Rinkhals Research Cape Town

[atropos]

Ja I can thankfully confirm that all the snakes were returned alive. And although the DOR is unfortunate that specimen was one of the confirmed sightings within the city metropol area (thanks spitter). I am also glad we didn't euthanase it. It has been given a fighting chance and I hope we can at least use it for education. I am going to try and feed it again this week....hold thumbs

[Loslappie]

Hey Atropos

Awesome pics and great records!

That Rinkhals is looking much better, he hasn’t lost any condition as far as I can see. So I think he will do just fine, Bushviper you have no idea how relieved we are that the snake seems comfortable and eating..

Btw, you voice does sound much better after some Chenin and Sauvignon Blanc...

[atropos]

Success! Two small meals down, one to go

[Loslappie]

So glad he took the other one as well!

[atropos]

No. 3 down the hatch!

[Spider]

Amazing job guys! Keep it up.

[atropos]

Another quick update. I have kindly been assisted by some members of the SPCA who fortunately have the
facilities and are going to be taking over the care of the rinkhals.

Here is an x-ray of the injury


As we suspected the snake will not be able to be released into the wild but it appears that it can still
lead a life of relative quality.

Thanks again guys!

[atropos]

Very happy to hear that the rinkhals has eaten twice more. It is being taken care of at Imhoff if anyone is interested in seeing it.

[Silvrav]

Good to hear.

Can you gents post us some updated pics?

Regards
Hannes

[atropos]

I'll try and get some more next time I am out that way

[glasbyb]

Some updated pics:

301220~1-Optimized.jpg

301220~2-Optimized.jpg

[atropos]

Beautiful

[atropos]

Exciting new record. This juvenile rinkhals was seen by a member of the public on Saturday the 22nd of October 2011...somewhere on Table Mountain!
I have posted another picture on this post http://www.sareptiles.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?f=150&t=23352&start=30 but don't want to hijack that thread more than I already have.

Here are the images

[atropos]

Although field guides indicate that this species should occur on the Cape peninsula, historical sightings have only been recorded from the low lying areas of the Cape flats where it appears that they were once common. This is the first official record from the Table Mountain range. This lends weight to the probable sightings from the area that were collected since the project began and opens up the posibility of this species being more widespread in the Cape than intially thought.

What is also interesting is that this individual was found in an area quite some distance away from any permanent water source and it was found in the early afternoon at a temperature of between 8 and 10 degrees Celsius.

[Bushviper]

This is amazing news. Hope you get to find lots more.