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I need info on the Atheris Hispidus that were bought from glades and zooilogical in the past couple of months. I need to know did they feed , what are they eating, do you have pics of them eating. I will be revampming my website to have full information on ATheris and Trimersurus this summer so anything you think is interesting or very high quality pictures let me know send them to john@bushviper.net . We really need to know who has had sucess and who hasn't don't be afraid to tell me the truth and if they have died. This information will help us all out in the long run.
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You can ask the clinic I work with to fax you some lab reports and necropsy data from hispida that didn't make it - email me for details, atheris a&t usa d0t net.

A basic summary is that they had numerous holes in their lungs, their guts and in some other organs from hookworms and lungworms. While antiparasitical medication did kill the parasites, the damage that was already done and the dead parasites in the organs led to massive septicaemia. We kept some alive for awhile by nebulizing with Amikacin to deliver antibiotics directly to the damaged lungs, but when that finally failed, necropsy results suggested that the damage was such that they couldn't have been saved regardless of what we tried. They were basically dead snakes by the time they touched ground in this country; it just takes a snake a long time to die even with that level of massive trauma to its organs. Several other folks (zookeepers and private keepers) I talked to confirmed verbally that their necropsy reports were basically identical to what I got.

If you bought a hispida, you want a fecal and tracheal wash immediately to assess the parasite load. If the damage isn't too far advanced, an immediate course of antiparasiticals plus supportive antibiotic therapy might succeed. Nebulizing seems the most promising route to minimize stress to the patient, avoid involving the renal portal system and direct delivery to the lungs.

The funny part about the whole affair is that we managed to make our lab techs deeply suspicious that we were playing a practical joke on them. They phoned the clinic demanding to know why we had put an obscene slang name like "Hairy bush viper" on our C&S sample. No amount of explaining would convince them that this was not a joke and this was really the proper common name for A. hispida. So they labelled all their reports "Harry, bush viper" despite the fact that one of the snakes was female.

Good luck and get your hispida to a vet ASAP if you want it to have any chance of survival. I'll gladly volunteer some help (free fecal and tracheal checks) for animals that can be brought to me in Central Florida. You could also overnight me a wet fecal sample in saline, but by the time you pay for that you might as well have found a local vet.

Yes this is the info we need , I am glad you steeped up to the plate Mstt. I am curently not even working with them but my partner is. I have one in my possesion that I will be taking over to him today came in a box as a replacement snake for a mistake in the box. I know for a fact none of his are eating on there own they are being forced. This replacement snake they sent me looks very good weight wise and all. But I know how they can be. I simply wanted a thread going up and getting people to really come to the plate so we can hear what we are all doing. I think your post will be the most hepful.Unles someone else out there will post there experience's. Now there is a guy out there saying his are feeding voraciously on slugs and I am calling him out for prove of photo's of them eating. I hate to do that cause he is sorda a chat friend I don't know him all that well but his info is needed here.

I did get one animal in good body condition to voluntarily eat a small hylid frog and possibly a Mediterranean gecko. I offered de-shelled snails but they were not accepted. My strategy to get them feeding was to offer a diverse prey range and habitat range. There were arboreal perches, baby geckoes on the wall, a large waterbowl area and some damp ground with frogs and snails and a dry land area with a bowl of pinky mice. The only disappearances from the prey population were a frog and a gecko. I confirmed the frog's consumption by weighing the snake. I was unable to confirm on the much smaller gecko. The snakes spent most of their time on the arboreal perches and were not observed to swim or soak. Since it was probable that they were not drinking voluntarily they were drip-misted and also given additional fluids when they were medicated.

The bottom line is that these guys come in with a massive enough load of nasty parasites that they are just eaten up from the inside. You can try antiparasiticals plus antibiotic support. I'd go with intracoelomic Levamisole and intramuscular Ivermectin at VERY precisely measured doses plus 1% of body weight in oral electrolyte solution for hydration, and nebulize with Amikacin. That's the strategy we tentatively worked out at the vet clinic after doing the first necropsy and the fecal/tracheal washes and C&S on the survivor.

How successful you will be depends on how many holes are already in the snake's guts. If there are too many, nothing you do can save the animal. No antiparasitical treatment means that the snake will die slowly, eaten up from the inside by parasites. Antiparasitical treatment stops the process but leaves the dead bodies of the adult parasites in the snake's organs where they trigger all sorts of nasty inflammatory and infectious responses that the living parasites do not. That is likely to kill the snake more quickly if you are not concurrently giving significant antibiotic support.

Good luck - you'll need it. Let me know if there's anything I can do from here.

Hi

Most of the hispida in America and Europe were supplied by me.
I have exported Atheris for the last 8 years from East Africa.

The main diet of Atheris hispida certainly are slugs. They may take the odd Hyperolius reed frog but its not their main diet.
In Uganda I feed the hispida on local slugs which are less than 1 inch long and greyish in colour. They come up to the snail and just in slow motion grab the snail and then swallow it in a "chewing" motion in less than 5 seconds. They exclusively feed on them at my place. I have tried almost everything else from Invertebrates to baby birds (Finches) to Frogs, Small live fish and tadpoles, geckos.. im talking everything u can think of.. and its a waste of time. They eat slugs.

My close friend in Europe who is keeping 5 pair of my hispida has tried to feed them with European snails and slugs and it will not work. There may be a difference in smell or taste between different species of snail I am not sure.

However they can get used to pinkies. In the beginning it really takes allot of patience but if u are a little bit familiar with tease feeding then you will be surprised. He has them so far that all he needs to do is tap them once on the head with a pinkie and they take them off the forceps and in the usual manner "chew" them down within seconds.

If this doesnt work another very good way is to hold the hispida (Only do this if U know what U are doing !) as if you were to force feed it.. and just tap a dead one day old pinky on its nose a few times.. the hispida normally will grab the pinkie and swallow it as usual within a few seconds. Make sure to always use as small as possible pinkies for this. I normally soak the dead pinkie in water for a few mitutes before I do this so it is swallowed easier. After doing this a few times the tease feeding should work allot easier.

Another important factor is ventilation. NEVER keep a hispida in a warm damp and poorly ventilated cage.. this is how U will ruin the Lungs of the poor little fellows. Keep the very well ventilated in the manner you would keep a chameleon.

I keep them in a wooden frame measuring 4ft x 3ft x 3ft covered with soft synthetic mosquito net on all sides. Allot of thin branches and a water dish (altought they rarely drink from the dish). Do not keep them damp. I spray them and the entire cage every 3 or so days with water in the EVENING. After this they often will be strolling around the whole night. Thats when I feed them.

Another factor are the temperatures. It is not important for them to be cooled too low at night. We collect them at 1500 meters altitude (about 4500 feet) and minimum night time temperatures are around 15°C (I guess that is somewhere in the upper 60s). Now the important part is not to keep them to warm in the DAY. Maximum temperatures should be around 24°C (I guess again that this would be in the upper 70s)and we only offer them a small spot light in a corner pointing at a few branches so they can heat up a bit during the day. If U keep them warmer they may have problems with digesting and regurgitate.

We currently have 3 gravid females in Europe and are hoping to get healthy captive babies by the end of this month.

I hope some of this information can help u.

Price Reptiles International