90 (3), went to the Tropical Fish Pond of Miami, and the others went to Louis Porras at ZooHerp. One from the visual piebald breeding I gave to Steve Riechling at the Memphis Zoo, and he thought it was a cross with a mugitus, he didn’t believe me that it was a pure lodingi, much less a locality animal! They never drew much interest back then, believe it or not, and the market by ‘95 was becoming saturated with Black Pines. I gave some away, sold some (small clutch anyway), and they became lost to the years. Fast forward 11 years on and I see them for sale by Rick Krumrine. I was ecstatic. People were still doubting whether they were pure lodingi, so I repeated the above story on the Kingsnake.com pituophis forum. Glad to see they’re still around. Excuse the bad pics.


----------



## loxocemus

Whitesided gabi loewin









white sided bull by coach's royal reptile









Hypo Axanthic gabi loewin









Hypo ax Baby by gabi loewin









axanthic neonate by gabi loewin









Kingsville red bull by gabi loewin









ghost bull by gabi loewin









Sayi Baby by gabi loewin









Flame Baby by gabi loewin









Axanthic patternless by gabi loewin


----------



## loxocemus

ghost by gabi loewin









Stillwater hypo by gabi loewin









Kingsville red good mood by gabi loewin









Ivory by gabi loewin









Kingsville red Tiger Phase by gabi loewin









Hypo Sayi by gabi loewin









Kingsville red by gabi loewin









Lavender Snow by gabi loewin









P. catenifer sayi patternless by gabi loewin









P.c. Sayi Axanthic patternless by gabi loewin


----------



## loxocemus

Sayi whitesided by gabi loewin









P. c Sayi Amel patternless by gabi loewin









P. c. Sayi Whitesided by gabi loewin









bull hatching by glens reptiles









whitesided bull laying by glens reptiles (you can see the large eggs that produce the big chunky well started babies, bulls are fantastic captives, their very vocal but usually quite reluctant to bite, they will sometimes open mouth head butt you )









albino patternless sayi by glens reptiles









whiteside sayi by glens reptiles









albino patternless sayi by glens reptiles









Fresh shed on this 2019 white-sided, patternless, Stillwater hypo, axanthic Bullsnake by glens reptiles









sayi variety by glens reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

Stillwater Hybino Bull Snake by glens reptiles









Stillwater by glens reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

Captive bred Vipera berus male. Cb2021 by rene woning









Captive bred Vipera berus female cb2021 by rene woning









Vipera seoanei female by rene woning









Coronella austriaca male, just out of brumation. by rene woning









Vipera latastei gaditana male by rene woning









Imantodes cenchoa predating a Gonatodes humeralis. by marisa ai ishimatsu









The black-headed calico snake (Oxyrophus melanogenys) a coral mimic preys heavily on velvet worms by marisa ai ishimatsu









King cobra- Ophiophagus hannah, Karnataka, India, 2019 by marisa ai ishimatsu









stunning coast gartersnake (Thamnophis elegans terrestris) by marisa ai ishimatsu









Pseudoboa coronata, Loreto, Peru, 2018 by marisa ai ishimatsu


----------



## loxocemus

Dipsas catesbyi, loreto peru jan 18' by marisa ai ishimatsu









sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes laterorepens) consuming dipsosaurus dorsalis by marisa ai ishimatsu









Red vine snake- Tripanurgos compressus, in situ, Loreto, Peru, January 2015 by marisa ai ishimatsu









Juvie Amazon tree boa (Corallus hortulanus) from the Peruvian Amazon by marisa ai ishimatsu









Northern rubber boa- Charina bottae, juvenile calaveras county california by marisa ai ishimatsu









Brown sipo- Chironius fuscus, Loreto, Peru by marisa ai ishimatsu









Pretty in pink. Southwestern speckled rattlesnake, Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus, Maricopa County, AZ, 2011 by marisa ai ishimatsu









Lachesis muta, Peru 2013 by marisa ai ishimatsu









Bogertophis rosaliae, Baja Sur, 2013 by marisa ai ishimatsu









Northern rubber boa- Charina bottae, juvenile by marisa ai ishimatsu


----------



## loxocemus

Bipes biporus, Baja California Sur, Mexico by marisa ai ishimatsu (this is not like the other's )









This photo was of the snake in situ, and he was left that way. (Red Vine Snake- Tripanurgos compressus by marisa ai ishimatsu









Micrurus nigrocinctus Pico Bonito, Honduras by marisa ai ishimatsu









scaleless cali king mike fedzen









Male possible het scaleless from 2020 mike fedzen









L. polyzona (sinaloa) morph by nicola buchmann









L polyzona (sinaloa) morph by nicola buchmann









1.1 Pueblamex (campbelli 50% mexicana 50%) by Maksymilian Czachur









F2 splendida 25% californiae 25% corn 50% by x-snakes









Mexicorn (mexicana 50% corn 50%) tessera poss het amel charcoal x mexicana (?) by x-snakes


----------



## loxocemus

making hybrids often involves trickery Parents by x-snakes










northern pine by terry riley









annectans by terry riley









sayi eating a rat by terry riley









Subadult female Malagasy Cat Eyed Snake by spitfire reptiles (silver form)









Yearling female Moore County NC Mole Kingsnake by spitfire reptiles









Captive born and bred Glossy snake by spitfire reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

Chilabothrus inornatus CBB2020 adam waz


















blk head python by adam waz









oligodon feeding on slug egg by adam waz









Epicrates alvarezi CB12-2019 by adam waz









Elaphe dione Vladivostok locality by adam waz









Blue philodryas baroni basking on the cork under UVB tube by adam waz









baroni head study by adam waz









caninus color change by adam waz









Super Motley Pied Paradox Albino by reptilab


----------



## loxocemus

Motley Purple Pied poss.Tiger-Super Tiger by reptilab









Super Motley PIED 66% Poss.Het.Purple female, CB2019 by reptilab









Motley Tiger DH Purple Pied female gravid inversion by adam waz









Golden Child Purple Albino female, CB2017 by adam waz









Motley Purple Albino male, CB2017 by adam waz









Motley Purple a few days before laying eggs by adam waz









Morelia viridis Jayapura x Morelia spilota spilota lock by adam waz









Blond-Caramel-T+ Granite (Alan's line) male (CB2014 - ReptiLab)









Hypo Labyrinth het.Albino female (CB2013 - ReptiLab)









Ivory Green het.Albino female reptilab


----------



## LiasisUK

loxocemus said:


> what are those Pituophis lineaticollis like to keep, are they different to most pits....
> 
> rgds
> ed


Pretty similar, but more aggressive and a bit less messy than the bulls.


----------



## al stotton

Another World first for............


----------



## LiasisUK

al stotton said:


> Another World first for............


What's the genetics of this one Al?


----------



## al stotton

LiasisUK said:


> What's the genetics of this one Al?


This came from my Alpine Snow genes , BUT it has odd appearance , very Micro Scale esque , shall we say Tom.

I hatched a few examples in 2021 inc. the one above . I also hatched a male a few seasons ago but kept quiet about it , he is ready for a girlfriend soon


----------



## al stotton

Here's Mr. MIKE ROWE


----------



## LiasisUK

al stotton said:


> Here's Mr. MIKE ROWE


Great name haha. 

Certainly something interesting going on there


----------



## loxocemus

interesting









moms to be


















Thamnophis wall of dreams









Northern Copperhead neonates by leo spinner (notice the yellow caudal lure tails)









possibly the most unique wild find, a lucy ahaetulla prasina



























young male baroni, great affordable display snake, i woke a large female up, she was very tame, but that fright caused an instant reversion to instinctive defense, and she got me good (no after effects at all other than my 3am girly scream)









a beautiful head study of moellendorffi


----------



## loxocemus

their not called variables for nothing









kyles animals i think









a lovely calabaria, their easy to keep if u can breed ur own rat chubs


















a frisky rhino pair









a beautiful gravid ATB









a wild grayband









A Texas indigo snake sharing a cavity with giant toads (Rhinella horribilis).









Albino and Wild type brown water snakes (both wc)









Parastenophis betsileanus (Parastenophis is a genus of snake in the family Lamprophiidae that contains the sole species Parastenophis betsileanus. It is found in Madagascar. thanks google)


----------



## loxocemus

a beautiful blairs, i always wanted a "trutnau shelf", after ludwig trutnau, i wanted a blairs, an alterna, a pyro, and a agalma, all in rocky habitats, the only reptile book i still have is by trutnau



























young blairs can be easy'ish or they can be hell









hypo floridas doing "adult stuff", the grip rarely ever leads to issues, though in western hogs the fang punctures can cause bacterial infections (usually from females biting males)









a high black scarlet king, elapsoides, their not the easiest king to work with or even find now









sharp line t+ colombian rainbow









a female t- colombian









a beautiful blk pine, words can't express my nostalgia for these









Philothamnus semivariegatus - Spotted Bush Snake


----------



## loxocemus

nice ass









hypo e apple by roderick mcleod, the combination of hypo erythristic and applegate makes this gem









a very rare housnake, the spotted, such a beautiful face









liasis dunni (juveniles) extremely rare now









found near Ajo, AZ in 2018. Not entirely sure what morph it is but suspect T+, if your hating on single gene morphs ur hating on nature, the vast majority drew their first breathes in the wild.


