Skaapsteker Questions

South African snakes with venoms that are not considered to be medically important.

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Skaapsteker Questions

Postby jackspirko » Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:28 pm

Hey looking for a bit of info from the informed, that would be you guys on the ground in Africa. Local importer that I have bought from in the past just got some Lamprohpis Lineatus in the past now has some Striped Skaapstekers available for about 150 US a pair.

I have been working with a lot of African Colubrids of lesser known status here in the US, House Snakes, Beaked, Diadem, etc. I would like to add some new interesting breeding projects and I happen to really like these snakes having handled a few before including both the stripes and rhombics.

There is very little information, the importer says he has both eating PK mice no trouble but they are both in the 18 inch range. The issue I have is from my reading and research it appears babies are tiny and often to small for new born pink mice.

Can anyone confirm this? I don't have a supply of tiny lizards to get these guys off the ground with. Anyone breed them with any success? What did you get them feeding on? I am wondering if indeed they are too small for mice if minnows would be an option? Those I can acquire by the thousands,
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Postby Bushviper » Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:23 am

Striped skaapstekers are not known for eating fish so minnows would probably not be an option.

The babies are usually too small for pink mice but will gobble down small Anolis species which you should be able to buy online quite readily.

Here we get them started on baby skinks and then switch to mice. They also take small river frogs so baby American bullfrogs or Cuban treefrogs should work for you.
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thanks dude

Postby jackspirko » Tue Nov 06, 2007 6:39 pm

Bushviper,

Thanks for the advice, I contacted the importer "Nick Mole" he confirmed the need for anoles/geckos for new born Skaapstekers and stated they can USUALLY be gotten on to Mice in about 60 days. He is also able to provide anoles for me so I have another breeding project ready to launch.

No to find a pair of Rhombics, ;-)

So tell me how hard is it to get Skaaps to breed? Any special manipulation of temps or photo period required? Seperation of the sexes for a time? Average clutch size? Etc.

Here is one of my soon to be new snakes,

Image

I know these are as common to you guys as Garters are in the US but over here they are pretty special and not often seen.
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Postby froot » Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:12 pm

Striped skaapstekers are not as common as the rhombic, very pretty specimen you posted.
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Postby BushSnake » Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:33 pm

I think its unfair that these brilliant snakes are available overseas but not too us. Good luck!

(Maybe you should breed them in large scale, call them Psammophylax americanus and export them to us?)
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Postby Bushviper » Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:39 pm

Skaapstekers are diurnal snakes and probably do not hibernate the way other snakes from the same area do. In winter they can be found out at midday on occasion because the temperatures in the sun get up to 22 to 24 degrees Celcius. They do go down burrows and are not exposed to the frost at night. They live in area which have long grass and low shrubs.

These will possibly have been recently caught so are probably ready to breed now as it is mid summer here now. Ask the guy to be honest with you so that you know what to do with them when you get them. Dont bother to deworm them because they rarely if ever have internal parasites.

Good luck with them. They calm down rather quickly and are fun to keep. Try to give them long cages with a spot light because they enjoy moving around. They will often constrict their prey despite the fact that they envenomate it too.
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Postby jackspirko » Tue Nov 06, 2007 8:06 pm

BushSnake wrote:I think its unfair that these brilliant snakes are available overseas but not too us. Good luck!

(Maybe you should breed them in large scale, call them Psammophylax americanus and export them to us?)


You know there could be some merit to that! Perhaps (though I hate hybrids) if you crossed a Rhombic and a Striped and called it P. americanus it could be done. I actually know a guy who did a 25 Coastal x 25 Jungle x 50 Iran Carpet Python gave it some weird name and TRIED to get it back into Australia but it failed. Some dude is making Carbals now too, perhaps that can go to Australia?

So what is the deal with not being able to get these on the ground in SA? Regulations I guess? We are not immune to it technically in one of our states (Georgia) you can't own a corn snake with out a permit. A permit you have to be related to someone in the government or so it seems.

What exacltly would one of ya'll need to do to get legal possession of a Skaapsteker?
Jack Spirko

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Postby jackspirko » Tue Nov 06, 2007 8:11 pm

Bushviper wrote:Skaapstekers are diurnal snakes and probably do not hibernate the way other snakes from the same area do. In winter they can be found out at midday on occasion because the temperatures in the sun get up to 22 to 24 degrees Celcius. They do go down burrows and are not exposed to the frost at night. They live in area which have long grass and low shrubs.

