Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom...

Saturday night I finally could collect my Bothriechis schlegelii from Marcel van Broekhuijsen, who bred this nice animal.

Here a few pictures of it, just for fun.

(1) the snake in the temporary container
Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom... 2012-06-16 tijdelijke opvang

Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom... 2012-06-16 tijdelijke opvang

(2) same

Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom... 2012-06-17 tijdelijke opvang2s

(3) the container is placed into the paludarium, door open...
Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom... 2012-06-17 Op naar de vrijheid_s

(4) tonight, after switching off the lamps, the snake started exploring: I smell freedom...
Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom... 2012-06-18 i smell freedom

Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom... 2012-06-18 i smell freedom

Ciao Anton!

you did a great job, I would say it will look great!!!

Un abbraccio
Ale

The paludarium looks great! Do you have a full picture of it?

Hello Anton

The plaudarium would also interest me. Have pictures of it. Beautiful snake.

regards

Christian

Ciao Ale,

nice to see you on this forum. I hope that you will have success with your new male too.
We will stay in contcact and meet again on the Snake Day in Houten?

Hello Björn and Christian,

Thanks for the compliments! In the past I kept snakes in 'sterile' terraria, with a newspaper on the ground, an upside down flower pot, and a branch, for the sake of preventing infections. But I was not really content about that concept.

With this paludarium I tried to create an environment that is much nicer for me to look at and, more important, that is more challenging for the snake too. I tried to create a selection of resting and hiding places, and two small water falls. When the snake is doing well and so the concept proves to be a success I will introduce one or two other juveniles.

Be sure that I will post some more pictures when I detect the snake on a nice spot. At this moment I have no good pictures of the whole paludarium, because flash light gives no good pictures and not using flash light also has its limitations. But I will keep trying!

The only thing is that I have no idea how quick a snake like this will outgrow this type of habitat. A (semi)adult (or pregnant female) needs a more robust arrangement of the plantation, I suppose. Is there anyone who is willing to share experiences in this?

Best reagrds, Anton

Hi Anton ;

Your schlegelii is superb, you did a very good acquisition, bravo!
The paludarium is just beautiful !

Best...

Hello Anton

How many animals do you have in your Plaudarium and how big is it? From your description it sounds so forth right in class. Looking forward to the total picture. Do you have real plants in there?

Best regards

Christian

Hi Piero and Christian,

thanks for your nice reactions!

The size of the paludarium is 80 x 100 x 43 cm and there is only one snake in it. When the little one is doing well and started eating, then I will try to obtain one or two young of about the same size. It is some 20-25 cm long now.

Björn and Christian, you asked for larger pictures of the paludarium. Last night I took a few pictures, which are inserted below. I am not content about the pictures, because the snake is overexposed, but it is the best I have at this moment.

Yes, Christian, all plants are real plants. I finished the decoration about three months ago and the plants and mosses are starting to grow now. I hope that within a few more months the paludarium will be much greener.

The picture below shows that there are many places for the snake to rest or hide. In the center is a little pool, that is the start of a little waterfall.

Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom... Img_7743s

Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom... Img_7743s

This is the upper left side of the paludarium. At the right side you can just see the start of the second waterfall.

Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom... Img_7757s

Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom... Img_7757s

what a nice setup and of course the snake, keep updating, I do have a few recomendations, one of the most important things about the use of live vivariums for the snake and the plants in it is to have a great ventilation and drainage. with the temperatures and the humidity needed for this species is easy to get them sick with out a good ventilation andthe plants will die without drainage.
keep updating and bes tregards

Gustav, you are right, ventilation and drainage, as well as light, are the main factors for maintaining well a live vivarium. I have a ventilation strip along the entire front of the paludarium, below the sliding doors, and two rows of large holes in the top. Three times a day the rain system takes care of a high humidity, but within an hour the glass sliding doors are dried up again. The relative humidity of the air is always between 95-100%.
Most plants are epiphytic and attached to the walls or the branches. Below the other plants is always a hole for drainage.
Temperatures vary from 21-22°C at the bottom to about 25°C at the higher regions. Under the spot lamp temperature is usually around 29°C. At night temperatures drop to 21-23°C. As far as I read in litterature these temperatures are suitable for Bothriechis schlegelii, but I like to learn from the experiences of others...

Best wishes, Anton

That is a special enclosure, it hardly matters what the snake looks like Smile

Very nice Anton, 10/10.

1 question, is the water filtered?

Anton,

Really nice enclosure! I realize many people keep their snakes in sterile enclosures (especially in large collections) but trying to recreate the natural environment is not only pleasing to the eye, but also probably better for the snake. After a little travel to Central America and seeing eyelash vipers in their natural environment, I have tried to recreate those conditions in many of my enclosures. Of course, nothing as spectacular as your paludarium, but still with live plants, branches, etc.

Nice job!

Michael

Anton, very nice Paludarium, what im about to explain to you and other "naturalistic" designers isnt going to be pretty , it's my opinion and i dont wish to have christmas lights in either green or red to the side of my post for it.

Do you grow your own plants ? no, well thats the other half of my business at Zoobotanicals .
To sell plants to a client , they need to be grade A, to develop such a plant fast for consumption you need to use "growth regulators" liquid fertilizers ,fungicides,bactericides, insecticides,etc., these plants are grown typically on an assembly line type benches being injected with these fluids daily for five to fifteen minutes daily.

Best case scenario the plant pot , becomes saturated with fertilizer salts and if the plant is not sold must be "bumped" into a new pot every six months.

