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Thrasops Jacksonii

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7K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  Thrasops 
#1 ·
Hi, any keepers of Thrasops jacksonii our there, what are they like in captivity, thank you in advance
 
#2 · (Edited)
#4 ·
Hi! Yep I keep both Thrasops jacksonii (which I have had since 2004/2005 - I used to think i got them 2006/2007 but turns out I have had them longer than Dean has worked at CPR so it was a year or two before) and T. occidentalis (which I acquired this year).

Before I go on I have to state - these snakes are venomous and the venom is quite potent. They are not 'rear-fanged' as they do not have hollow fangs, but they do have enlarged aglyphous fangs at the back of the jaw which may aid in chewing in the venom during biting. Despite a poor delivery system the venom is similar to that of the deadly Boomslang, with three-finger toxins and snake venom metalloproteases, they just produce less of it and have a less refined means of injecting it. That said, there are some recorded incidences of fairly nasty envenomations from this genus, including my own bite back in 2007 which I documented here:

https://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/snakes/119564-rearfang-bite-thrasops-jacksoni.html

There was also a nasty envenomation from T. flavigularis which occurred in Cameroon and was printed in French.

So, be aware what you are getting into - these snakes are potentially more dangerous than the 'average' rear-fanged snake. That said, most are reluctant to bite defensively and prefer to flee or puff up their throats when cornered.

That out of the way, these snakes are amongst the most interesting I have ever kept. They are very active, sometimes moving ceaselessly through their enclosure non-stop. These are in the main canopy-living species that spend their lives high up in the tree tops, and their bodies are designed for such a way of life, being very long, thin, ribbon-like and prehensile. So of course they will need a bit of height and lots of branches and twigs to climb around and perch on. A bird box or faux finch nest or two also are well-utilised.

They can be a bit counter-intuitive to heat; they need warmth during the day with a basking spot, but at night they require a big temperature drop (down to 18c or so). Ambient temperatures by day can be around 27c with a warmer basking spot. These snakes also like quite high humidity, but dislike stale air so require good ventilation too.

They do not often drink from wter bowls but instead love to lick droplets off large leaves and relish being sprayed. They will drink quite a lot during and after a thorough spray.

Get that right and they can be very hardy snakes, that feed ravenously on mice and birds (they probably take frogs and lizards too in the wild but readily take chicks and mice in captivity after a period of acclimation).

These are intensely alert and cautious snakes and WC specimens can take a long time to get acclimatised to being indoors. It is critical they are left alone as much as possible for the first few months you have them. After this they do start to come out of their shell and exhibit all kinds of unusual behaviours, such as lateral undulations of the front third of their body, a weird kind of jerky side-to-side 'tic' of their head, often accompanied by a chewing motion.

One other word of warning, WC specimens tend to come in with a lot of internal parasites and, once acclimatised and eating well (not before) will require quite aggressive worming treatment to purge these.
 
#5 ·
They can be a bit counter-intuitive to heat; they need warmth during the day with a basking spot, but at night they require a big temperature drop (down to 18c or so). Ambient temperatures by day can be around 27c with a warmer basking spot. These snakes also like quite high humidity, but dislike stale air so require good ventilation too.
That must be quite a task to maintain ideal environment conditions in the summer when the ambien room temperature often remains in the mid 20's at night?

Fantastic thread in that old post... I presume that in hindsight and for anyone else in that situation you would recommend going straight to A&E ?
 
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