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Posted by Sean P. on April 26, 2002 at 17:13:11:
In Reply to: Mangrove Snake Questionsq posted by Chance on April 25, 2002 at 09:24:59:
Hi Chance,
You are right. Mangrove Snakes (Boiga dendrophilia) are indeed impressive as well as beautiful. I have a few thoughts regarding your post, which hopefully prove to be insightful. These are my own personal thoughts though..and are just my opinion.
If you have been keeping reptiles (snakes) for awhile and if you feel you are ready then I encourage you to go for it if you can do it responsibly. Don't waste your time purchasing a wild caught specimen as their success rate is often poor. Take a little time....find a captive bred animal. You will find that captive bred B. dendrophilia are at least twice (if not 3X) as expensive as a wild caught specimens. This extra cost is quite worthwile, as you usually get what you pay for...and in wildcaught dendrophilia...the end result is often times...a dead animal. If you hold off.....you will be glad you did. Hardy specimens tend to thrive, and they will grow to impressive lengths. I have a captive bred 7ft+ specimen that is gorgeous.
A few thoughts on your cage. DO NOT put the light source inside the enclosure. The snake will coil around it and burn itself. This is clearly common sense. If you have been keeping snakes....this is something that you SHOULD know already. An external source which heats a spot on a high elevated branch will be beneficial to the animal. If this spot is on a high elevated branch you can establish a thermal gradient inside the enclosure and allow your specimen the opportunity thermoregulate its body temperature w/in its own comfort zone. This is a good thing. I would not put the basking spot over the hide box. Heat will build up inside the box, and it is my opinion that this wouldn't be a good thing. Personally, I like to have a hidebox at the cooler darker end of an enclosure. These darker areas in the wild are often cool anyway. When your specimen wants to warm up....it will do so. I also wouldn't use wire to suspend a hidebox if you choose to elevate it. If you want to have an elevated hide box inside the enclosure, then mount it securely to the wall so that it is fixed into place.
Your enclosure sounds very well ventilated. I personally wouldn't recommend or condone another housing any venomous reptile in an enclosure in which one or more walls is constructed entirely of hardware cloth. It doesn't matter how venomous it is. Yes, the animal is rear fanged, and yes it is most likely that this would be ok, but it is a security issue that still should not be condoned in my opinion. What prevents a child (or some idiot) from sticking his/her/their fingers into the mesh exposing themselves? What about pets? I use hardware cloth to cover just the ceiling or small openings to prevent escape in homemade enclosures. I also install two layers of the mesh too. I just don't think its a good idea to house any venomous animal in that sort of enclosure as what you are descibing as I think this just isn't safe. In addition, keep in mind that Boiga dendrophilia is an active species and it may spend alot of time rubbing it's snout up and down the mesh of the enclosure eventually cutting its face. Cuts to the face can lead to infection, which can lead to more problems resulting in death. This is bad. You can easily install some pegboard over this mesh to provide a more restrictive environment. You could use pleixiglass too. Drill some holes in it and lay the sheets against the hardware cloth. Or you could also use plywood. Anyway...these are just some ideas. Having locks on the enclosure is a good thing. It will prevent uninvited guests from accessing your herp. Since the bottom is mesh....this may give you an advantage. You could cover the floor w/ bark mulch and enjoy the liberty of installing live plants. The mesh would allow water drainage through the bottom. Of course you will also need to install some sort of draining resivoir.
Boiga dendrophilia have been known to eat other snakes and should be housed alone. If you keep them together....you better seperate them at feeding time.
Its important that since you are new to this area of the hobby.....you need to start out on the right foot. Its very rewarding. Good luck. Keep asking questions...that's the best thing you can do. Hopefully this info will be of some use to you. I am trying my luck at breeding this species for the first time this year, and I hope to get lucky.
Sean P.
