It’s a Snake Eat Snake World…..Maybe

Cannibalism in snakes that normally are not ophiophagus has often been observed to result in the fatality of both participants. Logic should dictate that this reinforces that it’s not natural behavior and may be triggered by something other than normal predatory instincts. It stands to reason that if the act results in the death of the diner and the main course – how could any one argue it is normal behavior? Evolution doesn’t work that way.

Such behavior would work against adaptations that assist in the survival of snakes that often practice communal denning. So what causes a starving, stressed animal to kill and eat something it normally would not try to eat?

Many people who claim that “no species of snake can be cohabitated” often point to pictures of tank mates eating each other as proof of their misguided and misapplied theories.

So if a non-cannibalistic snake eats a room mate, how do we go about explaining it?

The fancy scientific explanation:

The term “energetically stressed” accounts for this phenomenon and it has actual been studied in snakes with regards to cannibalism in non-cannibalistic species.

Energy is the primary behavior motivator in animals. Energetically stressed animals are known to modify their behavior in various seemingly unnatural ways in order to meet this critical demand.

In order to prevent an energetic shortfall, animals often increase their search activity to find food. When they become so energetically stressed that they reach a critical tipping point, they will attempt to predate on prey items which incur a greater risk either of predation or defensive injuries.

In some studies, non-ophiophagus snakes would first cannibalize dead members of their own species when faced with a paucity of food. If already deceased members of their own species were unavailable, they would try to cannibalize living brethren. As they were not suited for taking down ophiophagus prey, the attempts more often than not ended up in death for all involved. The reason for this? Snake eating requires some highly specialized modifications. Even if the eater was able to subdue the victim, a fundamental inability to properly ingest another snake (have you ever seen how a Clelia or Drymarchon eats another snake?) would result in death to the diner.

If you stick a starving snake in a stressful situation (new surroundings, unfamiliar motion) with another animal, that stress results in a increased demand for energy in an energetically stressed animal. In a panic to combat this energetic deficit, the snake tries to kill and eat the nearest thing it “thinks” it can eat – even if that thing isn’t normally part of the menu, or even if that thing is something they may not be able to ingest/digest.

Cohabitation does not kill these animals. Stress and starvation (energy stress) did.

In a proper set up, with properly fed animals, where stress was kept to normal levels, where environmental parameters were correct, and where adequate space was provided, such events would not have happened.

Too often unwise decisions and errors in judgment are capitalized on to incorrectly reinforce a theory or a rule that does not hold true.

Prey Model Diets for Snakes – Clelia and Boiruna

I’ve touched on the fact that we not only overfeed our snakes, we also feed them prey that they do not predominately feed on in the wild.

This has led to keepers losing their animals at an early age.  As “mussurana” of various species are finding their way into more and more homes, I’m hearing more and more stories of these animals just dropping dead.

Most of the time, the keeper does not bother with a necropsy.  However, I’ve talked to a few hobbyists who have.  Some of these animals are dying of fatty liver disease and other “lifestyle” diet choices – and doing so at a fairly young age.

In 2002 a study was done by Carla da Costa Pinto and Thales de Lema regarding the feeding behavior of Boiruna and Clelia species.  This study covered many things:  differences in how they subdue and consume various prey types, their diet preferences and the size of their prey.

At this point in time, I’m only going to focus on what they eat, not how.

The study showed that mussurana have a varied diet – a whopping 23 food items.  They included the following snakes and lizards:

Liophis Almadensis

Lystrophis Dorbignyi

Oxyrhopus Petola

Sibynomorphus Mikanii

Thammodynastes Spp

Philodryas Patagoniensis

Oxyrhopus Rhombifer

Echinanthera Cyanopleura

Liophis Miliaris

Bothrops Jararaca

Mabuya So,

Ameiva Ameiva

Tropidurus Torquatus

…with the additional of the following birds:

Gallus Gallus

…and the following mammals:

Akodon Serrensis

Oryzomys Nigripes

Metachirus Nudiancaudatus

The predominant prey type being other snakes.  The inclusion of gallus gallus being a nod to these animals sometimes encroaching into human settlements and preying on chickens and chicks.

