Lifespan of Tropidolaemus

Gentlemen;
Does anyone know the average longevity of a captive born specimen of Tropidolaemus kept under proper conditions ?
I received a pair of Kalimantan week-old neonates in April of 1999, the male died at the age of about 6 months after a constant
battle with cloacal prolapsing. The female just died yesterday a few months short of the 10 year mark. She appeared to "age"
quite quickly over the last 5 or 6 months as she went off food since August and developed the classic sunken head and apparent
emaciation of body mass. She felt like she had broken and misplaced ribs and a few odd lumps here and there although there
is no way she beat herself up in her enclosure. Possibly a metabolic bone disease ? I'll do a bit of an postmortem when I have
some spare time (and feel like cutting open an "old friend"). Ten years seems like a rather short lifespan. I would have thought
closer to 20. Any comments would be helpful.
Cheers
Dave

10 years does seem like a short time for a captive snake to live under proper conditions but given this species reputation for typically not fairing well in captivity, I would consider it an accomplishment you were able to keep her alive as long as you did.

Thankyou for your comment Brance. Mario, would you perhaps have anything to add to this subject as you seem to have a lot of experience with this species in captivity.
Cheers
D. Lasham

Hi Dave,

our oldest is only 11 years old (unproved as i receive the animal from somebody who believed he kept here for 5 years before he turned here over to us!) but its a female to and she seems to do fine.
i work intensely with Tropidolaemus only since 6 Years. therefore i cant really answer you this Question, but i believe the species should live longer. Tropidolaemus save almost all of their life energy... they have such a slow metabolism, i could imagine they will never die before me..

cheers
Mario

A great question that I was wondering as well. Perhaps the perceived difficulty with keeping wild caught snakes alive for any length of time has to do with the fact that they do not have too many years left in them. However, Mario's idea that they are good energy conservers and should live forever also makes sense.

What we need is a good long term mark-recapture field study to understand their longevity in the wild. I wonder if there are any records of the oldest wild Tropidolaemus?

Thanks for your input, Gents. I guess we'll just have to wait it out and keep records over the years. My adult Malaysians were imported as adults so I have no idea of their age, although I finally managed to breed them last year and held back several of her 17 youngsters. The rest were given to some fellow keepers so there is at least a nucleus of known-age specimens in different collections to keep age data on.
Good idea on the long term field study, Mike.
Mario, if I ever make it to your end of the world--- and I think I might--- I'll be sure so visit your zoo and sample some of your native beers !
Cheers
Dave

Field trip Dave? Florida is getting kind of boring after all these years, and I too like to sample exotic beers.

Guest

My waggy is having problems. NEED HELP! Her color has faded and she has the head tremors any ideas? All this has lapsed in the last week shes only about 3 yrs old

timothy, please give me more informations...

how old is the animal?
CB or WC?
how long to you keep the animal already?
how do you keep her? temp, RH etc.
what do you feed? how often?
what do you mean by tremors?
what do you mean by fading coloration?

please add a picture.....

cheers
M.

Hi Guys,
I have a female waggy which is 8 years old. she is a real gem to keep. she is one of the rare ones that will drink from a bowl which is placed in her branches. i feed her rat pups once every 6 weeks. the only down side is she has never bred. She mates ok but upto now no young? I have younger ones that breed ok but not her, anyway I will keep trying.
Mario. Great article on their husbandry, I too have read many books by "experts" over the last 30 years but there is no sustitute for experience.
Dave said he hopes to travel to your end of the world, well I am coming to the Philippines in 2 weeks so i hope to visit your collection and sample some exotic beers Smile

Hopefully here is a picture of my 8 year old. I know the picture is not up to the high standards of some of you guys but one day....[img] Lifespan of Tropidolaemus Female10

[/img]

Guest

Mario:
She is about 3 and a half years old and in my care for the last 2 and a half months.
The temp in my hot room is approx. 75 to 77 degrees F in the day and 70 to 72 degrees at night. She feeds on one small live mouse every 3 to 6 weeks depending on size of rodent.
I soak her 2 to 3 times a week and make her exercise for defication purposes. Her enclosure has more than adiquite ventallation and humidity. She also has a transfer fan to keep the old air out fresh air in. And by fade her brightness of green and blue has been drastically reduced and the tremors mean she will shake her head almost as if small uncontrolable muscle spasms in her neck.

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