What the Hell Is a Unicolor Cribo?

That’s the question of the day – just what the hell is a unicolor cribo?

Anyone perusing the reptile classifieds has probably seen them for sale.

You may also have taken part in the debate as to whether or not they are a valid subspecies, or whether they are a locality variant or a regional intergrade.

Maybe you believe that they are a valid subspecies…but you feel that buying a “pure” example of this valid subspecies is impossible because current lines have been liberally intermixed with light colored black tail cribos.

Well, I am not in favor of giving out easy answers……….as I am a firm believer in doing research.  I am also a firm believer that anyone selling a unicolor cribo to a perspective buyer should be able to answer the following questions.

1. Where is the exact geographic range of the unicolor cribo?  What about the black tailed cribo?
2. Where do those ranges intergrade with other subspecies?  What other subspecies?
3. How many ventrals does a unicolor have?
4. How many ventrals does a black tail have?
5. How many super labials does a unicolor have compared to a black tail?
6. Can they compare the infralabials between the two species?  How many come in contact with the chin shields?  The anterior chin shields?
7. How many preoculars?  Postoculars?  Does this differ from counts on a black tail?
8. What are the caudal scale count differences (if any) between the two species?
9. Does the breeder feel that unicolors are a valid subspecies?  Have them explain their reasoning.
10. Can the breeder trace his unicolors to a locality?  Just how does the breeder explain why his unicolors are unicolors?

I think that any responsible Drymarchon breeder would have no problems discussing the above questions with a potential buyer.

See, I know people who don’t think they are a valid subspecies – but cannot explain why.

I also know people who breed them and sell them, but cannot verify the locality of their animals.  Or discuss how a unicolor differs from a black tail – other than the color of the tail.

Mindless Parroting and the “Karl Schmidt Analogy”

When discussing opistoglyphous snakes with other people, you will eventually have someone drop the dreaded “Karl Schmidt” analogy on you.

The analogy attempts to draw a parallel between the risk a contemporary keeper runs in getting bitten by a false water cobra, western hognose or baron’s racer to what happened to Dr. Karl P. Schmidt.  It attempts to romanticize the minimal risk that most of today’s rear fanged snake keepers face.

The Schmidt Analogy will be used on you at some point when discussing why commonly kept rear fangers probably will never cause a human fatality.  Here is an example of how The Analogy may be thrown in your face….

“Poo poo my assertion that you CAN die of a boiga dendrophilia bite all you want, but I don’t want to be the next…(insert dramatic pause here)…..KARL SCHMIDT!”

Or, another classic example…..

“So you don’t think that a false water cobra can kill you?  Well KARL SCHMIDT thought that boomslangs were harmless and look what happened to HIM!”

There are several problems with these statements, and “The Analogy” in general.

However before we breakdown the logical fallacy of this analogy, we should probably discuss who Dr. Karl Schmidt was and exactly what happened to him.

Dr. Karl P. Schmidt was an American herpetologist – arguably one of the most influential and important of the first half of the 20th century.  During his career he authored over 200 books and articles, served as the president of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists and was the curator of amphibians and reptiles at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History.   He was a leading expert on micurus – having described several subspecies of  dumerilii, dissoleucus, elegans, hemprichii, lemniscatus, nigroncinctus, etc.

In other words, he was no dummy.  He had an intimate knowledge of the animals he worked with – and was no stranger to venomous snakes.

On September 25, 1957 Dr. Schmidt was, along with Dr. Robert Inger; working with a young boomslang at the Field Museum.  In his own words, he described the bite that ultimately resulted in his death.

I took it [the boomslang] from Dr. Robert Inger without thinking of any precaution, and it promptly bit me on the fleshy lateral aspect of the first joint of the left thumb. The mouth was widely opened and the bite was made with the rear fangs only, only the right fang entering to its full length of about 3 mm.

The next day at 3 PM, Dr. Schmidt was dead of respiratory paralysis.  An autopsy report showed hemorrhaging in his lungs, renal pelvis and small intestine – all effects of the hemotoxic venom of the dispholidus typus that bit him.

Schmidt was noted as being a meticulous note taker and documented his reaction to the bite up until his death.  These are now generally referred to as his “death notes”.  These were later published by Clifford H. Pope, another famed herpetologist.

9:00 PM-12:20 AM Slept well. No blood in urine before going to sleep, but very small amount of urine. Urination at 12:20 AM mostly blood, but small in amount. Mouth had bled steadily as shown by dried blood at both angles of mouth.”

Pay attention, users of the Schmidt Analogy – in 1957, the toxicity of dispholidus typus venom was well established.  Dr. Schmidt was not dealing with an unknown factor here – for in 1940 Grasset and Schaafsma had documented the toxicity of  boomslang venom.

In other words, Dr. Schmidt was well aware that he had been bitten by a highly venomous snake. Any argument regarding a lack of knowledge as to the toxicity of the boomslang is therefore totally and completely invalid.

The problem was that Dr. Schmidt had incorrectly assumed that due to the age and temperament of the snake, and the characteristics of the bite, that he was not at risk.

Pope, in his comments that accompanied Schmidt’s published notes states.

