This is a nice change of pace for a reptile related news article so I thought I'd post it.
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Juneau's new baby pythons may be herpetological first
Monday, March 8, 2004
By TARA SIDOR
JUNEAU EMPIRE
It's too cold outside for snakes to live in Alaska, but the weather is fine in Richard Culver's attic.
He's been there off and on for 53 days, fussing over 19 green tree python eggs and hoping to become the first to successfully breed them in the state. On Saturday the wait ended, as the young pythons hatched.
Culver, an antsy expectant father at 12:34 a.m., went upstairs and saw three yellow neonates poking through their shells. He hurried back downstairs.
"My wife said, 'I can't believe you woke me up,' but then she was blown away too," he said.
Knowing that the others would need help if they didn't hatch within a day of their siblings, Richard and Harriet Culver started snipping into their eggs Saturday afternoon - first cutting a hole with vasectomy tools from the urology clinic where Harriet works, then slicing with Richard's fly-tying scissors.
As of 4:05 p.m. Sunday, 15, including twins, were still alive.
"I just love these snakes," he said with enthusiasm. "They are so unique, so interesting behaviorally."
He already had nine of the pythons - which sell for thousands of dollars each - and other snakes at his Mendenhall Valley home.
Culver, a computer technician at Harborview Elementary School, bred two pythons on Oct. 1, 2003. The female - whom he hasn't named yet - laid 23 eggs on Jan. 13. Nineteen remained viable to the end.
The eggs basked in a small, round glass dish inside a temperature-controlled incubator. The parents rested on perches close by in individual plastic bins. Another seven pythons - one pregnant - relaxed on perches in their bins.
Captive snakes are rare in Alaska to begin with, but breeding green tree pythons is especially difficult, said Bryan Zaher of the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage. Zaher does not know of anyone else who has successfully done it in the state.
The eggs need 100-percent humidity, but no moisture can touch the shells or the unborn snakes could die, Culver said.
"If a drop of water hits them, it almost dissolves the entire egg," he said.
Culver, formerly a mathematics and science teacher in California, has been meticulous in his approach to breeding these animals. He spent countless hours sharing notes with fellow breeders, recording detailed reproductive data and watching over the delicate eggs daily. He placed a gardening substance called Vemiculite under the eggs to help them absorb moisture and breathe. But the process can be tricky, he said, if the Vermiculite dries out and compromises the integrity of the eggs.
Breeders typically use one of two approaches to keeping the eggs in the incubator. They can keep the eggs at air temperature or try Culver's approach by replicating the temperatures during the natural birth process of the mother.
During the first week after the mother laid her eggs, he kept the temperature of the egg shells at 86 to 87 degrees Fahrenheit. For five weeks, he increased the temperature to 89 degrees and then dropped it to 86 degrees the last week. The incubator, made especially for these snakes in Colorado, has a password so someone cannot come along, change the temperature and kill the babies.
Breeders who follow this temperature regime can hope to see eggs hatch in 50 days. Culver mimicked lower temperatures so his eggs would take a little longer to hatch. Decreasing the temperature is OK, but raising it can kill the unborn snakes, he said.
Culver gained a love for snakes while growing up in Southern California and kept that passion alive after moving to Juneau in 1993. He owned other breeds until he could afford the expense of owning and raising the colorful pythons.
The parent snakes both come from Aru Island, near Indonesia. The 4-year-old mother is turquoise with white specks and a blunt tail. The father, named White Hail, is green with white specks. The pythons feed on frozen mice and rats.
Green tree pythons tend to be pricey because they often come with pedigree papers, are extremely difficult to breed and challenging to keep alive.
The pythons - also known by their Latin name Chondro Viridis - are native to areas around Australia. After breeding, many babies die, Zaher said. Those that survive are difficult to feed for the first time, he said. The snakes are about the size of a pencil and weigh 6 to 11 grams when born.
Culver said he has a few weeks to try to teach them to eat day-old mice. In the meantime they can live on their yolk reserves.
After about 12 months, babies turn to the colors of adults who have a mix of green, blue, yellow and beige, Zaher said. Other areas of the same snake can be pure black or white. Some have deep, bright color tones of blues or greens that are desirable in the pet trade, he said. This is achieved through selective breeding programs by reputable breeders.
Culver also owns a Dumeril boa constrictor and tangerine Honduran milk snake that he has in glass cages in his downstairs living room. He's taken those snakes along with White Hail to Mendenhall River Elementary and the Juneau Community Charter School to show to children. He plans to take them to Harborview and Mendenhall River this spring.
"A lot of kids in Alaska can get a better impression of these snakes," Culver said. "My kids know how to handle the snakes and respect them."
He said he may sell a few of the young snakes, but that he bred them as a hobby.
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