Cyclophiops major

[Palor]

I finally got my snakes :) Bought 2 pairs of Cyclophiops major and they arrived today. So far they seem to in good condition. They are active and fairly laid back, no biting :)

Pics
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx106/ChaoticNightsReptile/Giant%20Chinese%20Green%20Snakes/greensnakee014.jpg

http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx106/ChaoticNightsReptile/Giant%20Chinese%20Green%20Snakes/greensnakee013.jpg

http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx106/ChaoticNightsReptile/Giant%20Chinese%20Green%20Snakes/greensnakee010.jpg

http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx106/ChaoticNightsReptile/Giant%20Chinese%20Green%20Snakes/greensnakee043.jpg

And then there is this issue with one of the snakes
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx106/ChaoticNightsReptile/Giant%20Chinese%20Green%20Snakes/greensnakee005.jpg

http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx106/ChaoticNightsReptile/Giant%20Chinese%20Green%20Snakes/greensnakee004.jpg

What is that? It seems like stuck shed bits, but I doubt that. Could that be ticks under the scales or scars?

[infernalis]

A few things I want to point out. The nose looks like its been rubbed raw, that is because those snakes are arboreal and fish tanks will never work for this species, any screens or wire mesh must go.

To truly thrive, the REQUIRE a tall enclosure that can house a small potted tree.

I bought wood and glass and built a cabinet that stood upright for mine, and he thrived in it for years.

Limon also had damage when I got him, some of it was from the capture process, getting one of them down out of a tree in the wild is like pulling teeth, they will wrap around limbs and refuse to let go.

The only food I could ever get him to eat was night crawlers, I have done my best to get that info out to everyone who can use it, Including sending emails to advertisers on KS and other vendors who sell them while telling people they eat pinkie mice.

Mine never ate one pinkie, never ate crickets, or any other known food item aside from the night crawlers.

Since they are a rain forest snake, humidity is important, mist often ;)

I am going to gather photos for you be back soon.

BTW, I envy you right now, I love those snakes, almost more than my Garters. There are some on KS right now, but I don't have enough money at the moment to get any.

[infernalis]

http://www.thamfriends.com/photos/limey.jpg

http://www.danceswithreptiles.com/LIMON_files/limooon.jpg

http://www.danceswithreptiles.com/limon/intree3.jpg

http://www.danceswithreptiles.com/R_I_P_%20Green%20snake_files/tree2.jpg

http://www.thamfriends.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=500

http://www.thamfriends.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=69&pictureid=1125

http://www.thamfriends.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=69&pictureid=1273

[infernalis]

Be really careful with your lighting! I used bottom heat for this reason.....

http://www.danceswithreptiles.com/PG1/images/12volt.jpg

[emseeKAY]

WOW. those things are amazing looking very nice, what is their common name? are they a vine snake?

[Palor]

They are in 30g tall tanks for now for the QT period, then I have a big glass and wood custom built tank for them later on. I am thinking a Ficus in a pot will do the trick, maybe 2 :)

I got them from Outback Reptiles, all of them showed up with mild to severe nose rub.

Does anyone know what is up with the weird scales?

[Feebo]

As Wayne has said mate that is likley to have been an injury caused by the capture process, from where they hung on to the trees for dear life and been wrnched down out of them basically. I`ve seen many a scale like that from dehydration too, the upturned ones I`m talking about here. Over time, and a few sheds, that MAY get better....
Lovely snakes those aren`t they! :)

[shaunyboy]

love the colour very nice snake.i wish you all the best on getting these wee guys eating.once they've settled in i'd keep a close eye on the scale damage just to make sure its healing and nothing else develops.
cheers shaun

[infernalis]

WOW. those things are amazing looking very nice, what is their common name? are they a vine snake?
Common name(s)

"Giant Asian Green snake" & "Greater Chineese green snake"

I'm sure that in the rain forest they take advantage of the vines as well as the trees.

[Palor]

Thanks, I was thinking it was just scars from an injury, just wanted to get some more opinions.

[Palor]

One more ? for you Infernalis. How often should they be fed and about how many nightcrawlers per feeding?

[infernalis]

Palor, Since I may very well be the only person you have contact with that has kept one of these alive for as long as I did, you are welcome to ask me anything you want as often as you like. ;)

I fed as many night crawlers as he would accept, usually 2-4 per feeding, at a frequency of every third day.

These are extremely active high metabolism snakes, Always on the go, so they burn the calories fast.

Your snakes will let you know when they are hungry, once they settle in and get used to you, they will seem to beg for food.

Even though Limon never bit me once, he would "punch" with his nose when angry. They can swing 70-80 percent of that long body and get some leverage to it, feels almost like a paint ball hit.

The raw nose and broken scales healed after a few months in my care.

[infernalis]

I just contacted a seller on kingsnake to order me another one.

If he is not sold out, I will have my new snake next week.!!!!! woo hoo.

http://danceswithreptiles.com/happy.gif

[Palor]

Thanks for the tips :)

Who did you contact for the snake?

[infernalis]

Jim Tracy... Anyone know of him??? the one snake is total 110 dollars US shipped.

It's a done deal, Next week I have my snake.

[Palor]

i have never heard of him. I got my snakes from Josh at Outback Reptiles.

[infernalis]

we will see, the pictures looked good.

[Nafun]

Are these snakes captive bred at all? I love arboreal snakes (just something about a snake coiled around a branch that gets me), but I have ethical objections to WC animals.

[infernalis]

Sadly, as of now none are captive bred yet.

I have a feeling that will be changing soon.

