My leopards (Z. situla)

Here's my two beauties, they're currently in hibernation, hopefully they'll produce some nice babies this year Smile

1.0 2007

0.1 2006

both together before separate hibernation
My leopards (Z. situla) Img_8512

Great animals Tomaz! one of my favourite snakes!
I have 1.1. Blotched (don't know locations) and 1.1. striped (Greece)! I hope to reproduce them too this year.
Cheers Wink

Alex

Nice snakes, i have a pair with a young female, and sometimes she refused to eat for a while.
Could you describe your breeding parameters, terras ...
Thanks

Jean-Pierre

This is the first time I'll attempt to breed them, since I only got the female in september.

Cuple of years ago I had a juvenile striped pair, which were a very bad experience... Male died shortly upon arrival, and the female lasted for another 9 months, but wasn't gaining weight even if it was feeding well, and shed only once in the whole time! Necropsy showed long-term kidney damage, and both snakes were tiny for their age - supposed to be 8 months old when I got them, but they were smaller than some hatchlings that I saw from big, healthy females...

Jean-Pierre, I wouldn't worry about them not eating for some time, my male starts to refuse food somewhere in late august-early september, and doesn't feed untile next spring. Also sometimes just refuses food during the the hottest months for a month or more.

The terrarium where I keep the male (female went to hibernation straight upon arrival) is 80x40x40, with coarse peat and shredded bark as a substrate. I provide heat via heating cable underneath the cage and keep the temps low, 26 degrees in the hot end and around 22 in the cool, in the night they drop to around 20. I tried with a low-watt lamp for heating, but never saw them basking, I thing floor heating is better for this species. Lots of tight hiding spaces are a must, along with one damp one - a box with a hole filled with moist sphagnum or peat is ideal.

When the end their hibernation I'll transfer them to a bigger terra, 100x50x50 and keep them together.

Regards, Tomaz

thank you Tomaz,

It's a shy snake, which need many places to hide to feel safe.
They also need to hibernate for good feeding response.

As you both said it's a really shy animal and makes feeding-breaks during the year.
Some of mine refuse big meals too and prefer small preys... I have a three years old male, that eats almost pinkies, and a one year old female that eats all kinds of preys you give her.
Heat from the floor is the best in my opinion, I put a heat cable for 1/3 and more of the terrarium where I keep a pair (mine for the adults is 120x50x50 and they use it all).
As Tomaz said, my striped female grows really slow even if she's the best feeder in the group... as it happened to him.
They like cool temperatures, they're a lot active even when T. reachs 14°c. I also read in many books that some species in the wild usually stalks in the cooler periods of the day for have no competition with other animals that hunt their preys in the hottest hours.

My experiences with Z. situla are a little bit different. I have 5 animals, 3 are blotched and 2 striped. I agree, that they prefer cooler temperatures, but heat cable is not best option for my animals. When I have them in plastic boxes (they were too small for normal terra, smaller plastic boxes reduce stress), they never lie on warm half, but when I give them to terra with spot bulb, they love to get warm under this bulb.
Also speed of growing and eating are different. My snakes are really good feeders all over the year, in hot summer too. Both sexes are same lenght, but males are thiner and not so "massive".
I can agree with their character, my snakes are little bit sharp in addition.

Got another adult male recently from a guy who decided it's better for the animal if I have it. It's been kept under too hot conditions and without hibernation, so it's not in best condition - it's very thin, but at least it's feeding at the moment. I'll see if I can get him to gain some decent weight and get him a female for the next year Smile

A quick pic of him in the temporary cage
My leopards (Z. situla) Imgp7811

I've got a question for those who breed situlas... Do you put the pair together straight after hibernation or you keep them separate for the first 2-3 weeks?

Hello Thomas,

I used to breed Situlas from many different locations over many years.
I usually kept the pairs / groups together all the time, if hibernation and other conditions are ok they will breed, no matter whether you keep them together or seperate for a while after hibernation.

