# does anyone own or know of Ermia mangshanensis in the UK



## lee-travis (Jan 10, 2008)

does anyone own or know of any Ermia mangshanensis the mang mountain viper from china?

lee


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## pythondave82 (Nov 14, 2007)

No but they are stunning snakes, you could try Shropshire Exotics they have large collections with many contacts

good luck


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

isnt it, Zhaoermia mangshanensis? I enquired to someone the other day about them apparently theres 3 in the country and they cost something like £3000


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## lee-travis (Jan 10, 2008)

ok cheers, yeah they are wonderful snakes...however they are a bit pricey.


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## lee-travis (Jan 10, 2008)

not sure if thats the genus name or not. i enquired about them an it came up as ermia. i know that they used to be classified in the trimeresaurus group.


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## darkdan99 (Dec 28, 2006)

Interestingly, although they have been Ehemia and Zhymeia in the hobby they are currently, and have been since 1993 classified as ehemia (Zhang 1990 *) Prior to that, they were Trimesaurus. No zhymeia to be found In my references. 

Only discribed 17 years ago, they are very very new to the reptile world, and the hobby. 

They can be obtained without too much difficulty, and the price is around the £3500 mark, each, but they have sold for as much as 10k a pair. 

Al has kept them so may be in a better position to answer questions. 
YouTube - Zhaoermia mangshanensis
YouTube - Mangshan Pitviper Feeding

They are reported to be able to spit venom, but talking to 3 seperate people who have kept the species, leads me to belive that they are not spitting, like a cobra, but more dribbling. A rattlesnake can inject venom during the strike which will cause it to splatter forward a small distance, and its seems most likely that they are doing this. 
Cheers
Dan

(*McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League.)


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## RMG (Jun 10, 2007)

They're definitely classified as Zhaoermia now since Gumprecht's study in 2004...(Zhaoermia mangshanensis — Gumprecht, A.; Tillack, F.; Orlov, N.L.; Captain, A. & Ryabow, S. 2004. Asian pitvipers. Geitje Books, Berlin, 368 pp)

cheers,

Rob


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

they are my favourite hot, hopefully one day I might keep them, they get pretty big dont they.


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## RMG (Jun 10, 2007)

2 meters and upwards dude and can weight up to 4.5kgs


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## darkdan99 (Dec 28, 2006)

My appologies. 

My reference was printed in 1999 so i was unawear of the more recent reclasification. 

internet resources are sketchy at best. 

Thanks RMG for the correction. 

Dan


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## Viperkeeper (Aug 23, 2007)

Zhaoermia mangshanensis — GUMPRECHT et al. 2004 is the current classification because Ermia was alreay in use for some other obsc
ure animal. They combined Zhao who first described the species and Ermia to come up with a new Genus.

They are becoming more available with some CB specimens here in the USA but they went to select few with the $$ to be in that "club". The tragic thing about this species and many other snakes found in China is they are on the "Menu" at eating establishments but not for export. In essence they are available to eat but not for the captive reptile trade.

They require a very cool & wet environment with minimals lighting. Mine got freaked out when the temperature was much above 25 C. As for "spitting venom" I never saw it happen with this species but a friend has an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake that expells venom in the course of a strike while violently hissing propelling venom quite some distance but with little accuracy. IMO the Mangshang is doing the same thing.

More images are on my website: DeadlyBeautiful : photos : Crotalinae, Genus Zhaoermia- powered by SmugMug


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## tiffa (Jan 17, 2007)

Viperkeeper said:


> Zhaoermia mangshanensis — GUMPRECHT et al. 2004 is the current classification because Ermia was alreay in use for some other obsc
> ure animal. They combined Zhao who first described the species and Ermia to come up with a new Genus.
> 
> They are becoming more available with some CB specimens here in the USA but they went to select few with the $$ to be in that "club". The tragic thing about this species and many other snakes found in China is they are on the "Menu" at eating establishments but not for export. In essence they are available to eat but not for the captive reptile trade.
> ...


kool pics


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## Jade01 (Feb 21, 2007)

deffo one of my fave hots...

hope that you manage to get one


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## darkdan99 (Dec 28, 2006)

Wow, is all i can say Al...


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## RMG (Jun 10, 2007)

> Zhaoermia mangshanensis — GUMPRECHT et al. 2004 is the current classification because Ermia was alreay in use for some other obsc
> ure animal


Ermia is a locust genus name

I know of an exporter that will supply me with mangshans but they are very very very expensive...it would probably be best to send the money to China to conseve the nature reserve they live in than to try set up a full blown captive breeding project...

the same goes for komodo dragons


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## darkdan99 (Dec 28, 2006)

Thanks again (RMG). Following this i have done some more research and updated the wikipedia articles to show proper taxonomy and information. This was my initial search result so at least others can benifit from your input and mine now. 
Zhaoermia mangshanensis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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