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*revised* Herald snake care sheet

Carinata

Carinata

Ever Evolving Exotics
Herald Snake
Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia

Native Life: These little snakes hail from Tanzania and live near streams, creeks, rivers, and any other small body of water. They feed on many items. Frog, Toads, Fish, Lizards, mice, and even earthworms. They can breed year round and typically produce about 8 eggs and the hatchlings are about 3 in when hatched.

Size: Their is some sexual dimorphisim in the snake but not a huge amount as that see in Boids. The females reach 2.5-3 feet and the males reach 2-2.5 feet. They are not heavy set but are not thin either they have a nice build.

Description: These snakes have many color phases and patterns. I have noticed Goldenrod, olive, purple, black, and all can have speckles infused with their base color. There are 4 lip phases, Red, White, yellow and None. These colors are all base and occur along the lips.

Behavior: The Herald Snakes origin is key to their defensive behavior. They Wild Caught (WC) ones ten to be very aggresive when catured. They flatten thier head, hiss, musk, closed mouth strike, and will open mouth strike if stronly provoked. Captive Bred/Captive Hatched (CB & CH) often tned to be docile to a certain extent. My girl tends to flatten her head and closed mouth strike when in shed. She also will musk on occasion. In the wild they are nocturnal and tend to come out and hunt along river banks and hunt for frogs, toads, fish and small rodents.

Life Span: 15 years

Caging: I now prefer a naturalistic cage. My female is 11in long and lives in a !0 gallon Locking sliding lid cage. I use Twice milled cypress because it holds humidity well. It gives them a nice burrowing medium. I also mix it with a little bit of sphagnum and coco fiber for visual appeal. They also like the Sphagnum as it holds Humidity. I have used aspen and paper towel both of those are just not adequate for them. They seem to have shedding issues when given a dry bedding. Make sure and use a locking lid as they are escape artists.

Feeding: Now feeding is very gruesome thing for babies. I take pinkie mice and quarter them then frog scent them. Then place the snake in a deli cup with the scented pinkie quarter. Now once they reach a about 9 inches they can start to take scented pinkies. I scent the mice with spring peepers and cricket frogs. I also feed mine Frozen/Thawed fish, anole tails, and frogs. WARNING: ANY NATIVE TOAD TO THE US CANNOT BE FED TO A HERALD THE TOXINS WILL KILL THEM!

Breeding: Heralds breed like rabbits! They are egg layers. They typically lay at least 8 eggs but can lay up to 20 eggs. The best incubation method is a styro incubator with a thermostat and a container with hatch rite in the bottom with a heat mat on the bottom of the styro and allow them to incubate for about 60 days. Babies are 3 inches long.
 
David, there are quite a few typos and grammatical errors in that caresheet. Before you post that anywhere as an "informative, intellegent" resource you should correct the typos and have a friend who gets A's in English review it for you. They should be able to fix your sentence structure and remove the fragmented sentences.
 
Herald Snake

Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia ​


Native Life: These little snakes hail from Tanzania and live near streams, creeks, rivers, and any other small body of water. They feed on Frog, Toads, Fish, Lizards, mice, and even earthworms. They can breed year round and typically produce about 8 eggs and the hatchlings are about three inches long when hatched.



Size: There is some sexual dimorphism in the snake. The Females seem to be some bit larger than the males. The body mass is consistent with both genders. The females reach 2.5-3 feet and the males reach 2-2.5 feet. They are not heavy set but are not thin either they have a nice build.



Description: These snakes have many color phases and patterns. I have noticed Goldenrod, olive, purple, black, and all can have speckles infused with their base color. There are 4 lip phases, Red, White, yellow and None. These colors are all just a base color and occur along the lips.



Behavior: The Herald Snakes origin is key to their defensive behavior. They Wild Caught (WC) ones ten to be very aggressive when captured. They flatten their head, hiss, musk, closed mouth strike, and will open mouth strike if strongly provoked. Captive Bred/Captive Hatched (CB & CH) often tend to be docile to a certain extent. My girl tends to flatten her head and closed mouth strike when in shed. She also will musk on occasion. In the wild they are nocturnal and tend to come out and hunt along river banks and hunt for frogs, toads, fish and small rodents.



