Posted by:
epidemic
at Tue Jul 18 10:05:27 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by epidemic ]
You certainly have a dilemma on your hands, as the last thing you want to do is create stress for a gravid female and treating for mites appropriately will certainly stress the female.
I am not familiar with any data pertaining to the safety of mite sprays and the use of such with gravid females, perhaps someone who has had a bit of experience with such will chime in. However, it is very common for gravid females to go off feed, so I would not worry too much is your new acquisition did not feed on the first day, as most snakes will not, as it may take days, even weeks, for them to settle into their new environment. Also, you should be more inclined to hydrate a new acquisition, rather than feed it, as dehydration will cause a much faster demise, especially if they feed while dehydrated.
You may wish to review an article produced by Dave and Tracy Barker regarding mites, as it is perhaps one of the best and most comprehensive pieces of work regarding such. Here’s the URL:
www.vpi.com/9VPITipsAndTechs/TheWarAgainstSnakeMites/TheWarAgainstSnakeMites.htm
If your female is indeed gravid, you will need to create a conducive environment for her to begin oviposition. Since green snakes normally begin oviposition in June – July, you should not delay setting up a nesting box. You can use slightly moistened potting soil, moss or even paper towels placed within a small flower pot or plastic container for such, which is placed into the enclosure. Green snakes normally produce four – eight eggs, but have been known to produce as few as two and as many as 16. You can incubate the eggs within a plastic shoe or sweater box on moistened pearlite, vermiculite, moss, or paper towels, making certain the incubation substrate is slightly moist and not wet. Also, it would be a good idea to place only two ventilation holes on each side of the box and add a small container of water within it. Incubation temperatures should be maintained at the low to mid 70’s. The lower incubation temperatures will cause for a longer incubation period, but you will find such will limit embryonic mortality rate and spinal anomalies, while allowing for increased size of the neonates upon pipping. Incubation, at lower temperatures, will normally take 60-80 days…
Best regards,
Jeff
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Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947
[ Hide Replies ]
- rough green snake gravid - Draco_, Mon Jul 17 19:22:16 2006
 RE: rough green snake gravid - epidemic, Tue Jul 18 10:05:27 2006
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