Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What's the oldest wc alterna in your collection?

I had one that live 21 years that was caught as an adult.
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"There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line."
Oscar Levant

NP
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"There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line."
Oscar Levant

Andrew,
As far as I know, and I've asked dozens of collectors[now known as observers, LOL] I have the longest living alterna in captivity. I caught it May 20th, 1984 on Pandale dirt, 3.0 miles north of the RR tracks. It was 15 inches long when I found it suggesting it was probably a 1982 hatchling. It is a male and still doing fine. I still have 3 other captive born alterna from 1988. These 4 snakes seem to be the exception and not the rule however. Most of my alterna last 13-17 years. Sounds like Max's 21 year alterna might of been older since it was caught as an adult. It also seems that alterna from the eastern part of their range last longer than the western ones but thats just from my own collection observations. Hope this helps. BA

DUDE....eh....be careful with what year....

yeah....the eastern wild caughts seem to be more robust and just a hardier captive....FREE STEVE WIT

In the summer of 1974, David Jacques caught a gravid female alterna, locality unknown(to me). The snake was kept at a Southern California reptile exhibit until it's eggs were layed. I incubated the 5 egg clutch and they all hatched on 9-15-1974. I kept one male until it died on 5-22-2002. A few years ago, Jerry Salmon told me that this was the longevity record for alterna.

Ed Bradley

That beats mine by 2yrs 7 months. The original question was about wild caught alterna however. Don't know if yours qualifys as wild caught since it was born under artificial captive conditions, but it was from a wild bred female so maybe it does.. Definitely a longevity record overall. Congrats!! I think/hope mine will make it a couple more years but who knows.
BA

Thanks for the replies - you guys are doing something right! My oldest wc is a male collected south of Alpine as an adult in '92. My oldest captive is a female hatched in '95. I think a lizard diet would keep them going for longer...

Andrew, I've fed mine some pretty lg great plains skinks before but not on a regular basis by any means. Its never seemed to bother him any. BA