Keeping Gaboon Vipers

Gaboon Vipers

Gaboon vipers are members of the Viperidae Family and can be found exclusively in Africa.

They are one out of the three members of the African Giant vipers group which consists of:

Bitis Arietans.............(Puffadder)

Bitis Gabonica..........(East and West-African Gaboon vipers)

Bitis Nasicornis........(Rhinoceros viper)

General Description

The natural habitat of the Gaboon vipers is spread along the equatorial belt of Africa, which consists mainly of tropical rain forests like the Ituru forest in Kenya.
They live on the floor of these forests, and spend most of their time in the direct neighborhood of the paths where prey animals are likely to pass by.
Because of their color pattern they are difficult to spot and this effect is enhanced because they like to 'dig themselves in' so that they become virtually invisible. As soon as a prospective prey animal passes by and comes within striking range, it is attacked with a speed and fierceness that one would not expect from an animal, which on the outside looks a bit sluggish.
Gaboons can reach a length of 1.20 mtr ( 4 feet ) on average, but lengths of 2.10 mtr (7 feet ) and more have been recorded. These animals will weigh about 8 to 10 kg and have a head-size of approximately 125 mm ( 5 inches ) and matching fangs of 55 mm. ( 2 inches)

The Gaboon viper does not let go of its prey after it has struck, but hangs on to it, rather then letting it go and waiting for it to die. This behavior is very different from the behavior of other species of vipers.
Gaboons are capable of swallowing relatively large food items such as rabbits, guinea pigs, or pigeons. There has even been a report of a Gaboon viper that attacked and ate an antilope!

Their body color is probably their most spectacular feature and is based on a geometric pattern of purple and dark browns interspersed with pastel colors.
Their buff-colored head is divided by a thin dark brown line and creates the impression of a fallen leaf. If you look at the picture you will see that it is almost impossible to describe the sheer beauty of these snakes.

In captivity Gaboon vipers seem fairly easy to care for because of their placid nature, but they are in fact difficult to keep. ( read more about why this is, in the next section )
If they feel threatened in any way, they'll start hissing very loudly to warn you to back off. They remain motionless while doing this, making no effort of trying to escape. This might give you the idea that, with a somewhat sluggish appearance like that, they could never strike as fast as say a cobra or rattlesnake could.
Well that's wrong, because they are as fast as lightning and able to strike in all directions. So much for appearance!

My own experiences with Gaboon vipers

General

At the moment I am keeping my Gaboon vipers in a 10 ft wide, 4 ft deep and 3 ft high enclosure, in which I have placed a treestump and a number of real plants to filter the light in such a manner that only a limited amount of light reaches the ground level.
They also help in keeping the humidity at the right level and produce oxygen. As a substrate I use a mixture of woodland soil and peat litter and a product called Terra d'or, which is a litter made of the crushed shells of cocoa-beans.

Temperatures and humidity

Temperatures are kept in the high 70's (25/26 C) during daytime at the cold end and drop to mid 70's (23/24 C) at night. On the warm end however, temperatures will go into the high 80's (30/32 C) and drop to the low 80's (28/29 C) at night.

To create a 'hotspot' I use a Philips Flood lamp of 60 Watts which is placed directly over an open spot with a diameter of at least 3 ft.
They make use of this 'hotspot' on a regular basis. My female does this particularly often when she's gravid. She places her body straight underneath the lamp and regularly slides forward a little bit further, so that after a while her whole body has been warmed up.
The male never lies straight underneath the lamp but prefers to lie at the outer part of the light-circle.

I also spray the enclosure on a regular basis to keep the humidity on an acceptable level.( 70% on average) In this way, I have created an environment which resembles their natural habitat.
For the adult specimens this is a good habitat, and I am pretty sure that they never had any problems adjusting to this environment. They seem to be content just lying around most of the time and when I feed them, they never refuse what's on the menu!

Feeding and housing

Feeding them is not very difficult because they tend to wait for the prey item to come their way unlike, for example, my C. durissus ssp. who are always trying to be first as soon as they pick up the scent of food.
My Gaboons get live rats and it often goes according to a standard pattern. The rats are placed in the enclosure and after an hour or so they have dissapeared. So I decided to sit it out for once and find out what actually happens during that time.
At first the rats are enjoying their new found freedom. They scurry up and down the enclosure making sure to stay well away from the Gaboons.
After a while my female Gaboon starts out to pick up the scent of the rats and slowly but steadily moves in their direction. This is uncommon behaviour for a Gaboon, but that is what she does.
All this time the male remains in the same position. The rats are forced to move into a corner of the enclosure and end up being trapped between the male on one side and the female on the other side.
At a certain point in time one of the rats decides to make a run for it.....and fails. The speed used to strike at the rat is unsurpassed and not to be followed with the naked eye.
All of a sudden the rat is trying desperately to get away from the Gaboons jaws but to no avail of course.....

I do think however, that it is kinda of a shame to see how their 'sluggish' appearance is exactly why these snakes are often underestimated by the people who want to keep them.
Don't let this deceive you because, as I stated earlier, they are able to strike VERY fast in every direction be it sideways, backwards or upwards! And when they do, they do it with great force!

