I've enjoyed looking at the pics and as a fellow Lachesis fan and keeper, you can never see enough bushmaster shots. Matt and Randal, thanks for some of the suggestions you made; we'll be taking them to heart. Earl Turner, where we obtained our incredible pair from, has lended an enormous amount of advice; some that goes against the grain but his track record speaks for itself when keeping these animals on a long term basis and his advice to me has always been right on the mark (it would be great to see him provide support on this forum...hint, hint). So, here are some of the changes we are making this week with our bushmaster exhibit based on the advice you three have given me (please let me know what you think):

- installing a cool air vaporizer so that we can bump up the ambient humidity levels while maintaining a dry surface/substrate; this device will be on a timer so that we can avoid high levels; just enough to maintain proper humidity. Heating device (a pro product radiant heat panel) is connected to a thermostat so that we can zero in on precise thermal gradients to keep these animals comfortable (the heat panel is kept very low so that we just get a very gentle gradient and realizing that this species doesn't like warm temperatures)
- providing many more opportunities for hiding; dense cover, various hollow logs, etc.
- include some live plants (hanging so they don't get trampled) to increase oxygen quality, humidity, etc.
- cover the exhibit with tinted glass; enough so that the snake on exhibit feels secure but the general public can see into it (our other option is to make it completely black and just have several peep holes for people to look for....thoughts?)
- change to a more subdued/diffuse light source to better mimic their forest/ground dwelling tendencies
- darken the wing that has this animal on exhibit

Do you all think I'm going in the right direction? These snakes seem to really stress when you mess with them too much so I need to make sure that whatever we do, stress management is the number one priority.

Thanks, Rob


>>This is an adult male L. acrochordus(I believe produced by Randal). I took this pic as he was draped up over an old cypress stump, however I was about 4' away from him, as this snake is about 2.5m long and weighs over 15lbs(estimation based on comparison with a 12lb Bothrops asper I have, which is considerably 'thinner'). Pic taken with the Nikon D70, 18-70mm DX zoom. Image reduced by 50%.
>>
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

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