did anybody of you guys keeps Laechis here at the Board?
i would love to get some more informations about them...

i have been looking since months to get my hands on some, i also always heard the babies are complicated to raise?


cheers
Mario

That is one of my absolute dream species to keep and some day i'm going to! If you want to buy any i strongly recommend Dean Ripa http://www.bushmastersonline.com/ He breeds the best quality bushmasters available.

Cheers, Ronny

The adults are difficult to keep too, Mario.
I think they won't stand your temperatures overthere unless you could offer them a proper air conditioning.
Cheers
Peter

Our "lost" member Robert Meidinger keeps two species.
Lachesis muta and Lachesis stenophrys.

yes, exactly - difficult species indeed, on the other hand, does folks did´nt said the same about Tropidolaemus, Parias mcgregori etc. as well? if Robert can keep them in Costa Rica, why could´nt we?

i know what you talking about Peter, and agree - i am very scared with sensitive animals - lost already to much, but i never say no, and an Air-condition room is build in a flash, all houses have air-con`s here, thats standard in tropical countries - besides, there are some more interesting species suitable for air-conditioning facility - about Zaoermia ? i sure would love to be able to have some of them too.

also thanks randy, i know Dean, he sure has very nice animals, and is one of the most knowledgeable guys if it becomes with Bushmaster.


thanks
Mario

Mario,

I think you meant to say "thanks Ronny". I was about send you the link to Dean's site, but Ronny Levin had already done so. I've been to Dean's house to see his Bushmasters before he ever opened the Cape Fear Serpentarium, which you all have to see. His Bushmasters are really something, and he IS the man when it come to breeding them or anything else. Until you actually see a huge Blackhead in person, you can not really appreciate the animal.

Randy

I have one pair of Lachesis Muta which I imported from the US about 8 years ago as babies. Last year I had copulation 3 times over a period of 6 weeks and the female never showed any signs of being gravid. She carried on eating, and 2 months after the last copulation still showed no signs of being gravid. I fed her one Sunday afternoon and on Thursday that week I saw her move from her usual hide place and move to another spot in the cage and when I looked under the log where she moved out from I found one huge egg and one infertile slug!! The good egg was already dehydrated and squashed!! She had shed about 4 weeks before this . There were no eggs there on the Sunday when she ate so she must have laid on the Monday/ Tuesday for the egg to be dehydrated as I do not keep them too warm. But it is the first time, so I hope this year I have more luck!
Sometimes you learn things the hard way but next time you are better prepared!

Interesting snakes they are !
I would love to get this species one day; but untill then, I have to move up to a bigger facility...

@Gavin: do you perhaps have any pictures of your Lachesis ?
I'm also curious about the size of the enclosure and the way you maintain these beauties.
Can you tell us a bit more about this ?
Hope you have more succes in breeding next time.
Don't have a clue what caused the disapointing number of eggs...

I dont have any current pics but I will try and get some posted soon. I keep them very simple. I do not have time to keep a natural elaborate setup as we have over 1000 snakes and both have full time jobs. (my fiancee and I) so I keep most of my snakes on newspaper. The Lachesis cage is 2.4 meteres(8feet) long by 600 by 600(2 feet).
I have a small 25watt heating pad and a low wattage globe on one side of the cage as well as a hide box and a big hollow log in both cages. The water bowl is a cat litter tray. The temperature drops to about 20 degreesC even with the heating pad on in winter and they still never lie on the heat! I feed them 1 medium size rat every 10 to 14 days and never give them a rat bigger than the diameter of their body, as if the rat swells up they tend to regurgitate which happened to me twice in the past. I asked Dean Ripa about this and he said the same. Dont give rats too big! They lie most of the time under the logs in their cage. I kept them separate until I paired them up for breedingand after the first mating I separated them for a week and then paired them up twice more and they mated on each occassion. The second mating was over 12 hours! I will get some pics of the cages and post them as well.

Thanx Gavin ! Over 1000 snakes you say ?

It sounds like it's not a difficult species to maintain ?

Quote:

I feed them 1 medium size rat every 10 to 14 days and never give them a rat bigger than the diameter of their body, as if the rat swells up they tend to regurgitate which happened to me twice in the past

Seems like the same with Corallus caninus... Maybe a slow metabolism ?
Hope to see some pics soon !

Gr.,
Pascal.

I have several friends who keep bushies and they all keep them very simple as Gavin does newspaper ,hiding box ,big water bowl nothing special. And they flourish.

It has been my experience, keeping L. stenophrys that simple set ups such as many others have suggested work very well. I maintain 7 snakes ranging from adults to sub-adults and they are all basically kept like rattlesnakes. This is because bushmasters, if kept too humid, in captivity tend to get "red belly disease" which is in most cases fatal. Why a snake that lives in dense rainforest has these problems is beyond me but it was an initial problem for me. I do soak them prior to ecdyses to insure good shedding. The babies I have raised have been pretty easy as well. Most except rodents off tongs, but some may need a live fuzzy rat placed in the cage over night. And as mentioned before they do much better on smaller rodents. Hope this helps.

Brian

I love these snakes. They are my the most favourite snakes and I hope that one time I will have them at home. I´m searching for informations everywhere. I´m going to buy book about them from D.Ripa. Does anybody this book at home?
I know about 3peaple who keep these snakes in the Czech republic but nobody of them never had a babies from them... They have L.m.muta, L.stenophrys and L.melanocephala if I good remember. I would like ask you if you know somebody who had from these snakes some babies? Sorry for my english if it´s bad...

In Germany there is a breeder of Lachesis stenophrys.

RGDS Fabian

I keep Lachesis muta rhombeata from south Brazil.

now that is a nice snake!
the ultimate pitviper,cant see these beauties enough!

Fascinating species.
BTW, what I did not know: together with Naja naja Lachesis is the most important of all snake venoms in homoeopathy. When my wife and I watched a film about Lachesis recently (Animal Planet), she said: "Lachesis? This is Lachesis? I've used it sometimes!" - she is a bit in homoepathy.

Thx Markus for these pictures they are great. Can I ask what temperatures and humidity do you have in this cage? And how old and big is this bushmaster? Thank you. The best snake specie in the world:-)

lots of good info here, I have had 4 Laechesis over the years and I think it is keep it simple. I had mine in a viv 2m x1m with a 50w heater at one end and the temp never went above 24 degC. which is not difficult here in the UK. the problem of red belly or viral septicemia is I think down to the difference between humid and damp conditions. some snakes like Liasis Olivaceus get pink belly's before they shed and all is normal afterwards. I hopefully have a pair coming later in the year. there was a small male at the show in Hamm for sale earlier in the year and there was a pair for sale in Wales a while ago but lots of money. I have been to Deans serpentarium a few times and I agree he is the man to talk to on bushies. I have some pictures here of mine but they are on that old fashioned film I will see if I can scan them or something. I always keep it simple I have kept and bred Bitis nasicornis for years and all they get is paper, bowl and hide and quiet same as the bushies. I agree on the keeping the food small, one of mine, a male would only eat hamsters for some reason?
Paul

very nice snakes markus

Hi in 1999 I bought L melanocephala x stenophrys from Dean Ripa they were adult animals around 180cm 1,5 years later ca 220cm I bred them and got 9 eggs and 7 babies hatched, they started feeding easily and everything looked great. Suddenly I got problems with the babies and all died in 3 months. I will have this speices again and succed with bringing up the babies, who i learnd dont do well in small containers.
best reg
Mats Jonsson