That Dr. Schmidt’s optimism was extremely unfortunate is proved by his death, but it must be admitted that there was some justification: The boomslang was very young and only one fang penetrated deeply. However, almost two decades ago careful experimentation by Grasset and Schaafsma (South African Med. Jour., 1940, 14: 236-41) showed that boomslang venom has an extraordinarily high toxicity, even higher than those of such notorious snakes as cobras, kraits, and mambas. This fact alone dictates extreme caution in handling boomslangs of all sizes, even though they be among the most mild tempered of venomous snakes.

This is where the logic of the Schmidt Analogy fails.  Karl Schmidt was not dealing with an unknown snake of unknown toxicity.  The venom of the boomslang and it’s effects had been documented at least 17 years prior to his death.

The Schmidt Analogy relies on the ASSumption that Karl Schmidt was unaware of the potential lethality of a boomslang bite.

The Schmidt Analogy ASSumes that in 1957, the toxicity of boomslang venom was unknown.

The Schmidt Analogy is based on a lack of knowledge – specifically a lack of knowledge concerning the details of Dr. Schmidt’s death and a lack of knowledge as to what the herpetological world knew regarding the toxicity of dispholidus typus venom.

The Schmidt Analogy is an insult to Dr. Schmidt and is an example of internet pap run amok.  It is a prime exemplar of mindless parroting and how such parroting can eventually eclipse facts.

 

The Captive Husbandry of the Green Palm Snake – Philodryas Viridissimus

In 2011, I received an imported 1.1 pair of an oddball philodryas species,  At the time I had been looking to add to my olfersii group.  When dealing with imports, it’s sometimes hard to predict exactly what you will get (at some point later down the road, I’ll expound on the perils of importing).  In 2012, I found a source of some additional CBB animals and added them to my group.

Back to the original imported  pair – these snakes were positively identified as Philodryas Viridissimus…locality somewhere in Surinam.  The parasite load was surprisingly light, and they immediately began taking f/t rodents of appropriate size.

As with most oddball species not yet in general circulation, husbandry parameters were figured out largely by trial and error.  Luckily, they are a pretty hardy, if somewhat shy and retiring species.

In 2013 I produced my first clutch.  I know for a fact I was not the first to do so in captivity, as I have spoken with other hobbyists who have successfully acclimated and bred them.

Again, as with many other rarer species, I’ve never come across a care sheet outlining how to keep them, so I thought I’d give it a shot.

Description
:

Philodryas Viridissimus are generally light to dark green in color.  I’ve seen considerable variation even within a clutch.  The mature males, however, do have a blue head, chin and…wait for it…tongue.  It’s a somewhat reliable way to sex them as they get older.

Average size for males is about 33 to 44 inches.  The largest female I’ve ever seen was about 36″  However, these animals have a wide distribution and admittedly I’ve only seen a double handful.  As far as weight goes, well, I’ve been pretty lax about tracking their weight.  This is for a couple of reasons – mainly, their reclusiveness.  Secondarily, their fairly active defensive response.  Being arboreal, they are pretty adept at coming off a hook and biting……..and chewing.  Unlike a lot of opistoglyphous snakes I’ve dealt with, Philodryas Viridissimus seem to have a predilection for chewing when they bite.

Again, my observations are based on my small group of animals.  The original female is a grade A bitch, and the male is no better.  I’m a firm believer in the general behavior of snakes being influenced by the temperament of the parents – I’ve seen to much confirmation of this trend to believe otherwise.

Habitat:
Mainly arboreal. Philodryas Viridissimus can be found in the South American countries of Paraguay, Amazonian Brazil, the southern portion of Venezuela, Guyana and French Guyana, Surinam, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador.  I’m sure that there are locality specifics throughout their range, however there isn’t a large enough or well-documented enough captive population to begin to categorize them by geographical area.

They inhabit mainly topical rain forests and are found at varying elevations.

Viridissimus will bask at temperatures between 88 to 92 degrees.  I have seen them lay on top of the exposed edge of radiant heat panels if given the opportunity.  I have also seen them spend extended amounts of time in cooler areas of the cage (75 degrees or so).  I therefore shoot for a range of ambient temperatures between 74 degrees and 83 degrees, with a basking spot of about 90.

These snakes naturally occur in humid areas and need that humidity for both successful reproduction and shedding.  As with any species that requires an elevated humidity level, that humidity must be maintained in a way that does not compromise the health of the animal.  Good circulation is a must.   If good circulation cannot be maintained, then the animal must be provided with a humid hide.  Viridissimus will readily utilize an arboreal humid retreat..

As mentioned a couple of times in this entry, they are shy animals.  Enclosures must provide them enough hides and hollows for them to feel secure.  This can be accomplished with cork tubes or plants that provide them an opportunity to use their coloration to camouflage themselves.

Other arboreal colubrid species such as Dispholidus Typus and Thrasops Jacksonii show little to no attempt to utilize their surroundings to blend in.  The movements of these animals has led me to believe that they do not use any sort of camouflage in either their defensive or predatory behaviors.  Other animals, such as Thelatornis and P. Viridissimus will stay stock still when in an arboreal position.  This behavior can be used interchangeably for both predation (ambush) and defense (blending in).

