EAZA Reptile TAG attendance

Captive breeding, Conservation, Zoos, , , ,

The European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA) is one of the leading Zoo Associations of the world. According to it’s website, EAZA’s mission is to facilitate cooperation within the European zoo and aquarium community towards the goals of education, research and conservation.

We were invited by Michel Ansermet (Director of the Aquatis Lausanne, Switzerland) and Guido Westhoff (Head Curator, Tierpark Hagenbeck, Hamburg, Germany), to give a short talk about our conservation initiative during the EAZA Reptile & Amphibian TAG meeting (held from March 7th to March 11th). This meeting was a great honor to take part in and it was amazing to hear about zoo reptile keeping successes as well as the challenges the professional community faces.

It was especially interesting to see so many research and conservation projects – many of them very successful – performed in various reptile species. From the the implementation of IUCN’s “One Plan Approach” in South East Asia to protect turtles to the assisted reproduction of Orlitia borneensis in the Gdansk Zoo. From Investigating movement, distribution, abundance and diet of the Salt Water crocodile in Australia to the Orinoco crocodile repatriation in Venezuela. From novel insights of wild living Varanus salvadorii to a conservation initiative, The Kimboza Forest Gecko Project.  Each of the the talks was highly interesting, scientifically sound and very well crafted.

We had the great honor to give the first talk on the snake session (day four). Our talk was entitled: Before it’s too late – a conservation initiative for West Indian boas. Our aim was/is to encourage zoos to take some species of West Indian boas into their programs, since the West Indies are underrepresented in zoological reptile collections.

After the talk we received very positive feedback and were happy to have made some new contacts.  However, none of the institutions present at the meeting vocalized a will to open their collection to West Indian boa herpetofauna. Our collaboration initiative is still open and we welcome any scientifically led zoo to collaborate with us on a non-commercial basis. We hope that conservation initiatives will realize that the conservation of one of the top biodiversity hotspots of the world deserves more attention than it currently receives.

The problem at this point is resource partitioning in zoos. Conservation is currently in need of many helping hands and funds, while zoos have only a limited amount of space and resources. These must be used wisely to have the biggest possible impact. To put it into perspective though, out of 6 studbooks for snakes, two exist for West Indian boa species: Chilabothrus angulifer  (EAZA) and Chilabothrus subflavus (AZA). While we are happy about this in general, we remark that both species are much less threatened than many of the Hispaniolan Chilabothrus taxa. Chilabothrus subflavus is bred in increasing numbers in the US and Europe by private breeders and zoos alike. We would very much like to see an increase in the number of species on display in Public and Private zoos.

Here is our shout out: Every zoo that displays a Burmese python or a Green Anaconda, think about replacing it with several West Indian boa species. Every corn snake can be replaced by a small West Indian boa, every Boa constrictor can be replaced by a Boa orophias or B. nebulosa, etc. This would have a tremendous impact on the visibility of this fragile ecosystem, which it sorely needs.

Citations
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Corallus ruschenbergerii: documenting its life cycle in captivity

Captive breeding, Conservation, Corallus, Natural History

Of the 9 species in the genus Corallus, C. ruschenbergerii (Cope, 1875) is one of three species least understood.  Two litters of insular C. ruschenbergerii were born on 14 November and 15 November, 2021.  Litter sizes were 12 live/one stillborn and 13 live  respectively.  Neither litter contained any unfertilized ovum.
Average neonate weight for the first litter is 16.20 grams.  All neonates were patterned in various shades of orange.  All neonates underwent their first shed from days 9 through 13 after birth.

All neonates are patterned and various shades of orange.

Average neonate weight for the 2nd litter is 17.19 grams. All neonates underwent their first shed from days 9 through 13 after birth.  All neonates were patterned. Interestingly, two different color forms were present in this litter:  nine newborns displayed various shades of orange and 4 were gray.  This is the first time color heterogeneity is reported in an insular C. ruschenbergerii  litter.

A mixture of color and pattern from one litter.

Compare these two litters with one litter born last year that consisted of all patternless neonates with the same shade of orange.

Pattern-less insular C. ruschenbergerii from a 2020 litter of ten neonates.

For more information and photos, visit the chapter on C. ruschenbergerii here.

Reptiles and Amphibians, Vol 28, No. 3, December 2021 issue

Natural History, Recommended reading, Tropidophis

This particular issue has four articles on the Genus Tropidophis.  They are:

Giant dwarfs: Very large giant tropes Tropidophis melanurus (Squamata: Tropidophiidae), and new maximum size records for the species.
https://journals.ku.edu/reptilesandamphibians/article/view/15965

New prey records for two snakes of the genus Tropidophis (Tropidophiidae) from urban habitats in La Habana, Cuba.
https://journals.ku.edu/reptilesandamphibians/article/view/15858

Predation on murid rodents by the Giant Trope, Tropidophis melanurus (Squamata: Tropidophiidae), with comments on predation of mammals by snakes of the genus Tropidophis
https://journals.ku.edu/reptilesandamphibians/article/view/15876

Westernmost record of the Spotted Red Trope, Tropidophis maculatus (Squamata: Tropidophiidae), with comments on the Tropidophis species assemblage from the Guanahacabibes Peninsula.
https://journals.ku.edu/reptilesandamphibians/article/view/15857

Individual PDF’s can be downloaded from each link.

Quote of the Month

Conservation, “Quote” of the Month

Sir David Attenborough’s speech is a reminder to do whatever it takes to stop man made climate change and create a better world for today’s young generations.

