Greetings from Croatia

Hi everyone!

My name is Neven Vrbanic, I'm 35 years old, and I live in Zagreb Croatia. I have been keeping snakes since I was 7 years old. Presently I keep and breed over 40 species of snakes - Morelia Viridis, Ammodytes, 14 species of rattlesnakes, different tree vipers, few Bitis species... among other things. Although my main job is free lance photographer and graphic designer (so I might be boring you from time to time with too much snake photos :-)) I pretty much spend much more time with snakes. Presently I am a president of Croatian Union of Exotic Animals and soon plan to open the first small private zoo with snakes only in Zagreb. I also work as a free lance consultant for Immunology Institute in Zagreb where they have been keeping Ammodytes and producing antivenom for over 40 years. A couple of years ago my friend Dr. Rainer Fesser, Dr. Maja Lang (who works there) and I started a project there with breeding of ammodytes in the Institute. Up to that point (over 40 years) the Institute was just buying them every spring from the hunters - 400-800 a year! Terrible number since most of them did not make it until next year. I am very proud and happy to say that in the last three years the institute did not buy a single wild-caught ammodytes ! :-)
The Croatian ammodytes that I have (the original group) cames from the Institute from a very small locality in the center Croatia that show extraordinary variety in color and patterns. Here they are...

Greetings from Croatia Nv_zmi10

babies from a single clutch in 2007...
Greetings from Croatia Nv_zmi16

and a few pics from my other snakes...

Greetings from Croatia Nv_sna10

Welcome here, Neven

I'm a resident of Carianthia, in fact we're almost neighbours. Very Happy

What do You think about the idea to invite Rainer to this forum?

Greetings from Carinthia
Peter

Hi Neven!

Kako si?

nice to see somebody with interest in european Viper, glad you be here!
and your pictures man, AWESOME! extraordinaire !

a special thanks for helping out with this captive breeding program for V.ammodytes in Croatia Nerven, that is practical conservation work at his best! Please keep informing us on your Programs in Hrvatska and pleaaase, keep boring me with you pictures! i just love them...

cheers
Mario

Hi Peter! Hi Mario!

thank you for the warm welcome! Yes Peter, we are neighborse! :-) so if you ever travel through or want to came and visit me in Zagreb feel free to do so! I have a few spots for ammodytes only 20 min from my house! :-) And believe it or not the thought of inviting Rainer did cross my mind. I will talk to him and see if he got time for that. He is truly someone with exceptional knowledge in snakes and a great person and friend.

Unfortunately Mario, we are not as close neighbourse as Peter and I :-) and I have never travel to that part of the world. But funny enough, I went to university in Hawaii and I was living there for 5 years and my roomate in college was from Philipines! :-) Hawaii were great but unfortunately no snakes... Sad

I am glad you like the photos and don't worry I will keep them caming in... :-)

Btw Mario, where did you learn some Croatian? or hrvatski? :-)

Neven Vrbanic wrote:: Btw Mario, where did you learn some Croatian? or hrvatski? :-)

i have some very good friends in zagreb and some of my friends in germany are croations as well.
well, my hrvatski sucks, but i still remember some words (unfortunately most of them are not suitable for this forum Wink

)

it has been ages since i went last time to zagreb or to the beautiful adria! anyway, if you ever came along this direction - just give me a bark - i know some nice Ophiophagus, right her on our own propperty!

cheers
Mario

Thank you for the invitation! Same goes for you... if you ever came to this part of the world... I have a summer house in Pirovac, near Sibenik, beautiful part of Dalmatia and you are always more than welcome.

Speaking of foreign languages - yes, it seems that the first words people tend do learn of foreign language have a tendency to be... not-forum-appropriate! Smile

Btw, thank you for the great compliment for the photos but I remember few years ago when I run into some of your Wagleri photos on the net, I was like... WWOOOWWWW!!! At first I thought that someone was playing in the photoshop :-)) truly beautiful animals and great photos!

well, the part with photoshop was widely believed years ago...
now, we understand Tropidolaemus much better and get a feeling how many species there might be unrecognized in the past...
and some of them looks extraordinaire ... still a lot of systematic work ahead...

thanks for your invitation to - i might remind you one day!

cheers
Mario

Hello Neven, and welcome over here...

We met once in Hamm, maybe you remmember it (Ivo introduced us shortly...) clown

Ammodytes pictures you posted are awesome, I like dark contrast specimens of this species. Although Vipera ammodytes spp. are not "so rare" anymore, I still like them a lot and would surely like to add some of those you breed in the future... Especially specimens with locality data are very interesting and important, as those presented in collections over the Europe are quite mixed (at least over place I live)...

Hi Peter,

yes of course I remember you. Though it was a rather short meet in the venomous room.. I remember you got that beautiful Caudalis in your bag.... :-)
No problem regarding the ammodytes. I will let you know as soon as I have some to offer. The locality of all my Croatian ammodytes is a small place in the central Croatia near Plitvice falls. They have some extraordinary ammodytes there. It is funny when I see people advertising ammodytes as - for example "Island of Krk" as being something special. Though I would never say for any snake "ugly" but on Krk there are pretty much just plain grey ones. But the Krk is one of the islands that many tourists from Austria and Germany visit frequently and that is why you can see those ammodytes offer so much. Just one example...

The photo of 2007 babies are put above cames from these parents...

father
Greetings from Croatia Slunj_10

mother

Hello Neven,
never thought about that adult Crotalus molossus nigrescens looks so nice.
Very nice animals.

Hope you have fun here at our board.

Best regards
Jörg

Hi Neven,
in the beginning of may 2010, we (2 friends and I) will come to Croatia. I hope we will meet you.
On our travel we will hope to find: Salamandra atra aurorae/pasubiensis in north Italy, and all herps from krk and north/central Croatia.
best regads, I will contact you in private.

Hi Neven,
nobody here ? no answer ?

Hello Neven, I wrote you several MP, may you answer ? Thank's.

Welcome - nice collection you have there! Nice photos as well!

The ammodytes from Croatia have ALWAYS been my favorite Vipera. Unfortunately I only had 10-12 over 20 years ago and always have regretted trading them off. If I could only get more I would like to breed them...

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