Good luck,
Rainer

Ok thank you, that is all I needed to know Smile

Sincere regards,

Tomaz

A pleasant surprise today Smile

Hello Thomaz,

that looks very good.

Again I wish you luck for the next steps,
Rainer

All is going well, the female is getting bigger and bigger Smile

Hopefully she'll produce a good clutch of eggs...

Now for the egg incubation part... What temps work best for situla eggs? I found somewhere to incubate the eggs at 27C, but that seems a bit high, I was thinking of 25C. Should take longer, but probably bigger juveniles.

Regards, Tomaz

Hello Thomaz,

incubating Z. situla eggs at 25, 26 or 28° brings healthy hatchlings. After trying different temps., I usually incubated them at 26° as this resulted in the best sex-ratio of the hatchlings (average over the years close to 1:1).
Duration of incubation: 28°C.: 54-60 days in Croatian (yours´ look like animals from Dalmatia), 58-64 days in Greek animals. 26°C.: 65-69 days in Croatian Situlas.
Gestation: 56-67 days.
Prelaying shed to egg-laying: 7-9 days. This means she might have shed already or will soon and you can expect eggs from next week on.

I found Situla-eggs in nature in places where I would never have dared to place any reptiles´eggs. Some of them got flooded for up to a few hours after heavy thunderstorms, most of them had varying temperatures from under 20 up to 30°. In most of these clutches all or almost all eggs brought hatchlings.

Regards,
Rainer

Thank you very much mr. Fesser, all the info provided will be very helpful. The female is currently in shed, so this should be the prelay shed, as they mated on 29. March. I know I ask the basic things, but these are the first of my snakes to breed and I'm new with all this.

Sincere regards, Tomaz

"I know I ask the basic things, but these are the first of my snakes to breed and I'm new with all this." - Don´t worry, ask if you´re not sure about something. It would be a pity if those eggs (if they are fertile) would not bring nice hatchlings.
Situlas as your first snake-species to breed isn´t a bad thing, you´ll be amazed with the hatchlings.

I´m sure that this is the prelaying shed. Offer her a good hiding-place for egg-laying. Slightly moist substrate will be ok, when she stays in there don´t disturb her, even if the eggs remain there for several days, it´s no problem as long as humidity is high enough. If she comes out and is thin, take the eggs, if she stays in the hiding-place carefully look into it after 2-3 days. If she will have finished laying then (she surely will), take the eggs out.
After egg-laying feed her as much as she wants, Situlas often stop eating quite early in summer.

If you call me Mr. Fesser, you are Mr. Jagar for me, or you are Tomaz for me and for you I´m Rainer, ok?

Good luck,
Rainer

I got this little present last week, all are fertile and looking very good. Now to wait 2 months more for the little ones to hatch Smile

Hello Tomaz ;

Well here is a "gift" that gives pleasure.
Congratulations and much success for the future.

Regards..

So after 2 month of incubating, all of eggs hatched within 3 days - the result is 6 very nice and healthy animals, which made me very happy Smile

Regards, Tomaz

Congrats! I didn't know the babies were so green. I hope you don't have any problems with them.

Really nice youngs, congratulations!

Martin Romanov wrote:: Congrats! I didn't know the babies were so green. I hope you don't have any problems with them.

They're still a bit greenish because they haven't shed the first time yet. In time they'll become more grey and red Smile

Thank you all Smile

Hello Thomaz,
Your terrarium looks really nice on the copulation photos, is it possible to see a photo where we can see it all?
Thank you!

This is their viv, but I'm not really satisfied with it, next year they're going into a bigger one, set up in a similar way as the viridiflavus viv (pic below), which is also not completely finished.

My leopards (Z. situla) Img_0414

Hope you like it anyway.

Regards, Tomaz

Nice!
Thank you, it give me inspiration for the backgrounds. I started some news in spring and i like to see a lot of photos of terrariums with natural decoration. I still have some racks for my youngs but i try to keep my adults in natural setup even if it is more work for cleaning. I feel the snakes better and they always show a nice activity.
Good breedings! Smile

Fred