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captive care of Boiga dendrophila
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by Craig0104 on December 16, 2002
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i was wondering if there is any info reguarding husbundry of mangrove snakes. i am interested in getting one, and i have questions about humidity etc..
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RE: captive care of Boiga dendrophila
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by TomT on December 16, 2002
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B. dendrophila are not difficult to keep in captivity. You need to start with a well acclimated animal, preferably captive bred, that is well hydrated. Many imports die as a result of being dehydrated in the process of being shipped over here.
I would begin by putting the snake in a rubbermade tub with an inch of pedialyte or other electrolyte (gatorade, powerade, etc) and leaving it in the tub for an hour or two. Provide something like a tree branch or a rock for the snake to rest on to prevent drowning, and this will help to replace fluids the animal may have lost in transit, should you purchase a wild caught animal.
As far as cage furnishings and husbandry, I would set the snake up in a tropical arboreal arrangement.... lots of climbing/hiding opportunities with a large water container to help maintain humidity and for drinking water. Mangrove snakes are primarily nocturnal animals. I equipped my enclosures with low-wattage red light bulbs to allow me to observe the snakes at night. Mine ate rat pups and large mice (thawed frozen) and were very docile during the daytime, but they are quite active and unpredictable after sundown....
I kept them in the same way I keep Burmese pythons as far as humidity and temperature (85-88 day time high, 75-80 night time low and about 60-80% relative humidity) with the exception as previously stated that the Mangrove snake enclosure is designed with a vertically active snake in mind. If you want to get fancy, you can design the enclosure with a rain or misting system included, as a supplemental means of increasing or maintaining humidity, but as long as they have a moist place to shed skin and plenty of water to drink and soak in, I doubt you'll experience any difficulty with these snakes.
Unlike many people, I free-handled mine during the dalight hours, which BTW is the only time I would recommend performing any maintenance with these snakes. They are almost comatose when the sun shines, and they are completely opposite (all in my experience, mind you) when it's dark.....
I fed mine as much as they would eat once per week, and they grew very well. I started with three captive bred males and eventually sold them because I couldn't find captive bred females at a reasonable cost. Like you, I plan to get back into the Mangrove snake keeping soon. I plan to get a fairly large breeding group of melanistic indivduals to begin with, expanding into some yellow and black and white and black animals down the road a bit....
One word of caution.... Boiga in general are very catholic intheir dietary requirements, and they will eat about anything including each other if you're not careful with them....
I hope this helps...
Tom Townsend
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RE: captive care of Boiga dendrophila
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by Craig0104 on December 17, 2002
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WOW!! thanks for all the info tom!! do you know anywhere where i can get a cb specimen?
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RE: captive care of Boiga dendrophila
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by TomT on December 18, 2002
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The only two places I know of that you can get captive bred mangroves snakes are as follows...
Great Valley Serpentarium generally has babies for about 100$ each...
Chad Hulker of Crazy Fools Herps in Virginia Beach, Virginia is the only other person that I (personally) know that breeds these snakes....
I plan to be able to add my name to this list in the next year.
If things go according to plan, and they rarely do in my life, I will be purchasing 6.9 mangrove snakes in the very near future. I'm looking to get 2.3 melanistic, 2.3 black and white and 2.3 black and yellow for breeding. I'll be posting babies for sale in the classifieds, should I figure them out soon....
Tom
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RE: captive care of Boiga dendrophila
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by JRattler777 on April 11, 2008
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Hey thanks for the great tips. I just got a beautiful 5 foot specimen from LLL Reptiles in CA. Really mellow handling him so far. I'll avoid nighttime disturbances!!
JD
Oh, the cost was $89.00 plus shipping.
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