----------



## LiasisUK

loxocemus said:


> liasis dunni (juveniles) extremely rare now
> View attachment 361689


Yes I'll take both thank you


----------



## loxocemus

do you remember when they were overlooked, an "odd little macklots", quite cheap, well their the belle of the ball now 

hope ur having a good season

rgds
ed



LiasisUK said:


> Yes I'll take both thank you


----------



## LiasisUK

loxocemus said:


> do you remember when they were overlooked, an "odd little macklots", quite cheap, well their the belle of the ball now
> 
> hope ur having a good season
> 
> rgds
> ed



Yes! I even remember seeing them advertised and never went for them. idiot, idiot, idiot. Interestingly the main difference between them and macklots is they hatch out orange-brown like a savu, whereas macklots hatch out very dark, almost black. 

I know a couple of Europeans with them but neither have had any success breeding them. One day, then I will complete the genus. 

Yes season is going alright so far, still early days so I am in that phase of doubting all of it.


----------



## LiasisUK

Something for you Ed.


----------



## loxocemus

they are beautiful, that niche they occupy, the evolutionary tweaks, the reproduction, it all makes something unique. an oddball lovers sought after gem. i had some ideas for a neonate diet that may help if they find it acceptable of course.

some people dream of a nice display snake, mines is sliding open a nice tub and lifting a piece of bark and there, are a bunch of trops.

i hope she is yours.........

rgds
ed
ps how are the papuans, off feed, getting heavy looking....


----------



## LiasisUK

She is indeed mine, got back from Europe with her and the male over the Easter weekend, along with all the necessary paperwork. As well as some other species.

Papuana is as you describe, off food, chunky, hugging the hot spot, heavy. Though she did the same last year and nothing. We shall see 🤞🤞


----------



## loxocemus

Aurora House Snake - Lamprophis Aurora. by A.Linkfield









Black house snake in light phase, from olivaceous project, so orange eyes instead of blk. by A.Linkfield









Freshly hatched laticinctus. (Broad Banded Bamboo Rat Snakes) by e.westmorland









lodingi by j.alexander (I'd like to work with these again, i remember their chunkiness' as started babies)









The True Boaedon Lineatus, AKA The Tanzanian Dwarf Striped House Snake. by A.Linkfield


----------



## ian14

Beautiful snakes as always.
I'm rather taken by the house snakes.


----------



## loxocemus

ditto, their really coming back, they've got everything to make good captives, the blue eyed morph is gorgeous.










keep studying my friend

rgds
ed




ian14 said:


> Beautiful snakes as always.
> I'm rather taken by the house snakes.


----------



## loxocemus

SUPER Motley great basin gopher by byron de stouet









WW Speckled king by sob rhea, speckled's are sort of the secret gem, their very slowly coming back.


----------



## loxocemus

by Sjoerd Prins









"I tricked her with a piece of gecko tail for the scent to get her in a feeding mode.
Then i put a pinky in front of her and she took it", by Sjoerd Prins (its a mentalis, like auroras they need/want lizards to start, but so do pyro's and graybands, so its not unusual)










"Headshot of my female Boaedon virgatus", Sjoerd Prins









clutch of lineatus by Sjoerd Prins









"Spirostreptus servatius in my Boaedon virgatus enclosure, These are my favorite millipede and co-exist very well with this house snake"


----------



## loxocemus

One of the distinct features of B virgatus is the yellow stripe on the belly. by Sjoerd Prins 









spotted housnake head study by kiba reptiles









black housnake head study by kiba reptiles









T-Butter housesnake carrying folikels and getting more appetite. by squaremountain critters


----------



## loxocemus

Hypo ice (erythristic anery) Florida king by josh olive









" Found on MorphMarket: Not sure if it's the world's fattest California kingsnake or a blood python cosplaying as a Cal king." by josh olive (keep an eye on ur cali's, watch their waist line)









golden peach ultra mosaic Florida king female from Jorge Sierra 









white-sided ghost (axanthic hypo) Florida king produced by Daniel Parker at Sunshine Serpents. 









oddball hatched by jorge seirra









Late 2020 hatchling near-patternless Apalachicola king by josh olive


----------



## loxocemus

"So, would you call this little male Cal king a high white or a reverse stripe? " by josh olive









"hemipene pics are OK in this group, right?







So, the female he was locked with somehow disconnected him, and I took this photo in case I needed to show it to the vet when I took him in for a prolapsed hemipenis. But after his "excitement" subsided, it retracted normally. Lucky this time". by josh olive









love bite









anthony jm, tiger rat snake (Nicaragua locality)









young fwc by anthony jm









2019 Jungle vpi img orangasm het 66 anery 1 produced by Frank Martin











16 year old proven female etb


----------



## loxocemus

3 uscbb 2019 siblings etbs by AJM Reptiles and Aquatics 



















*







*

"Two female ETBs I been raising up" by AJM Reptiles and Aquatics










Fresh shed by AJM Reptiles and Aquatics


----------



## loxocemus

thrasops occidentalis by AJM Reptiles and Aquatics 









Another possible hold back produce by Ray Melise 









Hold back produced by Ray Melise 









Moonglow by AJM Reptiles and Aquatics


----------



## loxocemus

bullsnake morph, by walter smith (walter got covid bad this year enough to sell his entire collection, he might rebuild but he's moving as well)


















Rough Scaled Pythons hatching 2019 by tom keogan













































hypermelanistic? blk heads by tom keogan


----------



## loxocemus

fuscus action december, tom keogan









fuscus clutch by tom keogan









Lucy rainbow boas born august tom keogan


----------



## loxocemus

bismarks by tom keogan (unfortunately they lose their vibrancy as they age, they can be nippy as adults sometimes so always keep a hook handy)









small subflavus litter by tom keogan

















bismark by tom


















tangerine alb honduran by keogan









blk head by tom k.









lucy columbian by tom k. they can be blue or black eyed or even both.










antill python sitting on a clutch by tom k.










hatching


----------



## loxocemus

beautiful fuscus by tom k.






































anthill pair









alb blk head by tom k. (its unlikely it survived, its a very weak gene)

__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content



















juvenile boelens by gaspar reptiles 2021


----------



## loxocemus

blood sitting, by gaspar reptiles









VPI T+ Yellows gaspar reptiles 


















Pale Grey female blood by gaspar reptiles









t-cherry bloods gaspar reptiles 









007s (Matrix Goldeneyes) 100% Het for T+ Albino. by gaspar reptiles







##









Sub-Adult T+ Ivory by gaspar reptiles 









Male T+ Ivory by gp


----------



## loxocemus

angry gony by jordan cadiot, oxy's are quick to flight so don't do well in stick cages, build/grow the cage then get the oxy.









angry oxy by stunning snakes, oxycephalum have better hatch rates than janseni which seem cursed with dead in egg syndrome, thermal manipulation is key, unfortunately the animals are the subjects in this experiment









beautiful rhino head study









beautiful rhino pair by massimo camp









Blue frenatum 2 by stunning snakes, line breed true, beautiful but very often hyper









Blue frenatum 3 by stunning snakes









Blue frenatum 4 by stunning snakes









Blue frenatum 5 by stunning snakes










Blue frenatum by stunning snakes









blue Gonyosoma frenatum by stunning snakes, italy


----------



## loxocemus

Blue Gonyosoma frenatum female by massimo camp









fresh hatch boulengeri, this is the rhino drawback, the babies are tiny and often want guppies/tadpoles









fresh shed silver gony by mattismo camp, silver x green seems to give a bit of both and some oddities, silver x silver will often produce greens to, there are some true one off beauties created. there are albino's more than one form, there are complete vibrant yellow specimen/s id bet are genetic, there are also completely blue specimens, again im sure must be genetic









gonyosoma often prefer chicks, being arboreal and natural bird predators









gony chick feeder









some species look cool even in shed









gonyosoma by massimo camp, as u can see gonys dont need to be saturated and like fresh air









gonyosoma lock by massimo camp









green gony 102 incubation days









head study by massimo camp


----------



## loxocemus

janseni group massimo camp, janseni are more um, not delicate, but need that experienced hand to do well, often available as WC









neo gony on straight pinks! 2 by matissmo camp









neo gony on straight pinks! by matissmo camp









newborn frenatum 2 (not bred enough)









newborn frenatum









now the work begins, there are techniques that eventually get them started, but sadly some just seem bound to fail (fyi id love to see a lucy rhino)









perfection by massimo camp, do well in something like 5ft long 2-2.5ft wide 3-4ft high









pissed silver by mattismo camp









rhino feed by Massimo Camp, they do well on adult mice all their lives, avoid rats but small quail are good to vary









rhino headstudy, their very movement orientated, move the prey in reaction to the pupils, u want the "wind up" for the strike


----------



## loxocemus

rhino neonates (i bought five for a failed trade, but it was a learning experience, i'm embarrassed to say i mis-sexed more than one)









silver oxycephalum









started rhino rat by massimo camp, this is what ur looking for in ur first rhino, chubby babies at least tripled in size









stunning gonyosoma oxycephalum juvenile









stunning gonyosoma oxycephalum, they have everything, what more could one want in a single snake.









the goal, self feeding rhino by massimo camp









the gony goal by massimo camp









waterbowl laying! (clutch was saved)


----------



## ian14

When I had my rhinos I found that a great trick to getting them feeding was with fish, offered when the snake was soaking in its water dish. Without fail, every time they would launch themselves at the fish then eat underwater.