Diet and Digestion:
Philodryas Viridissimus are eager feeders that will often consume prey items in private. While some will readily take items off of forceps, I’ve found that they do best if the prey item is left on a flat rock or on a cork flat for them to eat when they feel safe.  They will eat a variety of items, including appropriately sized rodents, small lizards (I use either anoles or western fence lizards), small frogs, small birds and even quail eggs.  They will even readily consume smaller snakes.

As with many of my animals that eat a varied diet in the wild, I am suspicious of feeding them an all rodent diet.  I have seen lipomas and even liposarcomas in other species fed an exclusively mammalian diet – especially when rodents are not a staple in the wild.

Their metabolism is fairly rapid – full digestion of prey items occurs within 72 hours even at room temperature.

I have kept these animals in pairs and separately.  They will readily breed either way.  However in terms of feeding, paired animals must be fed separately.  This should be a common practice for anyone who successfully co-habitates snakes.

Venom:
Philodryas Viridissimus are close cousins to Philodryas Olfersii (whom they very closely resemble), yet not much is known about their venom.

No attempts are made to constrict prey, and as stated prior, they have a habit of chewing anything that enters their mouth. That makes me think that their venom may play a role in subduing prey.

Viridissimus have nominally enlarged rear fangs and therefore can be safely handled with gloves and long sleeves. They are  extremely prone to biting in self-defense,  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, wherein they will chomp on an ungloved hand.

I have been bit a number of times, and have not had any symptoms.  I have also been bitten by my olfersii and have not had any issues.  Seeing as that the two species are similar in behavior and appearance, and that olfersii have been fingered as potentially being able to cause a medically significant envenomation – the reader should draw their own conclusions.

Behavior:
I have never any behavior related to inquisitiveness in these animals.  Wherein members of psammophidae and dispholidines families tend to be curious and sensitive to changes in their surroundings, viridissimus show no such inclination.

Wherein dispholidines will often display various threat behaviors (gaping mouth, lateral inflation of the neck) Viridissimus display little to no threat warnings.  I have seen several individuals flatten their heads prior to biting, but they can not be reliably counted on to display before they bite.

I have yet to have one become accustomed to handling.  They are eager to bite and chew.  Once that behavior does not work, they will thrash and rapidly seek to escape.  As neonates, they are amazing escape artists.  I use weather stripping to close any gaps between tubs and frames in the baby racks.

Housing:

Unless I plan on breeding them, viridissimus are kept individually.  Cages for adults are 24″ or 30″ cubes.  A 40 watt radiant heat panel supplies overhead heat.  Branches and artificial foliage are used for climbing and hollow cork tubes and birdhouses are used as hides. I utilize coconut coir as substrate.

In this configuration, a 90 degree hotspot is found on a branch about 6″ below the RHP.  The hidden corners of the enclosure hit about 75 degrees.  I do not mist or provide supplemental humidity in their enclosures.  I have found that they will utilize an arboreal water dish more readily than a terrestrial one.  I provide them with several arboreal humid hides to use.

Breeding:



I must confess I have never seen any of my viridissimus mate.  What I noticed is that in March of every year, the males go off of feed and then begin to act restless.  In a shy species, this change in behavior is quite obvious. At that time I began introducing them to a mate.   I left the first pair I had together for three weeks then separated them.  6 weeks later, the female went into shed.  She refused her next two meals – one during shed and one the day after. Three days after shedding, I woke up one morning to find a clutch of 7 eggs.

I incubated the eggs at 80 degrees.  101 days later, they all hatched.

I had one other subsequent breeding.  A three year old female that laid a clutch of 9 eggs.  Again, 80 degree incubation and 99 days later – babies.

Some of my animals:

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Nebulizing F10SC for a Persistant URI – My Experience

About 8 years ago I hatched out a clutch of black tailed cribos. One of the eggs was noticeably smaller than the others. It hatched out almost a week earlier than the other eggs and the little male baby was extremely undersized. He also didn’t have a black tail – which is beside the point – but one to remember next time someone tries to sell you a unicolor cribo.

He had to be force-fed for almost 8 weeks. He ultimately survived but is undersized for a black-tail male.

He is easily stressed – a gentle snake that freaks out if his furnishings are moved, if his drawer is too bright or if he is handled too much.

If repeatedly stressed, he will develop an upper respiratory infection. In his 8 years he has had at least 10 RIs – all of which have been treated with antibiotics.

The vet thinks that he has a combination of a compromised immune system and potentially a defect in his respiratory system. I’ve kept him because he’s a gentle animal and because – if not stressed – has thrived.  He will not be bred – regardless of the color of his tail.

In the fall of 2013, we were out of town for ten days. The gal who pet sits for us was changing his water and left his drawer open. He got out and hid under a smaller rack. Every time she tried to extract him, he nailed her. She called me and I told her to leave him alone – we were due home in four days and since the herp building is in the low 70s, he would be fine until I got home. I told her to put his water dish and trap box hide near him and to make sure the door to the building was closed.

When we got home, he had a full blown RI, complete with slugs of pus coming up out of his trachea and labored opened mouth breathing. To make matters worse, our vet was out of town.