Life Span: 15 years with proper care



Caging: I now prefer a naturalistic cage. My female is 11in long and lives in a 10 gallon Locking sliding lid cage. I use Twice milled cypress because it holds humidity well. It gives them a nice burrowing medium. I also mix it with a little bit of sphagnum and coco fiber for visual appeal. They also like the Sphagnum as it holds Humidity. I have used aspen and paper towel both of those are just not adequate for them. They seem to have shedding issues when given a dry bedding. Make sure and use a locking lid as they are escape artists.



Feeding: Now feeding is very gruesome thing for babies. I take pinkie mice and quarter them then frog scent them. Then place the snake in a deli cup with the scented pinkie quarter. Now once they reach a about 9 inches they can start to take scented pinkies. I scent the mice with spring peepers and cricket frogs. I also feed mine Frozen/Thawed fish, anole tails, and frogs. WARNING: ANY NATIVE TOAD TO THE US CANNOT BE FED TO A HERALD THE TOXINS WILL KILL THEM!



Breeding: Heralds breed like rabbits! They are egg layers. They typically lay at least 8 eggs but can lay up to 20 eggs. The best incubation method is a styro incubator with a thermostat and a container with hatch rite in the bottom with a heat mat on the bottom of the styro and allow them to incubate for about 60 days. Babies are 3 inches long.
 
David, I think your information would be a lot more accurate and detailed if you had extensive experience with this species. You really can't speculate on the care and needs of the whole species based on your experince with one baby.

I look forward to what new information and observations you make when your wee one matures and you have had her a few years.
 
Mine is just about a foot she has shed since this was written. Thier ccare stays consistent throughout thier lives says the breeder
 
Herald Snake

Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia



Native Life: These little snakes hail from Tanzania and live near streams, creeks, rivers, and any other small body of water. They feed on Frog, Toads, Fish, Lizards, mice, and even earthworms. They can breed year round and typically produce about 8 eggs and the hatchlings are about three inches long when hatched.



Size: There is some sexual dimorphism in the snake. The Females seem to be some bit larger than the males. The body mass is consistent with both genders. The females reach 2.5-3 feet and the males reach 2-2.5 feet. They are not heavy set but are not thin either they have a nice build.



Description: These snakes have many color phases and patterns. I have noticed Goldenrod, olive, purple, black, and all can have speckles infused with their base color. There are 4 lip phases, Red, White, yellow and None. These colors are all just a base color and occur along the lips.



Behavior: The Herald Snakes origin is key to their defensive behavior. They Wild Caught (WC) ones ten to be very aggressive when captured. They flatten their head, hiss, musk, closed mouth strike, and will open mouth strike if strongly provoked. Captive Bred/Captive Hatched (CB & CH) often tend to be docile to a certain extent. My girl tends to flatten her head and closed mouth strike when in shed. She also will musk on occasion. In the wild they are nocturnal and tend to come out and hunt along river banks and hunt for frogs, toads, fish and small rodents.



Venom: These little snakes do have a venom of sorts. The venom is used to suduce prey items. if you are bit there is little you can do about it. You may experience headache, stomach pains, nausea and vomiting, bleeding around the bite, dizzeness, swelling and pain around the bite site.



Life Span: 15 years with proper care



Caging: I now prefer a naturalistic cage. My female is 11in long and lives in a 10 gallon Locking sliding lid cage. I use Twice milled cypress because it holds humidity well. It gives them a nice burrowing medium. I also mix it with a little bit of sphagnum and coco fiber for visual appeal. They also like the Sphagnum as it holds Humidity. I have used aspen and paper towel both of those are just not adequate for them. I keep cage temperatures around 86 on the hot side and about 79 on the cool side. Night temps drop to 75. Humidity is key to the proper shedding of these animals I keep mine right at 60%. They seem to have shedding issues when given a dry bedding. Make sure and use a locking lid as they are escape artists.



Feeding: Now feeding is very gruesome thing for babies. I take pinkie mice and quarter them then frog scent them. Then place the snake in a deli cup with the scented pinkie quarter. Now once they reach a about 9 inches they can start to take scented pinkies. I scent the mice with spring peepers and cricket frogs. I also feed mine Frozen/Thawed fish, anole tails, and frogs. WARNING: ANY NATIVE TOAD TO THE US CANNOT BE FED TO A HERALD THE TOXINS WILL KILL THEM!



