File Snake (not a Colubrid, not Hot, where does it go?)

[BWSmith]

Here are my two newest babies, 1.1 Java File Snakes (Elephant Trunk Snakes or Java Wart Snakes) - Achrocordis javinicus (I think). THese guys are fully aquatic, have NO ventral scales, have flaps over their nostrils and epiglottis (to prevent water from coming in). Obviously fish eaters and reach over 6 feet in lenght (descriptions are conflicting). Not much is known about this species. And captive are info is precisous little. They are captive born (among the first int he US as far as I can tell). One of them took a fish for me tongiht, though i do not which one, just one less fish in there. This is temp housing, their new enclosure is "settling". Since ther is not much info, much of it is "hear say" and I am trying my best.

THis is what they will have:
4 gallons of water in a 10 gallong (for now)
Sand substrate
Lots of hides
water slightly acidic and about 2 tblsespoons of aquarium salt
Slightly acidic PH
Filtration and earation (even though they breathe air)
Water temp at about 80 F
No bright light

If anyone has kept this species and has some tips, please share.

Anyway, excuse the quality of the pics, but it is an old digital through water and had to take some lightening with PS. Maybe Julius will come by to get some Pro Pics ;)

http://www.reptileeducation.com/hitting_glass_female.gif

http://www.reptileeducation.com/head_surfacing.gif

http://www.reptileeducation.com/Head_bottom_male.gif

[BWSmith]

Crap, my site is down. Pics should come up soon.

[Matt]

nice! Ive always been interested in file snakes, let us know how it goes!

dont worry about the forum thing, maybe we should have a misc. section sometime in the future

[Xetox]

hmmmmm, very kewl. This is the first time I have heard of them so no help here.

Please keep us posted!

[JD@reptiles]

Those are REALLY Nice BWSmith. take good care of em. :)

Jordan

[Linds]

Awesome... finally got em! Good luck with them and keep us updated! :D

[LdyDrgn]

hehehe, SO cute... the Shar Pei of the snake world. :D

[Lisa]

Looks really cool. Can't wait to see the "pro" pics.

[Edwin]

Nice snakes, Brian. They have their own family, family acrochordidae. I have never seen them kept in captivity before, let alone CB.

In the wild, they live in slow moving or brackish water, and they feed on eels and fish. Females are quite prolific and produce about 20-40 young, each about 10 inches in length. They don't like bright light.

[fateamber]

Aww i think they are really cute!

[Matt_K]

very cool Brian, cant wait to see more pics!!! keep em coming man!!

[BWSmith]

Gotta figure out how to get better pics through glass and under water..........

[Damien]

Great Snakes BWSmith.
A quick tip for shooting through glass is to shoot at an angle to the enclosure so you cut down on any reflected flash. Also if you are having a problem with reflections see if you can shoot through a polarized filter, sometimes that will help. Keep Shootin' -D.

[hip]

Hey brian I found this not much But it might help
http://www.herper.com/snakearticles/chersydrus.html



Hip

[Lisa]

looks like a good snake for shane

[RachelS.]

elephant trunk snakes??

[BWSmith]

Thanks hip, I had scoured the internet and that one always comes up first. So far Living Snakes of the World is the only one I won that has any info on them. Most of the care info contradicts each other.. UGHG!!

[BWSmith]

Yes, Rachel, same thing. Java File Snake, Wart Snake or Elephant Trunk Snake. With so many common names, you can see why with obscure species they are generally referred to by the Latin name.

[Steeve B]

Hello I wont be of much help, but aim more then willing to share what I know about them, I kept a total of 6 of them, my first experience was with a pair of adults, they never feed and died within a few months, then I got 2 babies of the banded phase (don’t know if it’s the same species?) they took gold fish and frogs, I kept them a full year in brackish water, then sold them. The last time I got a pair was semi adults of the regular phase, they took months before they started feeding on frogs and minnows, they who’d also accept dead rodents but apparently not floating just when sink to bottom, much like scavengers feeding on decaying prey.
I never read about them, but I do have a theory about there breeding, I presume them to be live barriers and annual breeders, there breeding may be timed with the rain season (monsoon) when water ph becomes more alkaline, providing a friendlier environment for new babies witch can also be true for a number of prey items.
I came to this idea studying ways to breed the fly river turtles, hopefully this helps you, they are bizarre snakes I especially find them weird when picked out of water, there just spaghetti but in water they can strike very fast, one thing I never new are they venomous? I must have handled 50 adults freely.
Rgds

[BWSmith]

Thank you very much. I have not read anything to indicate that they are venomous. They have been referred to as a link between ancient snakes and colubrids. THey are live bearing. These were born on April 19th (my birthday;) ) The female is approx 6 feet and dropped 18 babies. She was imported gravid. The young were sexually dimorphic in their patterns. The females were spotted and the males all had distinct stripes running latterally.

They are currently in a quarentine tank at about 77 degrees with some decoration to hide in and hold on to. I added some salt as well, but not enought o make it brackish. The new tank is set up with a sand substrate, multiple dense foliage, sticks and a cave. There are several "stups" coming out of the water and the top of the cave for them to climb out if they are so inclined (young MAY do this I read). A Whisper filter is installed to minimize stress from vibrations with a rockunder the flow to minimize current. I set it up sot hat the ambiant water temp is at about 81. I am now dropping the temps to match the temp tank and will raise them again and the salt content once the snakes are there so it is a seamless transition for them. After the temp and salt content are satisfactory, I will raise the PH in the water.

We'll just see how it goes form here.

*crossing fingers*

[Steeve B]

I must have some photos of them and set up, but I didn’t find them, I use to keep them exactly like my diamond backs, year round and same water.
Winter the water was about 65f and 80f in summer, the shelf you see on this photo was covered with 1-2in of water and had a 25watt basking light, they who’d bask there frequently and use this shallow to catch fish, the temperature at this basking site was about 90f year round. I never used substrata but regularly dropped aquarium plants in there, at times I use plastic plants, and these guys are kind of hard on plants. Filtration was fluvial 203 fixed as to generate minimum currant. 2 of my snake developed chronic prolapsed when defecating, I tot this to be associated with heavy feeding of rodents, perhaps these animals have slower metabolism similar to emerald boas, or maybe they just don’t have the ability to digest mammalians prey, never hade any problems feeding fish or frogs, minnows where favoured over many fish but produced foul smelling stools.
My first pair developed skin fungus when kept in fresh water, this fungus is fist noticed around eyes and nostril. This first pair was maintained at 88-92f I think this is why they died. At that time there was close to no information on this specie and I don’t think you will find much on them now, this why aim trying to remember everything about them, if it can help you in anyway. Someone told me they who’d eat falling chicks, also a dealer from Jakarta warned us that his employee had a swollen hand for several days after a bite, witch created a panic at the shop and to ad to this a water monitor was fond dead the next day after receiving a bite, so was it the snake? Nobody really knows but we never freely handled them ever since. As I reread this post I realise this isn’t much information, aim sorry I wish I could help more, these where not my cup of tea, they where boring to keep for a then young herper, only now do I realise there uniqueness and perhaps see them in a different way.
Good luck with them and hopefully you will be the first to really breed them, as I know it’s never been don. Pleas keep me informed.
Kind regards
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