The Coastal Taipan In Captivity

Coastal Taipans, Oxyuranus scutellatus, are large elapids from Australia, Irian Jaya and Papua New Guinea. They are fast diurnal elapids that hunt down their prey quickly and efficiently. This article is just a general run down about my personal experiences with these elapids over the past year or so that I have had them. I obtained the snakes as juveniles (about 450 mm) and they are now at 1300mm and 1560 mm retrospectively. I am now cooling the snakes this year however I don't believe they will breed due to their age.

Coastal Taipan Photo by Martin Schmidt

Housing:

I started off by housing these snakes in top opening cages (400X600X600mm) with a substrate of newspaper, a ceramic water bowl and a trap box. The cages where heated by 1 40 watt light bulb with the thermostat set at 31 degrees Celsius. A 12-inch fluorescent tube wired via a timer provided the snakes with a photoperiod of 12 hrs light/darkness. These cages worked very well until the snakes reached the 1200mm mark, when the snakes where continually flying out of the cage to get their rats, not the safest practise. The snakes are now housed in the same sort of enclosure, just a larger version (800X800X600mm). They still fly out but it's a better cage for them.

Feeding:

From the start they ate fuzzy mice. They where fed at 4 day intervals, the average feed consisting of 3 fuzzy mice. This continued for 3 months by which time they had both reached about 750 mm. I have never seen any snake eat so much food and sh*t so much - a lot of work. The mice where fed off dead but I could not resist timing the time from strike to death on one occasion, 3 seconds! After seeing this you can develop a whole new respect for venomous snakes of this type, completely amazing snakes. Now at the age of 13 months they are eating adult rats cruising around always after another. The feeding behaviour of these snakes is very interesting. They seem to study their prey before one or two lightning fast accurate strikes, hitting their mark (the head or shoulders) and then waiting for the prey to die. They follow the prey scent before eating the mouse/rat headfirst. They usually defecate within 2 days of feeding at which time they start to cruise again looking for their next meal. Something I have not noticed with other snakes is that they change their feeding behaviour with age, Coastal Taipans do. As juveniles they strike and hold on to the prey item where as adults they release it. I imagine this is an evolutionary trait to protect themselves from the sharp teeth of mice, rats and other small mammals, which they prey upon in the wild.

Other Bits and Pieces:

These snakes seem to slough more than any snake I have seen in the 13 months I have had them they have sloughed 14 times and 17 times retrospectively. At one stage the snakes would slough have clear eyes for a week and then become milky again. I know it sounds like I "pumped" these snakes but I have not. A fellow colleague over here in Oz has had them reach over 1800mm in one year. Taipans are the only snake that I have seen to actually know who its owner is. I handle the snakes without a problem and they are very calm and relaxed around me. When another person is in the room the snakes become far more nervous and jumpy. Why this is so, I am as stumped as everyone else is; maybe they are just that little bit more advanced than most other elapids for example, the Black Snake genus Pseudechis.

Conclusion:

I hope this article has helped any future keepers of the Oxyuranus genus. The fact that I keep these elapids does not mean they are suitable for most keepers. They are quick, intelligent, very nervous and deadly. When I bought these snakes I was warned of their demeanour after now keeping them for over a year I quickly believe they earned his nickname of poison-pogo sticks. If you do wish to keep this particular species get in contact with numerous people who already keep the species and ask every question possible. Have lots of anti-venom on hand as well as some luck because if you are hit don't guarantee you will survive. Many people survive their bite's here in Australia, but many do die in New Guinea. Taipans deserve the reputation they have.

Member Comments: Add A Comment

The Coastal Taipan In Captivity	Reply
by oxyuranus on January 15, 2001	Mail this to a friend!
Scotty, A very good effort mate! I would however extend a word of warning regarding a couple of points: 1. From experience keeping two subadult (>1000mm) specimens in the same 800 x 800 x 600 mm enclosure is a tragedy just waiting to happen. Taipans are just simply too fast and flighty to keep together, especially at feeding time. Except for mating purposes I honestly suggest you keep them in separate accommodations. 2. Feeding ... best practice is never to condition taipans to expect food when the cage door opens ... you are begging for a bite! Either confine the snake inside the trap box before placing the prey item on the cage floor, and then open the trapbox ... or remove each snake to a separate "feeding cage" at meal times ... we usually feed them by transferring the snake to a clean plastic garbage bin containing the prekilled food, allowing it to eat in private, while the cage is cleaned ... after the snake has eaten it can be transferred back to it's cage. 3. For taipans over 1200mm total length the minimum cage size should be at least 2400x600x600mm. Remember that these are very active snakes, which like to "prowl" their enclosures. Cheers David Williams, Tropical Herpetologist/Biomedical Scientist, Papua New Guinea Venom Research Project, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, James Cook University, Douglas, Qld, 4811.