I have done tracheal flushing on snakes before, so with the help of my son, we flushed “Louie” out. In the meantime, the vet texted me back and told me that while she could prescribe an injectable antibiotic, that she was hesitant to do so without a culture. Over the years, his RIs have become gradually resistant to some meds.

She told me that she and another colleague had success nebulizing F10SC at a concentration of 0.3cc per liter of distilled water. Now I have heard F10SC could be utilized this way, but the info had not come from a vet, so I treated the news with skepticism.

In California, nebulizers cannot be sold without a prescription. The vet called her office and had them fax over a prescription to a nearby medical supply store. The next day, I began nebulizing Louie.

In order to keep the stress to a minimum, I modified the nozzle of the nebulizer to fit in the barely opened trap box door and nebulized him for 40 minutes every evening. After two weeks I noticed that his symptoms were lessened. After four weeks they were gone.  I think that after looking at some of our beverage coolers in the garage, I could have modified the drain plug on any of them to accept the nozzle of the nebulizer without issue.  Something to keep in mind………

I ended up nebulizing him for two months. Because he was essentially nebulized in his hide, the process was literally stress-free.

I had hesitated posting this info for a couple of reasons – foremost was that I wanted to make sure he was clear of the infection. The end of his F10SC treatment coincided with the time of year in which mature male cribos go off of feed due to breeding reasons. I am happy to say that once the yearly off feed period expired, he resumed pounding jumbo mice with all the vigor of a healthy snake.

So does nebulizing F10SC work for RIs? Well, in my humble opinion it does. I ended up doing it with the concurrence of our vet. I’ll be honest in saying that I probably would not have done it if she had not recommended it as an option.

Thrasops Jacksonii Husbandry Notes

Just over 16 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 86 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:

Zen and the Art of Snake Maintenance

I grew up in a little town called Carnelian Bay. Look it up – it’s on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. These were in the heady days when phones were all rotary, the pants were corduroy, the pant legs were belled, and the designer colors in most kitchens were orange and avocado formica and appliances.

The internet really didn’t exist until many years after I graduated from college.

The street we lived on had maybe 30 houses on it – widely spaced apart and sparsely occupied. In fact, there were only 8 year-round residences on our street.

Ours and our next door neighbor.

Our next door neighbor was a biology professor at University of Nevada (Reno). He had a degree in herpetology and in the heady days of the 1970s – one of the most impressive collections of snakes I’ve ever seen.

He was a single man, divorced with two kids that he rarely saw. When I was about 6, I took a keen interest in his hobby – snake keeping.

He specialty was crotalids, but his travels and connections to south and central america allowed him to acquire a collection of various colubrids that were unmatched. In fact, there were animals in his collection that I have not since seen. He had examples of most north american lampropeltis and pituophis, along with rosy and rubber boas. I spent 12 years of my life going over to his house almost every day to assist him with his husbandry duties and I never tired of that group of animals.

When he received a new and exotic species – maybe a drymarchon, maybe a clelia, perhaps a pseudoboa – he would politely leave a note on the door for me when I got home from school. I always marveled at each new and wonderful animal he introduced me to.

In the 1970s, it seems my parents were none too worried about me spending time with a single middle aged man who lived by himself. While my parents were friendly with him and when his daughters came to visit, they would invariably end up at our house to play with my sister – they did not know a lot about him. Maybe it was the fact that my dad worked out of the area and was gone Sunday night through Friday night and my mom thought an adult male presence would do me good, or maybe the times were different – less suspicious and fearful.

But I spent a lot of time over there. After I did my homework and my chores, I was allowed to go over before dinner. On the weekends, I spent hours over there.

My time was spent assisting him with feeding, cleaning, measuring and weighing his animals. Moving snakes from QT (the barn) to the snake room (his car-less three car insulated and climate controlled garage), setting up glass tanks (yes, glass tanks) and moving frozen lab rodents from the freezer to the fridge to slowly thaw. He set me out in the woods behind our house to catch frogs and lizards for his finicky philodryas, and had me mixing cleaning solution in large yard sprayers. I swept and vacuumed both snake areas and moved pine shavings from a pallet on the side of the house to trash cans in the garage.

All but the largest of snakes were kept in glass cages. Light bulbs were used as heat sources. Pine shavings as substrate. Appropriate species were kept in pairs and inappropriate species were kept separate. In short, all sorts of husbandry “don’t” were followed and religiously adhered to.

Other practices were also followed. Enclosures were cleaned every week. Disinfected, scrubbed and dried. Fresh substrate was put back in, the animal weighed and measured, the numbers recorded. The water bowls were likewise cleaned weekly with disinfectant.

New arrivals were put in the barn, their mouths were swabbed, they were given prophylactic parasite treatments and their first poops were examined. There were two areas in the barn – one for arrivals in their first six months and a second for arrivals in their last six months. These two areas were separated by a wall and a door.

Oftentimes colleagues would stop by the visit my neighbor, and while I cleaned and swept and kept to the husbandry routine, I would hear them swap husbandry tips. Without judgement and without the shadow of harsh opinion dominating the discussion.

Now some smart ass may ask what these rambling comments and recollections have to do with snake maintenance……well, they have everything to do with it.

