Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi

Does any keep this species ? I like the unusual stuff and would like to keep this at some point. I realise that they are going to be fairly advanced stuff as they will probably be WC and lizard feeders only. I will be looking out in europe for this next year but also if anyone in the states breeds or can get them then my local shop ships from a US company so I could get them here.
Are they easy to keep or do they stress very easily?

Thanks

Mike

Hi!
I've also been looking for these for a while. One thing I can tell you is that they are NOT available anywhere in Europe. It seems I've looked everywhere. I think your best bet is a private importer straight to the US. I. Cenchoa are fairly common in their native countries and should not have an extreme pricing, even though they are uncommon in captivity.

As for the care of the snake, you should NEVER buy WC animals. Both because of the ethics and for your own sake. An adult WC specimen would most certainly be very hard to get feeding on rodents, since their prey in the wild involves everything from slugs and frog eggs to chameleons. So, CB babies would be the best.

As implied, I am also searching for these. I am doing a private study on the resemblance between Asian Boiga species as opposed to South American colubrids. So if you find them, let me know through my email below:

little.lunatic@hotmail.com

Good luck!

If your looking for parallel evolution then you'll find Pareas is more similar to Imantodes. I applaud your devotion to captive breed, however, it can't apply to snakes that are not being bred in captivity, for obvious reasons. I don't understand why you would want to feed these snakes mice or why it would be an issue. Snails and slugs should be their staple. I have seen then for sale maybe once in the last 20 years? so I'd say they are uncommon. I can only speculate that they are a very sensitive species.

Yes, parallel evolution is one of my interests and I feel intrigued even more since it's such an uncommonly available species, to find out more and to learn about them.

On the subject on captive breeding, my point of view is simply that one should try his utmost to find CB specimen before even considering WC animals. One of the major goals in keeping reptiles is to maintain or to increase a stable population, whether it be captive or wild. Of course not all people have this feeling of serving a greater purpose, but they do serve it nonetheless. However, in the case of Imantodes Cenchoa circumstances are not nearly as bad as they would be with other, more threathened species.
Another point I would like to make is that the US is one of the world's largest herptile markets, which makes ethics an even more crucial matter. Of course, I don't have enough information to base this on, but it seems that generally, the complete opposite is applicable in most cases. Please correct me if I'm wrong, and take a load off my mind.

The remark I made on mice for feeding was poorly illustrated I see that now. Generally pet herpers like to feed their snakes with mice since it is, simply put, easy. And it is very rarely wrong to strive towards getting your snake used to take mice instead of lizards or frogs. Again, I don't know what the US norm is, but in Europe feeder lizards and frogs are very hard to come by for reasonable prices. And since I. Cenchoa isn't esclusively a slugeater, there is a chance of getting them onto mice.

Reptiles magazine had an article on Imantodes Cenchoa in last July's issue. I found it leaving me wanting more in-depth information, but it covers the basics and I can recommend it to anyone interested.

Yes I haven't seen any for sale anywhere yet, so I realise that it's almost going to have to be a WC, pref a pair so I could try breeding if they survive the initial period in captivity.
I also realise that this may well be a long term goal as I've only just started with WC stuff, and most of this is stuff like racers and coachwhips which are fairly hardy species. The twig mimic just came up at a local shop and as I knew she was feeding then I've taken her on.
I do find these sort of snakes fascinating and would like to get these and some slug eaters and various others. The main problem is finding any sources for them here in the UK, or indeed in the US as I can probably get them from there.

Mike