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O. hannah hatchling tips PLEASE?!?!?!
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by LordViperTX on January 21, 2007
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I am taking delivery of a week-old O. hannah. I know...
* Nearly impossible
* Good luck
* It'll die
Now, with that out of the way, if you have experience with hatchling O. hannahs please contact me at lordvipertx@yahoo.com if you have any tips that you feel will be helpful.
I'm skilled with crotalus. I have a N. kaouthia. But I am FAR from being too proud to accept help from anyone who has some good, useful advice based upon experience. These are, by far, the most fascinating reptile in the world to me. I'm not worried about the investment...I'm worried about the animal.
Please help if you can.
PS: Does anyone have current contact info for "Sierra?"
http://www.venomousreptiles.org/articles/125
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RE: O. hannah hatchling tips PLEASE?!?!?!
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by BobH on January 22, 2007
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I don't think you should be so negative. I have had only one and it was about 3 weeks old when I obtained it but if you can get the food (snakes), it should do fine. Give it a hide spot and keep it warm. Perhaps the most interesting thing is the behavioral change when a snake prey item is introduced. The dramatic increase in tongue flicking and the search behavior and catch are great. Mine was a little finicky with ratsnakes and would pounce on them sometimes and the next week cohabitat the cage with them and I would have to take it out and reintroduce it a few days later.
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RE: O. hannah hatchling tips PLEASE?!?!?!
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by Rob_Carmichael on January 22, 2007
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I agree with Bob. Here's my response to your same question on Kingsnake (and the rebuttal is to the guy on Kingsnake, not Bob - pertains to tube feeding baby kings...not a good practice):
I've raised a few hatchling kings and contrary to popular opinion, they are not that difficult to raise as long as you have the proper environment. Stress management is one of the most crucial components of working with this species. Give the snake time to settle in before pushing the feeding too much. Knowing something about their natural history, climate, etc will go a long ways towards keeping them long term. Contrary to the other post, who recommends tube feeding, I would personally caution you against doing that (just my philosophy; ultimately, you'll do what you feel is best for the snake); why put undue stress on a baby king cobra? On top of that, why make feeding and interacting with you something that the snakes disdains? Instead, I would try to find someone who may have some young corn snakes/ratsnakes/etc. You may have to kick start the baby into taking something live but they will on occasion take frozen/thawed as well (just move it with some hemostats). Once feeding regularly, you can then begin the process of scenting to wean the snake on to rodent prey (it takes longer than tube feeding but far less stressful on the animal and builds a better sense of trust between you and the king). This takes time and great patience. Another key aspect is proper set up, temps, humidity, etc. They can be raised in a rack system and I would recommend keeping them on paper towels initially. Or, you can go with a 24" Neodesha or something similar to that. You'll want a hide area on both the heated and unheated areas. Additionally, I would highly recommend a humidity box which can be a small plastic container (USE SMALL HIDE AREAS; the snake should have to cram itself in these) filled with slighly dampened spaghnum moss. Provide a shallow water bowl and lightly mist the entire box every 2-3 days. Additionally, I would recommend sprinkling a few dead leaves (oak, etc.) over the paper towels; a little natural enrichment helps stressed animals acclimate. Temps should range from the mid 70's on the cool end to the mid 80's on the warm end. I would offer a basking spot that reaches 88-90 degrees but make sure that the entire cage doesn't get that warm; temp. variances and opportunities to thermoregulate are critical. I am a big fan of supplemental full spectrum lighting; just my opinion with no scientific basis but I have noticed increased activity/alertness when snakes are subjected to some amount of quality light. This is difficult in a rack system but can be done with other cages. Our adults are on 12/12 photperiods with high quality UV lights for a portion of the exhibit.
Once your king reaches adulthood, I would recommend going with a semi naturalistic set up. Having a healthy microfauna (good bacteria, etc.) in a deep substrate will make your cleaning manageable of these high metabolism animals who'll crap you out of house and home. I use a combination of top soil, peat, a little sand, leaf mulch/litter and then sprinkle a deep layer of dead leaves over the surface. I spot clean (Gentle Giant Tongs work great for this use!) and then rake the substrate once a week to aerate it and it will last quite a while. I also provide natural limbs, vertical/diagonal bamboo and a couple of hides and our big king (Thai, a 14' male formerly owned by Earl Turner of Texas) is as happy as can be. Because we never forced the feeding issues early on, this snake is incredibly trustworthy around people; I would even say dog tame but because it's fully armed and loaded, we treat him with great respect (but does get regular interaction in a safe, controlled manner).
Hope this helps a bit,
Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
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