Many, many years later, it became easier to share husbandry tips and build a consensus on common practices through the internet. Unfortunately, it also became easier to swap bad information and propagate baseless opinions. Experience has been easily and almost painlessly replaced by doing Google searches or asking for consensus on forums.

Do not get me wrong, forums are wonderful things. But all of these self imposed rules, all of the baseless and easily gained false expertise is, I believe, making many people worse keepers………and taking the zen out of this hobby.

The exact definition of the word husbandry does not really apply to keeping exotics pets – at least I don’t think it does. We use it nonetheless. We also – and I am guilty of this – refer to snake keeping as a hobby.

Both terms do disservice to what it really is. If done right, if done with the right frame of mind, and if done with compassion and passion, it becomes a life long relationship with a group of animals. These none too intelligent animals take on personalities – their dispositions and special habits and preferences are learned.

“Doing it correctly” means balancing what works for you with what works for the animal. Some animals prefer shavings, some paper. Some use hides, some don’t. Some like white rats, some like dark rats.

Some seem to look forward to handling sessions, while some remain irascible throughout their lives. Some are gentle, some seem downright possessed.

When faced with a sickness or other health issue, the interaction increases more and I’ll be damned if some of these “dim” animals seem to sense that you are trying to help them in their time of need and draw closer to you – even the possessed and irascible ones.

Two nights ago, my big 12 pound blacktail cribo (Mojo) has two stuck eye caps. In 15 years of keeping him, he has never had a bad shed – but the AC has been running almost 24 hours in the snake house and it dries out the air. As I held his head and gently worked loose his retained caps, he did not fight and did not squirm. This is an animal who strikes the front of his enclosure when anyone other than me walks into the room. I marveled at what that might mean and how this simple gesture from what many consider an unintelligent animal made me feel so honored and special.

I learned to “listen” to my snakes from my mentor. I learned early in my time in this “hobby” to balance what is easy for me with what the preference of the animal is. I learned to listen to each snake in my “collection”.

I also learned to enjoy my time with my animals. To take pleasure in simple tasks that could really be better described as chores.

I feel that this”hobby” has transformed these chores into something akin to Zen. I am at peace when I am taking care of and interacting with my animals – be it scraping crap of the walls or vacuuming the floors.

For anybody taking the time to read this rambling and aimless mess, I hope that you are not too embroiled in debating whether deserts can lay fertile eggs safely, concerned about whether a coral glow and a banana are one in the same, or about who is crashing what market or about raining your supreme judgment down on the idiot who uses pine shavings and glass cages.

I hope that you find the zen in you animals and leave all the drama, judgment and pontificating to the self-proclaimed experts who learned at the knee of Apple or Intel. I hope that you learn to find your own way in this hobby, while finding what makes your snakes healthy and content.

The Importance of Selecting a Properly Trained and Experienced Reptile Vet

Three years ago I got a call from a person who I sold a trio of children’s pythons to seven years prior.

Apparently, one of the males died displaying all of the tell-tale signs of IBD – you know, corkscrewing, regurgitation, etc.

The owner was in a panic, demanding his money back, wringing his hands about the threat to the rest of his collection etc.

After talking to him for about 30 minutes, I got the entire scoop. The timeline goes like this:

• 6 weeks before the animal died, it regurged a medium sized rat.

• 5 weeks before the animal died, it regurged a small rat.

• 4 weeks before the animal died, it regurged a small rat.

• 3 weeks before the animal died, it began refusing meals. It also began having issues with “musking” for a lack of a better word.

• 1 week before the animal died it contracted a respiratory infection.

• 1 week before the animal died the owner took it to a vet who noted the respiratory infection, the onset of septicemia and odd posturing.

• The vet, without taking any tests, declared that the animal had IBD and recommended euthanasia.

• Two days before the animal died, it began doing death rolls and thrashing, sub-marining and other signs of neurological damage.

We were lucky enough that not only did the owner live relatively close by, but that he refrigerated the carcass. I offered to assist him in paying for a necropsy with the understanding that if it was IBD we’d discuss testing the rest of his collection.

The body was handed over to my vet along with the feeding/poop/shed history.

We got the final results back yesterday and I thought that some people might find them both interesting and instructive.

The snake died of gastritis that was brought on from multiple regurges. The owner had a leftover medium size rat that a woma python refused so he fed it to his “garbage” disposal – the children’s python. The size and weight of the rat was way too much for the snake who threw it up after 3 days. A week later he attempted another feed which was followed by another vomiting and then a third feeding close on the heels of that.

Three regurge/vomiting episodes in less than three weeks led to the gastritis which initially manifested itself in a loss of appetite. At this point, the animal was critically sick and its immune system was down. It contracted a respiratory infection and it is probable that the onset of septicemia occurred just prior to the URI.

The stomach of the snake was full of cheesy discharge and was in overall tatters. The necropsy/histology also noted large widespread infection of the entire digestive system which had spread into the lung and the liver.

No inclusion bodies were found and the cause of death was wholly attributed to gastritis.