This is the reason why you should always house them in a large enclosure, rather then in a smaller one. It will give you the room to work in it, without the risk of getting into trouble every time you need to fill up the water bowl, as it were.
If you are going to do more extensive cleaning work, it is better to put them in a container. This will be an easier job to perform in a large enclosure so that's another advantage you get.
I feed my snakes depending on their metabolism, because I believe it is better to feed them after I have seen them defecate .This method keeps them sharp and alert and until now in good health.
They always defecate about a week after they have eaten and therefore this works for me.However, many Gaboons are prone to defecate only after a long period of time.Sometimes months can go by, without seeing any stools.
If you want to encourage them to defecate, you can try to put them into lukewarm water for about half an hour and repeat this on a regular basisuntil they defecate. This is very important, because constipation is found to be a cause of death with Gaboons.
Also bear in mind that not drinking is contributing to cause constipation. Gaboons who do not drink should be helped by gently pushing their heads into a shallow and preferelably low water bowl.
(Never use force to get it to drink, because this will make them wanting to avoid coming near the waterbowl!)
In that way the bowl resembles a pool of water and you don't need to hold the snakes head up too much to get it into the water. I did this with my Gaboons and after a few months they were drinking on their own.

Cleaning duties and handling

When I need to do some extended cleaning in the enclosure ( 3 or 4 times a year) I place them in separate containers. I use a stainless steel hook to lift the front part of their body and grab the rear part with my left hand.
Even though this is NOT the best way to handle them, I always use this method and have not been bitten until now.
I do however believe, that you have to be self-confident to work this way, knowing that they are capable of striking in every direction with great accuracy and speed.
Even the slightest shadow of a doubt would make me change the way I handle them. It's just like handling dogs, if you are not self-confident the animal will somehow sense this and turn this against you, which is something you do not want a Gaboon to do!
The most important handling rule however, is to handle these animals only if it is absolutely necessary because too much handling can easily lead to stress-related diseases.
If you have got a relatively small Gaboon at home that you need to take out of the enclosure, please use the method in which you use two hooks to take them out. Don't play with fire if you can help it, because you will regret it afterwards when things went terribly wrong!

Breeding

Some people say it is not easy to breed Gaboons, but I guess it isn't any more difficult than breeding Rattlesnakes.
If you keep the male and female separated for a couple of months and put them together at the right time and spray some water to get them in the mood,(mimicing the rain season) they will breed, it's as simple as that.
After a day or so the female starts to get restless and begins to lift her tail, showing the male that she is 'in the mood'. Then they usually make some dancing movements and go back and forth trough the enclosure at a relatively high speed (for Gaboons that is.....) before they finally do their thing.
Be careful not to let the male get overweight, because this will cause him to show no interest in mating at all. Also it is important to put relatively equal-sized snakes together in order to get succesfull breeding attempts.
A huge female combined with a smaller male or vice-versa is probably not going to work as well as two equally sized specimens.
Remember that Gaboons tend to get big nests, often of forty-plus young ones. The breeding season is between September and December, but I have had mating take place at the end of January.

Diseases

Gaboons are very susceptible to stress-related diseases like Protozoan infestations and should be monitored very carefully because of this.
Protozoans like Amoebiasis, Coccidia , Cryptosporidiosis and Flagellates are commonly found in their stools. Often they are also infested with parasites like round-, tape- and lungworms.

It is not difficult to fight the round- and tapeworms, you only need to have a stool sample checked to find out if these parasites are present and administer the proper medication like Panacur ®. Round- and tapeworms do not pose a very big threat to a Gaboons life and are considered more of a nuisance. Lungworms are more difficult to discover, because there are virtually no visible nor behavioral symptoms to be seen on the outside but they are definitely life-threatening.
Preventive or normal treatment of the snake can be done with the use of the proper medication like Panacur ®. This may especially prove to be effective in WC specimens, who will practically always carry these parasites.

The Protozoans are often allowed to multiply themselves rapidly when a disturbance in the intestinal flora, of which they are a part, takes place, often triggered by a change in temperature or environment which results into great amounts of stress for the snake.
Because of the seemingly placid nature of Gaboon vipers this remains often undetected until it is too late. It 's kinda like when you get stressed alot at work, and you end up with an ulcer, about which you only find out at the time that you are hurting big-time.
The typical symptoms of a protozoan infestation are that the snake refuses to eat, loses weight and gets kind of slow. Also the stools are runny and may contain mucus. If, after examining, the stools show that there is a protozoan infestation, the use of proper medication like Flagyl ® or Albon ® is an absolute necessity!

Gaboons tend by nature not to move too much and are kinda slow. (....at first glance, but don't let them fool ya!) If they lose weight it often goes unnoticed at first because of the fact that they are capable of 'blowing up' their body when they see something approach their enclosure.
Gaboons also tend to get gastroenteritis or ulcers because of a stress-related protozoan infestation, which is not noticeable on the outside. At that time the protozoans inside the snake's body strike full force and within a few weeks you will lose the snake, without knowing why or how, until you have the snake examined post-mortem.
The best way to prevent a protozoan infestation is to maintain regularity in the best way you can. Do not handle the snakes if it's not necessary, always give them a hiding place to use if they want to, keep the temps as regular as possible, maintain a strict cleaning schedule and change the water in the water bowl on a regular basis. ( every 2-3 days)

Remember, it is always better to prevent!

Acknowledgments:

Markley H.Robert :The Giant Vipers of Africa
S.Spawls & B.Branch : The Dangerous Snakes of Africa
Roger.J.Klingenberg : Understanding Reptile Parasites
Douglas.R.Mader : Reptile Medicine and Surgery

Copyright © 2001/2002 Dexter B./ Creative Photo Art
Nothing of this text or pictures is to be used without the written permission of the author/photographer in any form or way.

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