|
1-9 of 9 messages
|
Page 1 of 1
|
|
New Milestone
|
Reply
|
|
by wls967 on July 13, 2002
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Today I reached a new milestone. One I have been waiting on for years. I have been catching copperheads and timbers/canebrakes in the carolinas since I was 14 (21 years). I moved to the Montgomery Al. area 3 years ago and have been doing the same, however, in a little different enviroment. One species that was never a prospect in NW South Carolina, and one that has eluded me in south central Alabama (until today) was A. piscivorus, the elusive cottonmouth. Searching the backwaters of the Alabama River, like I've been doing for 3 years, my co-herper slid 20 feet down a steep embankment. I told him something dropped into the water 10 feet to his left, I chose a different route (I didn't want to experience the same fall) Then he yelled and said he thought he had a copperhead. I rushed to see what he had and first agreed with him, then I told him the patterns were all wrong and immediately asked if it had a dark stripe on it's cheek. I couldn't see from above it but he was beside me and said it did. I knew right then what I had. My first A. piscivorus. A juvi about only 10 inches long but a cottonmouth none the less. Now, if you have waded through my long story and have gotten this far, my question is this. What is the best method to get a juvenile cottenmouth to start feeding? If anyone has any expirience in this area, I would appreciate all the help I can get. Would like to hang on to him a while, but if I can't get him to eat, I have some wonderful "remote" locations where I can release him.
Thanks,
W. Spencer
|
| |
|
RE: New Milestone
|
Reply
|
|
by Timber_Rattlesnake on July 14, 2002
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
They feed primarly on fish and frogs......You could possibly try a small mouse or use a fish or small frog.
First just try a food item and let it be in the cage for awhile alive. If that doesn't work you can try to tease him into biting and getting the food down that way.
Or, he might have eaten recently and isn't hungry at the moment.
|
| |
|
RE: New Milestone
|
Reply
|
|
by cottonmouth on July 14, 2002
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
I catch these all the time and never have any problems getting them to take live fuzzies or live pinkies. let him get used to his set up and then offer it to him in a couple of days(PIGS).
|
| |
|
RE: New Milestone
|
Reply
|
|
by GREGLONGHURST on July 14, 2002
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
The only way you should have problems getting that animal to eat is if you do not put any food in the cage with it. Cottonmouths are notorious for eating virtually any animal matter. They have been observed in the wild eating sail frogs...you know..frogs that are so flat on the road you can pick 'em up & sail 'em like a frisbie. Mine readily accepts thawed out rodents.
~~Greg~~
|
| |
|
RE: New Milestone
|
Reply
|
|
by bitisatrox on July 14, 2002
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
try thawed fuzzy and if you get nothing catch a frog,you might want to freeze it in case of parisites.
but mine eat f/t just fine...
ty
|
| |
|
RE: New Milestone
|
Reply
|
|
by fizzbob7 on July 14, 2002
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
groovy...u caught one right when i bought two...good job cuz i have been looking specifically for them all season and havent seen anything....if u keep it and want to sell it later let me know....mine should be in later this week if i dont get screwed
|
| |
|
RE: New Milestone
|
Reply
|
|
by wls967 on July 14, 2002
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
thanks greg. that's pretty much the same thing a friend of mine in carolina (jim farmer) told me. if i may ask, what kind of habitat do you try to simulate in your cottonmouth's enclosure? the standard water bowl, hide box (i.e. driftwood, rock cave or other cover) or do you try to create a type of terrarium?
thanks again,
william spencer
|
| |
|
RE: New Milestone
|
Reply
|
|
by GREGLONGHURST on July 15, 2002
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
I've never set cottonmouths up in a natural setting type cage. It doesn't seem necessary. I set mine up geared toward ease of maintenance. Newspaper substrate, hide box made from a half pvc pipe, & a water dish. Believe it or not, the cottonmouth is not likely to spend a lot of time in the water dish.
~~Greg~~
|
| |
|
RE: New Milestone
|
Reply
|
|
by wls967 on July 23, 2002
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Well, the juvi ate a treefrog, but now I've got a 2.5 foot female, Agkistrodon pissedoffious pissedoffious that I caught sunday nite. My local police dept. called me a few months ago and I went to a home looking for a "Big Fat Snake" as described by the homeowner. Never saw anything, then, she called me Sunday nite and I went over, but the "Big Fat Snake" was gone again. After looking around, I decided to wade back across the creek with my spotlite rather than walk back around, (don't know why, just thought you were supposed to get muddy when herping). There it was, an Eastern Cottonmouth two feet from me. I attempted to toss it on the bank with my hook, but it fled right past my legs (6 inches) and my pucker factor peaked for a second. Anyway, about 15 minutes went by, and I came back to the spot where I first saw it and there it was. 2 minutes later it was in the bag. I will try the same feeding methods for this one. This is soon going to become a for sale ad. It's all cool as heck, but I really don't care to keep reps long term. Just thought all this was funny, I've been wading around in swamps in south AL for three years, and now people in heavily populated areas are calling with these things in their yard. Who would have thunk it.. Anyone interested in these can contact me anytime, otherwise, I'll probably release them in a nice remote swamp area.
thanks,
wls
|
| |
|
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.
|
