Vietnamese snake first-breeding » London Zoo

Chlidonias · **Vietnamese snake first-breeding** 13-11-2008

this might be old news but...
Rare rhino snake breeds in captivity - Telegraph

Quote:

The snake has a long nose like an African rhino, though it comes from the mountains of Vietnam.

The young are also grey like the rhino but will turn green after about a year. The adults, that grow to about three feet (one metre) long and feed on geckos, frogs and rodents, are nicknamed the "green unicorn".

London Zoo managed to hatch eight rare rhino rat snakes, a first for a European Zoo, in the heated reptile house.

The species are found in relatively low numbers in the wild and only a couple have ever been found by scientists.

Therefore it is a great success for conservation of the species and the Zoological Society of London have already sent three of the young snakes to different zoos as part of an exchange programme to increase the captive population in Europe.

It is believed the snakes evolved their extraordinary noses to catch drinking water in the native rainforests.

Ian Stephen, assistant curator of herpetology at London Zoo, said the rare snakes are popular with visitors.

"They are one of the cutests snake you ever saw," he said. "If anyone comes to the zoo who does not like snakes, they warm to the rhino snake. It is a really beautiful and interesting so it is great we have managed to breed it."

CZJimmy · 24-11-2008

BBC News | Enlarged Image

an image of the snake hatching

Jana · 02:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chlidonias

London Zoo managed to hatch eight rare rhino rat snakes, a first for a European Zoo, in the heated reptile house.

I´m not sure if London is the first european zoo reaching success with this species. Zoo Prague received some 2 years ago a pair of young snakes from Exotarium Tula (Russia, southern of Moscow) and they were hatched there. Either the author of the mentioned article does´n count the european part of Russia to Europe, or he/she doesn´n consider this Exotarium as "zoo".

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