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Posted by Dr. Phil on April 15, 2002 at 20:00:36:
In Reply to: For Dean, the spilotes keepers among us and large colubrid.. posted by Big J on April 15, 2002 at 13:52:53:
Maybe this forum should be retitled the "6 footer + colubrid forum", what with all this Clelia, Hydrodynastes and Spilotes offshoots on the main tread. It seems quite a few Drymarchon enthusiasts also have a definite fancy for most of the other "big bruisers" out there in the colubrid realm.
I must say when I read of all the efforts guys like Dean put into their breeding efforts such as all the humidity levels, cooling and what not, I truly feel like one heck of a lazy bastard. Both times I bred my CB female to my WC male the only thing I did was put the female in with the male not long before or after she shed. Matings occured sometime after the shed the first time (details are very scarce for the first shot), and the second time he was on her bones the minute she shed, while her tail was still in the old skin as a matter of fact. I keep my pair at basically the same temp year round (78F-82F) in a relatively dry (the shame!) vertical terrarium with climbing branches. I only took the male out of the main tank for about 2 months for the second time, as it seemed he was getting all sexually disinterested from being all cooped up with his lady friend on a 24/7/12 basis. It looked like it worked, as I'm also currently waiting for my batch of 8 to hatch in about 3-4 weeks (picture is of the first clutch).
My female has never double clutched, but one of my good pals from Toronto has a female (mine's sister, in fact) who's habit is to do so every year. That female's second batch is currently on the way also. But even if it would appear that the species is a winter breeder from the current accounts, this is not so. I got my first clutch from a late summer mating and the babies popped out early Jan. And if I recall my buddy's female has also laid early summer at least once.
It looks like the most important breeding recipe ingredient is that the female be fat enough to produce eggs, a bit like Gonyosoma. Temperature cycling could very well be an added stimulus, but does not appear to be essential.
As for their reputed foul temper, I can reliably state that it is all over the map, from wiry but handleable, all the way to positively vile. But at least THEY warn you in an unmistakable way before they start poking holes into your circulatory system, unlike Drymarchon, which surely qualify as the sneakiest chompers in snakedom!
Hope the pic shows up, as this is the first time I use KS's photo thingy.
Dr. Phil
