|
1-10 of 35 messages
|
Page 1 of 4
Next
|
|
Ophiophagus hannah: Captive care notes
|
Reply
|
|
by Cobra762 on February 2, 2003
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
VERY, VERY WELL DONE. I cannot say how happy I am that some people are comeing out with their Ophiophagus stories. I have kept a couple of these Amazing animals and have pretty much done it with a Trial and error. Luck had it that I found a guy who is Very knowledgeable on Ophiophagus and I am now in constant contact with him. I am now living with a 9' Indo King and this one has a mind of his own to say the least. I am on a waiting list for a pair of C.B. Banded Thai. King Babies and a pair of Banded Chinese King Babies. I cannot wait to take these sweet babies into my life. I believe the King Cobra has to be the Most Awsome animal I have ever had the Honor to work with and I will continue to work with them. Hopefully I can someday witness the Honor of haveing a breeding from some of mine. I Trully appreciate this artical. Thank You
|
| |
|
Ophiophagus hannah: Captive care notes
|
Reply
|
|
by RepFan on February 2, 2003
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Sierra,
Thanks for the great article and sharing your own little tips and tricks with these amazing creatures. Like you stated earlier, the O.hannah keepers can be very tight lipped when it comes to giving out advice on the care and feeding of this species.
Thanks Again,
Repfan
|
| |
|
Ophiophagus hannah: Captive care notes
|
Reply
|
|
by JHarrison on February 10, 2003
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
Nice information. One thing Thai antisera is $45.00 per vial. Also anyone keeping an exotic venomous reptile should have available their own antisera. Time can work against you waiting for antisera to arrive from Fl or some zoo.
|
| |
|
RE: Ophiophagus hannah: Captive care notes
|
Reply
|
|
by sierra on February 10, 2003
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Jim,
Thanks posting the Antivenom price...I hadnt found a recent price, I had made inquiries but not found anything than what someone quoted to me a few years ago... I should have just ommited it if I didnt have a current price..thank you
ps. I didnt dive into the discussion of keeping antivenom on hand because thats a whole article in itself...but thanks
|
| |
|
RE: Ophiophagus hannah: Captive care notes
|
Reply
|
|
by sierra on February 10, 2003
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Jim,
Thanks posting the Antivenom price...I hadnt found a recent price, I had made inquiries but not found anything than what someone quoted to me a few years ago... I should have just ommited it if I didnt have a current price..thank you
ps. I didnt dive into the discussion of keeping antivenom on hand because thats a whole article in itself...but thanks
|
| |
|
Ophiophagus hannah: Captive care notes
|
Reply
|
|
by MSTT on February 13, 2003
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Very cool article, Sierra! Nice to see other women in the hobby. A couple of notes - injectable Baytril (enrofloxacin) is no longer recommended in reptiles as a rule. The pharmokinetics of oral administration are nearly identical (Mader, 2001) and injecting enrofloxacin causes sterile abscess.
Because of the extreme symptoms of stress on prolonged restraint resulting in measurable effects on their body chemistry that can be life threatening, for the health of the patient I strongly recommend premedication for these procedures. Adult king cobras in a tube are not particularly difficult to restrain safely without injury to the handler, but the health and safety of the snake are at risk if the animal is scared and struggling for an extended period of time.
Appropriate premedication can significantly reduce this risk to the snake, and as an incidental benefit reduce the risk to the handler as well. I consider this to be an unimportant side effect and do not believe in the use of drugs on animals simply to make handling easier or safer for the human - the welfare of the patient is the only factor in the decision to premedicate. With stress-prone king cobras, after observing stress induced histological changes under veterinary examination we have concluded that it is very important for their health to premedicate when performing any procedures that require prolonged (more than 2-3 minutes) restraint.
I have been working with a Central Florida doc who loves to see my big cobras, and we're getting some good data together on the specific veterinary needs of venomous species including king cobras. Preliminary writeups can be found at http://www.snakegetters.com/demo/vet
|
| |
|
On medicating/assist feeding baby kings
|
Reply
|
|
by MSTT on February 13, 2003
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
The best tool in my experience for physically restraining squirmy, flailing little snakes is a thin plastic bread board covered with foam. Look at the bottom of this page for a picture of the type of bread board/cutting board I like to use: http://www.snakegetters.com/equip/pinner-pics.html
Baby kings are even more likely to suffer ill effects of physical restraint than adults, so for prolonged procedures I would consider using a light dose of Diazepam (0.1 mg/kg IM). A quick tube feeding does not have to be a prolonged procedure however.
Assist feeding wouldn't be my first choice though - there are a whole lot of things you can try, ranging from giving the snake a lot more cover to climb up into to buying a wide range of small snakes of different species to offer. I have one baby Burmese X Chinese king who refuses red rat snakes that can live in his cage for weeks, but pounces on a yellow rat snake within seconds. A friend of mine in Ocala who breeds kings reports success with soaking washed pinky mice in turkey broth.
Temperature and humidity can also be a factor in whether or not these little stress puppies accept food, so I'd suggest messing around with the cage environment and reducing stress as much as possible (plenty of arboreal and ground cover, etc) before trying an assist.
|
| |
|
Ophiophagus hannah: Captive care notes
|
Reply
|
|
by Hamadryad on February 14, 2003
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Just a addendum to the information you have posted O. hannah are most extensivly found in southern and North eastern India on the Indian subcontinent and not in Northern india.
Though you never see a WC imported O.H from India (WE DO NOT EXPORT/exploit our WILDLIFE)some of the most Fantastic specimens are endemic to the Rain forests of southern India. Female O H ROUTINELY measure in excess of 18 feet.
Have had the pleasure of working with these noble animals and am testimony to their INTELLIGENCE and ability to respond to conditioned responses.My KINGs live in an open enclosure and exhibit natural nesting behaviour.
In my opinion they need to be fed Ratsnakes, Keelbacks, Varanids,pytas, boids but certainly not Catfood.
They react very negatively to compounds of sodium and pottassium in their diet.
leaves of the Azadiracta Indica ground to a paste and used as an emollient on the skin will get rid of all ecto parasites that infect the animal.
(wild Kings often rub themselves in the leaf litter from these trees to get the same effect.
Let me know if any of you are intrested in info on this.
Cheers
|
| |
|
RE: Ophiophagus hannah: Captive care notes
|
Reply
|
|
by sierra on February 16, 2003
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Hamadryad,
LOL...the catfood is for scenting purposes...lOL..not for feeding...lol
But man would it be nice if they would...LOL
|
| |
|
RE: On medicating/assist feeding baby kings
|
Reply
|
|
by sierra on February 16, 2003
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Mrs TT
Yea, I thought Batril is now given orally...
We also use the foam for restraining, it works great, I shoulda thought to include it as a tip in the article but it was getting way too long and I had to cut it down, plus I didnt want to cover alot of basic husbandry issues.
I belive Diazepam would be a great help, but unfortunately in Pa(and I suspect most other states as well) most Veterinarians wont even see a venomous reptile, let alone give out narcotics for treatment proceedures(or even basic meds), man do I miss Fl!!!!I hope to be back "home" this year.
Sierra
|
| |
|
Email Subscription
You are not subscribed to this topic.
Subscribe!
My Subscriptions
Subscriptions Help
Check our help page for help using
, or send questions, comments, or suggestions to the
Manager.
|