What I found interested and the main reason why I am sharing this is that I truly feel that if this incident had been reported on the forums, people would have been shouting IBD from the rooftops. The fact is that this is a simple case of a person offering an inappropriately sized meal to an animal, having a regurge and then not properly allowing or assisting the rehabilitation of the digestive system. If the owner had not refrigerated the animal, I am certain we would be testing his entire collection for IBD.

When my vet called the vet who made the initial IBD diagnosis, she was informed that the client’s vet really only saw a handful of snakes a year and based on the presentation of the corkscrewing and other neurological symptoms, he was certain it was IBD. He completely disregarded the recent health history of the animal.

I’m not going to go into what a grossly inappropriate and presumptive diagnosis that was, but I will emphasize this: in the final stages of a critical infection, be it from an RI, septicemia, viral or fungal infections, the final progression of the disease ultimately ends with the snake displaying odd motor control abnormalities including corkscrewing and a general inability to right itself.

I asked my vet, who specializes in snakes and services the local zoos how much IBD she is seeing and she said “some” but stated she is seeing far more OPMV these days.

This led to a discussion on how she has seen other vets mis-diagnose OPMV as IBD due to the rapid onset death and final stage neurological abnormalities.

Then she said something that threw me for a bit of a loop. She mused that the early earth-shaking cases of IBD in boa and python collections, notably the ones that quickly wiped out entire collections, could have been OPMV in a collection with a few IBD asymptomatic animals. She dealt with an OPMV outbreak with a boa/ball breeder last year in which a total a 10 animals eventually died. Testing confirmed OPMV in the collection, but 4 of the 10 animals were also discovered to have IBD.

This has led her – and this is her opinion only – that IBD may be “present” in a lot of animals but may be present asymptomatically. Another virus like OPMV comes through and devastates a collection. The vet, noting an RI and neurological symptoms, tests for IBD and incorrectly assumes it to be the cause of all the mayhem when OPMV or another virus/infection is actually doing the killing.

Nothing set in stone, but interesting nonetheless. If nothing else, it emphasizes the need to take your animals to an experienced reptile vet when they fall ill, to perform necropsies on any animals that die of unknown illnesses, and to not assume IBD when an animal displays odd behavior.

Alternative Causes of URIs in Snakes

It seems that we are always seeing  forum posts concerning upper respiratory infections in snakes that, even though cultured, do not respond to multiple rounds of antibiotics.

Upper respiratory infections in snakes can be caused by bacterial, viral, parasitic and fungal infections.

I have to admit that in many years of keeping snakes, I have not had a case of a bacterial or parasitic URI in a long term captive animal – only in imports. But I have also seen and treated parasitic and fungal causes to the infections.

Depending on the skill and experience of the vet treating your animal, a culture (usually via tracheal wash) can either be enlightening or confusing. Many cases of bacterial URI are caused by an overgrowth of naturally occurring bacteria due to a suppressed immune system as the result of another ailment. The URI is treated, responds and then re-occurs because the underlying causative agent has not been diagnosed.

The result of a bacterial culture will show, usually in decreasing order, the antibiotics that the suspected causative bacterium is most susceptible to.

Therefore, if multiple rounds of antibiotic treatment prove ineffective, and if the infection is spreading rapidly through your collection, it may be time to consider that something else may be causing the URI.

Viruses and URI
Viruses that may show URIs as primary or secondary symptoms are varied and harder to detect. Often, they are secondary symptoms to a less noticeable primary symptom. OPMV is an example of a viral infection that can initially present with respiratory symptoms. Our vet recently told me that she is seeing quite a bit of OPMV – in fact she sees more of it than IBD.

When I worked in Australia, several of my co-workers dealt with parvovirus outbreaks in their captive snake collections. While the main symptoms were gastrointestinal, these symptoms were acute and the first signs of distress ended up being respiratory in nature.

One of my foremen in Perth had a large aspidites and antaresia collection that was devastated by a picornavirus outbreak. Picornaviruses include rhinoviruses which are mainly respiratory in nature. I do not recall how the virus was isolated, but I do remember that it spread rapidly through his collection and that he spent a small fortune in antibiotic treatments that had no effect.

Parasites and URIs
Cryptosporidiosis (Crypto) is an example of a parasitic infection that, while mainly gastric in nature, can manifest itself in the early stages as pneumonia. As the disease progresses, regurges and anorexia are more common.

About 8 years ago, I received a WC yellow tail cribo from an importer than was infected with crypto. A fecal was performed which showed the normal imported South American bugs but nothing else. For three months the snake ate fine but had an incurable URI. Our vet would treat him, his symptoms would go away for a week or two and then return. At about 9 months, he began regurging and refusing to eat.

I kept him in quarantine, which most likely kept the parasite from spreading to the rest of my animals. At the first signs of gastric distress, the vet performed another fecal which showed crypto. A snake with crypto does not consistently shed the parasite upon defecation, therefore one clear fecal does not necessarily mean the animal does not have crypto. Unfortunately this animal needed to be euthanized.

I ended up throwing away the cage, water bowls and husbandry tools associated with this snake. The building I used for QT (large furnished shed) was vacated and sprayed with ammonia. I did not use it again for almost 8 months. My vet joked that I needed to burn it to the ground and then sow the site with salt. The rest of my collection was locked down and I did not breed any animals that season. I also began taking in fecal samples for random testing of all my snakes. It never reared its head again.

