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Breeding Gaboons
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Anonymous post on November 26, 2004
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In Africa (Tanzania) where Gaboon Vipers originate, the weather does not change that much. It stays hot year in and year out. Do they readily mate in capitivity without a cooling off period that other snakes require? Has anyone in here successfully bred these guys? How did you go about doing it? Thank you much!
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RE: Breeding Gaboons
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by GaryOrner on November 26, 2004
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I know someone that has bred the Gaboon. Here is his site
http://www.bitisgabonica.com/
He has some good info on his site!
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RE: Breeding Gaboons
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by GaryOrner on November 27, 2004
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You may have to email him on the breeding thing. I could have swore he had some info on there. Toss him an email and he will help. he is a great person to talk herps with
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RE: Breeding Gaboons
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by ianb on November 29, 2004
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I did it. I just misted the tank to mimic the rainy season and bred Dec 12th. I here you can do from around Sept through sometimes as late as January.
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RE: Breeding Gaboons
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Anonymous post on November 29, 2004
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In regions where Gaboon Vipers occur, there isn't a drastic change in temperature variation throughout the year. It's important to understand these variations, when they occur, and how they can be imitated and applied to husbandry to condition your animals for breeding. When discussing snake breeding it's also important to skim the surface on their reproductive physiology as well. Spermatogenesis is defined as the production of viable sperm. Ovogenesis refers to the process of follicular developement, maturation, and egg formation. Fertility refers to the rate at which an organism PRODUCES VIABLE offspring. Slugs are unfertilized ova and are not viable. Determining problems in fertility may or may not be related to the dam alone. Fertility problems may be related to husbandry methods, the male, environmental manipulation, or a combination of factors. Fecundity refers the NUMBER of eggs AND REPRODUCTIVE CAPACITY of the female. To elaborate more, one female may only be able to produce "X" amount of ova, while another of the same species, size, may produce "X" + 20 ova. The ovarian follicles must first develope and mature before they pass into the oviduct for fertilization. The first initial copulations may stimulate follicular development and the entire process. Keep introducing them afterwards. The more breedings the better. Spermatogenesis and ovogenesis may or may not be dependent on environmental cues, but I think most often it is. Environmental changes cue hormones, which tell the body to manufacture sperm or ova. These cues may be changes in photoperiod, barometric pressure, humidity, temperature, etc. Most everyone is familiar with basic colubrid reproductive husbandry. Snakes are brumated for a period of time, and later introduced together. The prolonged cooling and dark period imitated by the herpetoculturist simulates the conditions the snake would endure in the wild. This brumation process is important to stimulate hormones, follicular developement and sperm production. The snakes are introduced and eggs are laid shortly thereafter. It's very easy. Courtship, combat, and initial copulation are believed to ALSO stimulate ovogenesis, in addition to environmental cues. There is a point to all this.
Assuming you are completely experienced and legal, the first step will be to obtain antivenin and develope your snakebite protocol. Rehearse it. I am sure you already know, these snakes are long, heavy, dangerous, and quick. Bitis may be bred by introducing them at certain times of the year or you may house them communally all 12 months of the year. Both methods have proven successful. A communal enclosure will need to be large.
When handling and housing large bitis, be advised that large specimens should ONLY be housed in enclosures accessed from the side and NOT THE TOP! Lifting large Bitis up with a hook presents risk to the animal if dropped. Also keep in mind that the narrom bar on the end of the hook end(s) is/are the only means of supporting the entire weight of the snake safely. Bitis are heavy. This certainly can't be comfortable. To access the enclosure safely use a divider, or the specimen must be contained or extracted. In order to contain large Bitis, I recommend having a smaller shift box handy that can be placed inside the enclosure. Build one or make one out of a rubbermaid. Coax the animal into the box w/ the hook to avoid lifting it. It is especially important to avoid lifting potentially gravid females. If you must lift and extract a Bitis, use two (2) standard gulf club sized hooks. The large Python Hook from Midwest (BUY MIDWEST) could also be used w/ both hands to scoop up the animal. Don't waste any time moving the snake from Point A to Point B. Get it done smoothely, with haste.
Basic Husbandry:
Temperature: 70-72F ambient; gradient to 85F **heat tape/pad-low light levels-heat lamps not recommended
Lighting: 12/12hrs **low light levels-heat lamps not recommended
Substrate: Aspen, Cypress, Spagnumm, Newspaper. Do not use CEDAR or PINE shavings.
Humidity: 75% Take care to provide adequate ventilation and avoid dampness. A large shallow water dish should be provided. Mist them lightly everyday, just use your own judgement so you don't over do it. With my adults, in the morning, Ill throw a handful of ice cubes on top of the screen vents and let them melt. As they drip it cools the terrarium boosting the humidity simulating fallen dew or something like that. They get lightly misted right before noon.
Diet: Juveniles: appropriate sized prekilled rodents every 10-14 days if defecation occurs regularly. Adults: Maintenance - appropriate sized prekilled rat every 3-6 weeks / Breeding Conditioning (females only) in July offer appropriate sized rodents giving them as much as they want. Avoid leaving large lumps in their intestines as this isn't healthy. Bathe your bitis once every 7 days to insure adequate hydration and routine defecation.