All plants grown this way even roses or tulips, develop Phytophthora Root Rot (Phytophtora cinnamomi, citricola,ssp.) etc. that must be delt with fungicides such as Syngentas SuperWeatherStik which is 38.5 % Chlorothalonil and 61% "inert ingriedients" which helps the fungicide stick to the leaf and stems like glue even in sunlight or rain.

All other "growth regulators" are applied with stickerspreaders to accomplish this mission of helping these organic and non organic ingriedients stick to the plant for over a Year.
Most of these products bring a Warning Sign Keep Out Of Reach Of Children , and by law the Technician must wear special protective gear when they apply these products.

These products can not be simply washed off, but they will degrade with regular misting, heat lamps and the specimens traffic with in it's enclosure, these products are consumed when drinking water misted from the plants.

Growth regulators for "ornamental plants " by law are different than for vegetable matter for "consumption "and strictly regulated.

Perhaps, something to think about.

AJM.

Hi Rob and Michael, thanks for your kind words. I indeed had no hurry to find a snake to live in it. My wife even preferred it more without a snake ;-)
Rob, you asked about the water. Yes I use reversed osmose water. This is widely used in paludaria with poison arrow frogs. I spray three times a day for 45 seconds and this seems enough for all the plants. After three months most plants grow well and mosses have started to grow on the branches.

Hi Albert, thank you for your very interesting lecture about growth regulators, bactericides, etc. When I understand you well, you want to warn us for purchasing plants from unknown origin, and not to stop us from decorating natural vivaria with living plants.
I am happy that here in Holland, Belgium and Germany (and probably more European countries) are many professional growers of bromeliads, farns, etc. that grow their plants naturally for the many vivarium keepers. I purchased my plants from the same growers where poison arrow frog keepers purchase their paludarium plants. And so far I did not hear from ploblems with their frogs, although frogs seem to be even more sensitive than snakes.
But it is good to keep your words in mind, that is where a forum like this has been established for.

Anton, just exactly what do you mean by "natural" does that mean, organic , when growing natural ornamental plants you can/must use natural growth regulators , insecticides , fungicides made from mushrooms, fertilizers made from animal manures such as Bat guano and spreader stickers use from soap and oils all with implication for toxicities, just because a product is "natural" doesnt make it non toxic eg. (snake venom) is natural.

i admire your set up , it looks like a Paludarium, perhaps your wife's instinct were correct, these "natural" plants are sold for such a purpose and perhaps not for animal interaction.

Obs . i would feel comfortable placing a relatively inexpensive Poison Dart Frog in this enclosure or even a Bothriechis schlegelii, but would i place an irreplaceable 1500.00-2000.00 ea. usd. Bothriopsis species here, would you.

Organic farming has regulations in relations to plants grown for consumption that are not the same as for ornamental use which are more lenient.

Albert,

Although it may happen, I am not aware of any snakes in captivity being overtly harmed by being kept in enclosures with live plants. Having worked in the zoological field where we displayed hundreds of herps and routinely monitored them with veterinarian input, other than accidental ingestion of an artificial plastic plant, a plant issue never came up. The vast majority of our plants came from commercial sources such as Home Depot or nursuries where they were exposed to the most toxic manifestations of chemical concotions ever released upon humankind. We kept species considerably more sensitive than any snake species (Atelopus zeteki, Dendrobates sp., spray toads, etc.) and never had any toxic overloads due to exposure to a plant.

I applaud anyone who desires to maintain their snakes in 'naturally planted' enclosures. It not only benefits the keeper both from a creative standpoint (to be able to create an aesthically pleasing enclosure) but also provides an opportunity to bring in a bit of the environment that their captive may have been exposed to in the wild. I realize that not all snakes can be kept this way - some manage to lay havoc by climbing on every single plant in the enclosure, thus virtually destroying the cage overnight, but some arboreals and lighter bodied snakes do very well in these environments.

A snake living in a planted cage has considerably less chance of harm than what you have just been exposed to living in the South Florida area over the past month- I mean - first it was flesh-eating homeless people and now it is the Miami Heat and all the mayhem and disorderly nonsense that winning a NBA title entails!?!!!

Just an opinion

Michael

Hello Anton,
sorry for the delay ...
...hope well, I really happy that my baby is to live in your terrarium Smile

Certainly we'll keep in touch and we'll see in Houten!

un abbraccio
Ale

Hi Anton, I'm very happy to see that he's doing fine in that great enclosure of yours !
have fun with it, and keep them photo's comming Razz

The breeder of this snake, Marcel van Broekhuijsen (see message above), keeps his juveniles in small containers until they are about one year old. So we were discussing if one can put a juvenile of 9 month old in a large and planted paludarium so soon. The animal was a good feeder from its birth, so I thought that I could take the chance.

During the last week, that it is in my possession, I observed it carefully and I saw that it behaved quietly and that it had chosen a permanent resting place within the rosette of a small bromelia, where it returned every morning. So I had the impression that it felt well.

Last night I decided to defrost a baby mouse and within a second the snake grasped it from the pair of tweezers. Also it did not care at all that I was moving around to make flashlight pictures from different angles.

Of course I realise that not all young schlegelii are that easy, but it gives me hope for the future Smile

Ale, thank you for your kind offer and I am looking forward to 14 October when we meet again at Houten.

Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom... Img_7761s

Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom... Img_7761s

Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom... Img_7763s

Hi Anton,
here are some photo´s of the parents Smile

Father :

Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom... Scaled.php?server=507&filename=48281951

Mother :

Bothriechis schlegelii: I smell freedom... Scaled.php?server=15&filename=schlegeliimoeder

Hi Marcel,

How nice to meet the parents of my little baby Smile

Thank you for taking the trouble to post these pictures!

Best wishes...

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