----------



## arwen_7

oh those gonyosoma oxycephalum are amazing looking snakes!


----------



## loxocemus

1.0 Lavender Possible Het Albino and Hypermel D-J lassiter









hypo moellendorffi by glens reptiles









ultramel (?) corn by glens reptiles









andean milks by chad gordon (an alpine cool species like gaigae)


















virtually extinct in the uk hobby


















applegate pyro D-J lassiter










auroras' by royal house snakes









Axanthic splendida D-J lassiter


----------



## loxocemus

Baubel Line Reduced Black Santa Rita Pyro by chad gordon









Black-headed Spotted whip snake (Hemorrhois ravergieri) by glens reptiles









Blaze Goini Kingsnake from Tracy Thompson









Eastern Chain female by chad gordon









Edisto Mosaic Chain Kingsnake by pamela radsliff









Green baroni by glens reptiles









Hi white albino by chad gordon









hypo tangerine honduran by chad gordon









hypo white sided bull by Kim Schøndorff









jani pituophis by Kim Schøndorff


----------



## loxocemus

Jaw Bone Canyon female cali by chad gordon









knoblochi by chad gordon









knoblochi pairing by chad gordon









Liberty County Meansi......striped sire and a blotched dam by chad gordon




















male Sierra Juarez Agalma by chad gordon









Pyromelana D-J lassiter









Santa Rita Reduced Black Pyros by chad gordon









Second deposition of the season unicolor


----------



## loxocemus

Sentz hypo pyro D-J lassiter









Sierra Juarez Agalmas by chad gordon



























unknown morph cali by chad gordon









VP Male and Female sired by a WC x Wilson Line Cosala 2 by chad gordon



























Yucatan Milks (Blanchardi) by chad gordon


----------



## loxocemus

Atheris squamigera by reptile hunter









holdback Sinoloan female by kenneth c diehl









Paradox Salmon snow 2021 male by kenneth c diehl









female 2019 US CBB Red-Black Striped Snakes (Bothrophthalmus lineatus) by kenneth c diehl









"
Hello Colubrid Fans, I wanted to share in my excitement to be fortunate enough to acquire a pair of 2019 US CBB Red-Black Striped Snakes (Bothrophthalmus lineatus) from Matthew Most of Sarpamitra, Thanks Matt for doing all the hard work! 🙂 I understand that these are the first ever CBB offerings of this species. 🙂 These are established critters that came from two separate clutches (different females). The pair is doing well with me, feeding on 2-3 live large pinky mice each per meal, no food item scenting was ever used after hatching.
The Red-Black Striped Snake is a monotypical member, single species of the genus (Bothrophthalmus). Very limited information on this species is documented. This species is found in the Sub-Saharan African countries of Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Angola and Guinea. It is a harmless very rare snake, with interesting anatomical features that, IMO, makes them unique. I speculate they could be mimicking a rare venomous rear-fanged species (Polemon acanthias) that inhabits similar geographic areas, yet to be resolved. The neonate's white heads will change to red as it matures into adulthood. My observations have lead me to believe they are nocturnal, timid forest floor dwelling creatures that reside in captivity under cypress mulch/bark the majority of the day, until nightfall. Besides their outwardly phenotype, this species has intrigued me for years, ever since I acquired a WC pair which thrived for close to 6 months. Then due to my observations, and aided by my Reptile Vet. and the Vet. staff at the San Antonio Zoo, started to address the internal parasite loads, which led to their demise.
As many of you know, establishing this species in Herpetoculture is primarily based upon captive breeding success and sound husbandry. I plan to nurture these critters and document my experience with them, and of course, keep you'all posted. 🙂 The 3rd picture is of an adult..... Thanks Ken"





























female 2019 US CBB Red-Black Striped Snakes (Bothrophthalmus lineatus 5) by kenneth c diehl









pyro by kenneth c diehl









cosala by kenneth c diehl









blairs by kenneth c diehl


----------



## loxocemus

blairs by kenneth c diehl









knob hold back from 2018 by kenneth c diehl









these are from the Jonel Lopez Stock, HB Count Male to a Clown Head female by kenneth c diehl









yellow Milksnake phase Leonis by antoine burke









Cool Vivid line Earthtone Leonis Male by antoine burke









Hypo Greeri by antoine burke


















T- hybinos by byron stouet


















florida-goini by byron stouet


----------



## loxocemus

hypo lavender by byron stouet









Axanthic brooks by byron stouet









Whitesided lavender brooks by byron stouet









T- brooks by byron stouet









Hypo Whiteside by byron stouet








(all above are brooks/floridas fyi)

hypo female by byron stouet









Bell line goini female. 2021 by byron stouet


----------



## loxocemus

ad f suriname by craig land









8mth suriname by craig land









Suriname female BCC by craig land


















Suriname BCC by craig land









Boa C. C Guyana by bjorn kuhlen









Boa C Amarali by bjorn kuhlen









Guyana by bjorn kuhlen


















2 years old Suriname male by bjorn kuhlen


----------



## loxocemus

My surinam pink lady line by bjorn kuhlen









Boa Amarali B. Miller by bjorn kuhlen









Arabesque Roswell het Kahl by bjorn kuhlen









Sharp Sunglow Male (Possible Super) after shed by bjorn kuhlen









keeper leopard boa by boa-world









Adult Male Leopard Boa by boa-world









Super Hypo Boa by boa-world









Img Kahl Jungle Motley poss het Anery by boa-world









female Kahl Sunglow het Anery by boa-world

__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content










Het Leopard Boa by boa-world


----------



## loxocemus

Sharp Sunglow female by boa-world









Vpi Img by boa world









Het Leo close up by boa world









leopards by boa world









Leopard Boa holdback by boa world









sunglow in shed by boa world









Baby Leopard Boa by boa world


















Kahl Albino het Anery by boa world









Sharp Sunglow Female by boa world


----------



## loxocemus

Vpi Img by boa world









ball pythons eggs by boa world (there was a time when this was a rare event, now anyone with 1.1 can produce something)









sunglow by boa world









Possible Super Sunglow Sharp by boa world









Vpi Img 2 by boa world









day 108 pos sharp sunglow x hypo het sharp by boa world









2021 RC Pastel Fire Boas richard ceniceros reptiles


















Yearling VPI T+ Sunglow Jungle Motley Female richard ceniceros reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

2021 RC Pastel Line Sunglow Motley VPI T+ Female richard ceniceros reptiles









2021 VPI T+ Jungle 100% het anery richard ceniceros reptiles









yearling 2021 IMG VPI T+ Combos richard ceniceros reptiles



























RC Pastel 100% het Sharp Albino richard ceniceros reptiles









RC Pastel Labyrinth Boa richard ceniceros reptiles









RC Pastel visual Kahl Albino richard ceniceros reptiles









Yearling VPI T+ Sunglow 100% het Anery Female richard ceniceros reptiles









2021 VPI T+ Sunglow Jungle Male richard ceniceros reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

2021 Pink Panther Line Sunglow Motley Jungle VPI T+ Female richard ceniceros reptiles









2021 VPI T+ Sunglow Motley Female from the RC Pastel line richard ceniceros reptiles









RC Pastel Fire 🔥 and Super Fire richard ceniceros reptiles









RC Pastel Kahl Albino on top of a Coral lineage Kahl Albino. richard ceniceros reptiles








(ribbed card substrate can make them calmer than paper, as it stops them sliding about, they have something to grip.)

Scoria boa. richard ceniceros reptiles









RC Pastel VPI T+ Motley. richard ceniceros reptiles









perfect cosala









RC Pastel VPI T+ Motley girl richard ceniceros reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

2019 Fire VPI T+ Albino Female richard ceniceros reptiles









RC Pastel VPI T+ Motley richard ceniceros reptiles









angolans richard ceniceros reptiles









2020 RC Pastel by francis ocasio









VPI T+ Albino Motley RC Pastel style richard ceniceros reptiles









Hypo Prairie Kingsnake richard ceniceros reptiles (a forgotten gem of the genus)









RC Pastel VPI T+ Motley girl richard ceniceros reptiles









Magpie Blood (super goldeneye) richard ceniceros reptiles









Kahl Sunglow digesting a fresh meal richard ceniceros reptiles









Scoria Boa acting a lil shy richard ceniceros reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

Kahl Sunglow Aztec Jungle richard ceniceros reptiles









Leucistic (Super Fire) richard ceniceros reptiles









Scoria Boa richard ceniceros reptiles









RC Pastel VPI T+ Albino Motley takin a dip richard ceniceros reptiles









VPI T+ Snow richard ceniceros reptiles









Leucistic boa constrictor richard ceniceros reptiles









VPI T+ Motley Jungle and a Kahl Albino Aztec Jungle richard ceniceros reptiles









Calligaster pair, hypo richard ceniceros reptiles









RC pastel richard ceniceros reptiles









Angolan Python Male richard ceniceros reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

RC Pastel VPI T+ Motleys richard ceniceros reptiles









VPI T+ Albino Motley Jungle richard ceniceros reptiles









Apalachicola Lowland Kingsnake by pamela radsliff


----------



## loxocemus

andesiana by chad gordon (iv always wanted to try these, test their hardiness, i suspect something like blk rats)









tangerine honduran milk by chad gordon (big streaks of orange and red, but their nervous by nature)









sometimes its hard to believe what we see in the cage actually exists out there in the wild. Florida Pine Snake, in situ. Taylor County, GA via kevin baesler









triple carpets by hullander exotics (a very rare occurrence, triplets, their smaller than normal but are usually ok if they make it to term, maybe a bit difficult to get started. i can't remember hearing of live-born triplets though. id say retics probably have the highest incidence of triplets in captivity.)