There are other parasites that live in the lung of a snake such as lung mites, pentastomids and lungworms. . These usually are diagnosed via bronchoscopy.

Fungal Causes
Keeping your snake in a poorly ventilated but humid environment can result in myco-fungi outbreaks which can damage the lung tissue.

Two years ago, the entire Skiploder family took a two week vacation to Montana and Idaho. Our pet sitter got a little carried away in spritzing the spilotes cages, resulting in a fungal lung infection of one of the females. When we came back there was mold growing in her cage which I noted and took a sample in to the vet. The causative fungus was aspergillis and it was treated with flucanozole.
Bacterial Infections as Secondary
Oftentimes, snakes can have an underlying primary health issue – be it viral, systemic, parasitic or even environmental that goes unnoticed or uncorrected. In these instances, this primary issue results in a secondary bacterial infection caused by the suppression of the immune system.

I always suspect that in many of the cases where a bacterial URI responds favorably to antibiotic treatment and then a month or two later recurs; that there is either a husbandry related issue or a systemic problem (renal, gastro-intestinal, parasitic, etc.) that is not throwing any symptoms but is weakening the animal.

I am not a vet and I do not intend for any advice that I give to substituted for the direction of a qualified herp vet. However, there are a lot of hack vets out there that do not perform cultures and throw antibiotics at every URI case they see. When repeated treatments do not help, it is time to consider the myriad of other possible health issues that may be affecting your animal. Please use this post only to assist you in asking your vet questions that make you feel comfortable with the course of treatment he/she is prescribing.

Respiratory Infections – The Bare Basics

I don’t think more than a few days go by without seeing a post or two about respiratory infections in snakes slapped up on the forums.

A couple of disturbing trends tend to rear their heads with these types of posts.

The first is that owner’s hesitancy to take the animal to a qualified reptile vet for evaluation and treatment. Let’s be clear in that no one on these forums is qualified to diagnose or treat a sick animal over the internet. Respiratory infections need to be diagnosed and treated by a vet, period.

The first thing you should do when you purchase a snake is research and pick a qualified herp vet in your area. New purchases should be cleared during QT with a fecal sample, so waiting for your animal to contract a disease before you research vets in your area is inexcusable. Find one before there is a problem.

Second is the advice that is given. Raise temps, lower temps, raise humidity, lower humidity. Be very careful in both giving and following advice of this nature. The only thing that should be done without consulting a vet is bumping up temps a few degrees which help out the immune system and mobilizes respiratory secretions. Any messing around with humidity should be done with extreme care as excess humidity can actually make problems worse – mainly in the fact that it is a combination of high humidity and poor ventilation that allows harmful bacteria to take a foothold in a micro environment like a snake enclosure. The link between low humidity and RIs has not been proven, no matter what common wisdom claims. Either way, it is always best to provide a micro climate such as a humid hide in lieu of turning the entire enclosure into a Petri dish.

Snakes do not have to be exposed to another sick animal to contract a respiratory infection. Bacterial infections of this type are often caused by nothing more than already present gram negative or positive bacteria that take advantage of an immuno-suppressed host.

Sadly, a lot of the advice that gets bandied about on these forums can lead to stressed snakes. Also a lot of advice can inadvertently also lead to the proliferation of potentially harmful bacteria.

For example, it is not uncommon to “hear” people recommending giving snakes baths or feeding the in separate containers. Both of these recommendations are more often than not completely unnecessary and does nothing more than stress the animal.

We also consistently see people advocating keeping the whole enclosure humid. When we keep these animals in small enclosures with constant misting and poor ventilation, we do nothing but create fertile breeding grounds for potentially harmful bacteria.

Stand alone viral infections in snakes are fairly rare and can lead to respiratory infections only in that the stress of being afflicted with the virus often opens the animal up to secondary bacterial infections. The exception being OPMV, which more often that not targets the respiratory system.

To summarize the list of respiratory infection causes, it all often comes down to nothing more than environment: making sure temperatures are correct, that proper ventilation is provided, that urates/urine/feces are promptly cleaned up and spot sanitized, and that the entire enclosure is kept in as clean a condition as possible.

When a snake contracts a RI, the most common symptoms are nasal discharge, open mouthed breathing (which includes holding the head at an elevated posture), wheezing, etc. These symptoms will be fairly constant as opposed to stressed breathing due to being handled or pieces of shed stuck in the nares which are episodic.

It is also important to stress that when you take you animal to the vet, that you ensure that proper treatment is being administered. Remember that you are the client and that the vet is working for you. As such, unless the animal is at death’s door, the vet should culture the infection in order to determine which antibiotic the causative bacteria is most susceptible to.

Too often we see instances where snakes are prescribed meds without the infection being cultured and then have to endure several rounds of antibiotic therapy while the vet blindly searches for an antibiotic that works. This is unnecessary, expensive and more importantly stressful to the snake. The goal is to quickly and effectively treat the infection and to not subject the animal to under stress (numerous vet visits, injections, etc.)

