Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey yall. Finally back on the rear-fang forum(yay!) though i doubtany of yall remember me lol. Well, since my night snake died, I've really wanted to get back into rear-fangs. Langaha madagascariensis is my #1 choice so far, followed by parasina. I was wondering if anyone here had some care tips of the Langaha (Madagascar leaf nose snakes). Bascically temp, humidity, breeding tips, feeding tips, cage size reccomendations, basically anything that might hep out. BTW you rear-fang people are a real cool crowd. Nice and helpful. Thanks in advance yall.
Thakidgecko

I briefly entertained the idea of getting a pair of these a while back, and decided against it. Not to discourage you, but there are very few people who have had any long term success with this species, they tend to die within a year in captivity. While I am very confident in my knowledge and husbandry skills in keeping snakes, when people who have had decades more experience keeping snakes then me repeatedly fail on something, it makes me wonder how much luck I'm gonna have, lol

That being said, from what I've heard, they need to be kept at cooler temps, around mid seventies. Being that they are tropical, humidity is also important. They are VERY delicate and stress easily, so any sort of handling should be kept to a bare minimum. It appears to be rather hard to convert them to rodents, but they do take anoles and other lizards quite readily, assuming they are healthy. The thing is, other keepers have had perfectly healthy, feeding specimens drop dead for no apparent reason.

Another thing, which I can't confirm, and have only heard anecdotally from a well know, well respected importer. While I tend to doubt this, I was told that their have been POSSIBLE fatalities due to bites from this species. Again, these were anecdotal remarks told to me from the importer, and even he was not sure of the validity of these statements...but since I was inquiring about them, he felt he should at least warn me of the possibility of such occurances. I have not heard anyone else mention serious bites, and though they are venomous, most people are asymptomatic or present only very mild symptoms of envenomation.

Other than that, I can't really say much more...again, I haven't kept this species, but did do some research on them. Hope this helps.

forgot to address some of your other questions. To my knowledge, no one has successfully bred Langaha in captivity. It may have been done, but I would imagine VERY, VERY few people have been able to accomplish this. I talked to quite a number of people who'd kept these guys before, and not one had ever figured out how to breed them (though one did have a gravid female drop some eggs on him, and did successfully incubate them...only 1 baby made it past the 1 year mark though ).

Cage size depends on wheter they are housed seperately or not, but they are arboreal, so keep that in mind. A 55 gallon would comfortably house a pair with plenty of room for them to roam.

Okay, I think that's about it...if you do get them, let us know how things go and make sure to post pics! They truly are amazing looking snakes, very unique for sure, it's just a pity they are so delicate!

Thanks. That helped a lot. I think I may still get them but I am stll looking into parasina. Not sure which one I like more I know, both! Haha I wish.... I do like a challenge and I have a great supply of geckos so I'm good food wise. Would be fun to try and breed them.

hi yall. i have kept them and found that they are a very hardy bunch and in my personal opinion there is nothing that delicate about them. if you give them anoles, there are no problems. i have not tried to convert them to pinkies, i do enjoy watching them hunt. i have kept them in room temp with occasional heat lamp after they feed and occasional misting, nothing special. i used a 30 gal long tank tunred sideways for a year to house them but since have built a 2'x2'x4' screen/plexiglass encloser with branches and leaves there where my lone female is very happy.
their breeding is not very difficult, it happens in may through june and then the eggs are dropped sometime in August. the captive breeding has been accopmplished, fairly successfully. mine have also produced eggs, but since they deposit eggs at night i missed it and they had dired up.
as long as you have a spacious enclosure with good air circulation, branches and plants to climb over, a big dish of water, an invisible heat lamp (eventhough mine only used it after they ate), occasional mists, and a good supply of anoles, you should be fine.
in mine personal opinion, no specie is truly difficult, it's just often the right conditions are not known and established. i ahve kept mostly unusual and even unknown herps and did not find any of them super challenging. for me it's a question of how much space they need. i keep most of my herps in selfsustaining, natural enclosures without the need to maintain the cleaning by humans.
as to the venom, madagascar herps are closer related to South American herps than to African ones. it does make sence since it seems that Madagascar has broken off the S.A. continent. (Gondwanaland).
if you have anymore questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Anna

I keep this one in a 5 gallon tank lined with a paper towel with this water bowl and a branch and green vine. It eats a female brown anole every week or two and has been healthy and fine for 3 years. They soak all the time given an ample soaking spot like this bowl in which it easily fits. It is kept from 83 during the day to 75 at night and I never handle it but believe any handling will stress and perhaps lead to a shorter life for them.

Dan

Hey, is the water bowl all the humidity in there, or do you mist? If you mist about how many times a day?

I have come to the conclusion that there is not a single snake on this planet that Dan does not keep, LOL

Glad to hear it's doing good, like I said, most people (many very experienced keepers) did not have much luck with this species

Haha. Dan, the man of many serpents

It's not the over 100 different species I keep that is important. It's the 100 additional species I am after that matters. lol.

Dan

Dan is there a snake spp. you DONT have? LOL, Ive got to get out to your place one o these days!
CHeers
B

what snake species he keeps, we'd probably get a shorter answer asking him what snake species he DOESN'T keep, lol

Ok. I think I'm going to get some parasina. Then some Langaha . First I'm gunna try the parasina first though. Basically all the info I need on them is humidity info. About what percent should they be kept at? Corrallus1, i know you have bred yours, what humidity do you keep yours at?

Oxybelis fulgidus

These guys snatch mice from the tongs and chew em up like gum. And they get about 7 feet.

Dan

Bathing in the kitchen. I heat it on the stove on low until it sheds. Just kidding.

Dan

that these are my two choice species of rear fangs are actually because they love lizards. My mother won't let me use mice also, so thats another reason I really like the odd snakes, esp. ones that eat lizards. I also really like the crypticness of the Langaha and the sheer elegance or parsina. I have a very ample supply of lizards year round. And yes I am a minor, dont flame me, I've been in the hooby for quite a while.

Ugh.....now I can't decide! Maybe it would help if I could spell hobby right lol. Hey Oxy, what humidity do yo keep your Langaha at, or is the water bowl all?

The humidity level is 60-80 percent.

Dan

Thanks!

That's an awesome snake oxy, I sure aint surprised you have one either... does anyone have a more varied colubrid collection than you?