T- Albino Blue Eye Cape House Snake Adult Female, by april linkfield









rgds
ed


----------



## loxocemus

Hypo het lavender black rat snakes hatching by bartley reptiles









Greenbush rat snakes feeding by bartley reptiles









HYPO LAVENDER CALICO and HYPO CALICO by bradley reptiles









Axanthic mandarins are out by bartley reptiles









Axanthic mandarins hatch out as you see above. They lose the yellow as they age, eventually turning into a white, red, and black animal. by bradley reptiles









amel amur by bradley reptiles (very very hardy snakes, fantastic pets just like their russian cousins)









juvenile mandarin rat by bartley reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

nice coxi by bartley reptiles









Greenbush rat snake clutch by bartley reptiles









Rusty Whiteside Black Rat clutch by bartley reptiles









sunrise blk rat by bartley reptiles









albino sunrise blk rat by bartley reptiles









Moonshine greenish rat snake clutch by bartley reptiles









Yunnan bamboo rat clutch by bartley reptiles









Calico black rat snake on eggs by bartley reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

chocolate black rats by bartley reptiles









coxi neo by bartley reptiles









pulchra neo by bartley reptiles









2017 male cosala by bartley reptiles



























o.p. laticinctus (banded bamboo ratsnakes) hatching by bartley reptiles









Amel Brindled black ratsnakes by bartley reptiles









Hypo rusty black ratsnake X rusty het hypo by bartley reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

Toxicodryas blandingii









Boiga cynodon




























Boiga dendrophila latifasciata these and divergens are probably my favourite boiga









Boiga cyanea male by special reptiles









Boiga nigriceps









The Luzon mangrove snake (Boiga dendrophila divergens)









CB2018 Boiga irregularis









Boiga guangxiensis


----------



## loxocemus

CB Boiga dendrophila dendrophila









Boiga dendrophila latifasciata









Boiga Cyanea









1.1 Boiga dendrophila gemmicincta









0.1 Boiga jaspidea









1.0 Boiga nigriceps









Boiga irregularis









Boiga dendrophila gemmicincta









Boiga dendrophila latifasciata









Boiga guangxiensis


----------



## loxocemus

Boiga cyanea









Boiga dendrophila latifasciata









Boiga cyanea - grey mutation?



















Phillipine Boiga cynodon from Bohol 









Boiga siamensis









Orange Boiga cynodon from Bohol-Phillipines









Cyanea neonates










Boiga dendrophila gemmicincta









Boiga siamensis CB2020 after eating a small bird egg


----------



## loxocemus

Boiga dendrophila divergens Cb17


















Boiga cyanea 'grey'









Toxicodryas-Boiga blandingii eggs









Boiga dendrophila divergens









Boiga dendrophila gemmicincta 









Boiga dendrophila divergens polillo


















CB18 Boiga dendrophila multicincta well fed









Orange Boiga cynodon


----------



## loxocemus

Boiga dendrophila divergens



























Boiga dendrophila latifasciata 









Black Pine


















low white Banana Pied buchanan herpetological









Mardi Gras









northern White Lipped Python hatchling









Northern Mexican Pinesnake (pituophis deppei jani) hatchling


----------



## loxocemus

caramel mangrove









juvenile cyanea









The rarely seen False palmviper (Xenodon werneri) (first photo) mimics the highly venomous Palmviper (Bothrops bilineatus) (second photo)









Palmviper (Bothrops bilineatus)









Huge 7-8ft plus Texas Rat Snake


















special diamond by buchanan herpetological









Wild eyelash viper by buchanan herpetological









Adult female Northern Mexican Pine Snake (Pituophis deppei jani) by buchanan herpetological









amel honduran by buchanan herpetological


----------



## loxocemus

Extreme hypo (100% het anery, 66% possible het albino) by buchanan herpetological









Extreme hypo x Albino by buchanan herpetological



























splotched nelsoni by andrea lz









Carr Canyon pyro by dean alessandrini









Chesapeake Virginia Eastern King by dean alessandrini









Deppei deppei by dean alessandrini


----------



## loxocemus

Carr Canyon local Pyromelana looking gravid by dean alessandrini









t+ nelsoni by ryno edward









miami corn by eric westmorland









2021 female Miami Sunkissed, and Miami Shatter hold backs by eric westmorland









laticincta bamboo ratsnake by eric westmorland









a stunning coxi bamboo ratsnake by eric westmorland









anomala by eric westmorland









i think this is the rare striped climacophora by eric westmorland









amel climacophora by eric westmorland









lineaticollis by eric westmorland these and black pines are my favourite pits


----------



## loxocemus

applegate pyro by eric westmorland









young andean by eric westmorland









hypo lavender mosaic florida by Lu Di









paradox anery kenyan sandboa









oxyrhopus fitzingeri by tommie lundstedt


















coxi 2022 by kates snakes









Waiting patiently for her eggs…by scott crumbly









Tried to take a picture of this snake and he fainted.. And so seriously, it is common in many snake species thanatosis, meaning apparent death, which is a defensive reaction in the face of danger. this is c.radiatus


----------



## loxocemus

Blackheaded Python neonates by rick krumrine reptiles









stunning grayband by rick krumrine reptiles









Baron's Racers by rick krumrine reptiles









pied blk pine by rick krumrine reptiles









Sharp sunglow by rick krumrine reptiles









Hypo Leopard het Albino by rick krumrine reptiles









Speckled Rattlesnake by rick krumrine reptiles









early gravid blk headed python by rick krumrine reptiles









female alterna Gray-Banded King by rick krumrine reptiles









gravid inverted woma by rick krumrine reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

greybanded king by rick krumrine reptiles









scaleless Texas Rat with not mite-scales by rick krumrine reptiles









albino granite chequered garter by rick krumrine reptiles









Pied Black Pines by rick krumrine reptiles









female White Speckled Rattlesnake 2 by rick krumrine reptiles


















Amel palmetto corn by rick krumrine reptiles









extreme Piebald Black Pine by rick krumrine reptiles









Outer Banks King idiot, its fine now by rick krumrine reptiles









0.1 C. adamanteus. Albino Eastern Duamondack by rick krumrine reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

black headed python maternally incubating her clutch by rick krumrine reptiles









albino sonoran by summers snakes









ghost bull by summers snakes









Red Hypo Stillwater by summers snakes









christmas mountain sonoran gopher by summers snakes









ivory bull by summers snakes









clean white sided bull by summers snakes









northern pine by summers snakes









white sided bull by summers snakes









cinder vanishing stripe by taboo betty reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

lioheterodon madagascariensis by max bachalas










F2 lioheterodon madagascariensis by max bachalas









1.0 Boiruna maculata super pied C2019 by max bachalas

__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content



















Elaphe carinata carinata anery and strip by max bachalas









Elaphe carinata carinata het axanthic black eastern china by max bachalas









dyers- klumpers striped boy by kris painschab









2020 male Southern leucistic pine snake by adam roth









2.7m cage for trio of northern pines


----------



## loxocemus

cont.


















hypo moellendorffi by pat dollard









F3 in the albino project Ortriophis moellendorffi. Babies 100% hetero albino with a blood content of O.m. 75% 3 by albinosnakes.cz



























Panda piedsided by albinosnakes.cz









stunningly offtopic
concentric diamondback terrapin by tommys reptiles









Asthenodipsas malaccanus 2 by christopher shannon


----------



## loxocemus

Bothriechis bicolor, Chiapas, México. 2 by christopher shannon


















hamadryad eating chondro by christopher shannon









wc whitesided copperhead 2 by cody mulanax


















Male Bairds Ratsnake by mesozoic reptiles









Hypo Imperial Pueblan-Honduran 7 by mesozoic reptiles









Cornsnake X Nelson's Milk X Cal King X Pueblan Milk by mesozoic reptiles









Adult Lavender Snow Cal King by mesozoic reptiles









alb cali (desert?) by mesozoic reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

Desert Cal Kings by mesozoic reptiles (copulation)









Light Phase Ghost by mesozoic reptiles









Imperial Pueblan-Honduran 6 by mesozoic reptiles









Hypo & Possible Het Imperial Pueblan-Honduran by mesozoic reptiles









hypo (extreme?) Imperial Pueblan-Honduran 5 by mesozoic reptiles









Imperial Pueblan 4 by mesozoic reptiles









Imperial Pueblan 3 by mesozoic reptiles









Light Phase Ghost Cal King by mesozoic reptiles









Albino Imperial Pueblan by mesozoic reptiles (banana influence)









aberrant tang honduran by mesozoic reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

Ultramel Jungle Cornsnake by mesozoic reptiles









lavender snow cali by mesozoic reptiles









t+ nelsoni by mesozoic reptiles









Albino Banana California King by mesozoic reptiles



















Amethyst (Lava + Lavender) Diffused Het Caramel Corn Snake 2 by mesozoic reptiles


















Ultramel Jungle Corn Snake (Pantherophis Guttatus X Lampropeltis Getula Californaie) by mesozoic reptiles









albino jungle corn by mesozoic reptiles









Splotched Sinaloan Milksnake 2 by mesozoic reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

