....they are NOTHING like their northern cousins, the Sierra Juarez agalma....(actually, did you know that the Martir agalma are more closely related to the Todos Santos Island mtn kings, zonata herrerae)?



Yeah, well I'm STILL WORKING with that lil' bugger.....Martir agalma are EXTREMELY tough by and large, and as I'd mentioned in the above post to Brad they arent for the faint of heart. Man they are tough, AND they grow slowly.



This female is by far THE toughest snake I've dealt with in all my 17 years of captive breeding. She'd take a baby lizard or two, and then stop. I used several varieties, and she'd keep changing her mind, back and forth. Then comes the notorious zonata shut-down late summer/early fall.



She JUST started taking scented consistently these past couple months Joe, and she was worth all the hard work for sure. That amazing head display is enough to keep me endeavoring to save her. Out of the 10 Martir snakes I had, I only lost one earlier this year as she was just as stubborn as this female pictured. The difference is that I started to administer to this girl 5cc's of mashed pinkys with Nutribac and gatorade on a regimen of every three days. After several months of this and a good brumation, she started to come around this past late summer. I shouldve been more diligent with that other female, but down the drain went 1K. And that's another killer....Martir agalma are at least in the 750 range but usually more. I'd advise NEVER to get any, if and when they are rarely available, unless they are guaranteed voluntarily feeding. Again, just THE toughest babies to get going...BUT, once they do (as Emeril would say...) BAMMMMMM!!! They become very strong feeders. When I swing down to Maryland I'll bring a couple with me on the 3 hour drive. Archery anyone?



Here she is photographed this past late August several inches bigger and more robust.....




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Jerry Kruse





And God said, "Let there be zonata subspecies for all to ponder..."

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