Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently got a pair of Mussuranas (Boiruna maculata) from John Michels at Black Pearl Reptiles. They are from a Uruguayan, David Fabius, stock. They are unbelievably hard to photograph because of how deep their blacks are and the iridescent, oil-slick sheen to them. Anyways, the male is normal and the female is a piebald (which works as a co-dominant trait with the super an almost all-white pied). Here they are - I went a little snapshot crazy ;D:

Male:

Female (you can still see some of the red band on her neck):

Not the best, but some belly shots showing the pied effect:

Just thought this was a neat shot, showing tongue movement


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Chris
Chris Carille Photography
http://nyexotics.blogspot.com/

Chris,
I too got some 2011's from John. I do not have the great pictures that you do, but oh well. The pics came out great with the irridescence! They are really cool snakes. Still getting mine switched over. I have one female black on solid FT rodents. The male black and my female pied are still iffy. The male will take live unscented pinks, but the female still wants lizards and the occassional highly scented rodent. What are yours taking?

Brian

Very cool! I love them already.

I took awhile to pay them off, so they were with John for sometime. The male is taking f/t no problem, as long as I leave it in the cage. He ate a f/t mouse hopper a couple nights ago.

The female is the same way, but she only ate 1/2 a f/t mouse hopper - ripped it in half her self and left the top half for me to clean up. Lovely. She is eating f/t though.

I do have "a lot" of other lizard eaters though. A couple Candoia, Leptodiera, and Oxyrhopus that don't want to switch for me.

Cheers,
Chris
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Chris
Chris Carille Photography
http://nyexotics.blogspot.com/

Good to hear you have some success with the FT stuff. I will get mine to eat FT as long as it is smeared with lizard guts, and then sometimes that doesnt work. They will switch soon, I am sure. I had mine up for sale off and on over the last few weeks. No solid takers. I am glad though....I think I would have been bummed if they went. I think they will be staying with me. If I ever get some decent pics, I will try to post them up here. I hope you continue to have success with them! Definitely a "niche" species in the hobby that is not for everyone, but I am willing to bet that anybody who "tries" them would be hooked, frustrations and all!

Brian

Do these snakes show any interest in birds or bird scented items???

Chris,
It's a little off topic but what Oxyrhopus do you keep?
Kayvon
ps. I had great success getting mussurana switched to frozen mice my tying little bow ties around their necks made out of baby corn snake sheds. There, back on topic.

Smart way to get them feeding on mice!

I have a male O. rhombifer I've been trying to pair up with no success.

It looks like you also have a pair, any success pairing them?
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Chris
Chris Carille Photography
http://nyexotics.blogspot.com/

I have had them copulating a couple of times and the female is getting chubby. Here's hoping.

Awesome! Hopefully she took!

Please put me on a list for a female O. rhombifer - or even another male if you're selling any!
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Chris
Chris Carille Photography
http://nyexotics.blogspot.com/

VERY COOL

I must agree, Doug!!!

Who would have thought of this 25 years ago? I can only be happy with the outcome!!!

Kayvon, could you post larger pictures of those Oxyrhopus? If rhombifer, they dont look like the Uruguayan population,

David

David,
That pic size is the largest that the forum will allow me to post. I will email you the pic directly though.
Kayvon
ps. 13 Oxyrhopus eggs in the incubator although I can't tell if they are fertile yet. They look pretty but not much when candled. We will see.

Good luck with the eggs!

Once again, please put me on some kind of waiting list if you have it... I'd love a female or a pair! So nice to find someone else that appreciates the "different" stuff
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Chris
Chris Carille Photography
http://nyexotics.blogspot.com/

Thank you very much David for getting this species started and for exporting some into the US!

Such a wonderful species - a lot of room to grow in the hobby. Hopefully we'll start to see more captive bred & born specimens in the coming years.
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Chris
Chris Carille Photography
http://nyexotics.blogspot.com/

Chris,
thank you for your words, doing it has been my pleasure!

David