In the most commonly captive kept mussurana (Boiruna Maculata), the predation of mammalian species was observed to be purely opportunistic.  In an “emerging” species tot he hobby (Clelia Rustica), rodents were observed to be a targeted and selected prey item.

What does all this mean?

Short answer, we are feeding these animals the wrong diet.

Long answer:

An adult rat has the following proximate composition and energy content:

Crude Protein:    61.8%

Crude Fat:   32,6%

Gross Energy:  6.37 kcal/g

An adult rattlesnake has the following proximate composition and energy content:

Crude Protein:  60.6%

Crude Fat:  3%

Gross Energy:  6.51 kcal/g

Bottom line – much less crude fat, similar protein and similar energy.  We are forcing more fat into these animals than they have evolved to handle….and it is affecting their health.

With house geckoes and anoles being sold via online vendors as prey items, along with availability of inexpensive sources of corn snakes and juvenile boids, a variety of more suitable prey model-appropriate diets are available for clelia and boiruna.

I would argue that there is a viable market for providing feeder snakes to drymarchon, clelia, boiruna and other ophiophagus snake species.

In the long run, filling this market niche – providing proper prey model diets for snake eating snakes – will not only make us better keepers, but will make our captive charges healthier.

Re-Thinking the Whole “Rack” Thing…..

In general I feel like I’m a pretty decisive person…once I make a decision I tend to stick with it unless it just doesn’t make a whole hell of a lot of sense anymore.

When it comes to housing reptiles, I’m just the opposite.  I can’t count the number of racks and enclosures I’ve bought and sold as I’ve gone back and forth between housing options.

Except for some species that just can’t be kept in rack – varanids and arboreal snake species for example – I’ve pretty much converted all of my animals to racks.

From the ubiquitous V70/CB70 rack to the monster 66″ Freedom Breeders, the snake house is chock full of racks.

But as I get older and observe my animals more, the more I’m convinced that they would are more comfortable in specialized enclosures.

I converted all my drymarchon to 60″x24″x24″ enclosures.  Each one sits atop a shelf that holds a cement mixing tub.  The enclosure has a hole in the floor that leads the the mixing tub, effectively creating a tidy little dark and cool burrow.

I am now in the process of converting all my clelia, pituophis, terrestrial philodryas and psammophiidae to similar enclosures, with my heloderma to follow.

Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a rack properly sized for the target species.

However, I just enjoy watching my animals in larger enclosures…and in the end, maybe I’ll be the only one getting any benefit from it.  I also find it easier to customize husbandry parameters for each species in a larger cage.  In a rack, you tend to shoot for a happy medium when housing several species.  In a cage, the options are limited only by your capacity to create them.

…and I’m pretty sure none of the animals will be the worse for the change…once they acclimate.

The bad news – a whole lotta cage building, staining and running back and forth to the hardware store and the lumber yard.

The good news – some people in the Bay Area are going to get some smoking deals on some beautiful Freedom Breeder racks.

Signs of Comfort and Stress in Captive Reptiles

The link between physical well being and stress in captive reptiles is well established. As a keeper, your foremost responsibility is to ensure that stress is kept to a minimum.

Everything you do is targeted at reducing stress. This encompasses providing proper husbandry, diet and positive interaction.

This begs the question, just how the hell do you identify stress in a captive snake? Conversely, what are the signs that your snake is at ease or “comfortable”.

Since snakes are – for the most part – not expressive, clues to stress/comfort need to be gleaned from their behavior.

Signs of stress or “discomfort” include:

• Attempts to escape
• Hissing
• Non-feed induced biting
• Over alertness
• Mock striking
• Retraction of the head or tail induced by minor stimuli
• Immobility – whcih may included eye contact with keeper
• Hiding the head
• Clutching (tightly coiling or grasping)
• Death feigning (in animals that display this behavior)
• Stuttery, jittery or otherwise hesitant mobility
• Loop pushing with the intent to resist physical contact

Signs of comfort include:

• Sleep or repose
• Relaxed – not tense – immobility
• Relaxed or normal respiration rate
• Normal alertness
• Relaxed awareness
• Calm tasting or smelling of the air – measured in rate of tongue flicking
• Unhurried motion
• Normal feeding and drinking
• Relaxed grasp on handler

Since this is a ball pythons forum, it should be noted that signs of comfort should be congruent with normal behaviors the animals would display in the wild. In nature, ball pythons tend to spend the duration of the daylight hours in a resting phase and the nighttime hours in hunting mode (if hungry). Therefore any deviations from this behavior pattern in captivity such as restless daytime behavior should be considered as indications of stress or discomfort.

