Clelia bicolor

Hi, I wanted to make my first proper forum post a nice one, and I would love to hear if anyone has experience with this species either in the field or captivity.
Clelia bicolor DSC_0368

Cheers

Al

Al

Nice snake. I have not had experience with this species but have some with Clelia occipitolutea (=Boiruna maculata), Clelia clelia, and know people who have kept Clelia rustica. Both C. occipitolutea and rustica were easy to maintain as they would accept mice and both have been reproduced in captivity with regularity, however, C. clelia is problematic in that most will only accept snakes as food and may attempt to eat each other when kept together. It looks as though your C. bicolor eat mice - which is a good sign. It appears that it is a rather small snake - was it hatched from eggs laid in captivity?

Thanks for posting on a rarely seen snake (at least in the U.S.)!

Michael

Hi Michael, I am aware of and envious of your Boiruna/Clelia. Smile

I also had one maculata, but it was a sick animal and died shortly after arriving Crying or Very sad

This is a young animal for certain although it's origins are unknown, however I do believe it is WC. Bought at Hamm last year. It started well on pinkies and fluffs, but has fasted for a long time, and has only recently started feeding again, but only on snakes, so there is much work to do. I would love C.rustica but they appear to be very seldom seen in captivity at least in the UK.

From the information I've found, this species is the smallest Clelia only reaches about 1m in length so it has some growing still to do, but nothing like the size of the others in the genus. Any tips on juvenile Boiruna/Clelia husbandry would be appreciated, I currently keep it according to the average temperature range for the area the species is found, in a naturally planted vivarium,(28/24 Day/night ambient, 60-80% humidity) and it appears happy enough but any extra husbandry information is always gratefully received.

Cheers

Al

The Boiruna that I have had were pretty straight forward aniimals once they began feeding on rodents. Most had to be started on anolis lizards and eventually switched over to dead pinks left in their cages overnight. You might want to try to scent pink mice w/snake scent by rubbing them with the snake -or- take a piece of wet shed snake skin and put it onto a pink. C. clelia on the other hand are very difficult- I had a friend who hatched a couple dozen eggs and could not get the babies started on anything but snakes- that's not to say some can't be switched over, but it appears to be very difficult. All clelia appear to love to soak in water - so an ample sized water bowl is a good thing (I've caught C. clelia in very swampy conditions in Costa Rica). By the way, there is an article in the last "Herp Nation" (U.S. magazine) on Boiruna maculata.

Goof Luck!

Michael

Actually mean't to say "Good Luck!"

Michael

stunning looking snake!! very nice..

Thanks for the info and the compliments! I think this is a really cool animal too Smile

and I think I prefer "goof" luck, more my style Wink

Origin is Uruguay/Paraguay apparently, so I'm not making assumptions about it's preferred temps and humidity, but "guesstimating", which is ok but not ideal. It doesn't seem to be fossorial, tends to be crepuscular, not active past 10pm, and while I have seen it climbing, it tends to patrol the ground more. I've seen one picture of the species eating chicks in the wild but other than that, nada.
I have never witnesses it soaking or drinking, however I do tend to look but rarely touch to avoid stressing it out, it hasn't shown any sort of defensive or aggressive behaviour but the feeding response is off the charts. Strikes incredibly fast and is the best constrictor I've seen by quite some way. It is very shy though and doesn't want to challenge or inspect the keeper, at least not yet Smile

Hoping to find another to pair up, but not even sexed this one yet, quite happy to wait a while, and if I end up with two males or females i won't be upset, more the merrier! Thanks for looking

Al

I'm in a sharing mood Smile

Al

Alasdair McMillan wrote:: I'm in a sharing mood

Very very nice... Shocked

When you complete your pair and you have some offspring, give me a call Cool

Very nice and rare snake. On my wishlist. Good luck with her!

Best regards, BKK

Nice genus! Saw the classified for Hamm, there was sold several specimens ...
Did the guy gave you papers / cites for the snake?

Hi Fabian, no paperwork required, it isn't a CITES restricted species, Clelia clelia is appendix II Clelia bicolor is not listed on CITES.

"Mussurana bicolor has been assessed as Least Concern. Despite reports that this species is rare in nature, it has a relatively broad distribution and there are no reports of this species suffering any significant population declines at present. The typical habitat, Chaco and Pantanal lowlands and wetlands, are relatively restrictive to agriculture and habitat conversion, and thus remain relatively pristine. This species is likely to be impacted due to habitat degradation, however, this is a localized threat only. Further research and monitoring of this species should be carried out in order to determine if it is likely to be impacted by any major threat in the future" - from IUCN red list

Cheers

Al

Thx for your reply Al.
That makes it quite easier...

cheers Fabian

Hello!
Although this is an old thread maybe somebody will read it as I do.
I have some experience of C. rustica. A couple of years ago I bought two hatchlings from two guys from Uruguay visiting Sweden. They, the snakes, did feed on pinkies from the very beginning, grow very fast and turned over to bigger mice without any hesitations. Feeding straight forward, never refused a meal. Not very colourful species but despite that very attractive.

Hello,
Now I'm the happy owner of 2.3 juvenile Clelia rustica! Smile

Regards

Well done! I look forward to the photos and the updates.

Congratulations

Al

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