just a couple of more gaboon pics

[reverendsterlin]

the male shed last night, for animals that have grown so quickly they have only shed twice each (in the female's case there has been almost 500 grams gained in a year). Here's the male's head, as you can see at the snout area he has a dirty look even freshly shed http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/272Pict0017-med.jpg photos are so had to bring true color to, the male (smaller animal) is very much a chocolate, silver, and greenish animal. The female is much more a pinkish, beige, and grey http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/272Pict0013-med.jpg but maybe some of the difference shows through http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/272Pict0022-med.jpg

[mikem]

gaboons are beautiful! i really would like to get a pair someday. do you keep antivenin? how would you go about obtaining it for the gaboons. i'm sticking with native venomous for now though..nice pics.

[Burm41]

Those are some awsome looking snakes! i have always loved Gaboons even though they can kill ya ;)

[Dani33]

Beautiful!!

[ohh_kristina]

that's a really beautiful pair!

[skin78]

Damm!!! Those are some great snakes.. A question for ya... In most books I reed that the gaboon is a easy going snake that only will strike when you are almost standing on it. But I have heard a story of a guys here in Holland who got bitten by a gaboon wich head was on the other side of the cage. The gaboon just "jumped" and made a backwards hit in hit hand.

Now what is your experiance.. Are they a bit easy going or are they very defensive??


Cheers Niek

[ETET]

Nice snakes! General documentation always describe gaboon has a docile and placid, but I think this is not 100% true. They always has a lazy and lay back looking just because of their ambush nature.

When something food...or hand get near their striking range, they just not moving and wait, their eyes may move a bit and their side of the body expand and contract a bit. All of a sudden without any single hint and warning, gaboon will deliver a lightning and powerful strike which will suprise anyone.....

Most of my gaboons usually not very aggressive except my 4ft eastern and 4ft western. Quite often when I pass by the cage, sometimes even a few feet away, they jump and bam the plexiglass door. Other than that, no matter how lazy they look, stay away from their striking range is important to avoid a kiss from them..... may be Gregg can share some of his experience...

ETET

[skin78]

I read that their striking distance is amazing. That they can strike in any direction. I really love those gaboons but I can;t keep them.. My wife won't let me :) maybe for the best :) I will stay with the future Trimersurus albolabris and the Sistrurus miliarius.

cheers Niek

[reverendsterlin]

mikem: do you keep antivenin? nope it's one of those things I couldn't afford but the hospital does know of the possibility of a bite.
Skin78:Are they a bit easy going or are they very defensive??
lol, both. They will huff up a storm from just seeing the door open, BUT if they were out in sight laying on the floor it wouldn't bother me. I have watched a mouse stand his front feet on the females snout with her not reacting, I also had a mouse at the end of the tongs that she nailed 3/4's of her length away, to her side, behind mid-body faster than I could see much less react. Pretty laid back but I'll never be within strike range unprotected for any reason with these bad boys lol.

[skin78]

do you have feeding pics?? how big are they???

cheers

[jay76]

Those are some really impressive gaboons Rev! Are these a morph, or the natural appearance? That camouflage pattern is just crazy!

[ChokeOnSmoke]

Those are very impressive and intimidating snakes

[TheRedDragon]

VERY nice gaboons! If I was ever a hot keeper, those would DEFINITELY be in my collection. :)

[Yve]

gaboons are my fav. when it comes to aesthetics. rhinoceros viper is up there on the 'pretty boy' list too!lol

[reverendsterlin]

the female is 27 inches an almost 600 grams, the male is 23 inches and 450 grams. both were little 8-9 inch animals last November when I got them. Feeding? Sure they do that often enough http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/272Pict0030-med.jpg
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/272Pict0031-med.jpg

[CDN-Cresties]

AH HA, feeding pics are so cool!!!I love the shape of thier heads.

-Steve-

[Maik Dobiey]

Why do you feed this gaboon with such a little mouse? It is already capable of swallowing a rat! You would wonder how big their prey items can be. The gaboons I know would even ignore such a mouse waiting for bigger prey. :-D

-Maik-

[RepTylE]

awesome gaboons. If you are a fan of hots or not you can't help but be impressed, well I know that I am. The pics were great.:D

[Gregg M]

Nice gaboons Rev...... Do not expect too many sheds from them...... They grow like weeds and hardly shed...... Skin78, gaboons for the most part are calm........ They are ambush predators....... Just dont get in the strike range....... Each snake is an individual........ I currently have a young gaboon that tries to kill everything including shadows........ I love when they are so active like that....... I noticed that usually the bigger they are the more placid they are........ But you should never get within the strike range because they will have a go at you and when they do you will most likely get bit because I have yet to see them miss an intended target........ Now puff adders are a whole other story.....LOL.....

[skin78]

Thanx for the info.. But here is another question.. I see you feed F/T prey items.. Are you feeding only F/T prey?? or also living prey items..

What do you think of the theory that hots with hematoxic venom need living animals for there digestion????
Cause when you feed them dead animals the venom won't get into the whole body of the animal but just stay at on area.

[reverendsterlin]

I always try to feed f/t but on occassion between orders they have had live. I don't believe the theory on hemotoxic and digestion because I have had to clean too much crotalus, agkistrodon, and bitis poop not to have noticed undigested food if it was there. The "small" mouse you saw was a jumbo adult from rodentpro so was probably in the 40+gram range and was the 3rd item she ate. I much prefer rats but won't be making another feeder order until January and I won't pay $4-8 for some under-sized petstore rat. I figure with 3 prey items she is getting 100+grams per meal so basically she gets 20% of her body weight in food every 7 days and there is only 5-7 more feedings before cooling anyway. I have yet to see either of them ignore anything that even slightly resembled food from a hopper to the cat.

[fatboy]

Great post. I always appreciate it when someone shares gaboon pics. I love the pattern and the wide heads.

[MAN OF STEEL]

sweet pics dude!

[Gregg M]

Hey Rev, I was just wondering why you cool them down....... Those are most likely from Ghana and there is no cooling period there....... In Africa it is either wet season or dry season with hardly any variation in temp throughout the year...... And why would you cool them down within their breeding season??? Breeding starts in October and can go as far as January........ I have seen copulation as late as mid Febuary....... As far as feeding goes it is better to give them a few smaller meals then to have them struggle with one huge prey item........ I like to feed my gaboons two meals a week....... You will get real good growth rates and the growth will be distributed evenly........ And as far as hemotoxic snakes needing venom to digest the prey, well it will take longer for it to digest with out it but will digest....... Snakes will walk prey back into its mouth with its fangs and may actually be injecting venom the entire time........ I know I have tested the venom theory and what I have found is that a rat envenomated by my female puff adder turned into rat soup in a very short period of time and a rat not envenomated was still well intact...... So I think that the venom is used as an aid to help process prey quicker but is not needed to do the job........

[reverendsterlin]

cooling is less a desire than a reality, I'm a graduate student living in a trailer house(not the best insulation) with gas heat, I can't afford to run the heater 24/7. They have heat on their tanks and seldom drop below 75 on the warm side but I stop feeding just in case something happens and temps stay low several days in a row, wouldn't want anything in their bellies to rot. None of my animals would be affected by losing 8-12 weeks of meals so december to early feb-early march, and even with temps good I've noticed animals already reacting to the light cycle.

[snkmn]

the frist pic looks like a ferdelance or cotton mouth almost