These will possibly have been recently caught so are probably ready to breed now as it is mid summer here now. Ask the guy to be honest with you so that you know what to do with them when you get them. Dont bother to deworm them because they rarely if ever have internal parasites.

Good luck with them. They calm down rather quickly and are fun to keep. Try to give them long cages with a spot light because they enjoy moving around. They will often constrict their prey despite the fact that they envenomate it too.


Figured as much they seem very much like our Garter Snakes in many ways. Day active, eat frogs and lizards and striped. Garters are even very mildly venomous but would have no effect (not even the swelling) of a Skaapsteker.

For a cage Deminsion I was thinking of buildng them a really nice display cage to go with my other Display animals. Figure they can go right above my Diadems.

Can yall get those with out a mile of red tape? I really love my Diadems too, all mean and hissy and they will bite. They remind me of a desert viper with out the risk of death or amputation. Here is one of my little hell raisers,

Image
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Postby Pythonodipsas » Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:15 pm

Hi and Welcome to the site Jack. I hope you have luck with your skaapsteekers.

That Diadem is amazing and is quite boldly marked. I have never seen any locally in SA, and i think its due to of a lack of interest and no one (i think) has ever imported from Egypt.

Diadems are fascinating in that they are only one of two colubrids with fragmented head shields.

More pics of Diadems please. :)
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Postby Bushviper » Wed Nov 07, 2007 6:34 am

Diadems have been here on numerous occassions. There were usually only two sub-species. One apparently is not valid however they looked different to me.

The Spalerosophis diadema were not as big as the others and retained the markings as above all the way to adulthood. The S. d. atriceps became reddish in the front half and then had a dark almost black head and spots on the tail.

They are pretty fast moving snakes which like lots of space. They are not really aggressive and eat mice readily. I have no idea why they never took off here.
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Postby gino » Wed Nov 07, 2007 7:17 am

Good luck with the Skaapstekers mate, i love them too bits, when i was younger i had quite a few of them (probably illegally) I fed the babies house gecko's and i had 3 big ones too i got my very first snake bite from one of those buggers :lol:
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Postby jackspirko » Fri Nov 09, 2007 12:36 am

Pythonodipsas wrote:
More pics of Diadems please. :)



Ok here are a few,

First a pair of sub adults. As you can see as Bushviper said they keep their marks but they do get reds, peach and salmon colors that come up as they mature. Especially on their heads.

Image

Two more of my young guy,

Image

Image

Bushviper also mentioned S. d. atriceps they range into Pakastian and get very red with age, here are two of those but these two are not my snakes.

Image

Image

That is about all I have in the way of diadem pics.

Bushviper, I am glad the diadems you dealt with were not "too aggressive" perhaps mine are all mental but they all bite as soon as you pick them up, they never bluff a strike and when they land a bite they chew. I love them they are loads of fun but they are not what I would recommend as a "pet".

What I will say is they have developed some trust with me, I can change water dishes, clean poo and all with just some hissing and sometimes not even that. That is as long as I don't prusue them if they move to one side or under something etc. I am going to video one of the little guys "intimiding me some day", fun little dudes.
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Postby bugs » Fri Nov 09, 2007 10:41 am

Here's my 2 cent's worth. I have found that mouse embrios wrk well to feed newly hatched Auroras and skaapstekers. Kill the mouse about 3 days before she's due to pop and remove the embrios, then place them in the container wiyh the snake,preferably in the hide box and Bob's your uncle!
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Postby Pythonodipsas » Fri Nov 09, 2007 12:55 pm

Thanks so very much Jack. In that last picture, the S. d. atriceps is amazing. Is this a normal wild color or an aberrant one?
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Postby jackspirko » Fri Nov 09, 2007 3:17 pm

The guy who posted them the first time I saw the said this is normal. The one with the black bloches is a female and the one with the speckling is a male. He has 6 pairs and they all seem to follow that pattern (females with bigger black). Funny thing is as babies they look about the same as mine.

He has some for sale now, I am thinking getting some but the snake room is running out of space!
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