Ceratophora neonates

I picked up three ceratophora neonates at the Columbia, SC reptile show and they are a hoot already. They of course were born from a newly imported female and they are TINY. I fed them pinky legs on Sunday night and they ate very well. I also picked up some adults and two of the females are gravid, so I just hope that the babies make it okay. I'll post pics of them later. Here are the cute babies:

Ceratophora neonates IMG_9865

nice babies i've planned to start keeping atheris in 2009 because my breeding center will be built, i love atheris specially nitschei and desaixi, i hope they will start feeding soon, good luck with your babies and your future mothers!
very cute animals!

They are so cute Derek.
This is the only Atheris species i really really want.
I had a female a couple of years back but she suddenly died Sad

Good luck with them.

Regards
Totte

Absolutely awesome.
I know they are in good hands. Can't wait to hear when you breed this species as well Very Happy

They are really gorgeous, I think the second one might grow up to be the nicest. More pictures as they grow, please...

Thanks guys! The babies defecated four days after feeding, so I will feed them again today. All of the adults fed yesterday, including the two gravid females, and they all took little coaxing to elicit a strike. I'll get some pics of the adults up when I can.

Yeah, Christian, that middle one is going to be sharp.

Hi Derek
I am curious about these. I have been told a few times that if you feed them on rodents, this includes adults, they will all die! They have to be fed frogs. What is your experience with these? I have been put off getting them because feeding frogs is a pain in the A**! I would love to get some, but I dont want to sit and watch them die because I fed them the wrong prey item!
Thanks
Cheers
Gavin

Hi Gavin

While it is almost certain that they probably feed primarily on frogs in the wild, it is not necessary to keep the adults alive. The adults have been kept alive for years on a rodent diet, including first hand by me. I've heard varying reports that the babies have been fed rodent parts or frogs, but the babies never did well. I've not read of anyone successfully raising them from neonates to adults, so I'm not sure about the babies. If anyone else has any literature on this I'd like to read it. Thanks.

Derek

Way too nice Derek!!
My congrats! I love those snakes - just great!!

the last picture is wired... pencil like snake eats mouse food... lol

cheers
Mario

Hi Derek
Thanks for the reply! Its always better to hear it straight from someone with personal experience!
Cheers
Gavin

Thanks René! Very Happy

They're some of my favorites, as well.

Yeah Mario, I wish the photo was clearer, but I was working without a tripod and the outcome was a little worse than I hoped. But it's still an interesting photo. It looks kind of like a bear's hoof in there instead of a pinky foot.

Anytime Gavin. I'm always happy to swap information with people. Wink

Yea, that last photo looks weird in that the foot looks human like.

Several of the babies I've raised took to day-old pink heads as their first few meals and quickly took to day old pinks as their 3rd or 4th meal. And as such, I was quite surprised to see how large a meal they can hold fit and hold down.

I've kept many for over 6 years now on pinks and fuzzy sized mice with no problems. Mine appreciate a basking lamp to digest.

Dan

Cool, Dan. So how many do you think you've raised from neos to adults? Any particular problems to look out for?

That last feeding shot is great, I love it.
They sure are tiny, I've never had the opportunity to try and raise them from babies. Yet.

I have 3 raised up from wild caught's that dropped babies the last few years and there have been no issues to look for raising them but pace their food so they never get fat and lazy and/or puke a fatty pink. I do keep them well misted just to ensure they have easy sheds and once yours starts taking tiny pinks you will be quite amazed how fast they grow. I have some others gravid here also at the moment including this bumble bee type phased specimen.

Dan

Ceratophora neonates Cerataphorabumblebee1

Ceratophora neonates Cerataphorabumblebee1

That's one of the more beautiful specimens I've ever seen Dan. Used to have that phase myself years ago.
The gravid ones you referred to, have they been imported gravid?
Post pictures once that black/yellow one drops, I'm really curious to see what color they are. Do you know which locality the one on the picture came from?

Yes, Dan, I too would love to see what type of babies this jungle female drops. Was she bred to another jungle phase male? I have wondered what determines the coloration of the babies, whether it be gentic or if it is locality-specific. In other words, can a jungle phase drop normals, jungles, and olives? Or will they be all jungles, or a mix of whatever phases the parents are?

Well I am not sure of the exact locality as they arrived from Tanzania. On that same shipment was a jumbo sized patternless olive/green male (above).

I've yet to see if these bumble-bee types drop babies so hopefully the female above is indeed gravid and not simply ovulating and will drop some babies to make a neat observation about them.

Sometimes they have been viewed breeding when placing many specimens together, but since they were recently imported, it was difficult to determine if the specimens became gravid from that breeding or were gravid imports as some were buldging females.

And once we emptied a couple of bags into a bare tank from a shipment and before we could seperate them, a couple of the males started to lock with the females. It seemed that the shipping process and all the animals together started the males up onto the females.

Dan

Ceratophora neonates Cerataphoramale1

I've heard from a couple of people that this locality of ceratophora seems to be really prolific, especially straight out of the bag. I'll post more pics if my other two gravid females drop, and you please do the same if yours drop. I especially want to see what the jungle drops. Thanks.

One of the babies shed. Look at how much lighter it became after the shed....

Ceratophora neonates IMG_9925

Derek, Christian and Dan, you'll have to stop this. You're making me like atheris almost as much as bitis. The blacks and this baby above are stunners

Sorry, Al, but there's more temptation for you here! Very Happy

Another of the babies shed and it looks pretty nice, too.

Ceratophora neonates IMG_0939

Of course, it is still not as nice as the first one that shed:

Ceratophora neonates IMG_1005

The runt still has yet to shed. He may not be as pretty, but he's my favorite. He's a feisty little thing that just loves to eat:

Ceratophora neonates IMG_0999

The runt shed and he looks pretty good, too:

Ceratophora neonates IMG_1091

Hi Derek, fantastic photographs.

cheers

Dave

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