• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

saving corns snakes in south africa

G

greg

New member
Can anyone out there help?
At present herpers in South Africa, Cape Town in particular, are facing an uphill battle with our nature conservation board -trying to save our hobby.The threat is that they would like to blacklist all exotic reptiles including all Elaphe species, reasoning that they are potentially invasive. We on the other hand disagree. The climate here (in the Western Cape) is doubtful, and we have many very agressive predators (from spiders to humans). In fact corn snakes have been kept and bred here for nearly forty years without a single wild capture. I appeal to all the great minds and breeders (of whose breeding we have many beautiful examples) to help our cause with as much information as possible. For example:

1. What temperature extremes can be tolerated?
2. What climatic zone do they come from?
3. Have they been documented as being invasive anywhere in the world?
4. Should the domestically "created" morphs be seen as domesticated animals(such as dogs and cats) and will they survive in the wild for whatever reason?, plus many more questions that I cannot think of offhand.
Any help would be highly appreciated.
 
Many morphs could never survive in the wild. Any amelanistic morphs would be snatched up quickly by birds and other predators. Corns could not thrive if the habitat had long, cold winters- but they can take very hot temperatures for periods of time. (Florida!)

As far as I know, they have not been invasive anywhere in the world. I suppose they could be though- if the climate and prey was tolerable. Their main foods in the wild are small rodents, small birds, and green anoles (little lizard things)

Good luck on keeping your corns! :)
 
For answers 1 and 2 cornsnake are from the east coast of the US, from Fla up to some say CT. I have yet to see them here. And from what I understand some parts of central US. I would look for a farmers Almanac that could really help you with the seasonal temperatures. In the areas I suggested. Here is a link to one site: http://www.farmersalmanac.com/

I am not really sure if they would do well in South Africa.

I wil give you an analogy which is apples and oranges. But, I think you can see my point. I had a cat living in GA, well she had alot of fleas on her. Fleas are really bad in GA.

I moved to Texas and brought my cat with the flea problem. Curiously enough the flea problem was gone with in a week of living in Texas. I did not use any type of medication for the flea problem. Yet they all died, jumped off the cat? I don't know what happend. However I do know his pets never had a flea problem.

I do know that several people in Texas have flea problems, why did my GA fleas die once they got to Texas?

They could not handle the environment? It baffles me to this day.

Mother Nature pretty much has a handle on things, and seems to know where things belong, and there is a reason.

Its just something to think about.

3. I would not know if they are invasive. I have yet to really see anything of people having a cornsnake problem. I would do a check for research.

4. Could a domesticated cornsnake do well in the wild? I don't see why they could not considering, some say the cornsnakes they own are tame, I see it more as the snake is tollerating handling. I really don't believe that snakes are truely domesticated.

I am not an expert and highly suggest some major research. Not sure if I helped in my response to you. Good luck.
 
potentialy i agree with them! south africa has had so much damage to its already delicate eco system (mostly due to man!) but however i think there are some species of herps that have erned the title domesticated, including & especialy yes! the corn snake i think due to varyation should get its own subspecies title elaphe guttata domesticus ... anyhow back to the topic, i think there being daft, introducing licencing laws would be a better idea. it would help stop any cruelty or neglect cases as it potentialy help keep a chek on them at all times.

:grabbit:​
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top