Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If you breed any Boiga species or know somebody who does, please help me out. I'll be presenting a paper on breeding the brown treesnake (Boiga irregularis) at the Combined Meetings of Ichths and Herps this summer in OK. This is the major meeting for National and International scientists. What I'm looking for is any information for other Boiga species on what environmental conditions must be provided to get them to breed. That is, do you have to drop the temperature (as is case for brown treesnake)or will they breed when kept under a fairly constant temperature regime?

If you have some solid information I'd likely work it into the presentation, with your permission.

Tom Mathies, PhD
USDA/National Wildlife Research Center;
Colorado State University
email:tom.c.mathies@usda.gov

Will this info be skewed to support the the banning of boiga as a genus?

Sorry to be so blunt.

Nope. This talk will be on the idea that cool temperatures are needed to stimulate breeding in the brown treesnake on Guam. I am a reproductive biologist, not a taxonomist. I have no expertise and even less interest in debates involving nomenclature changes. No agena, just information exchange.

I have two publications on breeding the brown treesnake (B. irregularis)I can send you; one is in print (Zoo Biology 22:227-238, 2003), so you could access it yourself. The other is in Press in Herpetological Review and I can send you a prepress copy if you like.

Do you have Boiga breeding info you can share with me?

Regards, Tom Mathies

Just out of curiousity..what is the thermoclime in Guam? How does it compare to the conditions in the snake's country(s) of origion?
I keep (but do not breed) Boiga sp.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Frank

As you may know, the brown treesnake is very wide-ranging - Indonesia down to as far south as Sydney Austrailia. The particular population on Guam is thought to have originated from Manus island which is right off New Guinea. Manus is even closer to the equator than Guam and as expected its climate is even less variable than Guam's. Basically the average temperature on Guam does not vary by more than three degrees (C) throughout the year. The monthly range is about 24-27C. The mean monthly lows range from about 20-23C. I don't recall what daytime temperatures usually reach but nightime lows are around 24C.

I should also apologize to Saker. I misunderstood what he meant by "banning the genus Boiga". I thought he meant there was a nomenclature change underfoot. However he was refering to a proposed law that would ban the import of all snakes in the genus Boiga. To answer the question - I'm not involved in this. I'm not even aware of who (if anyone) is pushing this. Again, I'm a scientist. I collect and present data. I don't push or advocate agendas. Not my job!

The North American Brown Tree Snake Group is behind this. They are comprised of researchers from Fish and Game. Their goal is to ban all species of Boiga by adding them to the Lacey Act. They also are assembling a list of Boiga Look-a-likes, presumeably for the same purpose.
They petitioned the Dept. of the Interior about this and we are awaiting the outcome.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."