Any Dwarf Bitis keepers here ?

Would be interested to get in touch with other Dwarf Adder keepers from all around the world, to share some experiences and maybe also to sell or buy some animals in the future.

I do keep the following (at the moment):

caudalis
cornuta
schneideri
peringueyi
atropos

have also had in the past: xeropaga and worthingtoni

Cheers

Marco

my "Dwarfs" are at the moment a bit bigger, as we only keep:

B.nasicornis
B.gabonica
B.rhinoceros
and
B.aritans

but in the future, i am looking for some true "dwarf", so i cant wait to follow up your guy´s informations here about biology, husbandry and generals.


Cheers
Mario

I also like the giants, and had or still have gabonica rhinoceros, nasicornis and arietans in my collection - they are absolutely great animals. And for a zoological institute they are much better display animals, then caudalis or cornuta are...

But for a freak like me, the little ones are the most interesting species of all.



They are easy to take care of, as soon was you know what really is important for them......one of the biggest problems is a too high humidity level. While cobras and other snakes form desert or savannah areas do not have too many problems with a higher humidity level, Dwarf Adders can be killed so very soon. Especially SA caudalis, peringuey und xeropaga do have problems with it.....respiratory problems are reason number one why the are often die so fast in captivity.

I know 2 private Adder keepers from Arizona and New Mexico . And both buyed some speciemens available from the same dealer in Florida.....they looked ok when they have arrived, but died very soon. All have had infections of the respiratory system, probably because they where to long in stock of this dealer in Florida, where the humidity level is moderate. Sad but true....

So you have to make sure that you can guarantee a low humidity level for you animals.

Cheers
Marco

Same here, someday i'll get my hands on some dwarfs but at the moment i keep rhinoceros, nasicornis and arietans.

Cheers, Ronny

Hi Marco,

I also had the opportunity to keep Bitis caudalis 20 years ago, but never bred them. Husbandry is more or less same as B. arietans... just an experience.

Cheers!

matt

exactly thats the problem, why i dont take in any dwarf Bitis here Marco.
the high Humidity at our place would probably kill them within a flash.

i also cant keep any Polar bears, so what - no place is perfect! (even if the Philippines come very close to paradise)

also the other Bitis are quite difficult to keep, i have one pair Bitis rhinoceros and only a single male Bitis gabonica. his female died of upper respiration tract infection last year. never had any luck with Bitis nasicornis to, the latest was dying today. i cant stand loosing such beautiful animals at all - therefore i will not take in any River Jack anymore in the future!

i wonder if there might be any populations of them around the equator ? they should be use to high humid areas as well!



cheers
Mario

I am very sorry to hear about you lost.....it's always sad to loose something beautiful and spectacular as such nice Bitis spec.

But I don't think that your problem is the humidity, i think the main problem is the temperature range you have.
Bitis nasicornis and gabonica/rhinoceros don't like it too hot, they prefer a Temp between 20-26°C with a single spot where they can warm up between 28-33°C, in combination with a humidity level of about
60-80% rel. And also bad are changes within temperature and humidity, they do not like up and downs.....
At least I can tell you that from my experiences with this species...

I think the only bigger Bitis which should easely work is Bitis arietans, they are extremely easy and they almost acceppt every condition in husbandry. Temp between 25-33°C are ok, and also the humidity between 30-70 or maybe 80% should not give any problems. If you can keep Crotalus atrox, you can also keep easely Bitis arietans.....

It's the same for Dwarfs. I think you could have some luck with Namibian peringueyi (they acceppt a lot of humidity!) and coastal forms of Bitis cornuta....
Maybe the same for worthingtoni, but you definitely will have some problems with xeropaga, namaqua or karoo/desert forms of caudalis, SA peringueyi and schneideri.

But to be honest, I also think that it is extremely important in what shape this nasicornis did arrive at your place and how good they where checked by a vet.
Usually the are full of parasites and stuff, even if you buy ''CB'' animals........often this is enough to make them more vulnerable for infects and other diseases. It's the same problem here in Europe, I would bet most of the CB's die within the first 6-12 months after they where sold. With WC animals it's even worse, probably 90% or more will die very soon after they where importet.

So maybe the problem was not the temperature AND not the humidity level, maybe you just got not really perfect and healthy animals ??

Don't give up....

Cheers
Marco

I too collect dwarf Bitis.
My collection is still small with only atropos and peringuey but others to follow soon. Thos forum will know it when they arrive

Hi

We know eachother from another Forum - my nick there is ''Horned Adder''
It's very cool to have you here mate....

Cheers
Marco

Yeah i know it was you

Thanks Marco

Im also interested to see who else keeps small adders. Would love some pics too. Ill get cracking with some of mine.

I also have the caudalis in the collection here in Durban , Please enjoy this pictures.

Hi

Nice, it's a pleasure to have another friend of Dwarf Adders here :-)

Do you know the locality from the first one ?? The couple is def. from Namaqua-Area, but the first one I do not know..............but would say it also is a SA locality - correct ?

Love both of them, but Namaquas do not make good captives here in Europe, because they usually only accept lizards as food, especially the males die very fast without the proper food

I prefer the Namibian localities, have had more then 5 localities, males and females and they have never refused to eat mice - never Do not understand why some of the SA ones are so extremely complicated ..

Cheers
Marco

Hey Andrew nice to have you here man.

If i had known you had those Namaqualand caudalis i wouldve invited you round more often

Marco - The first one is a really nice Limpopo province specimen.

Some pics of my Bitis

Male B. atropos. Cape province


Female B. atropos. Cape province


Male B. atropos. KZN province


Female B. peringuey

Good day gentleman ! My electricity is finally back up ! was replying to this topic yesterday when it went down , my snakes have been suffering in the cold. DAMNIT!!

Rob thanks for that , it is Indeed a Limpopo Specimen , I will be taking pictures of many specimens and posting so that we can all have a look at the different color/pattern variations within the population.

Rob , the tiny burnt beige/orange patches that burst through your atropos make that snake look beautifull I also see blue in that snake, is the second specimen lacking these bursts completely?

Another limpopo specimen , this one is more orange/red than the previous specimen but also very nice.

Hi Andrew!

You have really nice Caudalis. Mostly you get only dirty-coloured Caudalis in Germany, not such clean patterned animal like yours. Do you have an export permit??? I´m really interested in getting such animals. Do the Caudalis from that area feed on mice, or just on lizards?

Best wishes

Frank

Andrew - Yes the female has far less orange than the male.

Frank - Caudalis from the Limpopo area shown above are famous for doing well on mice.

Found this B caudalis in the Western Cape last year.

That's a beauty Rob, thanks for sharing it :-)

Cheers
Marco

Wonderful snakes! You guys must feel priviledged to work with these species, and to see them do well must be just fantastic.
I wish I could eventually get at least one species of these outstanding dwarfs to try my hands on, but until then, please, please keep the pictures coming.

A few quick pictures from some of Gavin Carpenters B.caudalis

A cute young adult male Bitis cornuta i obtained recently. These guys are very fiesty, i love them.
Again, i apologise for the poor pics.

Hi Rob,

Oh my god, what a beauty! The quality does not matter, keep on posting pictures, they're great


Greetings,
Markus

How about some activity on this forum? Im amazed at how quiet it is for these little beauties.

Ive shared all mine already, does anybody else have any nice animals to show? Especially ones with known localities.

Marco get your A** up and start posting.