Just gorgeous!

Hello everybody,

I just wanted to share some pictures of two Calliophis bivirgata flaviceps, I kept a few animals during the last years. In my opinion they are the most beautiful elapids. Sadly they are very shy and can only be seen for short periods between long periods of hiding.

This is a juvenile of approximately 35 cm. The lateralstripes and intersquamalskin of the juveniles is more brightly as in adults. Compared to adults they look a little bit colourless.



And this is the opposite, a huge male of around 160cm, the biggest I have ever seen alive.



And a not-so-good potrait of the same specimen. They are not easy to photograph, permanently trying to hide under everything they can find. Sometimes they are really aggressive, biting into everything around, same as some Bungarus.



Best regards

Frank

What a beauty!!!

Wonderful snakes.
Never see one before!!!
Realy fantastic!!!

So amazing snake you got there Frank!

// Johan

Great animals! What about feeding habits? I red somewhere that they are very picky eaters and that they don't do well in captivity. How many records of breeding in cativity is there - is there any at all?

Cheers!
Anze

Real stunners in high-contrast!

I think no other elapid can top the Calliophis bivirgata flaviceps and Bungarus flaviceps...!

If they don´t have the feeding-problem...

hehe

Quote :

I think no other elapid can top the Calliophis bivirgata flaviceps and Bungarus flaviceps...!

Right no elapid...



I will give my soul for this. Not really an elapid. But as beatiful as Calliophihis

http://www.venomland.net/evolution-genetics-taxonomy-f16/calliophis-sp-identification-t381.htm

Cheers Fabian

Hi Frank,

A beautiful and uncommon snake that you show us there! Did you manage to make them eat well? I've heard and read they were quite awful tu keep under captivity because of their shyness, and their eating problems... Can you say something about their habits under captivity?

Thanks a lot for sharing this!!

Thanks for the complements, and yes... they are not easy to maintain, because of the problems with feeding. A friend of me who bought one juvenile from me last year, has no problems at all, the snake eats any other dead or alive snake offered from the forceps. In the past I had no luck to keep them on snakes permanently, they sometimes refused to eat for month. Others took mice from time to time, but the whole head is compact like in lizards and even a snake of 1,4m has problems to swollow babymice not older than one day! They are definitely specialized on thin, long pray. BUT as far as I know, noone ever made any stomachinvestigations, maybe snakes are only a good alternative to their natural food. Who knows? Maybe they are feeding on earthworm, or amphisbenians in nature. Some people say, they would feed on frogs as well, but I strongly challange that. They are just not build to swallow a prey like that.
A good opportunity to get snakeeaters on mice is to use snakeeggs. They can be opened and mice can be coated with the content. A friend got all his Micrurus feeding on mice without any problems. You can freeze the snakeeggs and thaw them when you need it. After a while most snakes accept mice without the whole snakeegg-procedure.

As far as I know, noone ever bred this species in captivity and till now there are very few keepers who managed to keep them for a long time, because of the feeding problems. But if you get juvenile animals in good condition, there is a good chance to get them on snakes permanently. It just depends on the animal.

@Fabian: The snake you see in the link, was one that I bought as a Calliophis in the past, but it is a Calamaria lumbricoidea. Only the juveniles have the red head, they loose it when they grow up (just use google to see it). The adult size is under 50cm and they mainly feed on earthworm. They are hiding the whole day, so they are not very attractive to keep. But if you are interested in them, I can get them from time to time...

Best regards

Frank

Hi Frank

Really one of the most attractiv elapids we have on earth.
Stunning and beautiful.

Wish you can breed them in the future. good luck -my fingers are crossed for you

chris

Hello Frank,

thank you. If you have some, or other rare colubrids you can contact me. I like the underdogs, and even if they are not very atractive to keep.

RGDS Fabian

hey Frank,

what a beautiful species this is.
is it possible to post some pictures from the setup you keep them in

thanks,
kai van enckevort

Beautiful animals Frank

Looks like you have a pretty good handle on keeping them alive. Best of luck breeding them. Definitely one of the most beautiful species there is.

Randy