Light Phase Ghost & Het Cal Kings hatching by mesozoic reptiles









Casper Ghost Cal Kings by mesozoic reptiles









High Whites-Reverse Stripe by mesozoic reptiles









Banana California Kingsnake Female by mesozoic reptiles









Albino Tangerine Hondo hatching by mesozoic reptiles









Hypo Imperial Pueblan-Honduran 4 by mesozoic reptiles


















High White California Kingsnake by mesozoic reptiles









Splotched Sinaloan Milksnake by mesozoic reptiles









lavender cali by mesozoic reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

Albino Nelsons X Thayers by mesozoic reptiles









hypermelanistic cali 2 by mesozoic reptiles (hyper-more, hypo-less)









T + Nelsons Milk by mesozoic reptiles









Ultramel Sunkissed Corn Snake by mesozoic reptiles









Imperial Pueblan by mesozoic reptiles









Desert Stripe California Kingsnake 2 by mesozoic reptiles i have always thought cali kings have the most beautiful faces.









mbk by mesozoic reptiles (there's a hypo/t+ now its chocolate brown very like the cali king form, it may also be hiding in some captive stock)









Ghost Honduran Milk by mesozoic reptiles









Sunkissed Tessera by mesozoic reptiles









Corwin Hypo Cal King by mesozoic reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

splotched sinaloan by mesozoic reptiles no two are alike









Playing dead western hog 2 by mesozoic reptiles









cali king face study by mesozoic reptiles









Whitesided Brooks 2 by mesozoic reptiles









extreme hypo imperial pueblan 2 by mesozoic reptiles









imperial by mesozoic reptiles









Whitesided Brooks by mesozoic reptiles









Imperial Pueblan-Honduran extreme gene by mesozoic reptiles









extreme hypo imperial pueblan by mesozoic reptiles









albino tangerine honduran milk by mesozoic reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

Albino Nuevo Leon King X Nelson's Milk Female by mesozoic reptiles this could easily be passed off as a regular amel nelsoni, this is the danger of hybrids









same genes, different expression









again same genes, different expression









Evans Hypo Male by mesozoic reptiles









Playing dead western hog by mesozoic reptiles









Amel Sunkissed Corn snake by mesozoic reptiles looks like okeetee









hi white cali by mesozoic reptiles









blizzard or casper ? cali i think by mesozoic reptiles









Albino Banana Cal King by mesozoic reptiles









Imperial Pueblan X Jungle Corn by mesozoic reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

Scaleless Corn Snake 2 by mesozoic reptiles


















Desert Stripe California Kingsnake by mesozoic reptiles


















hypo ghost cali.... by mesozoic reptiles









Hypermelanistic cali by mesozoic reptiles









Apricot Pueblan Milksnake (Lampropeltis Triangulum Campbelli) X Nelson's Milksnake (Lampropeltis Triangulum Nelsoni) Het Albino by mesozoic reptiles again could be passed off as a regular or irregular pueblan









Bloodred Tessera Het Lava by mesozoic reptiles









honduran milk tangerine by mesozoic reptiles









37.5% Pueblan Milksnake (Lampropeltis Triangulum Campbelli) etc etc by mesozoic reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

albino super conda by mesozoic reptiles


















hi white albino cali by mesozoic reptiles









Scaleless Corn Snake by mesozoic reptiles









Casper Cal King X Het Casper by mesozoic reptiles (copulation)









Scaleless Corn X Het copulating by mesozoic reptiles









Super Yeti 2 by mesozoic reptiles


















Redback Imperial Pueblan-Honduran by mesozoic reptiles









Arctic Hognose Het Lavender by mesozoic reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

Bloodred Tessera Het Sunkissed by mesozoic reptiles









corwin Hypomelanistic X Hypermelanistic by mesozoic reptiles (copulation)









Oreo wide stripe project great basin serpentarium



























i'm almost certain that some of the mesozoic reptiles pics are reposts, my apologies if so.


----------



## loxocemus

Extreme rare scaleless Spectacled Cobra (Indian Cobra) 3 by panji darmawan



























one year old MBK by sara giesler









prolapsed hemipene in a red bullsnake jim cardo









High Black and White Pine Barrens, NJ Northern Pine jim cardo









Hypo Bullsnake(Stillwater strain) 66%PH Miami Co axanthic by jim cardo


















Patternless Red Northern Pine male by tanny pituophis









Patternless Red Northern Pine X AlbIno Red Patternless Northern Pine Snake laying by tanny pituophis


----------



## loxocemus

Kentucky Northern Pine Snake laying by tanny pituophis









whiteside bullsnake by jim cardo









Female platinum, produced by Davy Vickers. by eric kikel









Tom Stevens lavender snow stock. by eric kikel









Light phase ghost female by eric kikel









Blizzards het lavender, and hypermels double het lavender and albino by eric kikel










double visual hypermelanistic & lavender by eric kikel









BEB het ghost X double het BEB and ghost by eric kikel









Lavender dot dash cal kings by eric kikel









lavender snow stock clutch by eric kikel


----------



## loxocemus

Lavender snow Cal King by eric kikel









Breeder male lavender Cal King by eric kikel









Lavender female with eggs by eric kikel









lavender x chocolate stripe copulation by cserhati csaba









Perfect line albino striped het hypermel and lavender by cserhati csaba









2021 baby albino dh lavender and hypermel by cserhati csaba









young couperi great basin serpentarium









from a junglow X hypo het albino pairing great basin serpentarium









russian eryx black form very sought after great basin serpentarium, theres a t+/hypo form, very rare as russians are rarely kept









cali king antics great basin serpentarium


----------



## loxocemus

offtopic corucia eyespy great basin serpentarium









jurassic shinosaurus great basin serpentarium wow!









adult breeder male snow kenyan sandboas great basin serpentarium









roughscale eryx neonates 2 great basin serpentarium


















Dumeril’s boa litter great basin serpentarium rarely bred anymore, partly because of ball pythons









Anery and het Pseudelaphe flavirufa great basin serpentarium


----------



## loxocemus

Golden Eye Batik Matrix 100% Het T+ Albino by big d exotics ltd









Hypo Scoria 100% Het Anery by big d exotics ltd









1.0 Pastel Crystal Clown possible het monsoon by big d exotics ltd









1.0 T Plus Pixel aka Golden Eye Batik by big d exotics ltd









0.1 Pixel 100% Het. Plus by got reptiles canada









T Plus Goldeneye by got reptiles canada









sterling boa by got reptiles canada









roughscales. by stampede reptiles


















axanthic bull by summers snakes


----------



## loxocemus

young suboc by bartley reptiles llc









amel anomala by bartley reptiles llc









Moonshine greenish rat snake by bartley reptiles llc









Yunnan bamboo rat by bartley reptiles llc









t neg albino chinese beauty snake by bartley reptiles llc









Mineral Wells line Leucistic Texas Rat Snakes by bartley reptiles llc









heavily gravid northern pine by piergiorgio quarta









Florida pine snake slugged out by piergiorgio quarta









neonate ghost bull by piergiorgio quarta









Florida pine piergiorgio quarta


----------



## loxocemus

double albino stripes Annectens produced by Glen A Brooksi by kris painschab









McGurty T+ San Diego Gophersnakes. by tony lanzi


----------



## loxocemus

"The first captive produced albino Bull from Abilene Zoo hets. I grew this girl to just under 8’" by craig trumbower









interesting

























NOM NOM NOM (northern) by tom gregg









Striped Klumper produced by Glen A. Glen A Brooksi by ryan brennan









Albino Sonoran Gopher het Rusty poss het Meeker by ryan brennan









Klumper albino by ryan brennan









Michel Klumpers
"I will explain the story behind this!
way way back about 25 years ago I obtained an applegate albino SD, had to wait another year for a female and the guy brought me a Bill love striped albino- I bred these together and got all double hets- wild coloured.
These babies I bred back to each other and to the parents. The results were supercool: albino applegate blotched, bill love striped, wild colour striped.. but also a new colour blotched purple ones and striped ones.
I took pictures of these on my first visit to Daytona show in 1999 .
After that Jason Nelson tried to reach me ( no e mail or internet guys!! haha). but they got in usa and now they are widely spread!!! enjoy"










Hypo Axanthic Zipper Bull by ryan brennan


----------



## loxocemus

san diego gopher by ryan brennan









Ghost bull by ryan brennan









One eyed Yunnan Bamboo Rat Snake by hannah taylor









a mole king?


















coxi by kates snakes looks a bit odd to me









hypo mosiac by branon milo great big hardy kings that tame well and virtually never refuse food









tri hog by criss hatfield an unusual issue with these, short lives, 8yrs is doing good on average, is this an artefact of captivity, diet, reproduction, or are they genetically short lived...









