Finaly I got some

I finally got myself a pair of Cerats.

My first species of Atheris and certainly not last.

Some pics of the little tykes

Finaly I got some DSC_0522

Its very nice Very Happy

Good luck in the world of atheris.. Very Happy

I agree with Radek, really beautiful little one ... good luck with it

How old are these? been in captivity for a long time??

Thanks guys!

These are sub adults. and have been in captivity for only a short while.
They are eating, and now checking their parasite content, took stools to the vet for analysis.

Congrats Brad,
nice looking animals you have. i love the first pic, he looks like a little devil.
Rene

Guest

Great pair! Congrats.

Thanks Guys

I took the first lot of stools to the vet for analysis - came back all clear - no parasites!

Nice pair, Brad. But I must pass along some bad news. You will now officially become addicted to arboreals and all of your future paychecks will go to acquiring more Atheris species! I'm sorry, but you can forget about that Ferrari that you've been dreaming of. Laughing

Have fun and good luck!

Been addicted a long time already Derek - you should see some of my other posts Wink

Next on the list is the Hispida!

Brad i must ask why hispida? This species is known to die easily in captivity. What are your ideas to try keep it alive?

I am just willing to put the time and effort in. I have some ideas that I want to try.
There has been reasonable success with this species overseas.

Could you please share these ideas. This is an amazing species that many people would love to try.

I love the hairy bush viper but I would not try to keep this sp and I don't want to know the number of animals that died and will die in future. It's understandable that people want to keep them, really nice snakes, but for me it seems more and more to be like a competition. I know there are some other species which were deemed as unkeepable an now there are CBs available but this time, I think, it's another case. Maybe we should wait for better scientific explorations before keeping this animal at home.

What do you think?

Matt - all in due time - the theories still need to be proved.
Jonas - I agree somewhat with what you say. This is not a competition for me!

Hello ,
sure buying animals who cannot live in captivity ,should be not a competicion.
But the truth seems other,any Wc Exporter catch them and hold them under really bad conditons ,without food ,water,light and so on...
But what is the plan to stop this , i don´t know a solution for it, someone will buy them ...when they are cheap enough.
Endagered and rare species like this ,should be only sold to people who gots experience or people who knows what they are doing with them ...,not only hispida is hard to get stable...ALL other Atheris spp. and some other specimen as Wc´s ,too.
You had to be sure that the condition is good , most Wc´s gots parasites ,maybe infection´s ,worms and so on ...but when they are good in food and not missed 2 or more shedding´s you got a good chance to get them stable ,with the right medicine and much work and MONEY of course.
I think no animal is unkeepable ,but the effort to keep them is another point...when holders are willing to spend much money ,with climated rooms , needed hibernation ,right temperatures (heating and cooling) , food (food specialists) and so on ... it is possible to keep them.
When you want to be sure to get the best possible animals , just drive/fly where they are from and make yourself a picture Wink

When the next years are passed , i think the most habitat´s will be loosen ...so where should those also loosen spp. live in the future???
Most endagered spp.´s are not saved and gots an cites status , but why not ?
I find it really good ,WHEN people effort everything to keep them alive and breed them to keep rare species alive...
They will be not cheap of course, but why it should be cheap ...
I cross my fingers with your plans and wish you much luck with your animals ,one time you find some good healthy hispida´s ,too Smile

Greets Ralph

Hello,

first I know that a lot of exported animals arrive under really bad conditions at the customers and I aggree that it's extremely hard to solute this Problem, maybe it's not possible to find a solution. But people like us who know the problems are able to do the first step, the demand drops really fast, most of the people who know this ssp. at all, know the problems, too, I think.
An example, a person "used" 20 hispida to find some good healthy hispida, after some years they breed. Everybody is happy and motivated to try this, too, not only experienced. The import raises again and Atheris hispida disappeared before their habitat does.
Ok I see it's a "mission impossible" and I see also a positive process compared to a few years ago.
And I wish also everybody good luck, who couldn't/can't keep his fingers away from this snakes Wink

best regards

additional: I've already lost a healthy looking WC-chlorechis because of endoparasites(?), I payed about 250€ for the vet but it failed to effect a cure. The chlorechis looked well hydrated and feeded but the transportation, I think, was just too much stress so the parasites won.

Ok Jonas

So what you are saying is that if I am successful with these snakes I must keep quiet because you do not want everybody to want them?

How do you know if I am not trying them as part of a directive to help start a captive breeding program to facilitate a CB supplies rather than wild caught?

Its people like us that keep these snakes that in turn may save the species. Information is knowledge and my view is that if you are keeping animals that are not traditional domestic animals your are somewhat required to impart knowledge of your successes with other like minded individuals so that the average general knowledge of this hobby/science/passion is increased and collectively everybody helps everybody else which in turn helps the animals.

You will always get the people that will try and make a buck and only worry about the buck! Those people are the ones that do not care about the animals and they are the ones that should be removed from the supply chain and the only way to do that is to captive breed and the only way to captive breed is to obtain wild specimens.

One day when the formula is cracked you will also get these - hopefully they will be captive bread by that time!

"So what you are saying is that if I am successful with these snakes I must keep quiet because you do not want everybody to want them?"

No, I wouldn't try it because the chance to get "good" hispida is very very small, for me. This is nothing against your person, or your Intention by the way you're from SA. I only can estimate the european export.
I spreak about the whole issue, an I think we should be a bit more sensitive and realistic, this does not mean to abort the project, only to contain it to a more effective and less killing one. Do you know what I mean?
Of course it's a good thing to save the ssp. and for some also possible to manage.

Best regards

Guest

Best of luck! My buddy has managed to keep his hispida alive for some time now. Hope you both are very successful.

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