Cannibalistic Copperhead

SCReptiles · 10-23-03, 12:18 PM

I bought five non-eating coppers last week to use as coral snake food. I placed them in a container and gave them some Electrolyte to drink. Always want to make sure we get as many vitamins as possible into the snake-eaters. Well, open the container last night and noticed we now only had four copperheads and one of those was very well feed. Seems he decided he was no longer interested in being a non-eater and due to the lack of mice at the time, he made do with what he had. Well, this little guy impressed me, so he was moved out of the food container and given a cage of his own. We now call him Lector.

BWSmith · 10-23-03, 12:24 PM

That is anew one on me. I did find something interesting outlast night. i have several nonfeeding baby coppers right now. Tried about everything. But as I was thawing out some smelt for the Garter, I clipped off a little piece and threw it in witht he baby coppers. 10 munites later it was gone. So I added 5 more little strips of smelt (slightly smaller than pinkie size) and 2 were left when I went to bed. I had never tried fish on baby copper before, but they seem to like it. At least it is food.

SCReptiles · 10-23-03, 12:30 PM

If you decide to sell those non-eaters at a reasonable price, I will be happy to take them off your hands. =)

BWSmith · 10-23-03, 12:43 PM

My Coral doesn't seem to want to eat coppers for some reason. he ate so good and now he refused coppers, anoles (both live), and f/t greay rats, dekayi, and rough greens. I am hoping he is just full and trying to get ready for winter.

Quote:

If you decide to sell those non-eaters at a reasonable price

People PAY for Copperheads?

SCReptiles · 10-23-03, 01:46 PM

yep! We are giving $2.00 for non-eating coppers, corns, rats, etc. Keep them coming. =)

skin78 · 10-23-03, 02:54 PM

really amazing.. great pic also.. what does a copperhead cost there??

BWSmith · 10-23-03, 03:02 PM

Don't really know. I have never paid for any Southerns or Northerns. At Columbia I had people trying to give me dozens of baby Copperheads for free. I think on the Tables they ran about $5 or so for babies and about $20 or $25 for adults. Any coppers I have gotten rid of I have just given away to responsible keepers or Nature Centers.

skin78 · 10-24-03, 05:05 AM

mmm thats not much lol I dont know what coppers cost here in Holland but for free?? I don't think so.. The dutch keepers will rarely give something for free LOL.

Tim and Julie B · 10-24-03, 06:54 AM

Wow I love Copperheads. I had no idea they were used as a food item! I can not believe they are so cheap. Kind of sad really. Look at the lump in that little guy!

SCReptiles · 10-24-03, 07:57 AM

The Southeast is the only area they are so cheap. Other places they can bring a fair price. We are just over run with them here. People collect gravid females all thru the summer, then in early fall we have babies galore. I don’t like using coppers as food, but the corals have to eat. If I could keep a steady supply of corns and kings I wouldn’t do it, but they run in short supply sometimes.

Mustangrde1 · 10-24-03, 08:00 AM

I think that what Chuck was saying is he is buying "non-feedeing" coppers from breeders who instead of just having them die want to sell them and make atleast a small profit.Most coppers I see that are in good shape and feeding can be obtained for between 35 and 60 dollars. These are feeding however. I dont keep coppers myself but hope to one day have some trans pecos . I understand from a friend that has breed them the babies have an affection for eating Nerodia and glass lizards.

BWSmith · 10-24-03, 08:02 AM

Nerodia? That doesn't sound right to me.

And yes, it is all about location too. I actually had to pay $25 each for my Broadband Copperhead babies.

Tim and Julie B · 10-24-03, 08:04 AM

If everyone is doing wild collecting (gravid females) how is that effecting the population. I couldn't agree more that once you take on the responsibility of owning a reptile eating snake you are obligated to feed it no matter what you feel about feeding other reps. And as you say Coppers are cheap so why pay more for food right. As long as it isn't impacting the native population. I just have always liked Coppers since I was a kid and they told me to stay away from them in Texas.

Peaked my interest. I heard it is difficault to get corals to eat do you have any tricks or did you just get a good eater from the get go? TB

Mustangrde1 · 10-24-03, 08:30 AM

Brian that is what i thought also. But i have had a pigmy eat one. I caught a pigmy and through it in the collection box , while i was doing that i noticed another snake and it was a very young nerodia i through it in and saw another and so on , after 20 minutes i finally stopped to sepperate snakes in to bags and when i opened the box Mr pigmy had Mr Nerodia 3/4 down its mouth.

Tim and Julie . I dont care how much a snake cost be it free or 1000$ dollars you need to take care of any animals in your care is how i see it. 3 of the most beautiful animals in my collection were gifts and also 3 of my biggest headaches very beautiful false corals from south america

SCReptiles · 10-24-03, 08:40 AM

We keep our snakes on newspaper for the most part. What I did differently was put the corals on cypress mulch and also placed them in a dark container. We do not mess with them except to clean, feed, and water. I gave them about an inch of mulch to assure they can completely burrow in it and kept it moist. We gave them about 2 weeks to settle in, then we put an eastern king in each cage. Next day both kings where gone. Next week offered each another eastern king. This time I watched to assure they were eating them, as I though it may be possible the kings pushed thru the air holes. The smaller coral grabbed his and pulled it under the mulch almost immediately. The larger one didn’t pay any attention to the king at first. I checked back in about an hour and saw 2 inches of the tail sticking out of the corals mouth. The smaller one stays burrowed and eats under the mulch. The larger is not very shy. He stays on top of the mulch most of the time and usually eats on top as well. I bought several CB 2003 coppers at the Columbia show this year. One of them died about 2 weeks later. I laid it in the cage with the smaller coral and he pulled it under soon as I laid it in. I had heard they do not like to eat snakes with keeled scales, so I was a bit surprised. I wasn’t sure if there was a potential problem with the coral swallowing the copper venom, so I did a little research and as it turns out, coppers are commonly offered as food, so called a few people and purchased several non-eaters, of course one is an eater now. Ha ha. Thus far our corals have not proven to be as difficult to keep as people say. Of course we had done quite a bit of research before bringing them in. BW and Chris Harper had both been keeping them for a while and I picked their brains for info before getting a pair. I am concerned about attempting to breed them in the spring. There is just something unsettling about putting to known snake eaters together. =) About the natural copper populations, as far as my area goes they are very strong. Actual snake hunters are very limited in number. I think I probably know all venomous hunters/keepers within 100 miles of me, barring some unknowns there are only about 10 of us, so no great numbers are being collected. At least one of us will not sell the babies for food (jerk ha ha.) He collects the females, waits for them to drop and then will give babies to anyone wanting them then release the mothers and the babies back. He does this hoping to get morphs from the new born. BW, before you start, I know DNR says you shouldn’t release after they have been held with other snakes, but bear in mind, I am not the one doing this. If it were up to me, I’d take all the babies. Ha ha.