Pituophis deppei jani, clutch of 20 eggs by daniel noriega









tang honduran by milksnake mutations (check them out on facebook, uk based)


----------



## loxocemus

2022 Female IMG Red Dragon by patriotic pets









hypo (debatable) ahaetulla, nasuta or prasina i suppose









"Fresh shed of my female 2021 US CBB Red-Black Striped Snake (Bothrophthalmus lineatus)" by ken.c.diehl









my ideal pair of cali's


----------



## loxocemus

Diamond python by reptiles concept


















Red-Spotted Garter Snake ( T.s.concinnus ) by reptiles concept


















Saharan Sand Boa by reptiles concept



























Albino Prairie Kingsnake by reptiles concept


















Albino Hognose by reptiles concept


----------



## loxocemus

Albino King Ratsnake by reptiles concept



























anchietae with clutch by reptiles concept


















Bredli Carpet Python by reptiles concept


















Albino Striped San Diego Gopher by reptiles concept


----------



## loxocemus

Bamboo Ratsnake Coxi by reptiles concept



























Bamboo Ratsnake ( O. p. pulchra ) by reptiles concept



























Elaphe schrenckii by reptiles concept


















Red Mandarin Ratsnake by reptiles concept


----------



## loxocemus

Albino Honduran Milksnake by reptiles concept



























Aberrant California Kingsnake by reptiles concept









100% Het. Albino Pastel Checkered Garter Snake by reptiles concept


















Albino Pastel Checkered Garter Snake by reptiles concept


----------



## loxocemus

Spotted Python ( Partial Striped ) by reptiles concept



























Scaleless Aberrant Okeetee Motley by reptiles concept



























Dumeril Boa by reptiles concept



























Striped Anery Kenyan Sand Boa by reptiles concept


----------



## loxocemus

Albino Black Ratsnake by reptiles concept



























Leucistic Scaleless Texas Ratsnake by reptiles concept


















Poss. Hypo.Mosaic Florida Kingsnake reptiles concept


















Cave Dwelling Beauty Ratsnake reptiles concept


----------



## loxocemus

Blood Python by reptiles concept









Albino Japanese Ratsnake by reptiles concept


















Mandarin Ratsnake by reptiles concept



























Black African House Snake by reptiles concept


















Paradox Albino Chinese Beauty by reptiles concept


----------



## loxocemus

Arizona Mountain Kingsnake by reptiles concept



























Dione's Ratsnake by reptiles concept


















Extreme Hypo Honduran Milksnake by reptiles concept



























Albino Nelson Milksnake by reptiles concept









Mexican Night Snake by reptiles concept


----------



## loxocemus

Oreo Pueblan by reptiles concept









Fire Striped Cornsnake by reptiles concept


















Rhino Ratsnake by reptiles concept



























Scaleless Striped Okeetee by reptiles 5 concept


----------



## loxocemus

melanocephalus by reptiles 5 concept


















loxocemus by reptiles concept













































African Egg Eater adult female by reptiles concept


----------



## loxocemus

Leopard boa male by reptiles concept


















Scaleless Okeetee Cornsnake by reptiles concept


















Kisatchie Cornsnake ( Pantherophis slowinskii ) 2 by reptiles concept


















Snow, Super Red Factor, Striped 1 by reptiles concept


















Eastern Indigo Male by reptiles concept


----------



## loxocemus

juvenile gaigae by reptiles concept


















Banana Enchi male by jurassic legacy









Banana mojave male by jurassic legacy









Whitesided male bull by jurassic legacy









borneo blood by jurassic legacy









borneo blood clutch by jurassic legacy









Ptyas Mucosa by jurassic legacy









twin housesnakes by kara pells


----------



## loxocemus

twins successfully hatched by kara pells









VRHD Durango Pine Snake (Pituophis deppei deppei) winter phase by stunning-snakes









VRHD Durango Pine Snake (Pituophis deppei deppei) summer phase by stunning-snakes









axanthic egg eater by outback reptiles











super banana tristripe by tsk inc


















radiated by exotic.pets.co.uk


----------



## loxocemus

high white albino by tim spuckler









aberrant ghost by tim spuckler









dark ghost by tim spuckler









hypomelanistic Honduran Milk by tim spuckler










A ghost Honduran Milk Snake by tim spuckler









high black anerythristic Honduran Milk Snake by tim spuckler









cool looking albino Honduran Milk by tim spuckler









bicolor amel by craig hoitink









amel tangerine by craig hoitink









beautiful pr by craig hoitink


----------



## loxocemus

patternless and tangerine by craig hoitink









near unicolor amel by craig hoitink









extreme pr by craig hoitink









snow and amel tang by amanda leigh hempel
*







*

Male is pearl and female is hypo tricolor het albino by amanda leigh hempel









classic honduran by joe caruso









extreme hypo in-hand by joe caruso









extreme? ghost by amanda leigh hempel


















extreme hypo face by joe caruso


----------



## loxocemus

ghost honduran by joe caruso









extreme hypo neo 2 by joe caruso









hypo killing spiral by joe caruso









extreme hypo neo by joe caruso









amel tang by joe caruso









extreme hypo pr by joe caruso









Eye's of the IMG by nordic boas









Kahl Snow by nordic boas









Increased Melanin Gene by nordic boas









IMG 2013 by nordic boas


----------



## loxocemus

Amber Kahl Motley by nordic boas









offtopic- Varanus suspicious by nordic boas









Img DH SuperStripe Vpi by nordic boas









Img superstripe combos by nordic boas









1.0 Hypo Motley dh Eclipse Kahl 'CB20 by schlangenbauer









0.1 Sunclipse (Sunglow Leopard (Kahl) Motley) by schlangenbauer









Sunglow IMG RLT by schlangenbauer









0.1 Sunglow Sterling 66% ph Moonglow 2018 by schlangenbauer









1.0 Albino Sterling paradox by schlangenbauer









1.0 Moonglow Sterling by schlangenbauer


----------



## loxocemus

superfire by schlangenbauer









scoria het sharp by schlangenbauer









0.1 Sunglow dh Moonglow Sterling by schlangenbauer









0.1 Scoria het Sharp and 0.1 superfire by schlangenbauer









0.1 Snow Sterling & 0.1 Anery Sterling het Snow by schlanger









yellow Leucistic Florida Pine by jay jacoby









Aspidelaps Lubricus Lubricus
*







*

CB19 1.0 Tropidophis melanurus 2
*
















*

Oxybelis aeneus 0.1
*







*


----------



## loxocemus

A++pyro









applegate pyro









Eryx miliaris cb 2021









anaconda and normal form Eryx miliaris cb 2021









anaconda form Eryx miliaris cb 2021









ptyas fusca









pseudaspis cana virtually lost to the hobby outside of south africa


----------



## loxocemus

75% carpet X woma by tim duval









coma jungle Carpet X woma back to a jungle. by tim duval









jag coma hybrid by tim duval









carpet x woma by tim duval









ridleys x blue beauty by tim duval









beautiful setup and tang honduran









hypo eastern black king and a normal female under the same rug in Kentucky by madison arvin









hypo eastern black king by madison arvin


----------



## loxocemus

G. oxycephalum by schlangensucht.eu









1.0 Lava Bloodred by schlangensucht.eu









Leucistic Texas Rat Snake by schlangensucht.eu









0.1 Topaz Blood 2 by schlangensucht.eu









Lamprophis mentalis - Head Portrait by schlangensucht.eu









Thamnophis e. scotti, Head Portrait by schlangensucht.eu









0.1 Topaz Blood by schlangensucht.eu









1.0 Mustard (Sorong) by schlangensucht.eu









desert banded cali by schlangensucht.eu









(Gonyosoma oxycephalum - Red Tailed Green Ratsnake) by schlangensucht.eu


----------



## LiasisUK

Have to admit whenever I see one of those super fire boas I am tempted.....

Also, whoever Tim Duval is, he should stop. Awful.


----------



## loxocemus

i like the scorias (ditto the super fire) but i seem to remember something about scorias sometimes having head tremors...

rgds
ed



LiasisUK said:


> Have to admit whenever I see one of those super fire boas I am tempted.....
> 
> Also, whoever Tim Duval is, he should stop. Awful.


----------



## loxocemus

chondro neo shed by schlangensucht.eu









Topaz Blood by schlangensucht.eu









Caramel Mandarin Striped by schlangensucht.eu









Pastel Bloodred by schlangensucht.eu









Golddust Pewter by schlangensucht.eu









1.0 Caramel Mandarin Striped by schlangensucht.eu









1.0 Euprepiophis mandarinus (Vietnam) axanthic by schlangensucht.eu









Crotalus basiliscus - Mexican West Coast Rattlesnake by schlangensucht.eu









Cerastes cerastes - Desert Horned Viper by schlangensucht.eu









1.0 Half Dwarf Burmese Python (f2) by schlangensucht.eu


----------



## loxocemus

Half Dwarf Burmese Python by schlangensucht.eu









chondro by schlangensucht.eu









California Kingsnake Hybrid 2 by schlangensucht.eu









California Kingsnake Hybrid by schlangensucht.eu









chondro by schlangensucht.eu









Miami Motley Corn by schlangensucht.eu









Jungle Abbott Okeetee by schlangensucht.eu









Honey ph. Amel Striped by schlangensucht.eu









chondro by schlangensucht.eu









aru by schlangensucht.eu


----------



## loxocemus

Supercorn Motley-x-Striped by schlangensucht.eu









female Honey ph. Amel Striped by schlangensucht.eu









1.0 Thamnophis eques cuitzeoensis by schlangensucht.eu









Ultramel Toffee Tessera Striped 2 by schlangensucht.eu









1.0 Kastanie Striped het. Amel ph. Caramel by schlangensucht.eu









Boa Imperator 'Sunset Cross Jungle' 2 by schlangensucht.eu


















1.0 Pastel Masque p.hom. Motley by schlangensucht.eu









Kingsnake Hybrid 2 by schlangensucht.eu


----------



## loxocemus

Ultramel Toffee Tessera Striped by schlangensucht.eu









0.1 Ultramel Striped (het. Anery) by schlangensucht.eu









1.0 Reverse Okeetee by schlangensucht.eu









1.0 Hypo Bloodred Motley by schlangensucht.eu









0.1 Hypo Bloodred Motley-X-Striped by schlangensucht.eu









1.0 Pantherophis alleghaniensis White Sided by schlangensucht.eu









0.1 Ultra Tessera Striped by schlangensucht.eu









0.1 Ultra(mel) Tessera Striped by schlangensucht.eu









1.0 Paradox Banana Genetic Stripe 2d by schlangensucht.eu


----------



## loxocemus

1.0 Ultramel (Toffee) Tessera Striped by schlangensucht.eu









juvenile


















0.1 Ultramel Anery (Toffee) Tessera Striped by schlangensucht.eu



















0.1 Palmetto by schlangensucht.eu









Champagne pastel lesser fire yellowbelly 2 by superior serpents


















Black pewter lesser het clown x pastel banana 66% het clown by nocturnal obsession exotics









