View Full Version : Cannibalism in baby Whitelipped tree vipers
The story went on.....
I had several other babies to care and given either my present loss of space and the fact the babies (individually kept) didn't start feeding, i kept the 5 whitelipped babies all together, offering them every week plenty of food (pinkies). But that had no results for about 3 months!
I was wrong!
A day 1 of the babies started feeding......on 1 of his brothers!
I was puzzled, but at last i thought better having an healthy 1 than 2 bad babies, and left the cannibal going on.
After that the babies were kept back individually, and about 1 month later each one started to accept pinkies, and now they go very well.
The other so long time for starting feeding i experienced was with my 'Aru' Condros : reluctant (baby) feeders started feeding after full 5 months after birth!
The worst af all is that Whitelipped were bred....to have a food source for my kings! I understand Ur criticism!
sorry for the pics, i donno why they come as thumbnails.
TeaNinja
11-20-11, 02:17 AM
jeeze, i prolly would have tried to make it regurge its brother lol. that's crazy. i wonder if it killed the other snake before it ate it.
alessia55
11-20-11, 07:14 AM
That's crazy! :eek:
infernalis
11-20-11, 07:25 AM
jeeze, i prolly would have tried to make it regurge its brother lol. that's crazy. i wonder if it killed the other snake before it ate it.
they are venemous..:eek:
KORBIN5895
11-20-11, 07:38 AM
Wait a minute. You bred poisonous (snicker) snakes to feeds king snake? I know nothing about kings but that seems like a bad idea. Are kings immune to poison ( snicker)?
infernalis
11-20-11, 07:48 AM
I believe I read somewhere that baby rattlesnakes are a delicacy to Kings.
So they must be immune to venom, Since rattlesnakes are vipers.
BlindOne
11-20-11, 07:55 AM
Does he mean King Cobras? That would make a bit more sense
King snakes recieved their name in large part due to the fact that they eat other snakes and are immune to the venom of the venomous snakes of their area (corals, rattlers, etc). Yep, they're immune.
KORBIN5895
11-20-11, 09:20 AM
Hmmmm. Well I realized they ate other snakes but I didn't realize they were immune to venom.
stephanbakir
11-20-11, 10:31 AM
Does he mean King Cobras? That would make a bit more sense
I agree with Blind one, its prolly a king cobra.
The one I owned was a pain to feed, we had to get a corn snake, feed it 2-3 mice then kill it, and force feed it another 2-3 mice then feed it to the cobra.
He refused anything but snakes.
KORBIN5895
11-20-11, 10:44 AM
Well that sounds expensive.
stephanbakir
11-20-11, 10:50 AM
It would have been, but I had a friend at the time who bred corns large scale and I got anything he couldn't sell for cheap, and I bred the mice myself.
infernalis
11-20-11, 11:02 AM
when my Black racer was a baby, all he would eat was lizards.
I had to keep buying Anoles at the pet store.
Thankfully, he's a rodent eater now.
TeaNinja
11-21-11, 03:52 AM
they are venemous..:eek:
oh..then nevermind lol. didnt even pay attention to the fact that it was a viper.
Will0W783
11-21-11, 07:48 AM
Wow, remind me never to house vipers together, lol. I hadn't ever heard of arboreal vipers being cannibalistic, but then again they are very opportunistic feeders. They are known to eat lizards, frogs, birds, rodents...anything that scampers or flies by their roosting spot. So I guess another snake isn't much more of a stretch beyond lizards.
Thanks so much EveryOne of U for the interest and comments.
Yes , King cobras, kraits (Bungarus sp.), Oxyrhopus, Lampropeltis and some other snakes feed on snakes. Some are 'obliged', some 'facultative'.
But they can be 'turned' on frozen mice or rats.
True : kings are immune or have an high degree of resistance to other venoms, but it is almost the same for many other snakes and animals, from the mangooses to the more common turkeys and pigs (Phospholipase "A" from common pigs is more toxic=venomous -by DL50- than that of the most venomnous snakes.)
more : kings and Aspidelaps show an huge ability in learning, if the owner knows how -and what- to teach. They are GREAT mates!
the last thing :
Specimens belonging to a venomous Species are immune to the venom of their own Species (and Genus, often) and show an high grade of cross- resistance to other venoms, usually.
Then i could have attempted regurgitation, but surely i couldn't save the 'victim' by the deep wounds the fangs of the 'cannibal' produced him.
I most possibly had obtained 2 very sick snakes; i chose to have 1 but healty.
Everyday we have choises and decisions to take, sometime we go right, others we are wrong.
Thanks again, and a nice day Everybody
here, on the left, a younger -and fattier- Ugo checking a new arrived king cobra
http://i44.servimg.com/u/f44/15/64/25/92/img10.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=426&u=15642592)
shaunyboy
11-21-11, 04:14 PM
very interesting thread mate
cheers shaun
millertime89
11-21-11, 06:46 PM
interesting read, thanks for sharing. be sure to post some pictures of your King too. Would love to see more.
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