Breeding: Heralds breed like rabbits! They are egg layers. They typically lay at least 8 eggs but can lay up to 20 eggs. The best incubation method is a styro incubator with a thermostat and a container with hatch rite in the bottom with a heat mat on the bottom of the styro and allow them to incubate for about 60 days. Babies are 3 inches long.
 
I can't say anything about the information you're giving, but the way it's written is still very poor quality. You're making elementary mistakes, like capitalizing words that have no reason to be capitalized.

Also;
The venom is used to suduce prey items.
Click to expand...
They seduce their prey? :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
 
David you are trying to educate people on a snake you love caring for and thats a great thing!! Maybe a teacher or mentor could sit down with you and help you reword some things to make them flow better;)
 
Misery you have been here since what 2005 and have made 65 posts. Do you have herald experience. Please I am open to suggestions but not rude ones
 
I am currentally working with Herp Family forum to get it right
Changes made
Herald Snake

Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia



Native Life: These little snakes hail from Tanzania and live near streams, creeks, rivers, and any other small body of water. They feed on Frogs, Toads, Fish, Lizards, mice, and even earthworms. They can breed year round and typically produce about 8 eggs and the hatchlings are about three inches long when hatched.



Size: There is some sexual dimorphism in the snake. The Females seem to be some bit larger than the males. The body mass is consistent with both genders. The females reach 2.5-3 feet and the males reach 2-2.5 feet. They are not heavy set but are not thin either they have a nice build.



Description: These snakes have many color phases and patterns. I have noticed Goldenrod, olive, purple, black, and all can have speckles infused with their base color. There are 4 lip phases, Red, White, yellow and None. These colors are all just a base color and occur along the lips.



Behavior: The Herald Snakes origin is key to their defensive behavior. The Wild Caught (WC) ones tend to be very aggressive when captured. They flatten their head, hiss, musk, closed mouth strike, and will open mouth strike if strongly provoked. Captive Bred/Captive Hatched (CB & CH) often tend to be docile to a certain extent. My girl tends to flatten her head and closed mouth strike when in shed. She also will musk on occasion. In the wild they are nocturnal and tend to come out and hunt along river banks and hunt for frogs, toads, fish and small rodents.



Venom: These little snakes do have a venom of sorts. The venom is used to kill prey items. if you are bit there is little you can do about it. You may experience headache, stomach pains, nausea and vomiting, bleeding around the bite, dizzeness, swelling and pain around the bite site.



Life Span: 15 years with proper care



Caging: I now prefer a naturalistic cage. My female is 11in long and lives in a 10 gallon Locking sliding lid cage. I use Twice milled cypress because it holds humidity well. It gives them a nice burrowing medium. I also mix it with a little bit of sphagnum and coco fiber for visual appeal. They also like the Sphagnum as it holds Humidity. I have used aspen and paper towel both of those are just not adequate for them. I keep cage temperatures around 86 on the hot side and about 79 on the cool side. Night temps drop to 75. Humidity is key to the proper shedding of these animals I keep mine right at 60%. They seem to have shedding issues when given a dry bedding. Make sure and use a locking lid as they are escape artists.



Feeding: Now feeding is very gruesome thing for babies. I take pinkie mice and quarter them then frog scent them. Then place the snake in a deli cup with the scented pinkie quarter. Now once they reach a about 9 inches they can start to take scented pinkies. I scent the mice with spring peepers and cricket frogs. I also feed mine Frozen/Thawed fish, anole tails, and frogs. WARNING: Any toad (especially Bufo) native to the U.S.A kill kill a Herald. The toxic qualities in them are not what they ae used to in Africa.



Breeding: Heralds breed like rabbits! They are egg layers. They typically lay at least 8 eggs but can lay up to 20 eggs. The best incubation method is a styro incubator with a thermostat. A container with hatch rite in the bottom with a heat mat on the bottom of the styro will work well. Allow them to incubate for about 60 days. Babies are 3 inches long.
 