0.1 Sterling 66% het Leopard by got reptiles canada


----------



## loxocemus

Yellow neonate Amazon Tree Boa by darren hamill reptiles









Solomon Island Ground Boas (Candoia paulsoni) by darren hamill reptiles









Trinket Snake (helena) by darren hamill reptiles









offtopic Uromastyx geyri family gathering by darren hamill reptiles









Super Hypo Boa by darren hamill reptiles









Garden Phase Amazon Tree Boa (Corallus hortulana) by darren hamill reptiles









dumerili by darren hamill reptiles juveniles will often caudal lure when buried in the substrate 









Green Bush Rat Snakes (Gonyosoma prasinum) by darren hamill reptiles









neonate chondro









Lightening X het lightening black rat snakes by bartley reptiles llc


----------



## loxocemus

diones by glen reptiles









Whitesided black rat snake by chris moeller









After 81 days, silver blonde Trans Pecos ratsnakes are finally hatching









Yearling Hypo Everglades rat snake takes a fuzzy









Scaleless Texas Rat snake









Emanuele Campo photographed this pretty Mandarin rat snake on eggs









Juvenile Keeled Rat Snake (Ptyas carinata). Malaysia.









two-headed rat snake found in a Central Texas









Large-eyed pitviper (Trimeresurus macrops)


----------



## loxocemus

The Usambara Bush Viper (Atheris ceratophora)









blue viper (Trimeresurus insularis) by lika ivanova









The Osborne’s Lancehead (Bothrops osbornei)









Lancehead (Bothrops asper) lunch time by mtoxins venom lab









Mangshan viper (Protobothrops mangshanensis) by cristopher gillette









samar cobra (Naja samarensis) by leticia askerc









Rough Scaled Death Adder (Acanthophis rugosus) by ghost exotics









ringneck snake (Diadophis punctatus) by nikki barrientos false toxic warning









Ornate Coralsnake (Micrurus ornatissimus) by jaime culebras









speckled rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchellii) by devon massyn


----------



## loxocemus

Painted Bronzeback (Dendrelaphis pictus). by quentin martinez









tokay gecko being envenomated by a big eyed pit viper (Trimeresurus Macrops). by jesse goodyear









(Trimeresurus trigonocephalus). Credit Unknown









blue Malasyan coral snake (Calliophis bivirgata) by scott trageser









offtopic Green iguana (Iguana iguana) enjoying a bird credit unknown









Imantodes cenchoa. Credit Felipe Mesa









Brown vine snake (Oxybelis aeneus) by andrew carrano









rhino by ryan matinez









Elaphe dione (Mozdok locality) by stunning snakes









Super Pastel Desert Ghost by recoil reptiles


----------



## loxocemus

super fire by recoil reptiles it has a head pattern common to chimera's









very green climacorpha by recoil reptiles









stunning vp hondo by craig hoitink









VP hypo Hondo from Craig Hoitink by stuart tennyson i believe descended from the above adult 









snow pos pearl by stuart tennyson










very clean no tipping hondurensis by porsha miller









hybino honduran by porsha miller









ghost by porsha miller









lovely yearling honduran by porsha miller









2019 female ND Buckskin produced by Brad McCarthy (honduran) by craig hoitink


----------



## LiasisUK

loxocemus said:


> i like the scorias (ditto the super fire) but i seem to remember something about scorias sometimes having head tremors...
> 
> rgds
> ed


Same regarding the Scoria, I have not heard about the head tremors, but I have heard they are cursed haha. So many keepers/breeders of that morph have had awful issues; reptile room fires, deaths of adult boas, ill health..... it's actually quite creepy, and i am not a superstitious person.


----------



## loxocemus

A odd looking Ahaetulla prasina (Oriental Whip Snake) from Singapore by kenneth chin









one of the rarest snakes in Malay Peninsula boiga jaspidea from singapore by kenneth chin









A mating pair of Tropidolaemus wagleri (Wagler's Pit Viper) expressing extreme sexual dimorphism from Singapore 2 by kenneth chin


















Macrocalamus tweediei from the highlands of Pahang, Malaysia by kenneth chin









Boulenger's keelback (Fowlea asperrimus) is an endemic water snake to Sri Lanka. by kenneth chin









endemic Hypnale zara (Lowlands hump-nosed pit viper) from Sri Lanka by kenneth chin









a sleeping subadult Lycodon carinatus (Sri Lanka Wolf Snake), which is named after its keeled scales. This species is endemic to Sri Lanka. by kenneth chin









Craspedocephalus trigonocephalus (Sri Lankan Pit Viper) from the lowland forest of Sri Lanka. by kenneth chin









Chrysopelea pelias (Twin-barred Tree Snake), Peninsular Malaysia by kenneth chin


----------



## loxocemus

Protobothrops jerdonii bourreti, Vietnam by kenneth chin









Mandarin Ratsnake from north Vietnam by kenneth chin









female pulcher by eric westmorland









Amel Flame Goini by byron de stouet









hybino flor-brooksi









a hypo brooksi by byron de stouet









gravid hondurensis by craig hoitink


----------



## loxocemus

Coelognathus flavolineatus (Malayan Racer) from Singapore by kenneth chin









Chrysopelea paradisi, from Singapore. (Green Phase). by kenneth chin









stunningly offtopic









Homalopsis buccata in its baby colors from a muddy stream bed in Singapore. Observed to be snapping at passing small fishes from its position by kenneth chin









Calliophis intestinalis (Malayan Banded Coral Snake) on a typical forest floor in Singapore, showing its strikingly colored underbelly by kenneth chin









Males and females of Tropidolaemus wagleri (Wagler's Pit Viper) are sexually dimorphic. The females undergo color changes as they grow into adults. by kenneth chin









Xenelaphis hexagonotus (Malayan Brown Snake) is a harmless semi-aquatic, semi-terrestrial species by kenneth chin









A rare hypermelanistic form of Tropidolaemus wagleri (Wagler's Pit Viper) from Singapore by kenneth chin









A neonate Acrochordus granulatus (Little Wart Snake) from the mangroves of Singapore by kenneth chin Stunning!









Xenodermus javanicus (Dragon Snake) from Sarawak, Borneo by kenneth chin


----------



## loxocemus

Python breitensteini (Bornean Short-tailed Python) from Sarawak, Borneo by kenneth chin









Trimeresurus vogeli eating a Cyrtodactylus sp. from Lam Dong, Vietnam. by kenneth chin









Pseudoxenodon macrops - Large-Eyed False Cobra by kenneth chin









Enhydris plumbea from Hua Hin, Thailand by kenneth chin









Ptyas nigromarginatus - Green Rat Snake from Central Vietnam by kenneth chin









Buff Striped Keelback (Amphiesma stolatum) from Hong Kong by kenneth chin









White-headed Blind Snake (Ramphotyphlops albiceps) from Hong Kong by kenneth chin









Calliophis intestinalis from Singapore. by kenneth chin









Blackwater mud snake, Phytolopsis punctata is currently observed to be associated with peat swamps and acidic blackwater, hence its common name. by kenneth chin









A juvenile Ptyas fusca (White-bellied Ratsnake) from Singapore by kenneth chin


----------



## loxocemus

Lycodon (Dryocalamus) subannulatus (Malayan Bridle Snake) by kenneth chin









Asthenodipsas borneensis (formerly Asthenodipsas malaccanus, split from Peninsular Malaysia's) with its seemingly 'skull' face. It is actually very docile and gentle species that refuses to bite by kenneth chin oh my!









