Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

robuk · Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 9:11 pm Post subject:

Hi Jon,

I haven't noticed any difference in the scalation between the male and female, but maybe I need to look a little bit closer. In fact, I'll go and have another look in a moment. Have you noticed some differences in your animals then?

The melanistic female is now just over seven feet. I do also have a smaller normal female, who is nudging six feet. Her colouration is not as bold as the male. What size are your breeder females?

Regards
Rob

jon_g · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 12:00 pm Post subject:

Hi Rob

When I lived in the UK i was completely addicted to scrubs(I had nearly all localities including kinghorni), here in indo I do still see them, just on their way to customers all over the world. Hopefully when I get some time I will get hold of some nice examples for myself again.

Have you read the david barker paper on the amthistina complex?

Your female looks to me what he describes as an axanthic form (yellows being xanthic, grey/black axanthic), when female clatolepis mature they lose their yellow colouration and become brown/black (xanthic forms), the axanthic examples start of grey/black and also darken with age. These 2 forms are naturally occuring and are seen in several scrub localities. Although the axanthic form is quite rarely seen.

My largest female was around 12 years old and 14.5 ft, my males averaged around 12ft.

However there are several localities of these (buru, ambon, seram etc), and there are a few physical differences between them.

Clastolepis are supposed to have sub-ocular scales, often they dont i notice your female has them but the male does not.

I didnt manage to successfully hatch clastolepis...a few people have done this now, reptiles from the moluccas (i include halmerhera as it is classed as the moluccas) seem to be very difficult to reproduce in captivity.

few pics attached...i'm always happy to talk scrubs....I miss talking to the old man for hours about scrub localities......although now I have managed to fill in many of the gaps.

Scrubs also calm with ange and handling, I used to take one of my 12ft male clastolepis to talks he was so tame !

Good luck with this project, its great to see scrub addicts !!!
_________________
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Exporters from Indonesia, You have tried the rest now try the best!!

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jon_g · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 12:14 pm Post subject:

One last photo

One of my favourites, I used male combat in this one to incite a mating which worked !!

The males twisted and turned over each other, no biting fortunatly. The winner was the snake who pushed the others head to the ground. Funnily enough the smaller male(around 9ft) won the fight and the bigger male went into the corner to sulk.
_________________
Life in Bali is sweet,

http://www.worldwidefauna.com

Exporters from Indonesia, You have tried the rest now try the best!!

http://worldwidefauna.com/index.php?cPath=52_22

http://www.ecoterrariumsupply.com/

Thomas Shanta · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 11:31 pm Post subject:

Awesome snake Jon,and very informative post,cheers.

robuk · Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:36 pm Post subject:

Cheers for posting the info Jon. I haven't read the Barker paper. If you've got a copy, I wouldn't mind seeing it at some point.

You clearly had more room than I've got, when you were in the UK. That must have been a stunning scrub collection. I'm afraid I won't be able to add any more scrubs to the collection, due to the lack of space.

If I witness any signs of breeding behaviour with the Mols this winter, I'll let you know. I suspect they're probably a bit on the small side still. Any tips would be gratefully received.

Regards
Rob