My Skaapstekers are here

[jackspirko]

First the female in hand to give some scale,






Now the male all coiled over his heat digesting a mouse





They are in pretty good shape a bit on the thin side and very hungry. Both went on PK small adult mice strait away. The girl held out a day longer to take her first meal. Both are now eating like champs.

They are a little roughed up not sure if it is from handling or just life in the bush. I have to say these are the calmest snakes I have ever dealt with they don't do much of anything when you pick them up other then look around.

They remind me a lot of American Garters but much more docile and calm. I am pretty happy about having these guys,

[gino]

VERY VERY nice They look great and im sure you'll enjoy them.
I love them

[Bushviper]

Dont underestimate them. When they get hot they will give your coachwhips and racers a run for their money.

They look wild caught if I see the damage on the females tail, and the male has a ding or two as well.

That does not matter because they are hardy snakes, hardly ever has parasites or anything to worry about and become calm captives rather quickly.

They should be breeding now because it is summer here. They will take a few years to get used to the northern hemisphere seasons.

Good luck with them.

[Jetranger]

Congrats on the new snake, I went out to a farm and a guy had just killed a skaapsketer, it must have been 2 meters long, very sad

[Bushviper]

Jetranger I have no idea what aviation fuel is affecting you but if you found a striped skaapsteker of over one metre I would be suprised. Over 2 metres and I would buy you a new chopper and if you find one in Zambia I will buy you a new game farm in Zimbabwe.

Try to get pictures then we can help you to identify the snakes you come across.

[mm069]

@BV, your posts always make me laugh. Thank you.

[Michelle]

Congratulations Jackspirko. They are beautiful. Enjoy them!

[snake-5]

Skaapies are awesome. I got them as my 1st snakes, (spotted skaapies) they have a weird eating behaviour whereby they constrict mice/rats but chew and envenomate frogs.

[Pythonodipsas]

Small correction snake-5, rather than true 'constriction', they wrap coils around the mouse to 'restrain' it while chewing in the venom. They would probably do this with any prey that is going to retaliate and bite back as the venom is slow acting.

Very nice snakes Jack! Glad they're eating.

[jackspirko]

Thanks to all! These guys continue to do well and I am well into construction of their new display viv with good lighting and lots of crawling room.

BV they are definitely wild caught. What I meant by handling of life in the bush was I was not sure if they got ruffed up just living in the bush or ruffed up by the people that captured them. I know sometimes captors are in things for profit and use nooses and other methods that are hard on snakes.