Hi Brad.
Thank you for the compliment, you have some gorgeous specimens yourself.
I'm not sure if I can give you any specific breeding info, but this much I can tell;
I usually house females I intend to breed in proper terrariums, and introduce males to females. My puniceus tend to get a bit drier, cooler period in the winter. Overall, I'd say they don't require or even like too much warmth. If I witness courtship or even copulation, or have a reason to believe - judging by the snakes' behavior - that they might have copulated, it's the usual routine; I remove the male, offer the female reasonable amount of food until she rejects it, and try to take care that there's proper humidity and she gets enough to drink as well.
Not sure if this helps at all... I hope in the future your female will produce some nice babies for you. Btw, how old is your female?
Hey Walter.
I may repeat something that has already been mentioned, but hopefully no-one takes offense. This is how I deal with babies...
When a litter is born, I set them up in individual enclosures - or plastic boxes. They have either paper or unfertilized soil at the bottom, plastic plants and 'branches' as well as a water dish.
Then I simply spray them as needed, about twice a week on average, I think.
After the last baby has shed for the first time, I will offer food.
I take as small pinkies as possible, thaw them in hot water and offer them. I mostly do this in the evening or night, but most will eat even during the day. Most babies will take several attempts with the first feeding, several strikes. You may have to seriously tease them.
Most babies hold on to the pinkie if they strike so that the nose of the pinkie goes in their throat, if you understand what I mean. Some may prefer to hold the pray from the neck, but those are a minority in my experience.
This way at least 50% of the babies will eat at the first try. I've had at least one occasion where all the babies ate at the first feeding.
If you find that this doesn't work, here are some simple methods to try out.
Sometimes even tiny pinkies may seem too heavy for some babies, even though they are capable of eating them.
If you have a baby that strikes and does not hold (and does not eat if the pinkie is left with the snake overnight), lift the snake from the branches to the enclosure floor, or some other even surface. This way when the snake strikes, it doesn't have to hold the weight of the prey, but instead gets support from the ground. Might do the trick with some babies.
And as Stefan stressed, sometimes staying very still is the key if the baby holds on to the food. I have taken this one step further, and utilized an idea presented by Greg Maxwell in his book - I avoid staring directly at a specimen in a case like this.
Also, I have learned that freshly killed pinkies are taken with much greater enthusiasm than frozen/thawed. Some babies that were reluctant to feed, ate a live pinkie left with them overnight. Funny thing about this is the fact that in some occasions the live pinkie was in fact larger than the frozen ones I had offered.
Then there are several other options as well. If you know when your babies were born, and they seem healthy and 'normal' ie. not too thin, wait a little more. Wait 5-7 days and then try again. This is basically what I have done with the babies from the dark litter.
Or you can cut the pinkie up to smaller pieces which are easier to swallow.
I believe force-feeding is a last resort, and shouldn't be needed with this species, unless there's something wrong or you absolutely have to kick-start a certain specimen.
Here's a recent example: My dark female gave birth on July 22nd.
One of the males shed for the first time on August 5th. He accepted his first meal on September 11th (whole pinkie) and second meal on September 17th (whole pinkie). He shed the second time on October 4th.
During this period of time most other babies have eaten 6 times. So they get by with surprisingly little food, but naturally won't grow as fast.
I've never 'brained' or scented any pinkies for puniceus.
If I missed anything, I'll add it later, I'm too tired now...
And to be honest, it's not all fun and games. Today I lost my 0901 male from the hypo litter - the most special male in that litter. No idea why he died.
Let me tell you, I wasn't sure if I'm sad as hell or mad as hell... Or both.
To compensate for the long rant, here are some photos.
This is one of the males from the dark litter, after second shed. He's got nice velvety appearance. How can you not love a face like this?
Hope you enjoy...
Thu 23 Jul - 23:07
,my favorite trimeresurus spiecies for shure
