Posted by:
FR
at Thu Oct 6 10:03:18 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by FR ]
The original male albino Cal king lived 33 yrs in captivity after being caught as an adult.
I have had many females of various lampropeltis species, hatch, multiclutch and continue to muticlutch for 15 yrs, then slow down and live another ten yrs. After the 15 yrs of continuious breeding they became inconsistant, that is, missing a year here and there. This indicates that if supported, they can easily pass 25 years in captivity, regardless of heavy reproduction.
The above is not heresay or someone elses information, it occured here with us.
With wild colubrid snakes, ten years seems to be about it, on average. Possibly the same for rattlesnakes, but some individuals have lasted longer.
Because of the vast numbers of wild reptiles, the possibility of extreme longevity is there.
Also, no offensive to the original poster, but clearly there needs to be a difference made between functional longevity(ones who experience life events) and individuals who are under metabolized, unfunctional longevity. Like the example mentioned. And individual that is fed every two weeks cannot be functioning at anything but a very low level of metobolism. Another example, Bill Wooden, of woodeni fame, had a yuma morph king for 35 yrs, he kept it in a tank in the closet and fed it eight times a year. It died at two feet in lenght. That really cannot be defined as life. Life is often defined as what sum of what you experience, not how long your heart beats. Just something to think about.
Life events= birth, growth, recruit, socialize, old age, death. And all the experiences those catagories intail.
Please understand, its not to judge, only to offer thought.
Z indicated that snakes that experience reproduction, may live shorter lifes. But entertain the thought, reproduction is their main goal in life. To recruit is to exsist. Cheers FR
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RE: life spans... a little more - FR, Thu Oct 6 10:03:18 2005