Breeding Methods: When discussing breeding methods, it's important to remember that there are other methods. It just depends on finding out what works for you. Every spring year after year gravid females are collected and sent to the U.S. Gaboons and Rhinos will probably never be endangered, but then again you never know. Because of these importations, hobbyists have become lazy in their breeding attempts for these animals. Like Monocle Cobras (Naja kaouthia) large African Bitis really don't need to be exported from their origin to the trade anymore, unless perhaps one is seeking genetic diversity, locality specific, etc These animals are often infested with internal parasites, and must be quarantined from the main collection and treated accordingly. In my opinion, it's really more trouble than its worth. If just a few more people would dedicate their energy to producing this species, then perhaps the burden may be eased on wild populations. Either way it would be better to see more captive bred animals offered in the trade. If you are seeking to produce these animals year after year additional females will be required. This formula will get you at least one litter annually if you maintain a colony of 3.4. Just pretend....
Cooling should be considered optional. Many keepers have successfully bred this species without cooling. Personally, I feel that it's beneficial. Believe it or not, I've even read one account of a keeper brumating his Bitis for 8 weeks. To allow the night temperatures to drop, I just turn off the under heat source.
Temps:(Optional)
January Day 85F max/70F ambient w/ gradient Night 65-68F
February Day 85F max/70F ambient w/ gradient Night 65-68F
March Day 85F max/70F ambient w/ gradient Night 65-68F
April Day 85F max/70F ambient w/ gradient Night 65-68F
May Day 85F max/70F ambient w/ gradient Night 65-68F
June Day 85F max/70F ambient w/ gradient Night 65-68F
July Day 85F max/70F ambient w/ gradient Night 65-68F
August Day 85F max/70F ambient w/ gradient Night 65-68F
September Day 85F max/70F ambient w/ gradient Night 65-68F
October Begin lowering the temperatures gradually
November Day 70-75F Night 65-60F
December Day 70-75F Night 65-60F
Do not feed in November or December
Photoperiod(Optional) Day/Night = hours
January 12/12
February 12/12
March 12/12
April 12/12
May 12/12
June 12/12
July 12/12
August 12/12
September 12/12
October 12/12
November 11/13 - 10/14
December 11/13 - 10/14
It's important to thoroughly expose your females to males under a variety of environmental conditions. With luck and discipline on your side, you should be able to produce at least 1 litter every year. Probably more...probably more than you can imagine. This is good.
Housing Seperately: 3.4 collection of mature, healthy adults. Males = A, Females = B. The / indicates, "introduction to". Males should be introduced to females. (#) = representative sex number, ie B(2) = female # 2.
Rotation starting September 1st
Week 1: A(1)/B(1); A(2)/B(2); A(3)/B(3); B(4)
Week 2: A(2)/B(1); A(3)/B(2); B(3); A(1)/B(4)
Week 3: A(3)/B(1); B(2); A(1)/B(3); A(2)/B(4)
Week 4: B(1); A(1)/B(2); A(2)/B(3); A(3)/B(4)
Repeat the entire process month after month until the end of March. The flaw to this method is that it will impossible to determine w/ absolute certainty which male sired a litter. If genetic tracking doesn't matter this is an ideal approach. Genetic tracking often matters when you're talking about piebald regius and stuff like that.
If you only have a 1.1 pair begin introducing the male for a few days at a time starting in September.
Male Combat
If your enclosure is large enough, consider introducing 2 males to one female. Male Gaboon Vipers will combat in the presence of females intertwining their bodies attempting to push the opponents head to the ground. Male combat, an element of courtship, stimulates the male to copulate or pursue it. Being in the presence of male combat, an element of courtship, is believed to stimulate follicular developement in females. Remove the subordinate male when he attempts to retreat.
Communal Housing
If you wish to communally house your specimens, house them together to the specific conditions discussed above, maintaining them in groups of 1.2; 12 months a year. Keep the additional male seperate, and use him for combat if courtship and copulation haven't been observed. Begin rotating your males amongst the two females for maximum exposure every 3-5 days. Combat your males with in the communal housing beginning in October. The drawbacks to this approach involve safety to the keeper and the animals. Remember seperate your animals at feeding time. Gaboon Vipers can and will kill each other if they bite one another. When the smell of food is in the enclosure, they often strike at very little movement. Seperate them at feeding. The other drawback is the communal enclosure must be large. If we have 3, 4ft snakes the surface area needs to be a minimum of 7ft X 3ft. Mine's larger. The advantages of this approach is it maximizes one's chances of fertilization. This afterall is what the project is about. One could also set up the enclosure as an impressive display.
Expect as many 60 neonates, but 30-40 is more of a conservative estimate.
For more information, I strongly suggest reading Ross and Marzec Reproductive Husbandry of Pythons and Boas, I also read a pretty good one Herp Library Series breeding boas. That had some good info too. Don't know who the author is, but if you are interested in this sort of thing check it out. It tells you all need to know about breeding snakes.
-The Phantom
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