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Eastern Corals, ever been successfully CB , raised
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by vampire on September 4, 2005
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Has anyone ever successfully reproduced Eastern Corals [Micrurus Fulvius] in captivity? Any replies appreciated.
Thanks,
Vampire
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RE: Eastern Corals, ever been successfully CB , ra
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by SwampY on September 4, 2005
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I've had them lay eggs once. I've never had a problem getting them to eat. The downside is they usually die within a year or two.
I had one friend that kept one snake for 13 years, but he hasn't been able to replicate that. He gets similar results that I do.
Riverbanks Zoo is successfully breeding them. So far they've kept them essentially the same as they do the feas vipers. Cool and sopping wet.
Chad
http://www.envenomated.com
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RE: Eastern Corals, ever been successfully CB , ra
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by Phyllobates on September 5, 2005
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Here are some useful links
http://ladywildlife.com/animal/coralsnake.html
http://www.venomousreptiles.org/libraries/Care%20Sheets
I have M/F and you have to know what you are doing because one might over power the other and eat it.
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RE: Eastern Corals, ever been successfully CB , ra
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by Cro on September 5, 2005
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Michael: I first bred Eastern Coral Snakes back in 1975. At the time, it was the first recorded captive breeding of Easterns, although Raymond Ditmars had captured a gravid female which laid eggs that hatched back in 1931. The Western subspecies ``tenere`` had been captive bred before that ( Werler and Campbell ), but not the Eastern.
As far as breeding, these snakes breed in the spring, usually March or April. I have never had a problem introducing a smaller male coral snake to a larger female during this time of year, as long as they are both well fed on other snakes or pink mice. (I have had good success getting corals to eat pink mice, it just takes some patience and effort). Coral snakes seem to be ``in the mood`` that time of year, and will usually not eat each other. I would not leave them together at other times of the year, though. After copulation, the female will develope the eggs, and lay them in moist substrate ( I used sphagnam moss, which was soaked and squeezed out to about pipe- tobacco moistness in the corner of the cage ). The gestation was about 45 days if I remember correctly. After the eggs were laid, I put them into a plastic shoe box with some ventelation holes, half buried in slightly damp vermiculite. I checked them every few days, and misted them if the vermiculite started to dry. The room temperature was about 72 to 75 degrees F., and cooled some at night as the heat source was on a timer. My coral eggs hatched in about 45 - 47 days if I remember correctly. The eggs that Ditmars hatched took 90 days, but could have been kept cooler. The biggest problem is that when the eggs hatch, the new born coral snakes are very, very tiny. This makes feeding them a real challenge. They will eat tiny snakes and lizards, and even insects and spiders and centepedes at this time. If at all possible, try to catch a few gravid brown or earth snakes, earlier in the year, and keep them so that you will have some tiny new born food snakes for the baby corals. The new born corals are only 4 to 5 inches long, and about as big around as a wooden match stick. They will eat if you can find small enough food items.
Zegel, J.C. 1975, Notes on collecting and breeding the eastern coral snake, Micrurus fulvius fulvius. Bulletin of the Southeast Herpetological Society ., 1(6): 9-10
Unfortunately, when Janis Rose published his excellent book ``Coral Snakes of the Americas``, he mis-spelled my name as Zeger instead of Zegel in his Bibliography, although he got it right in the text, and his error is now being repeated by folks publishing reptile books who simply copy other folks bibliographys, and do not bother to actually obtain and read the material they supposedly referenced!
Hope this helps some. Best Regards JohnZ
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RE: Eastern Corals, ever been successfully CB , ra
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by vampire on September 5, 2005
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THANKS to everyone who responded. Great info John! I bet it gave you a great deal of satisfaction to produce the little ones! Also, how does it affect the longevity and health of the Corals buy feeding them pink mice? Most reports I have read say it drastically shortens their lifespan. Thanks again.
Best regards,
Mike aka Vampire
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RE: Eastern Corals, ever been successfully CB , ra
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by Cro on September 5, 2005
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Mike: It is hard to say if feeding pink mice to coral snakes shortens their life span or not. It very well could, as they are programed by nature to eat other snakes and lizards. I usually fed pink mice in winter months when feeder snakes were not available to the corals that would eat them, as I often ran out of prefrozen feeder snakes. Some coral snakes would not eat frozen thawed snakes at all, only live snakes, but others would. I would usually feed snakes to them again in the Spring when it warmed, and I was able to find feeder snakes . I had one female coral snake that I kept alive for 5 or 6 years that I only fed pink mice to, but have had others that only lived a year or two when fed exclusively on pink mice. For the best chance of keeping them alive long term, I think it would be best to feed them other snakes. You just have to plan ahead though, so you have a supply of feeder snakes to get them through the winter. The best way I have found to do this is to find a couple of gravid garter snakes before the weather turns cold, that way you will have a bunch of small snakes to feed the corals. JohnZ
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