New Snake pic

ETET · 05-18-03, 11:24 PM

Just pick this deinagkistrodon acutus this weekend. She is one of my favorite snakes.

Just curiousity, anyone keep this species?

ETET

Gregg M · 05-19-03, 08:17 AM

Hey ETET,
Nice snake man..... I do not keep these....... How are they to keep??? Nice colors and markings....... You always post great pics and I look foward to seeing them....... Especially your bitis..... Talk to you later

ETET · 05-19-03, 11:42 PM

Gregg,

This species is not too difficult to keep, they need a higher humidity and misting.....most of the time they coil up and quite lazy like the gaboon, but during feeding time they are fast! They just pound some rat pups today!

They can grow up to around 5 feet long with matching fangs more than 1 inch....quite aggressive too; when I pass by they raise up their head ,follow my movement and ready to strike without hesitation. Seems like not a popular species in captivity.

ETET

Matt · 05-20-03, 06:53 AM

very nice ETET.
they are a beautiful species!

Shane Tesser · 05-20-03, 07:24 AM

Very beautiful ETET, you must put some more pics up when you get them

Nightflight99 · 05-20-03, 09:11 AM

Nice looking specimen, ETET. What is the background on your animal?

I have been working with a group of Deinagkistrodon acutus for several years, and they are one of my absolute favorite species.

Their captive husbandry is somewhat typical for Chinese herps. They prefer moderate temperatures, and experience rather cold temperatures in the winter. They enjoy a higher humidity than many other species, and require a low stress environment.

Wild-caught imports are usually infested with endoparasites, and the mortality of wild-caught specimens is astronomically high.

Don't let the placid appearance of Deinagkistrodon fool you - they can be extremely fast and vicious when agitated, and strike with great force and determination. I don't find their behavior to be comparable to Bitis gabonica by any means, as the former are much more agile and more easily agitated than any of the large Bitis. If I were to compare Deinagkistrodon acutus to any other species, I would likely compare it to an adult Bothrops, probably Bothrops atrox. Their physical capabilities are quite similar, as is their defensive behavior.

As a final note, Deinagkistrodon acutus has a very potent venom, and can be regarded as the most dangerous of all Asian pitvipers. They have a large venom yield, and long fangs to inject the venom deep into the tissue. There is a monovalent antivenin, which is next to unexistant in the U.S..

Regards,

---Nightflight99

ETET · 05-20-03, 02:12 PM

Nightflight99

You have a very nice acutus! Good to know someone keep acutus too. The background is cypress mulch and they like it very much. How many acutus do you have? You breed them too? I'm having acutus from China and Vietnam origin... still working to get some from Taiwan origin. This one is from China

As you mentioned, WC ones mostly cannot make it in captivity. I remembered years & years when I had my first group of acutus, most of them died from parasites or not eating at all. Now, availability of CB is much much better and I hope mine can breed next year.

Also, some info about breeding of this species for everyone, not like many other pit vipers, acutus lay eggs instead of life born. In natural they mate(species from China) in late March to May and lay eggs in August and September. Usually a clutch of 11 to 29 eggs is laid with size around 45mm X 25mm; the mother will guard the eggs and quite aggressive at this time. The eggs will take around 26-29 days to hatch and the babies are around 15cm to 2ocm long. I found out many babies need force feeding with PP/pinkie-press for a few times before they start feeding on their own...

And yet deinagkistrodon acutus is a very beautiful and indeed a very deadly snake. An adult can delivery a venom yield of up to 542mg in a single bite from a study of China. It has a very strong haemotoxic and only AV available is monovalent AV from (Shanghai) China & Taiwan.

ETET

Mason · 05-20-03, 02:34 PM

They look pretty mean. Prdie though.

does the point at the front of their face serve a digging/borrowing purpos, or is it just for show?

Nightflight99 · 05-20-03, 11:20 PM

@ ETET:

LOL - by background I actually meant the background information of that specimen, i.e. locality, bloodline, etc.

My group of Deinagkistrodon acutus currently contains 3.5 specimens of three different bloodlines, all originating in China. My oldest specimens are now six years old, and one of the females is currently gravid. She is 45" in length and currently weighs 1,015g (2lbs 3.8oz), and is thereby absolutely enormous, even larger than my largest male, which measures close to 50" in length.

Although I have worked with this species for years, this would be the first successful clutch. Getting the animals to copulate has not been as much of a challenge as getting fertile eggs. This taxon has been reproduced just once in captivity in the U.S. (more frequently in Europe), although I am aware of about three other keepers who have witnessed copulation in their specimens in the last few months. In my experience, this species will mate both in the Fall in the Spring, assuming that the conditions are adequate.

Regards,

---Nightflight99

ETET · 05-21-03, 06:40 PM

Nightflight99,

Very good info to share, now I have 2.2 acutus, 1.1 imported from Guangdong China with a darker color, the other 1.1 is from Vietnam/China border. All of them are CB from domestic snake farm. They are around 40 inches long by average and I give them some time before breeding.

The first time I kept acutus is around late 80's until mid 90's, and recently I start again. At that time I managed to get some eggs nearly every year from 10 specimens ;but I was in China/Hong Kong as the climate is easier to induce breeding. I can share some info about breeding acutus, as you mentioned getting fertile eggs is more difficult than copulation, this is very true. Although it is quite often seeing them courtship/copulation but they are very sensitive, external disturbance can make copulation become partial/unsuccessful and eggs become unfertilie. I found out using large enclosure and lots of leaves...etc can make them more secure. Another thing is once the female is confirmed gravid, leave her alone will be the best as they get stress out very easy which result in unfertilized eggs. I once loss a couple gravid females after doing some minor routine maintainence. Then, after that ,get the babies start eating is another thing to do.... You are right about mating season too. In nature/manupulation of environment, acutus do mate after hibernation-spring & fall, they like to mate when weather is cloudy and humid. This is a very beautiful and challenging species to keep...

ETET