The Coastal Taipan In Captivity	Reply
by rihnoruss on April 29, 2004	Mail this to a friend!
yeah,what he said.double the snake , double the danger.keep it as simple as possible , and keep it safe. no credientials , except a lifelong love. russ

The Coastal Taipan In Captivity	Reply
by Scott7590 on August 10, 2005	Mail this to a friend!
Ihave kept gaboons and rhinos, but have avoided taipans, mambas, and kings. They are simply too active. Keeping antivenom is usually not practical. It is VERY expensive and, if you are bitten, who is going to administer it? A bite often means a loose snake, and I, for one, do not want to be around when one of these guys is prowling around. If you want to keep a taipan, make a deal with yourself: If you get bitten, you're going to die. So, too, are other members of your household and your neighbors. The bite of the taipan falls into the "How dead is dead?" category. The real question is how many people you want to take with you? Same with the mamba and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the king. Don't misunderstand me: The king is truly bad news, but a big one is not too hard to see, so you have a chance, if you can run fast enough.

RE: The Coastal Taipan In Captivity	Reply
by Bowerbird on January 19, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
The reply above was correct - take it from someone who has actually nursed patients bitten by the beggars. Rapid descent into critically ill. The Taipan has both pre-synaptic and post-synaptic neurotoxin. One patient I nursed who had only a glancing strike (not even a true bite) was vomiting almost uncontrollably - already unable to open his eyes fully (one of the first muscle groups affected is the eyes) and was almost moribund in 20 minutes it took to get him to hospital. We gave, if memory serves 4 doses of anti-venom but the record is 10 doses!! Remember with anti-venom we have to match the amount to the amount of venom injected so if the snake has not been milked lately it can have quite a reservior.

The Coastal Taipan In Captivity	Reply
by billt6 on June 21, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
Being a new member I have spent hours reading stories and needless to say have learned a lot. I am no longer a keeper and haven't been since 1980 I have always been intrigued by venomous snakes. One of job trainers back in 1958 told me if I don't know how to do something don't do it without first learning how. My first seriously kept hot was a Western Diamondback aquired from a man who every year went to the rattle snake roundup. About ten years prior I had caught numerous copperheads and kept them 2 or 3 days and released them in the woods far from the house instead of killing them as requested by the folks that lived there. The only good snake is a live snake in my opinion, dead snakes can't kill and eat rats and mice and hours of entertainment & enjoyment to people like us. Thanks, Guys & Gals that love snakes.----Bill

RE: The Coastal Taipan In Captivity	Reply
by djlen on January 3, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Back in '93 in Townsville in North Queensland, I was performing a routine voluntary snake rescue at James Cook Uni., when I was bitten by an Eastern Taipan. More important than the antivenom at the time of the bite is the immediate first aid. Without that compression bandage, I wouldn't be here writing this reply today. I can't stress that point strongly enough. The ambulance arrived 45 minutes after I was bitten. It took another 45 minutes to get to Townsville General where they cut the bandage where we'd marked the "X" to show where the bite was (on my right hand). They will always test the venom to be sure of the snake variety (even if the victim is an expert). When the test came back positive for Taipan, they then removed the bandage to allow the venom to go through my body. I was fully conscious and speaking with the Emergency staff while all this was going on. Within a few minutes, a headache began in the middle of my head, and very rapidly escalated to the worst I've ever had. My eyes went on separate trips (I have no idea how chameleons do it). A few minutes later, I began vomiting, and they then administered one ampoule of antivenom. They said that I had a significantly large envenomation, but they only had 4 more ampoules, and being the middle of summer, they could need it for other potential victims. As it turned out, I only needed the one ampoule. I spent 2 days in intensive care (taking myself and my iv outside to have an occasional smoke). Then I spent 3 days in a public ward before being discharged. My next 2 weeks at home were interesting, as it seemed that each day, I woke-up with something different wrong with me. Today, I still feel a tingling in my hand and fingers near the bite-site. Do I regret being bitten? Hell NO!! As someone whose always loved snakes, I found that whole experience to be the most interesting of my entire life. Do I recommend that anyone try this experience? HELL NO!!! I was lucky that everything went as per the text book..

RE: The Coastal Taipan In Captivity	Reply
by inlandcornerman on April 2, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
well i have just reasonly meet Shane King and would like to say this young man would be 1 of the best Taipan breeders as i veiwed his taipans the health and size amazed me at 10 foot the male and the female reaching 9 foot he was explaining to me to keep the tiapan in 2 differant inclosers is the only realy success he has had he is breeding this year and i think some people do know shane on this site his last clatch 9/living offspring

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