One major error I am seeing here is..when making a care sheet..it is supposed to be overall informing..Not giving a personal opinion...You stating "I currently house my" and "I'm currently feeding my herald"...Anything where you are stating what you are doing..should really be removed..A good way of re-stating something like that would be:

Housing: Herald snakes are a relatively small species by nature but still require a good amount of space to be able to exercise and extend their bodies. A 20 gallon long tank or a 32 qt. sterilite tub in rack systems would be fine for this species. Substrate can vary from aspen, to cypress along with some moss to hold humidity. Newspaper and paper towel are great choices for breeders and hobbyists with multiple snakes.

See...I did not state what I currently am using or doing for mine..because everyone has their own opinions and thoughts..That is why you give them options in the description..They are coming to this care sheet for information..to see their options..not to see your opinion..Well hope I helped out a little bit..
 
snakemaster24 said:
Misery you have been here since what 2005 and have made 65 posts. Do you have herald experience. Please I am open to suggestions but not rude ones
Click to expand...

Like I said, I can't say anything about the information you wrote because I don't have experience with that snake, nor do I plan on keeping one.
So what if I only have 65 posts? :laugh: I'm a lurker.
 
Those arew good suggestions BUT newspaper, paper towl, and aspen all make for a crappy shed. A 20 gallon is good but a 10 actually fits the snake better. I am still making corrections and I will use your suggestions. Thanx maize
 
I am going to rewrite the first three sections for you so that you have some idea of how you should structure the sentences, present the information, and get the paragraphs to flow. I'm also going to provide links to show what research I've done, which is something you should do as well.


Native Life: These little snakes hail from Tanzania and live near streams, creeks, rivers, and any other small body of water. They feed on Frog, Toads, Fish, Lizards, mice, and even earthworms. They can breed year round and typically produce about 8 eggs and the hatchlings are about three inches long when hatched.

Size: There is some sexual dimorphism in the snake. The Females seem to be some bit larger than the males. The body mass is consistent with both genders. The females reach 2.5-3 feet and the males reach 2-2.5 feet. They are not heavy set but are not thin either they have a nice build.

Description: These snakes have many color phases and patterns. I have noticed Goldenrod, olive, purple, black, and all can have speckles infused with their base color. There are 4 lip phases, Red, White, yellow and None. These colors are all just a base color and occur along the lips.
Click to expand...

Habitat: Herald snakes are a nocturnal colubrid species native to south Africa. They typically live near small bodies of water, such as creeks, streams, and ponds.

Description: Herald snakes are a relatively small species. They are typically an olive brown color with white speckles on the dorsal aspect and have white or cream colored ventral scales. They have a blue-black patch of color across the back of their heads that are utilised during defensive displays. They also sometimes have brightly colored "lips" which have led to the alternate name of the Red lipped snake. These markings can be shades of red, orange, yellow, or white. They are rear fanged, but only mildly venomous.

Diet: This species' primary prey item is amphibians, particularly frogs. Other potential prey items include lizards and small rodents.

Size: Adult females typically range from 21 to 36 inches in length while adult males range from 19 to 30 inches.

Sexual dimorphism: While slight, there is a sexually dimorphic size difference in this species of snake, with females tending to be larger than males at maturity. Females are also larger in girth compared to a similar sized male, and have longer and wider heads. Males typically have proportionally longer tails than females.

Sexual maturity: In the wild, females are sexually mature around 14 inches of length. Males mature sooner, at around 12 inches of length.

Clutch size: Average clutch size is 8 eggs, though they often range between 4 and 12 eggs per clutch. Clutch size can reach upwards of 19 eggs.

Breeding: Mating and egg laying typically occur in spring, though populations closer to more temperate zones appear to be able to breed and produce eggs several times a year. The incubation period is approximately 61 to 64 days.


http://www.anu.edu.au/BoZo/Scott/PDF Files/2000.KeoghetalCROT.pdf - Size, breeding size, dimorphism, diet
http://www.mk.org.za/data/reptiles_RHall.htm - coloration, diet, habits
http://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_herald_or_red-lipped_snake.html - description, incubation period, diet
http://academic.sun.ac.za/capeherp/cederberg/snakesherald.htm -description, diet


So, in my searching, these snakes do NOT, actually, appear to eat fish or invertebrates. I was, however, unable to find information about the natural diet of hatchlings, however I assume that it is most likely to be very small and immature frogs. Try to keep it sounding professional. "I have seen" isn't as convincing as "Color variations noted in captivity include...." for example. Try to keep personal opinion out of it.
 