Right now my ethics says that since this species needs to get "rooted in" and we have a few around now, we can change this.

My concern is keeping the ones already imported alive. "Dealers" are selling them and they keep dying because no one has any data.

I kept mine alive a few years, so I must be on the right track at least a little.

[Palor]

I think we need to compile a care sheet for them.

[infernalis]

As soon as I can find it, I started a really nice one....

[shaunyboy]

Are these snakes captive bred at all? I love arboreal snakes (just something about a snake coiled around a branch that gets me), but I have ethical objections to WC animals.


i dont want to argue over the ethics of wild caught as i agree some of the tecniques are barbaric.imo there is a place for wild caught in our hobby.

if no one ever took wild caught subjects then there would be no snakes in our hobby.after all every single captive bred snake came from their original wild caught ancestors.

cheers shaun

[Nafun]

I absolutely agree that you can't get cb without wc, that's a no brainer. What I have an ethical objection to, however, is that instead of taking 100 pairs out of the wild *once* and setting up a captive breeding program, they go in every year and take thousands of snakes, sometimes brutally. It would be different if the people capturing these animals were doing so for captive breeding, but they're the antithesis to captive breeding. They don't want these snakes to be captive bred because they're making a killing ripping them out of trees.

[infernalis]

What really rips my guts out is these green snakes, I am on many major herp forums, and so far everyone has no luck keeping them alive.

Thankfully they are imported at a really low number, I only see 20-30 specimens offered annually.

But that still sucks, especially with a near 100 percent mortality rate. Most of them end up like this before they finally die.

This poor snake went blind from malnutrition before it starved to death. Look close, you can see it's spine, the snake is no longer round.

The woman who sent me the picture even took it to a vet.

http://www.danceswithreptiles.com/R_I_P_%20Green%20snake_files/greenie.jpg

[Nafun]

What do they eat in the wild?
Did you ever try lizards or frogs?

[infernalis]

No one seems to know what they eat in the wild, There are no sites to research, no data, nothing......

Other people have tried Anoles, no joy.

[shaunyboy]

we have a place in the uk that has 2 or 3 breeding centres in indonesia.it seems if you take a pair of snakes out the wild then breed them in indonesia then the hatchlings are captive bred and f2's are allowed to be exported.the place in london that recieves them gets them eating before they are offered up for sale to the public.i feel this is a much better way as they know what they have them eating while the snakes are still in their country of birth.they then replicate this in the uk.they have just brought in a shipment of cb in indonesia boelens pythons.these have never been bred outside indonesia until recently i think 2 people in the states managed to successfully breed these wonderfull snakes.the downside is although they are selling you snakes that are healthy and eating their prices are pretty high as they seem to have the monopoly on whats coming out indonesia to the uk at present.maybe if the same type of set up was done for Cyclophiops major then obviously people who intended working with them would have a good base line to start from.
cheers shaun

[Nafun]

Try tree frogs. kingsnake.com Classifieds: Green Treefrogs (http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=28&de=764240) here's a source.
More nutritious than worms, and seems a logical thing for a snake that lives in jungle trees to eat.

[Coffee Black]

Hope to see progress of them both of you . Amazing snakes.

[infernalis]

Hope to see progress of them both of you . Amazing snakes.


Since you are all "stuck" with me for a very long time, you can be assured of many many photos.... Starting with a picture of the delivery man dropping off the box.:)

[Palor]

So it seems odd to me that one of my snakes dug a depression about 3" deep and 6" around into the substrate and hangs out in it. It is usually a bad sign when an arboreal reptile decides to hang out on the ground. Trying not worry about it...

[infernalis]

Don't worry. Limon made full use of his entire cage.

He scared me before by burrowing completely out of sight, when I disturbed his substrate he flew out and right up his tree.

That's why I think they may even go after worms in the wild.

Anticipation of morning is killing me.......

[Palor]

I found tunnels in the substrate. They must really go after worms with a vengeance and not wait for worms to come to the surface. That is really cool :)

[infernalis]

Greens are awesome.

[shaunyboy]

theres a guy on the british forum bringing in an export from china next month.these green guys are on the list.ive asked the guy to contact his private breeder in china to ask if he has managed to get them eating in captivity.the guy in china has a huge list of things he can export.most things on the list are wild caught but a few things the guys captive bred himself from his original wild caught ones.as far as i know the chinese green snakes are all wild caught.but i figured if the chinese guy has them eating in captivity in china then it would be interesting to see what he is feeding them.i will let you all know if i find out anything about captive feeding and the husbandary of these lovely green fellows.
cheers shaun

to me the scary part of the import is how cheap they are selling them for.its £25 = $36.75 for each green snake.this fills me with horror as there will be loads of folk going " oh look at them nice green snakes.theyre very cheap.i'll buy a few and see how it goes ".im with the rest of you on this subject in saying until more is known about their feeding habits they shouldnt be getting exported all over the world just so they can starve to death.

[Palor]

That would be awesome if you can find out what the chinese suplier is feeding them. Thanks :)

[aphid]

:)Hello guys......just wondering how your snakes are doing?These snakes are currently unavailable here in Canada but i hold a soft spot for them.

[infernalis]

That would be awesome if you can find out what the chinese suplier is feeding them. Thanks :)

I would wager that these snakes are wild caught and shipped very quickly.. bet they have never ate in captivity on arrival. Can't sell them for much when in poor health.


:)Hello guys......just wondering how your snakes are doing?These snakes are currently unavailable here in Canada but i hold a soft spot for them.


Mine is doing great, just shed again.. Thanks for asking.