Zhaoermia mangshanensis CB!

These just popped out!

Zhaoermia mangshanensis CB! 410

More pics later when they all come out and settle down.

sam, beautiful i have to say...

are the babies captive breed or captive born?

cheers
and al the best
Mario

very nice snakes, congratulations

Congratz, would love to see more of those Smile

Has any more come out?

Cheers
Stefan

Beautifull , the world needs lots more of these !!, make sure you breed the babies a.s.a.p.

These are captive bred, 2nd time for us after 5 years. First year was successful then had 3 bad years, then success again this year.

WOW! I have no words for my condition right now...

Congrats Sam!!

Congratulations! What a captivating snake that is. I'd definately want to work with that species some day.

Hi Sam
You definitely know how to tease someone!!!! Congratulations!! Awesome snakes!!
Cheers
Gavin

I guess you guys want some more teasing.......

Zhaoermia mangshanensis CB! Zhaoermia_mangshanensis_Hatchling_2008_01

Hello Samuel!

Big Congratulation for your success!
Can you provide us some information about them? Like how many hatched out of which clutchsize, the incubation temperature, the incubation time, etc. I think some pictures after the postnatal shed would be greatly appreciated by all of us Very Happy

Thanks in advandce...

Best wishes

Frank

Hi Guys,

Its been a long road for us, I first bred Zhaoermia mangshanensis in 2002 i think, forgot its been so long. That time they eggs came from females that have been collected in 2001. We got about 8 babies from a clutch of 14. The first time incubated for about 55 days at ambient temperature in Southern China. In those days i think it was about 27-28 degrees celcius. Then after that first success, the next year, the females would mate, but we got no eggs, we changed the diet, tried different things but no eggs. This continued for a few years, no idea why, maybe there is something missing that we were not able to provide for them in Southern China.

In 2005 I moved the snakes back to Hunan Province, somewhere near where they are found and they laid eggs in 2006 and 2007. These eggs were incubated at ambient temperature too and hatched, but all the babies were deformed with kinks in their spines. We suspect the temps are too high because over the years the temperatures have been rising, until of course this winter, when it was frigid....

This year we again got eggs from the females, this clutch had 17 eggs laid on 1 July. This year we turned on the air conditioner and set it to 27 degrees celcius. After 55 days on 24 August, the eggs pipped and all came out within one day.

If I forgot something, let me know....I'm really bad and don't make written records....

Hello Samuel,

thanks for sharing the pictures and the info!

But yes, you have one thing forgotten! - Pictures from the parents... Wink

Regards

Michael

Hello Samuel,
thanks for interesting informations a lot.....As Michael writes-show us some photos of your adult snakes please!And if you can tell us in what conditions (humidity,lighting,temperature,enclosure size.....)you keep adult snakes throught the year please....
Those babyes are realy gorgeous!
Best regards
Tomas

Hi,

Picture of the father adult is on my website http://www.zoocon.com/Herps/Venomous
Suspect

Hey Guys,

The adults are now kept in Hunan near where they are naturally from. My partner lives there with them. Its a mountainous region around 15 hours away from Hong Kong. Elevation is about 1200m.

The adults are kept in ambient temperatures there year round. It gets as cold as 2-3 degrees celcius there during winter, but only briefly for 1-2 days at a time, its usually around 10-12 degrees in winter. During summer the high temperatures are 32-33 degrees.

Humidity for this part f the world is high, usually above 80% during summer and around 60% during winter. The adults are fed on rabbits that we get from a commercial rabbit farm nearby.

Concerning lighting, they received the same daylight hours as the seasons. In summer the longest days are in July when it gets dark around 18:30 and sun comes up around 05:30. In winter the shortest days are in January when it gets dark around 05:30 and sun comes up around 0700.

As wild caught adults, we've had trouble getting them to feed on lab rats. Guinea pigs and rabbits were more readily accepted.

I hope this information is sufficient to satisfy you...... Embarassed

Hey Samuel,

thanks for the information. Two last questions: Can you tell me how far the night temperatures drop down during summer in the cage of your Zhaoermia? Do you use any heating spot in their cage?
By the way... A very nice collection you have, especially the different morphs of Deinagkistrodon acutus are impressive. I didn´t know so many different morphs exist.

Best regards

Frank

Hi Frank,

The lowest the temperatures dropped to was 8 degrees celcius in winter. We have a heater that heats the room set at 10 degrees, but when the temps drop to 2-3 degrees the heater was not powerful enough to maintain it at 10 degrees, but it seems they were fine with it. I think they can take the lower temperatures because in the wild they are found in higher elevations too with cooler temperatures in winter.

Thanks for the comments Frank, not really my collection, just pictures of snakes we have sold in the past, only the Zhaoermia in those pics I still own. The morphs are what we've sold in the past.

Hey Samuel,

thanks for the info. Some LAST questions (I promise Wink

): How long do you hybernate the adults? When do you put the adults together for mating, or do you keep both sexes together constantly? Do you use any stimulation for mating (like spraying more water at that time, etc.)And last but not least... Could you show us a photo of their natural habitat? I don´t mean any photos from the top of Mount Mang, I mean a photo of the microhabitat where you can see the different plants, etc. That would be really nice, as you can find a lot of pictures of Zhaoermia in books and the internet, but not a single habitat-picture.

Best regards

Frank

Hey Frank,

The adults stop feeding around November, usually the males in the beginning of the month and the females usually following around 2 weeks later. We keep the males and females separated most of the time, but we hibernate them together from after the females have stopped eating in late November.

They come out of hibernation around mid-late April/ I've never observed the mating myself, but I assume mating takes place around May-June. We don't do anything different to get them to mate, but during this time of year the humidity goes up a lot compared to winter and we usually get some rain at this time.

I'll take some pics next time I am there, its a bit far from me so its not convenient to go there too often!

Some new pics on my site http://www.zoocon.com/Herps/Zhaoermia

Zhaoermia mangshanensis CB! Zhaoermia_mangshanensis_CB_2008_03

Zhaoermia mangshanensis CB! Zhaoermia_mangshanensis_CB_2008_05

Congrats Sam!!

But when i read your report, i am shure, these snakes are not able to breed in europe. You wrote, you had already problems in china by changing the locations. So there is no way to breed them in europe.

It will be just a dream.

regards,
Karsten

Hi Karsten,

I think it`s not so bad, as there was a breeding of this species in Switzerland last year already.... Wink

All the best,
Peter P.

Hi Samuel,

thanks again for the information. A photo of the habitat would be really great. If you visit your parents next time, just shot some pics of the backyard, that should be fine Wink

Best regards

Frank

Hi Frank,

My parents are in Hong Kong! I'm not really from Hunan! I just keep these snakes there at my partner's place. I'll take some photos for you next time I am there. Its not exactly very high up the mountain but its within 1 hour of the type location.

I don't think they are too difficult to breed, they babies prove easy to feed too! The problems we had with changing the location was most probably due to mistakes we made with husbandry. Even when we took them back, they still have problems breeding successfully because they were in a captive environment and it took us a little while to tweak things to get it working.

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