Big Season Ahead

[Mehelya]

Well, I haven't been on the forum too much as of late. I've been looking after a lot of little mouths, including housies and puffs. I thought I would share a breeding project that I am going to start this season, and I am hoping for some good results. I have been keeping several rinkhals for a few years now, and some of them have finally reached breeding age, and I can start pairing them off now. I am pleased that I have two special projects that I am working on with Rinkhals, and I will give a quick glimpse of things to come (hopefully).

The first project:

I am hoping to get some nice yellow patternless, clear ventral babies. If that happens, I would be over the moon. It would be interesting to see what is and isn't genetically predictable in Rinkhals, as there is very little info on them that I could find...

The Female (some of you have seen her already)



The Male (he's not as bright as the female, but he has a very clear belly as you can see)




The second project:

I am hoping that this pattern and coloration is not just a locality thing, but genetic, so I will be pairing these two together, and seeing what the babies look like when the time arrives. These pics are a bit old, and they are quite a bit bigger now than in the pics, but you get the idea (I'm bromating, so I don't want to disturb them).

The Female (she is always on edge, but not really aggressive like some of the others I have)


The Male (he has rarely hooded and never spat at me, and has always been a star to work with)


I am really looking forward to this breeding season coming, and will keep you all posted. I have some other females that might be gravid already, but I will just wait and see what is happening there, before I get excited for nothing, and post as everything unfolds.

Thanks for looking.

[Bushviper]

Lets wait and see what happens.

[Allen G. Liebenberg]

Hi Mehelya.Nice snakes!.Are they a naturally occurring colour phase?
I am hoping to breed mine again.The females brumate by themselves if they are going to breed-they just stay in the hide box for about 4-6 weeks in winter without coming out at all to bask.The males seem to need to bask on a daily basis even in winter?.I let the night temps go down to ambient temp(in the garage!) but feel that Rinkhals must have basking hotspots in the day.
The females that dont cycle bask daily throughout winter?
Is this what you guys also find?
Nice to see some more action about Indigenous snakes-forum has been too quiet lately

[Ruan Stander]

I was excited by this post as well.
I hope you have some good results, best of luck and I look forward to seeing an update.

[Mehelya]

Arno, that's a big wait... I pop sexed and to confirm I took tail pics, which I think I will upload here tomorrow, and Neville helped me sex them. So I hope we got them right... Time will tell...

Allen, The "grey/blue/green/whatever" banded ones are the predominant coloration for this area, to varying degrees and colors. I have yet to see the typical solid black ones... The yellow ones are not common at all and these are two out of 100+ that I've found here. As youngsters, a lot of them are a yellow orange banded coloration (in certain areas), but turn to these (can I call it) "granite" coloration, which I personally prefer to some of the other banded I've seen around.

I started brumation (night time ambient temps 10-15; day time basking 32) a bit late (end of June), and will bump the temps back to normal at the end of August (it is still very cold here at that stage of the year), so I might be lucky for this season... I did notice one of my other females had been on the cool side for the duration of the brumation period so far, so maybe she retained sperm, but I haven't paired her off yet. The two females above, have been basking only during the day and tend to move off in the late afternoons... Bad sign? My adult males hog their hot spot day and night on the other hand, and rarely move from that spot even if there is movement around the cages.

Predator, I am hoping this pans out, but, at the worst, there will be a bunch of pretty little Rinkhals up for grabs...

I'll upload tail pics in the morning, just for interest sake, and see if we got the genders sorted. Thanks for the comments and info, much appreciated!

[Westley Price]

Nice collection. I really like the greenish banded phase. I hope you can refine that over a couple of generations.

[Mehelya]

Thanks Westley. I've seen completely white and black banded ones here as well, so one never knows. It is definitely going to be interesting, to say the least, when the neonates start popping out. I might be in for lucky packet bunches, which I seem to be prone to.

As promised, I have got the tail pics, and have uploaded them below, for perusal, and for information sake. Thanks again to Neville for helping me confirm the sexes. Hope we got it right bud...

The bright yellowish female


The dull yellow male


The banded female


And the banded male


Hopefully they are all sexed properly, otherwise, my breeding plans will have to change slightly. I have other males and females, but they are still a year or two away from breeding age/size.

Thanks for looking, and for the comments, hints and compliments.

[rolandslf]

Keep Trying B.

[Mehelya]

I haven't posted this female here yet, but she is really starting to swell up, and if she only drops in December/January, as everyone is telling me, then she is going to be absolutely monstrous by the time she delivers...

The monster.


Thanks for looking!

[Ruan Stander]

Looking good ! I hope she gives you lots of healthy babies.

[Warren Klein]

Good job, hope you get lots of babies!

[Mehelya]

Just a short update on the breeding.

I brought them out of brumation two weeks ago, and fed them a few days later. Most of my breeding age males shed, and I hadn't noticed much in the way of interest between the pairs until this week.

My "granite" male was nudging the female "granite" a bit, so left them, and last night, he was all over her, tail massaging and going a bit nutso. They are both first time breeders, so will see how they get on, and separate if they don't show any more interest over the next few days...

The "yellow" male seemed to have bitten the "yellow" female yesterday at about mid day, one bump on either side of the spine about 10cm from the head, with a little bit of blood oozing out. When I got home again at 5, I separated them, as the female seemed lethargic, and didn't feel like having the male eat the female, on the off chance. She was full of life again by 9pm, and decided that since I had the cage open, she would redecorate the glass panels with streams of venom... I am hoping that they got the deed done, and that she doesn't succumb to his ministrations of "love".

The large "monster" female now has a girth diameter of about 2.5 inches, so I am sure she is going to explode in a short while. She went into shed about a week ago, and hasn't shed yet. Things are looking good so far, seeing as this is the first time I'm doing rinkhals, even with the odd panic station moment.

Thanks to those who I spoke to in this regard (Gavin, Ashley, Westley et al), setting my mind at ease that they're not trying to eat each other this round.

[Ruan Stander]

Thanks for the update, I hope your next post will be full of photos. Funny how some snakes make it and others don't when bitten by the same species.

[Mehelya]

Predator, seeing as all snakes (adults who have learned at least) can seriously control their venom yield/output, I think it could be safe to say that he would know more or less how much to inject to subdue her, rather than kill her. But I will keep an eye on her for the next few days anyway (not that there is much I can do if he has dosed her with a lethal amount).

[Ruan Stander]

That has to be it yes, but I'm sure there is a partial immunity that has to play some role. I reckon she'll be fine, I've found in all the lethal bites, the victim never lived more than 48 hours. Those ones also never recovered to any extent between the bite and time of death.