Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm so flippin excited right now...my female droppe 8 eggs some time today in her nest box. Seven look good and one is on the bottom of the pile and is questionable. I got the pair back in July and have witnessed several copulations since then. Last week she went into shed and after she shed on 11/18, she looked decidedly gravid. Well, like I said, today she dropped 8 beautiful eggs! Has anyone else bred black T. dhara in the states, or any T. dhara for that matter? For now, I am going to incubate the eggs at about 82*F and 80-90% humidity. Any suggestions or firsthand information?

Billy

Nice work Bill!
I doubt you'll find much info on Incubating eggs as I don't think many others are breeding or have bred Telescopus. The next snakes once all my others get full sized and I find a male spilotes is gonna have to be Telescopus trianulata.
How long are your adults? any pics? How long are those eggs?
Again nice work!
Nate

Thanks Nate. Actually, I am also on a South African herp forum and have been told by them to just incubate like any other corn or rat snake eggs so that's what I'm doing.

The female is about 35" and I think the male is around 28-30". I did not get any measurements on the eggs, but I will do that in the next day or two. Also, when you mention T. trianulata, do you mean T. semiannulatus - eastern tiger snakes? I've never heard of T. trianulata, but I also have a pair of the T. semis. Very cool snakes too and I will be putting them together in the next couple of days to see if they do their thing too. Some pics of the T. dhara and T. semis for you too...(and more here http://picasaweb.google.com/billypeakseven/BlackTDhara ).

Billy

Yeah thats what I meant. How long have you been keeping these guys? It looks like they are in tubs? Have you put them in a more arborial setup? I'm working on some 2x2x2 enclosures before I pick them up.
From all the info I've got on them makes me think like a corn with maybe a little hotter basking site with a touch more humidity? Let me know that other site for African herps.
Nate

Hey Nate. I have had the semis since last spring (March maybe?) and the dhara I got in July. The dhara are in a 36" tub (in the pic) and the semis are kept in a 55 gallon aquarium, both set up similar to the one in the pic. They really like their stacked cork bark hides too! As for arboreal tendencies, I would say the semis have some slight climbing tendencies, but not that much. The dharas seem to prefer being down low. And yes, you can keep them just like corns, but definitely without the extra humidity. They like it dry. Like I said, so far, they are proving very easy to keep and all four took rodents straight away with no problems. The females especially are real pigs and are currently taking f/t fuzzies and hoppers every 5-10 days. The males are not quite as voracious and eat every 1-3 weeks. The male semi takes f/t fuzzies slipped under his hide and the male dhara is still eating live fuzzies.

Billy

>>Yeah thats what I meant. How long have you been keeping these guys? It looks like they are in tubs? Have you put them in a more arborial setup? I'm working on some 2x2x2 enclosures before I pick them up.
>>From all the info I've got on them makes me think like a corn with maybe a little hotter basking site with a touch more humidity? Let me know that other site for African herps.
>>Nate