Due to the stressful nature of undergoing antibiotic treatment, sick animals should not be fed during this time. Most treatments are in two to three day intervals, which narrow the window for feeding and handling without the risk of a regurge/stress induced-vomiting. The last thing the owner and animal need while fending off a RI is dealing with regurges.

Another thing to consider is the administering of the shots. Some people have no issues doing this at home; others need to take their animals in every few days for the injections. The key is to recognize YOU limitations. If you do not feel comfortable injecting your snake, the best course of action is to fork over the extra money and have it done at the vet’s office. Some vets recognize that snakes do not travel well and for a small fee, will make a house visit to administer the shots. This cuts back greatly on the amount of stress on the animal.

The keys here are as follows:

1) Make sure your husbandry is spot on and that you are not facilitating the overgrowth of bacteria in your snake’s environment.

2) If your snake is exhibiting RI symptoms, don’t waste time shopping for advice on a forum, take the animal in to a qualified vet. Be very cautious of any advice you follow from someone who is not a vet. Have a vet on hand before your snake gets sick.

3) Make sure that the vet cultures the causative bacteria before prescribing an antibiotic.

4) Make sure you are comfortable administering antibiotic injections.

There are other things I guess we could cover here, but these are the basics.

What’s Your Snake Packing?

Having witnessed the evolution of the reptile marketplace over the past three decades, I can say that the it has definitely made animals available to hobbyists faster than we can accurately learn about them.

I was one of those kids who was lucky/unlucky enough to purchase a Rhabdophis Tigrinus as a pet. Back in those heady days, they were just another brightly colored snake that was prominently displayed at the funky old reptile/aquarium store in the closest big city.

I blissfully kept that animal into it’s old age without knowing that it was almost every bit as deadly as a Dispholidus Typus (boomslang) until I was rearing it’s offspring. My mother had tangentially heard about a death attributed to tigrinus bite from overseas, but the story was fractured. Furthermore, without the convenience of today’s electronic media, any further investigation was near impossible.

Within the ever growing circle of opistoglyph afficionados, the Rhabdophis Tigrinus (and to a similar degree the Subminiatus) have achieved a level of mythical respect. In fact, when I bring them out to meet people, hands get shaky, lips quickly dry and chap and then get re-wetted, voices get slightly tremulous – the works.

It is fairly well known now that these snakes pack a potent venom that induces a fatal coagulopathy, which results in extensive hemorrhaging.

Today we know of a couple of opistoglyphous snakes that can pack a fatal punch (Dispholidus Typus, Thelatornis, Rhabdophis).

We also suspect that there are some that could potentially cause a serious, perhaps even life threatening envenomation (Select members of Philodryas, Macrophistodon, and select members of Psammophidae).

Now I often caution that information is a dangerous thing. Statements are incorrectly and vociferously stated, blogs read and the bad information is often gobbled up, and summarily absorbed in a manner that suits the fancy of the reader.

Philodryas Baroni and Heterodon Nasicus are examples of commonly kept opistoglyphs and the former belongs to the same family in which the Patagoniensis and Olfersii belong to. An Olfersii bite can be potentially life threatening……..while a Baroni bite will not. But do not tell that to the Baroni owner who is a careless reader, or who is trying to improve his cred on the net.

Same with the dispholidine family. Boomslangs and Twig snakes can kill, other members, Rhamnophis and Thrasops have not and probably will not. Yes, they pack a similar if not same venom, but the delivery system is worth about as much as a fart in a noisemaker. Just because you have a .45 caliber bullet in your pocket doesn’t mean you can kill someone with it. That bullet needs a delivery system.

I brought up Rhabdophis for a reason. I unknowingly was keeping an animal that could have perhaps killed me under the right circumstances. That was real.

I have kept other opistoglyphs over the years, wherein I was not spinning that same roulette wheel……Thrasops, Clelia, Rhamnophis, Hydrodynastes, other Philodryas species. etc.

I have kept some in which the jury is out – namely Rhamphiophis.

But one thing I do know, is that neither I nor the people I sold a Thrasops, Baroni, Hydrodynastes, Rhamnophis or Boiga to will become the next Karl Schmidt or Robert Mertens.

The notion is romantic enough, the photos of swollen hands and fingers is compelling. The idea that many of us are flirting with death by either envenomation or an almost unheard of and undocumented case of spontaneous opistoglyphous venom allergy on a daily basis is tempting……….and to some, perhaps romantic.

But once we get beyond the guessing and the what if’s, the research is not there. The history is not there. Where Mertens and Schmidt were pioneers in keeping (at the time) uncommon species, the keeper of a Boiruna Maculata is not. The bite accounts are often anecdotal and the claims of fatalities are the result of misinformation passed down from internet reader to internet reader.

The risk from this talk should be obvious. The practice of keeping captive reptile has been under threat from various special interests groups who have substantial pull with our legislatures on both the State and Federal levels. While you are not going to convince me that your hognose, mussurana or falsie can kill you, you may convince someone who will use that misinformation in a way that will put our freedoms as keepers at risk.

Know what your snake is packing, represent and discuss it in an ethical and responsible manner. It’s as much a part of being a responsible keeper as providing proper husbandry and veterinary care.