*tropical, not temperate. Curse my fingers. Basically, where it stays warmer year round, they're more likely to have multiple clutches.
 
Lets try it now
Herald Snake

Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia



Native Life: These nocturnal colubrid snakes hail from Tanzania and live near streams, creeks, rivers, and any other small body of water. They feed on Frogs, Toads, Fish, Lizards, mice, and even earthworms. They can breed year round and typically produce about 8 eggs and the hatchlings are about three inches long when hatched.



Size: There is some sexual dimorphism in the snake. The Females seem to be some bit larger than the males. The snakes seem to have a very small amount of body mass difference. The females tending to have a thicker set than males. The females also have a much shorter stouter tail than the males. The females reach 2.5-3 feet and the males reach 2-2.5 feet. They are not heavy set but are not thin either they have a nice build.



Description: These snakes have many color phases and patterns. These phases have been noted in captivity, Goldenrod, olive, purple, black, and all can have speckles infused with their base color. There are 4 lip phases, Red, White, yellow and None. These colors are all just a base color and occur along the lips. The scales are not keeled but smooth. The speckles are small c stark white colored specks positioned along the top and side of the snake in a banding pattern. The under belly is cream color. The eyes are shape like those in cats. There are many names for them and most come from the overal apperance of the snake. Red lipped snake, White lipped snake, Savannah White lipped snake, rooilipslang, Phimpi, herald snake, bafu, Goomugalla and Black templed cat snake



Behavior: The Herald Snakes origin is key to their defensive behavior. The Wild Caught (WC) ones tend to be very aggressive when captured. They flatten their head, hiss, musk, closed mouth strike, and will open mouth strike if strongly provoked. Captive Bred/Captive Hatched (CB & CH) often tend to be docile to a certain extent. My girl tends to flatten her head and closed mouth strike when in shed. She also will musk on occasion. In the wild they are nocturnal and tend to come out and hunt along river banks and hunt for frogs, toads, fish and small rodents.



Venom: These little snakes do have a venom of sorts. The venom is used to kill prey items. if you are bit there is little you can do about it. You may experience headache, stomach pains, nausea and vomiting, bleeding around the bite, dizzeness, swelling and pain around the bite site.



Life Span: 15 years with proper care



Caging: A naturalistic cage works best. Use Twice milled cypress because it holds humidity well. It gives them a nice burrowing medium. Also mix it with a little bit of sphagnum and coco fiber for visual appeal. They also like the Sphagnum as it holds Humidity. Aspen and paper towel both are just not adequate for them. Cage temperatures around 86 on the hot side and about 79 on the cool side. Night temps drop to 75. Humidity is key to the proper shedding of these animals keep them right at 60%. They seem to have shedding issues when given a dry bedding. Make sure and use a locking lid as they are escape artists.



Feeding: Now feeding is very gruesome thing for babies. I take pinkie mice and quarter them then frog scent them. Then place the snake in a deli cup with the scented pinkie quarter. Now once they reach a about 9 inches they can start to take scented pinkies. Scent the mice with spring peepers and cricket frogs. Also they will accept Frozen/Thawed fish, anole tails, and frogs. WARNING: Any toad (especially Bufo) native to the U.S.A kill kill a Herald. The toxic qualities in them are not what they are used to in Africa.



Breeding: Heralds breed like rabbits! Spring is when breeding is most active but in tropial areas they may breed year round. They are egg layers. They typically lay at least 8 eggs but can lay up to 20 eggs. The best incubation method is a styro incubator with a thermostat. A container with hatch rite in the bottom with a heat mat on the bottom of the styro will work well. Allow them to incubate for about 60 days. Babies are 3 inches long.
 
I'm just curious David. Do you know how to use the spell check option. There are still many typo's for what is supposed to be an educational, instructional essay. Many words are capitalized still that need not be. Some of the info is rather vague as well. i.e. under breeding, there is no temperature mentioned required for incubation, the size of container that is best, how much HatchRite to line in the bottom of the container, whether the container should be sitting directly on the heat mat. All things I would consider pertanent information if I was going to attempt incubating eggs.
I'm not trying to be rude, just trying to point out that if you are doing this as a care sheet for others to follow, you should be a bit more informative, especially when it comes to incubation.
 
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