Lycodon fasciatus (Banded Wolf Snake) is ubiquitous in the highland forests of Bach Ma National Park, krait mimics by kenneth chin









here's a look at an amazing camouflage specialist - Garthius chaseni.. by kenneth chin









Trimeresurus malcolmi (Malcolm's Pit Viper). They are nocturnal and terrestrial but have been recorded sleeping or resting above ground in the day. by kenneth chin









Pareas margaritophorus (White-spotted Slug Snake) from Singapore. A common introduced snake species which originated from northern parts of West Malaysia, Indochina, China and India. . by kenneth chin









huge female Ahaetulla prasina (Oriental Whip Snake) from Singapore.. by kenneth chin









A specimen of Lycodon (Dryocalamus) subannulatus in yellow phase. In Singapore, we have two different colors - yellow and off-white by kenneth chin









They are the biggest and longest in the genus and they eat primarily snakes! C bivirgata flaviceps. by kenneth chin









The babies in Singapore are almost certain to be pale or faded brown in color. Quite interestingly, this gorgeous yellow phase baby has made an appearance last night A.prasina. by kenneth chin


----------



## loxocemus

Rhabdophis chrysargos (Speckled-bellied Keelback) from Fraser's Hill, West Malaysia. by kenneth chin









Dendrelaphis kopsteini (Kopstein's Bronzeback), not only because it is incredibly rare in Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand, it is also almost unheard of in Indonesia and uncommon in Borneo by kenneth chin









Calliophis intestinalis lineata is a tiny venomous species, with the size of a typical earthworm. C. intestinalis can be found in most parts of Southeast Asia, with 4 known subspecies. Singapore 2 by kenneth chin









The most stunning of all bronzebacks (genus of colubrid snakes) is the Dendrelaphis kopsteini (Kopstein's Bronzeback) by kenneth chin with aberrant neck pattern 









Sunbeam snake (Xenopeltis unicolor) can be found throughout most of Southeast Asia, in many kinds of habitats; from forest edges to highly disturbed urban parks. by kenneth chin









Xenelaphis hexagonotus (Malayan Brown Snake) is a harmless semi-aquatic, semi-terrestrial species peninsular malyasia. by kenneth chin









Xenopeltis unicolor (Sunbeam Snake) from Singapore. by kenneth chin i had the pleasure of this species for @8yrs









Calloselasma rhodostoma (Malayan Pit Viper) from Central Vietnam by kenneth chin









Calliophis intestinalis lineata is a tiny venomous species, with the size of a typical earthworm. C. intestinalis can be found in most parts of Southeast Asia, with 4 known subspecies. Singapore by kenneth chin









Juvenile Boiga nigriceps (Black Headed Cat Snake) from Malaysia by kenneth chin


----------



## LiasisUK

Whoever Kenneth Chin is, he is great.


----------



## loxocemus

ditto, he's got a great eye.

rgds
ed



LiasisUK said:


> Whoever Kenneth Chin is, he is great.





LiasisUK said:


> Whoever Kenneth Chin is, he is great.


----------



## loxocemus

4th yr captive calabaria by hong yo-chen this was always a dream of mine, ps i offered a rat pup to an adults tail once, amazingly it was refused. when freshly laid they can be bright funky pink, but quickly change to white. calabaria have very thick skin, when ur a nest raider and the mum returns u need some armour. there has been a hypo and sort of t+ in the past. neonates are enormous, 250-300mm, the principle method in successful reproduction is weight, feed often feed lots (females) breeding season is usually may-august depending on location and feeding.



























97 days of incubation T.blandingii by herp island









A Red headed rat snake or hundred flower snake (elaphe moellendorffi). This beautiful snake was found in Cuc Phuong National park in Vietnam by max jackson moellendorfii hatch from the polar ends of the heavily calcified eggs. they can reach a hefty 8ft+. uk member sidewinder has bred these, i don't think he got the kudos he deserved for these and other projects.









A. b. chapaensis hatching by gidi van de belt once virtually unknown in collections hamm and houten often have them









Archelaphe bella bella adult male by gidi van de belt










Archelaphe bella chapaensis by gidi van de belt









Archelaphe bella chapaensis hatching by gidi van de belt









Adult male of Euprepiophis conspicillatus. Picture taken by Matthijs Kuijpers like the bella their easier to find now, both have drab and stunning locale/lines, lexcorn was the uk source for them


----------



## loxocemus

blandingii female by herp island









Boaedon f. mentalis by herp island









diones mix by gidi van de belt amel (there's more than one amel locale), super red, melanistic (ditto multiple melanistic locale/occurrences), if purity is ur thing you can have a diones collection of every conceivable colour and pattern, iv heard of hatch lengths of 14days, im sure there's even shorter, upon laying the neonate is very advanced.









E. dione super red hatched by gidi van de belt









Elaphe dione albino, picture taken by matthijs kuijpers









Elaphe dione, orange by gidi van de belt there are few captive snakes hardier than diones









Elaphe davidi eggs by gidi van de belt









Elaphe zoigeensis cb 2013, female, first described 2012 by gidi van de belt









Euprepiophis conspicillatus cb 2013, female by gidi van de belt


----------



## loxocemus

Euprepiophis mandarinus cb 2013, vietnam by gidi van de belt there is/was a t-









lesser sunda python by herp island related to retics, love to pee over you









Malayopython timoriensis by herp island









mole snake juvenile by herp island juveniles can be psychotic little monkeys sometimes, i know of two large litters (unusually their livebearers) one 95 the other 101 or 103, both i believe london zoo breedings, how can 200 mole snakes disappear?, their not hard to keep.









Oligodon lacroixi 2 by gidi van de belt


















Psammophylax rhombeatus by herp island









Rhabdophis tigrinus by herp island both poisonous and venomous









juvenile










Rhagerhis moilensis (Reuss, 1834) by herp island the coolest pic


----------



## loxocemus

Toxicodryas blandingii neonate by herp island









very gravid Elaphe davidi by gidi van de belt









Yamakagashi (keelback) by slithering snakes









neonate









Zamenis hohenackeri hohenackeri by gidi van de belt


----------



## loxocemus

Boaedon Blue Eyed Albino by colub'passion


















Boaedon Blue Eyed by colub'passion









Boaedon Red Kenya by colub'passion









brb mid air birth by lisa elevage reptiles









Elaphe taeniura Snow by giulia severi









Elaphe taeniura STAR by giulia severi









extreme pied bloodred by giulia severi









Finally after about 75 days of incubation p.poecilonotus by stunning snakes


----------



## loxocemus

Gonyosoma hainanensis by colub'passion the 2nd described rhino rat









juvenile coluber by colub'passion









Mimosa Ultramel Anery Abberrant by colub'passion









Philothamnus irregularis by colub'passion


















Phrynonax poecilonotus male by stunning snakes









Royal tree snake - Gonyosoma margaritarum by adiyy malaya









two different gonyosoma by colub'passion









yellow-gold gonyosoma by colub'passion


----------



## loxocemus

Axanthic Sonoran gophers by coils captivebred colubrids


















Ballam axanthic patternless bull by coils captivebred colubrids









Calico Black Rat by coils captivebred colubrids









Dave Long line Albino Transpecos rat snake. by coils captivebred colubrids held by a sasquatch apparently 









Hypo Bairds rat by coils captivebred colubrids much paler than other individuals of comparable size iv seen










Hypo Stillwater male by coils captivebred colubrids









Hypo Stillwater Whitesided by coils captivebred colubrids









Ivory Trumbower bull chilling in egg by coils captivebred colubrids









Klumpers het stripe male by coils captivebred colubrids


----------



## loxocemus

Loma Alta Albino Transpecos rat by coils captivebred colubrids









rusty black rat by coils captivebred colubrids









Rusty Sonoran Gopher by coils captivebred colubrids









Snow, albino, blonde and double hets subocs by coils captivebred colubrids









Sonoran Gopher Blizzard by coils captivebred colubrids









Whitesided Hypo Stillwater by coils captivebred colubrids









Interspecific diurnal refuge sharing in Cuban snakes of the genus Tropidophis (Tropidophiidae) A Tropidophis melanurus found under the same rock as a T. semicinctus 









Old photo from the SA Zoo........Tropidophis feicki and young when the keeper saw these he exclaimed "for feick's sake!!..."


----------



## Swindinian

Playing catch up, there are just so many photos.

Would like to see the whole profile of this. I presume jungle means hybrid cross (king snake?)


----------



## ian14

Swindinian said:


> Playing catch up, there are just so many photos.
> 
> Would like to see the whole profile of this. I presume jungle means hybrid cross (king snake?)
> 
> View attachment 364997


Yes, it's a corn x king


----------



## loxocemus

jungle in reference to corns virtually always means hybrids, not necessarily kings, the most bizarre i heard of was corn x housesnake. though i was unable to locate a photo. very occasionally the term "jungle" can be a reference to an aberrant pattern, though that was mostly old school and the current use is 99.9% regarding hybrids. the most common jungle corn is x cali's (like the the above pic). the sinaloan corns can be quite something. hybrid corns can become more extreme as the line breeding progresses, this is certainly true of the imperials.

hope your well my friend
rgds
ed


----------



## ian14

loxocemus said:


> jungle in reference to corns virtually always means hybrids, not necessarily kings, the most bizarre i heard of was corn x housesnake. though i was unable to locate a photo. very occasionally the term "jungle" can be a reference to an aberrant pattern, though that was mostly old school and the current use is 99.9% regarding hybrids. the most common jungle corn is x cali's (like the the above pic). the sinaloan corns can be quite something. hybrid corns can become more extreme as the line breeding progresses, this is certainly true of the imperials.
> 
> hope your well my friend
> rgds
> ed


Jungle corn = corn x cali King
Sinacorn = corn x sinaloan milk
Pueblacorn = corn x Pueblan milk


----------



## loxocemus

this is how they should be labelled (their also the names of some of the "old base hybrids"), but in my search for nice pics iv had to correct the breeders generic "jungle" multiple times, hybrids these days are often a % mix of up to 5 species (soon more, curiously pyros are often in there). there are no names for such crosses besides what the originator invents. (its their right i suppose)

rgds
ed



ian14 said:


> Jungle corn = corn x cali King
> Sinacorn = corn x sinaloan milk
> Pueblacorn = corn x Pueblan milk


----------

