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African House Snakes?

Hypancistrus

Hypancistrus

New member
Anyone around here raise them? In particular, I am looking for someone who raises both ABK's and Mexican Black Kings. They are both on my wish list for the summer, and I'd like to kill two birds with one shipping fee, if you know what I mean.
 
Hypancistrus said:
Anyone around here raise them? In particular, I am looking for someone who raises both ABK's and Mexican Black Kings. They are both on my wish list for the summer, and I'd like to kill two birds with one shipping fee, if you know what I mean.
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There is a few of us who have them but few that raise them. I know Dean has both MBKs and African house snakes but what is ABK?
 
desertanimal said:
I thought Dean got his from Lefty.
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Yep, I got mine from Trevor Yehle (lefty_mussolini), but I don't think he's producing them this year. I won't be producing MBKs or house snakes until next year (Murphy willing).
 
Roy Munson said:
Yep, I got mine from Trevor Yehle (lefty_mussolini), but I don't think he's producing them this year. I won't be producing MBKs or house snakes until next year (Murphy willing).
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You named your male snakes Murphy?? :cool:
 
Roy Munson said:
Yep, I got mine from Trevor Yehle (lefty_mussolini), but I don't think he's producing them this year. I won't be producing MBKs or house snakes until next year (Murphy willing).
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I've been reading up on house snakes and it sounds like they breed like mice...copulating within seconds of being introduced...double and triple clutching every season, etc. I've read a few articles that made it seem like it could be harder to get them to stop breeding than to get them to start.

AND...apparently they grow quickly and females can reach healthy breeding weight (250g) in as little as 18 months.

Oh yes, I will have a pair of these some day. :grin01:
 
texastailfeathers said:
I've been reading up on house snakes and it sounds like they breed like mice...copulating within seconds of being introduced...double and triple clutching every season, etc. I've read a few articles that made it seem like it could be harder to get them to stop breeding than to get them to start.

AND...apparently they grow quickly and females can reach healthy breeding weight (250g) in as little as 18 months.

Oh yes, I will have a pair of these some day. :grin01:
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That's the reputation. They don't really have a specific breeding season, and a female may multi-clutch herself to death if you let her. I won't be letting that happen to mine. My pair doesn't seem to be growing any faster than any of my corns of comparable age-- maybe even a little slower. The hatchlings are smaller than the average corn hatchling, but usually the bigger the mom, the bigger the babies, and hence the easier it is to get them started on newborn mice. I probably won't breed my female until she's at least 350g.

I'm glad you're committed to getting some. They're waaaay cool snakes. :)
 
Roy Munson said:
That's the reputation. They don't really have a specific breeding season, and a female may multi-clutch herself to death if you let her. I won't be letting that happen to mine. My pair doesn't seem to be growing any faster than any of my corns of comparable age-- maybe even a little slower. The hatchlings are smaller than the average corn hatchling, but usually the bigger the mom, the bigger the babies, and hence the easier it is to get them started on newborn mice. I probably won't breed my female until she's at least 350g.

I'm glad you're committed to getting some. They're waaaay cool snakes. :)
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That was in another study...a breeder waited until the female was 3 years old (and heavier than 250g) and she was much healthier and more productive, and produced healthier clutches than the younger breeder females.

But they're also prone to obesity, so is 350 still a good weight?

BTW, there's a breeder here in Texas that raises them (along with trinkets and cat-eyes...more extremely cool snakes). I don't think he ships though, and I know he doesn't advertise, so you have to catch him at reptile shows.
 
texastailfeathers said:
That was in another study...a breeder waited until the female was 3 years old (and heavier than 250g) and she was much healthier and more productive, and produced healthier clutches than the younger breeder females.

But they're also prone to obesity, so is 350 still a good weight?

BTW, there's a breeder here in Texas that raises them (along with trinkets and cat-eyes...more extremely cool snakes). I don't think he ships though, and I know he doesn't advertise, so you have to catch him at reptile shows.
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I'm no house snake expert, but the females can get about as big as a medium to large corn. You can have a female house snake for which 500g would be a healthy weight. :)
 
Roy Munson said:
I'm no house snake expert, but the females can get about as big as a medium to large corn. You can have a female house snake for which 500g would be a healthy weight. :)
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Sweet. Good to know. :cheers:
 
Roy Munson said:
That's the reputation. They don't really have a specific breeding season, and a female may multi-clutch herself to death if you let her. I won't be letting that happen to mine.
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How do you plan on stopping her?

The species I'm a little interested in breeding is the tri-color hognose, which will easily quadruple and quintuple clutch, and I've heard that the only way to make the female stop laying is to stop feeding her.

Nanci
 
Nanci said:
How do you plan on stopping her?
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This is a great question. I don't think there's much data out there concerning sperm retention in house snakes. I'm operating under the assumption that fertility for them will follow the same very general guidelines as other colubrids, and that a first-time breeder can't retain a million ready sperm for years. I'd expect two good breeding sessions to produce one good clutch and maybe a second. The possiblity of a third or even a fourth clutch reinforces my resolve to make sure that she far exceeds MINIMUM breeding size when I breed her. I think you'll find that the extreme multi-clutching stories are the result of cohabitation by people who are more accustomed to keeping North American colubrids.

The species I'm a little interested in breeding is the tri-color hognose, which will easily quadruple and quintuple clutch, and I've heard that the only way to make the female stop laying is to stop feeding her.
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I don't know anything about that. :(
 
Trevor is not going to be producing this year. :-(

I guess I will just have to look around.
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I really am sorry about this. I wish I was still working with them. Right now I am without House Snakes completely. But, I do work for a reptile shop and I will let you know of any House Snake breeders I know.

http://mfezi.com almost always has House Snakes for sale. I might be picking some up from them.

There are also some new morphs in House Snakes. A hypo has been proven to be a genetic recessive trait. I have seen them and they are VERY cool.

There are also Anerys now. I haven't seen these, but I am very much looking forward to seeing/getting some.

This is a great question. I don't think there's much data out there concerning sperm retention in house snakes. I'm operating under the assumption that fertility for them will follow the same very general guidelines as other colubrids, and that a first-time breeder can't retain a million ready sperm for years. I'd expect two good breeding sessions to produce one good clutch and maybe a second. The possiblity of a third or even a fourth clutch reinforces my resolve to make sure that she far exceeds MINIMUM breeding size when I breed her. I think you'll find that the extreme multi-clutching stories are the result of cohabitation by people who are more accustomed to keeping North American colubrids.
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I have a bit of input on this. :)

I had 3 of my females double clutch from one breeding, and I got mostly fertile eggs. In fact, the snakes that you have Dean, are from those clutches.

One of those 3 females actually laid a 3rd clutch without ever being introduced to a male again, but all of the eggs were infertile.

The best way to go about getting lots of eggs, healthy babies, and keeping your females healthy is to do what Dean had said. Wait until your females are over 300g. If you do that, your females will pretty much produce clutch after clutch, year round, and still maintain good weight and health.

Everything I have read about pushing a female to soon has said that she will give you a couple of clutches and then refuse food until she dies. So it's worth waiting a couple of years.
 
I acquired a trio of cape house snakes het albino(Lamprophis Capensis) myself
last winter,which are doing great.I was speaking to the guy that bred
mine about them triple and quad clutching.He had said he only
intended to get his female to double clutch in year one,which
she did.She then laid slugs so he put the male back in with her.
Her forth clutch was fertile.He was pretty sure once they start
there's no stopping them.
 
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