Towards the end of his speech, he says:

"In my lifetime, I've witnessed a terrible decline, in yours, you could and should witness a wonderful recovery. That desperate hope, ladies and gentlemen, delegates excellency"

Breeding the endangered Jamaican Boa, Chilabothrus subflavus

Boa, Captive breeding, Chilabothrus, Conservation, , , ,

Jamaican Boas have been bred as a measure of conservation since the 1970s.  Today the species is still listed as Vulnerable (VU) by IUCN and listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).  The species is currently kept by multiple zoos and aquaria as well as private breeders.  We sum up the annual breedings of this boa that we are aware of.  Westindianboas.org provided over the years several breeders with breeding stock animals in the US.  Unfortunately, restrictions make the export of this species unnecessarily difficult.  Considering the good breeding successes on both sides of the Atlantic, it should be in the interest of conservation to exchange genetic material and thus continue to maintain a diverse genetic foundation for conservation.

Several litters of the Jamaican Boa, Chilabothrus subflavus, were born this season in the US, the UK and the EU.  This particular litter, shown below, was born 9 September, 2021.  Produced by Rob Stone of the US, the litter numbered 17 live with no stillborn or unfertilized ovum.  Neonate weights ranged from 10.83 g to 13.93 g, with a mean of 12.98 g.  SVL of the neonates was 25.72 cm to 33.18 cm, with a mean of 30.13 cm.

Sire of the litter. Photo Rob Stone
Dam of the litter. Photo Rob Stone
Sea of subflavus. Photo Rob Stone

The Jamaican Boa is highly variable in color and pattern; the ontogenetic color change will take 18 – 24 months to complete.
The following litters were also produced during the 2021 season:

  • UK:  12 live, 2 stillborn and 7 unfertilized ova on 3 October, 2021.  Bred by Tom Middlebrook and Faye Da Costa.
  • US:  15 live, 1 unfertilized ovum on 27 September, 2021.  Bred by David Muth and Jared Rager.
  • US:  34 live, 3 stillborn and 3 or 4 unfertilized ova on 26 September, 2021.  Bred by Tom Crutchfield.
  • Germany:  9 live, 1 stillborn and 6 unfertilized ova on 14 September, 2021.  Bred by Sebastian Hölch.
UK litter of 12. Photo Tom Middlebrook and Faye Da Costa

Visit the chapter for the Jamaican Boa here for more in depth information and photos.

Chilabothrus neonate season continues with Bahamas Boas

Captive breeding, Chilabothrus, Conservation, Natural History, , , , , , ,

The Bahamas Boa Chilabothrus s. strigilatus is a species that relatively few private persons keep and, to our knowledge, no zoo worldwide has these fascinating boas on display.  We are more than pleased to announce that a litter of C. strigilatus was  born on October 1st in Germany.

Chilabothrus strigilatus babies with snake mother

Birth began in the morning hours from 8.30am.  The moon phase was in between half and new moon.  The pressure system was high and the morning was sunny, however, in the evening a low pressure system came in and it started to rain.

The post ovulation shed of the female boa occurred on June 13th, thus 110 days passed between post ovulation shed and birth.  Noticeably, the yolk was entirely used up in all babies and only the allantois was present as extraembryonic tissue.

Chilabothrus strigilatus babies the first sight

The litter contained 27 perfectly healthy babies. weighing between 12 and 16 grams.  Average weight was 14.07 grams.  The length of the babies is around 43 cm.  The litter did not contain any unfertilized eggs, deformed or stillborn babies.

Chilabothrus strigilatus babies with mother

The relative clutch mass (RCM) indicates the amount of mass spent on the babies by their mother.  The babies had a combined birth weight of 380 grams and the mother weighed post parturition 1087g.  The RCM is calculated as: baby mass / (baby mass + mother mass post parturition).  The mother spent 25.9% of her mass in babies, not accounting for fluids and extraembryonic tissue which could not be accurately weighed.

Chilabothrus strigilatus babies
Chilabothrus strigilatus baby on hand

More information on the species can be found here.

Corallus cookii; documenting its life cycle in captivity

Captive breeding, Conservation, Corallus, , , ,

A small litter of Corallus cookii, born September 26 at approximately 10:00 p.m., consisted of six live neonates, three small unfertilized ovum and no stillborn.  The neonates weighed 5.51 g to 14.09 g with an average weight of 11.86 g.  The female moved away from the heat source immediately after shedding on 16 September.  She also dropped a large quantity of pre-birth material in the bowel movement.

Litter of six C. cookii born September 26, 2021.

There is a variety of pattern and color between the neonates, though this polymorphism is not as pronounced as it is with C. hortunalus or C. grenadensis.

The iconic rhomboids found on C. cookii.

The female  boa, once finished with parturition,  consumed all three unfertilized ovum-possibly the first time this behavior has been documented in the species.

A total of three litters was produced in 2021:

  • US:  6 live and 3 unfertilized ovum on 26 September.  Smallest neonate weighed 5.51 g and the largest weighed 14 g with an average weight of 11.86 g.
  • US:  5 live, 1 stillborn and 6 unfertilized ovum on 8 October.  Smallest neonate weighed 7.96 g and the largest weighed 9.89 g with an average weight of 8.65 g.
  • US:  5 live, 1 stillborn and 2 unfertilized ovum on 8 October.  Smallest neonate weighed 7.4 g and the largest weighed 12.0 g with an average of 10.18 g.

For more photos and a complete overview of the species, view the C. cookii chapter.