Reptiles in general (excluding the “smarter” species) tend to have limited stress responses to inadequate captive environmental conditions. The primary stress response is the displaying of search and escape behavior. This is often noted as general restlessness. The animal cannot find proper thermoregulation zones, or the animal cannot find a hide or retreat that fulfills its instinctual need to go into a diurnal or nocturnal resting phase.

The second general stress response is to biologically shut down in an attempt to minimize the stress induced by it’s captive environment. Signs of this are lack of basking behaviors and refusing to feed. Animals that are biologically shutting down may mimic hibernation behavior out of season.

It has been proposed that these two primary stress responses are dependent on natural behavior in the wild. Drymarchon, for example, are wanderers and should in theory display the former response. More sedentary species are prone to shutting down when stressed and will display the latter.

It should be noted that stress behaviors are not constant. Reptiles have overriding biological imperatives. A strong stimuli – such as a timed basking spot in a varanid – may cause a resumption of normal behavior. The key is to observe the animal’s behavior once that powerful stimulus is removed.

One of the things I’m always harping on is the importance of establishing protocols when bringing a new snake home. These protocols are implemented to reduce stress on all levels. They are:

• Do your homework – make sure the animal is housed in a habitat that properly provides for all of it’s environmental and behavioral requirements. These include proper levels of heat, proper thermoregulation zones, adequate space, etc.
• Place the enclosure in an area with little to no foot traffic, noise or vibration.
• After placing the animal in it’s new home, do not touch it or interact with it until it shows signs of comfort (as listed above)
• Do not feed the animal until it shows normal signs of hunger along with signs of comfort.
• Do not begin handling sessions outside of those required during routine maintenance until the animal begins to show signs of comfort.

At another time we can explore why the primary goal of every keeper should be to not follow cookie cutter instructions by species, but to begin to recognize the need to fine tune husbandry parameters even further by examining the individual tendencies and requirements of each animal in their care. There is a very obvious link between stress and disease in reptiles, and everything we do should be aimed at eliminating that risk in our collections

You CAN make an omelette without breaking eggs. It’s just a really bad omelette

A recent topic of conversation that is currently taking place on a Facebook group brings up the difference between making assumptions on the care of an animal versus understanding the biological imperatives of a species.

To the point, the discussion involved the diet of egg eating snakes and what would constitute an acceptable/suitable captive diet.

When is an egg not an egg? Why are some eggs more suitable than others?

There are fifteen species of Dasypeltis and one of Elachistodon that actually specialize in eating bird eggs.

The remaining species ate scaled reptile or squamate eggs. These squamate eggs eaters include the fourteen members of the Simoselaps genus, the fourteen members of Prosymna, and the two members of Phyllorhyncus.   There are also members of Oligodon, Stegnotus, Enulius,and Umbrivaga that can be included in this group.  In total, 45 species eat eggs, but not bird eggs.

This disparity (45 out of 61) between squamate and avian bird eaters is not accidental. Bird eggs have a tendency to be harder and larger than reptile eggs. Reptile eggs (except for some species) can be cut enlarged or specialized teeth so that the contents can be easily extracted and then digested.

It is no accident that many of the smaller species of specialized egg eaters are reptile eggs eaters. They are simply too small to ingest the larger eggs of native birds.

This brings up an important point that may be overlooked…do not feed a dedicated reptile egg eater a meal it cannot digest.

While a Prosymna may be able to swallow a small bird egg, it is not equipped to properly collapse or crush this hard egg and extract the contents. Similarly, it is ill equipped to eat squamate eggs that are not soft or pliable (many of the gecko species).

There is a natural overlap in which some of the larger reptile egg specialists will occasionally prey on bird eggs, but this overlap occurs with the larger species that possess more specialized dentition (Oligodon).

For what it’s worth, Prosymna will also eat termites, earthworms, small soil insects and small lizards.

Prospective keepers should focus on providing eggs that small enough to be consumed and pliable enough to be easily slit.

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.

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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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.