Caudalis babies

I don't think I was ever as exciting (when it cames to snake birth Smile

) as waiting for my caudalis female to give birth. The pair that I have I got as just born CB babies in may 2007. Female was forcefed 5 months before taking her first pinky, male for 8 months. It was a looong process... Once they started eating pinkyies they were pretty much trouble-free animals.
They copulated in Novemeber 19th 2009, and today 162 days later, just 18 days short of their own 3rd birthday, the female give birth: 5 live, 4 dead, 4 eggs.
And I was lucky enough to walk into my house 15min before she started so here are few pics..

copulation on November 19th 2009
Caudalis babies Bitis110

few days ago...
Caudalis babies Bc-gra11

and today...
Caudalis babies Caudal10

Guest

Giant success. The species is pretty rare so I'm glad to see this. Congratulation.

Very nice! You plan to keep them all?

Hi Neven,

big congratulation, as to babies, the same to nice pictures.
I hope babies will do well for you, I know how you like small bitis...

Cheers,
Peter

congrats man !! very nice babies.. do you have more pics? thx

greetings from Perú

Very nice Neven
and a big congratulation.

I cross my fingers for for you that they babys grow well

Cheers, Tom

Congratulations!
And nice to see the pictures of giving birth.

Good luck raising these babies.

Cheers,
Harold

WOW !! That is an excellent achievement , I have been wondering when the CB caudalis topics where going to show up on Venomland
Good luck with everything and hopefully they breed for you next year too .

Andrew

Thank you for kind words and nice wishes guys! I forgot how tinny my caudalis were (the parents) when I got them 3 years ago, so today when I was looking at babies again and again I told myself "Damn, there will be some more forcefeeding again!!" :-)
Here are some more pics of babies as well as proud parents!
I was told that my caudalis came from South Africa / Zimbabwe borded but I am interested to hear your opinion, especially you Andrew who have a lot experience with caudalis.

babies today...
Caudalis babies Bc_nv210

few pics of adults taken on various occations in various light settings, some in terraium some outside in the sun...
Caudalis babies Img_5610

At least the B.caudalis respond well to force feeding even though they take much much longer to eat on their own compared to cornuta and atropos.
I have not seen South African Adders like this before , especially from the Zim/SA border definitely not. The female looks similar to Rob Deans Namibian specimen on another topic...

Thanks for the extra pictures.

Robs Namibia
Caudalis babies Dsc03810

Guest

very nice to see Cool

goodluck

Beautiful pair of caudalis, congratulations on the birth. Second generation is great news.

I would guess the original ones are from Namibia, the pair are a nice match.

Incredible Neven, congratulations.
Such an amazing snake. Fantastic baby photos! Man they are small.

Once all the congratulations my Friend, and good Luck with them Wink

...

Neven:

OMG !!!!!! very very very nice babies !!! i love them !!!!

What is the adult size (cm) for reproduction???

Thx

greetings from Perú

Once again thank you guys for kind words! Yes Christian, they are small! :-) and there will be some months of forcefeeding before they took whole pinkiyes. But Caudalis are rather easy forcefeeders. The other day they had their first meal, and all of them took it without a problem - little mouse tail. I push it about 1/3 in and they slowly swallow the rest themselves.
Walter, the female is about 30cm long (3 years old).

Neven - How are the babies doing?

Hello Rob,
Unfortunatelly from 5 babies that were born 2 were a bit weak and strange and they died after a few days. The ramaining 3 are really good, I forcefeeding them every 5-6 days. I do various things - mouse tails, mouse legs, both with a drop of Bioserin, and I have also tryed Hills A/D mixed with water and injected with small tube directly into stomack. Eventhough I prefer forcefeeding with tails and legs since it does in a way teach them how to swallow, the Hils A/D makes them the most full and they remain looking like that at least for few days. I will continue both methods, forcefeeding pinky parts and A/D, but as I said, they are rather big so I will try to switch to pinkies asap.
And it looks like all remaining 3 are males!

Thanks Neven. I too am raising some baby caudalis from newborn and have been forcefeeding them since January. Last weekend the female took a pinky without assistance for the first time. The male is much smaller and will take more time.

Keep us updated on the progress of yours.

Hi, has somebody experience with shelter this kind ? Mine male Bitis cornuta old 1 year already month nothing undeplored. You can advise st. to ? Thanks ,, > Leo

Hi Leos,

I am sorry I did not understand your question?

Just like a year ago in mid November my male caudalis started to court female. I keep them together since they were CB babies and never had any problems. As each day passed he was more and more persistent and closer to copulation but.... did not make it just yet. Yesterday I put in additional Springbok male just to spice things up. Of course, I was there all the time to make sure that additional male does not cupulate but rather just to stimulate other male. And sure enough, the male was so "pissed-off" with the presence of another male and that pushed him to DO HIS THING!! Smile

Few pics of the threesome! Smile

The reason for difference in photos (color of animals) is due to the fact that it was taken with 2 different cameras. The last photo is closer to true animal colors. Sorry about that.

Great post Neven good luck with future work with this species!

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