Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana)

Here are some pictures of "Midnight" my Naja sumatrana which I gave away to a snake wrangler friend who uses snakes in films
Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) MidnightPhoto

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) MidnightPhoto

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) Darknight

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) Midair

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) HoodShot2

This is an old pic of Midnight when it came to us as a juvenile
Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) BabyMifnight

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) MidnightProfile

...a little bigger after 8 months the enclosure before had a decorative skull which he liked to hide in. So transfers for cleaning were quite easy since it wouldn't leave the skull until he/she outgrew it.

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) ShotsofMidnight4

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) ShotsofMidnight4

...just over a year...

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) TheNight27

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) TheNight29

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) TheNight24

A vid capture of a kill

These were some of the last pics I took of its setup before giving it away.
Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) MidnightOct09

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) MidnightOct09

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) Nightrider4

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) Nightrider3

This is another specimen of the same species which I caught in Borneo while visiting... I had to release this one since I was returning to KL back then.
Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) Beauty3

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) Beauty3

This one however was a full-grown adult roughly 6ft, and was the first cobra I ever caught by myself while road-herping
Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) Beauty2

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) Beauty2

Sorry...but the cages are really bad for such nice snakes.

Very nice species, but I agree with Carsten.

A cage so open on all sides can be very stress full for the animal kept in there. The style of decoration is just a choice the cobra would not mind if there is a skull with coloured stones or a live plant with bark in his terrarium.
More hiding spots and things to climb on he will appreciate I think.

For the snake absolutly mindblowing gorgous. It is a real nice specimen.

cheers

Richard

I appreciate the critique and I concur with the assessment... it was my first hot though... and due to my limited experience, I was advised by a more experienced comrade to keep it simple to ease in maintenance chores... will try better next round.

Hi Alex,
I like this Form of sumatrana, but a little more the yello phase of it.
Not very comon in european collections.
All the years, I visited Malaysia I see only one black sumatrana. It came out of the forest and cross the road. I take a fast break with the car and stand beside the road. But before I can jump out of the car, an other car passes me by and roll over the snake. What a pitty.... Next time I hope for more succes.

Hey Alex,

Beautiful specimen. I'm supposed to be getting some black Naja sumatrana in about 6 weeks from our man in Malaysia. I am the person in the USA that produces the yellows, and I really love them. They, along with Naja oxiana, have the best personallity of any Cobra I have kept or heard about.

Peter,

A friend in Germany says he has sold 3 pairs of my CB'10 yellow Naja sumatrana to people in Europe. I have decided to part with another CB'10 female that I was keeping back, and I hope to have 3 clutches this year, so maybe more people in Europe can keep these beautiful specimens.

Randy

Yes Randy,
I´ve seen that classified in that german forum some weeks ago. The are realy nice!

Thanks Peter,

They are nice as babies, but nothing compared to when they reach maturity. The problem is, it's very hard to tell how they will turn out as adults. Meaning how much brown speckling they will have. All are bright/light yellow as adults, but there was one male that I kept from 2009 that happened to be much darker than his clutchmates and all others produced before and after him.

Randy

Thanks for that Information about this. I´m personaly don´t keeped Naja any more. But I love the asian ones a lot. I´m always happy when I found one in the wild. So, I hope for more succes to find a sumatrana in the future!

I used to keep many species of African Cobras, as well as Pseudonaja textilis, Pseudechis rossignolli (just sold my adult proven breeders), Pseudechis papuanus, and Acantophis sp., but I really love the Asian Cobras, including King Cobras most, so I have sold off all the PNG/Irian Jaya Elapids and African Cobras except a trio of N. haje. I plan to keep and try to breed Kraits, and I just acquired a pair of Bungarus candidus. I also keep a CB'99 Bitis g. rhinoceros and a big, and very old Crotalus adamanteus/atrox cross that I got in a group that I purchased in Jan. 1999. I will just keep the Bitis and Crotalus until they die.

Below is a photo of the darker male CB'09 N. sumatrana I mentioned in the earlier post, and then the CB'10 female that I am willing to part with. You can see that the male is still fairly yellow, but he should be more yellow than he is. He will get more yellow, but never as much as my stock usually does. The female still looks a little orange, but she will be a beautiful specimen as an adult. The third photo is of their father

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) SumY-010-09-M_1

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) SumY-010-09-M_1

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) SumY-011-10-F_1

Black Equatorial Spitter (Naja sumatrana) SumY-002-M

Thanks for the comment guys.... In Borneo, we only have Naja sumatrana and Opiophagus hannah, and since I'm setting up this urban snake rescue community service, I'm fairly certain I will be finding some again. I just had some concerns about spitters... the fact that dried venom residue on the glass aquarium may cause allergic reactions when potentially inhaled...

Can anyone tell me more about this? or link me to the thread that elaborates more on this subject... much appreciated

Thanks and best regards.

I have heard of people having allergic reactions when cleaning venom residue off glass, but I have never experienced it myself. Some people have reactions when they get venom spat on their skin, but I think that they are in the minority. I get spit on all the time, but not usually by N. sumatrana. I think they spit the least of any spitter.

I've never heard of people having a reaction to inhaling venom residue. If you scrape dried venom off glass, there is a chance that it will be in the air and it can get in your eyes, and it will sting a little, but not bad. If you spray the glass with water or better yet glass cleaner, and then wipe the venom off, there should be no problem. If you have an open cut on your hand and you get venom in it, it can cause a problem, but a fairly minor one in most instances. If that may be a problem, wear rubber gloves and spray the venom with a liquid before cleaning it off the glass. That will stop any possibilities of inhalation or getting particles in your eyes.

Niek Hofman from here had to sell his black necked spitters because of allergic reactions, maybe you can contact him Smile