Babies for Africa

[Mehelya]

So 2015 ended in a huge bang for me! I got a call out, around Christmas for some small snakes in a hole, at one of my regular clients. Grabbed the necessary equipment, and headed out there, expecting to find a few Night Adders. Getting there, they led me to an old underground termite mound (those really big orangey clay hard ones...) on the wall of an empty dam and pointed at the hole at ground level. The hole was about 20cm in circumference, and I immediately saw three little grey bodies with some banding on sunning themselves in the hole. Carefully I tried to grab the three visible ones with a hook stick, but they slid down a small hole, and disappeared... Sigh... Out come the fork, spade, and pick... Breaking apart the hole (it widened as it deepened), I was left with am 80cm wide hole, going down about 10cm. Back breaking, and weight losing work at 9 am in 28 degree weather... After about 2 hours, I had managed to lose about 3 kilograms of weight, soiled my clothes quite nicely, and probably could have cooked an egg on the ground next to me (no shade whatsoever)... And then I hit the jackpot, the reason I had come here... Little grey bodies started pouring out of two holes... Deep in blue, so not really feisty, but one or two were absolute runners, striking and hitting at everything. A total of 14 were rescued, and the mother was probably nearby recovering from her ordeal, but was nowhere in sight from where these little beggars came from.

Without further ado, here are a few pics of the little beggars...

Most of them huddling in a corner...


Not interested at all...


Let's get going...


Then... A few days later, I get to my facility, and check on some of mine that are hopefully gravid, and I am greeted with 16 little worms of my own from one mother! Needless to say, it was action time, and I had to remove the female, as she was so demonic, I was showering in venom with every move, and I didn't want any of the young to be damaged or hurt because of her being so feisty... Plus I would assume it would be standard practice, seeing as a 1m+ female rink in the same cage as you're trying to work in is not the best situation in the world, and is just looking for a trip to the hospital.

Here are three that were from my one female...

Climb! Smell! Climb some more!


Ya'h can't see me. (lovely clean belly)


Hear me roar, see me defecate on your hook...


First time successfully doing this, so I hope this will become a regular thing for me. Absolutely love Rinkhals! I will upload more of the CBB pics, as I go through, and once they've all shed (deep in blue now).

Thanks for looking!

[rolandslf]

Rian, definitely a successful end to 2015 for you.
I also totally enjoyed the narration accompanying the posts.

Just a stupid question quickly, What about keeping one or two of those rescued babies to introduce new blood so to speak into your existing specimens.
I know that keeping of wildlings is frowned upon, but I just thought that it would serve a purpose.

Great post anyway. Thanks

[Bushviper]

Rinkhals seem to have babies within weeks of each other. I have had numerous reports of babies being born now. Good luck with those babies.

[Ruan Stander]

Fantastic stuff. Congratulations.

[Mitton]

Very cool, really pretty babies.

[Mehelya]

Roalnd, Thanks man, although there is no way to really convey in words how hot it is digging out a termite mound in the blazing African sun, carefully (and slowly) so as not to hurt the occupants. In this instance, I didn't have a problem destroying the mound, as they do not want the snakes to return, as it is in the middle of a livestock yard. To answer your question, I have around 11 unrelated adults at the moment (female heavy group), so I doubt I need any fresh bloodlines. If something really unique ever comes along, I might just do that, but these are normal for certain parts of our area.

Bushviper, didn't know that, and the only other people I know who breed rinkhals had theirs drop from a month before mine and closer, but didn't put the two together like you did. Have two more that I hope are gravid, so I will see what happens with those two.

Predator678, thanks man. Definitely one of my favorite species, and I just love these little beggars when they try and stand up, wobble, and fall all over the place, with their pfft pfft pfft sounds. Real clowns IMPO.

Mitton, These babies are stunners, and I hope that some of them will turn out just like the adults. I am well on my way now to some goals that I have set myself for the next few years with this species, and hopefully it will work out the way I wish.

Thanks for looking, once all the CBB's have shed, I will upload some more photos.

[Westley Price]

Couldnt have asked for a better way to start the year, lekker stuff Mehelya.

[Mehelya]

Thanks Westley. Hopefully next season will be even bigger than this one! Hopefully I have it down now, and can try and start producing regularly. That's the dream.

All of them have shed now, so I have to sex them, weigh them, and catalogue them now. And then the big question... Will they feed... Although I am quite sure that I won't have much hassles with these little garbage bins. More photos to come.

[Mehelya]

So, after feeding (some unscented from the go) and everyone shedding nice and cleanly, here are update photos of all the cbb babies, in no particular order...

16

15

14

13

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1


Thanks for looking, enjoy.

[Mehelya]

So, another special female dropped for me, and I have been undecided whether to put any of the pics up here just yet. This is a long term project that is hopefully starting to bear fruit. I have been fascinated by Rinkhals since I got my first one many moons ago, and have been slowly working on collecting locality specific specimens for specific breeding projects, and to work out some genetics with these little beggars

Here are two separate little beggars that I thought I would share from this special breeding, seeing as they are the first two to have their second shed (first shed after birthing shed).

Light 1


light 2 (This one I think I should call Ghost, for obvious reasons! )


I haven't sexed them yet, but I hope at least one of them will be good enough to pair up with the father, who is also a clean yellow specimen. Hopefully I will one day be able to figure out what is genetically doable with rinkhals, and do a decent write-up of a seriously under-rated snake species.

Thanks for looking, more pics to come as they shed. Some may be made available once they are all eating unscented pinks.

[Mehelya]

So, another special female dropped for me, and I have been undecided whether to put any of the pics up here just yet. This is a long term project that is hopefully starting to bear fruit. I have been fascinated by Rinkhals since I got my first one many moons ago, and have been slowly working on collecting locality specific specimens for specific breeding projects, and to work out some genetics with these little beggars

Here are two separate little beggars that I thought I would share from this special breeding, seeing as they are the first two to have their second shed (first shed after birthing shed).

Light 1


light 2 (This one I think I should call Ghost, for obvious reasons! )


I haven't sexed them yet, but I hope at least one of them will be good enough to pair up with the father, who is also a clean yellow specimen. Hopefully I will one day be able to figure out what is genetically doable with rinkhals, and do a decent write-up of a seriously under-rated snake species.

Thanks for looking, more pics to come as they shed. Some may be made available once they are all eating unscented pinks.

[rolandslf]

These last 2 are awesome B.

[Bushviper]

Very unusual. Let see what happens when two light ones are bred to each other.

[Mehelya]

Thanks Roland, these are my two keepers from the litter. Have big plans for them.

Arno, that is the plan, I hope these two are a pair, otherwise, at least a mate for my clean belly yellow male. I can only imagine what I would like to have pop out of these.

[Mehelya]

Well, it's been a while since I updated. Some of the babies didn't make it, as they are wont to do, seeing as they are not the easiest species to get onto mice. Scenting worked for the majority of them, some of them took straight off the bat, and others have had to be "helped" along.

So far 12 Yellows and 10 Bandeds are growing nicely, and have gone into their third shed now. Once they have all shed, and have taken another meal, I will post the keepers, and those looking for good homes to go to. Most of them will be available, so it will be a fist come, first served scenario.

Watch this space for pics soon...