Angi’s Boiga Blog

Hello everyone

I decided this would be a great place to chronologically log my boiga experiences and keep it all together. They are my favourite species of snakes and my aim is to discover more about them in captivity with a specific goal of producing captive bred specimens.

I currently have :

1 Boiga multimaculata

2:1:3 Boiga nigriceps plus 3 eggs incubating

1:0 Boiga cyanea

2:2 Boiga drapeizii

All of my experiences will be mentioned in the appropriate category about each species. I will try to make a note on here of dates, temps and other husbandry, food, feeding methods, gravid snakes, incubations, deaths, aquisitions etc etc

I am expecting two adult Boiga blandingii today so I will begin with making a blog about them later

I have one adult male Boiga cyanea at present. He was given to me by a friend who also enjoys this species. He is housed in a 3 ft x 18 x 18 vivarium, with plenty of branches, foliage and cork bark hides, with rainforest bark as substrate. He is sprayed once daily and has a water bowl kept in the warmer end of his enclosure. Temps are kept between the low 70sF  to low 80sF at night to 78-88F during daylight.

He feeds on mice.

Hopefully I will find a female for him soon.

Photos below in slough

I have kept a trio of wild caught adult Boiga nigriceps since around spring 2006. The two males and one female are housed together in a 4 ft long x 2ft high x 2ft deep fibreglass vivarium, with bark hides, branches, moss and rainforest bark for substrate. They are sprayed daily. Temperature gradients  range between 70 and 90.

 On arrival they were initially difficult to get feeding, but with patience and a great deal of wiggling mice about they were all feeding regularly within weeks. They arrived in good condition and remain in good condition. They have suffered from no illnesses or mites since being in captivity and have bred as per normal which suggests to me that they are thriving. They are reasonably placid specimens with beautiful colouring.

The female arrived gravid and was very small - around 4 ft. Her eggs were produced within days of arrival but were infertile. She has since grown to around 5.5 - 6ft, slightly smaller than the males. I decided to keep a record of egg incubation and hatching -

 So the data goes:-Clutch 1
3 eggs incubated 110 days at 78-80f. 2 hatched on 17th Novemeber 2006, the other started pipping but didnt make it out and was dead when I opened the shell a day or 2 later.
Weight on 21st June 2007 17 grams.Clutch 2
3 eggs incubated at 80ish f. Only 2 hatched following holes being made in the eggs around day 104 or 105 ( membrane left in tact and egs covered with damp moss).
Weight on 21st June 2007 5 grams.
 The female produced a further 3 healthy looking eggs at the beginning of July ( I forgot to write down the date), these eggs have swollen massively and I will document further details as events occur.Photographs are shown below to demonstrate the difference in size between the first clutch and 2nd clutch on June 21st 2007, also to show the size of a hatchling against a pound coin.

Sadly one of my younger hatchlings died three days ago, it is too small for an autopsy and showed no signs of illness. It was lively the previous day. 

At present the older hatchlings are feeding on fuzzies and will sometimes take them if left over night in their housing. The younger hatchling is taking pinkies.

As of 13/10/07 I have 3 new hatchling B.nigriceps. All hatched successfully within 10 hours of each other from eggs where I had cut a small hole. All look lively and healthy.

More details to be added as event occur.

Well this afternoon I aquired two adult male Boiga blandingii, which are wild caught. Both look to be in quite good condition and are aproximately 5 - 6 ft long. As they are wild caught they will be recieving prophylactic treatment with Panacur and Flagyl this weekend. But for now I have placed them seperately into contico containers with newspaper substrate a piece of bark for a hide and some moss to aid sloughing ( one looks due to slough).

They look very different to the pretty female I have had previously which was banded with different shades of brown. But sexual diamorphism is apparent with this species. They both look dark velvety brown, with creamy yellow bellies. I have not taken photographs yet, I will do this once they are settled into their new vivariums which are being delivered in a few days time. I am planning to swap one of these for a captive bred female species, as another friend of mine as just aquired young captive bred specimens. This will help us both to breed.

I am providing them with a heated area of up to 90F as they originate from Ghana, Africa, but will let temps drop to the low 70s at night because it can get very cold at night in parts of Africa. Here is a link to show you the climate details in Ghana which I am basing my temperatures on. I research the climates for all of my reptiles.
 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/geography/climate.php

They are very fast and lively, to be honest they remind me of mambas in the way they move and are almost as fast!

I will write more as they progress.

26/09/2007

Just posting quickly to share pics of my two new Blandingi, both males. They’re both in pretty good condition and only arrived last week. I’m keeping them temporarily in conticos for a week or two whilst I complete their vivs, if anything it may even help them feed. I will be exchanging one with a friend who also has 3 blandingii so we can both breed and have different blood lines, so I am looking forward to a possible captive bred female for breeding.
I love the colour of them in the flesh, they look almost like deep brown velvet, quite different to the females ( which are lighter and their patterning is more visible). They are fairly feisty and fast, so should keep me on my toes and I am thoroughly enjoying them already.
First male has not eaten yet, but it is early days

this is the second male which ate a defrosted mice a couple of nights ago

15/10/07

One of the blandingi is feeding regularly and has taken both mice and very small rats, whilst the other has not shown any interest up to now.

I have managed to purchase a captive bred 2003 female blandingi from Gernot Vogel, but I will not see her for a week or two.

16/10/2007

Well, I had a nice surprise today, my female arrived and is looking very good. Photos to follow soon - she headed straight for her hide tonight.

20/10/07

Update

The darker male is eating mice regularly - only missed refused once when sloughing, so I am really pleased about this.

The lighter male has not eaten yet, but I have numerous options to try yet including chicks and quails.

The female is quite a bit larger than the males Im estimating 7-8ft long. I will be trying to tempt her to feed this evening. She is extremely fiesty and reminds me somewhat of a viper.

The female:-

The lighter male:-

The dark male:-