My Barkly Tableland Death Adder (Acanthophis hawkei)

[Najakeeper]

Feeding #3 with no complications. I think she is very well settled because she was extremly eager this time, no tricks necessary, no wiggling the mouse etc. She saw the pinky and bit three times in a row in quick succession, holding the food with the last bite. I would not want my fingers there!

Here are a couple pictures:

 

[Malhavoc's]

such a cute little grub, I'd end up bit, unable to spot the damn thing!

 

[rosybreeder]

Nice cage, but watch your fingers!

 

[Najakeeper]

The Death Adder girl is growing up fast, she in shed again. Here are a couple pics:

I will take some after shots once she is done.

 

[Frank S]

The cage looks great. Is this your first death adder? I am glad it is eating well for you the ones I had keept and breed years ago could be a real pain to get on feed. I would spend a few hours tease feeding all the little worms till I got them to all eat. It usually only took a few meals before they would hit prey right away but it was a pain to get them to take the first few meals. I dont know how I would like the front opening cage with them though. They are such explosive strikers and so bulky I usually used two hooks to move them. That would be hard to do in a front opening cage. I also found they like a moist hide at all times. I figure the micro habatat in the dry areas still has moist areas around the roots and under rocks where they spend most of their time. Good luck with the little worm
Frank
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos...501742_100003328940697_53230_1635257672_n.jpg

 

[Najakeeper]

Thanks for all the info, mate.

This is my first Australian Mainland Death Adder. Before her, I have kept two different localities of A.laevis from Papua New Guinea. Those ofcourse loved high humidity so their cages were kept at around 70-80% at all times. For this girl, I overflow the water dish every other to create little humidity on one side but she prefers the hot and dry portion of the cage. I also stimulate rain once a week and directly spray the snake when the eyes go opaque. She drank quite heavily today, a nice pre-shed drink.

She feeds great now but she was force fed by the breeder for a while. Last time I talked with the breeder, she still had one sibling that refused to feed voluntarily.

As for the front opening/top opening issue, I have kept A.laevis with both methods and I didn't have an issue but of course A.laevis is much smaller. She should get a bigger cage in 2 years, I will consider my options once again then.

This was one of my A.laevis:

 

[Dr Acula]

Awesome little bugger you've got there! Loving the pictures AND videos the colors are stunning post shed!

 

[Najakeeper]

Awesome little bugger you've got there! Loving the pictures AND videos the colors are stunning post shed!

I didn`t put any post shed pics yet since she didn`t shed yet. The last picture I have put is another snake from another species that I once had .

 

[Dr Acula]

Sorry, was referring to this picture

And here is the pretty girl with her new skin:

She will get her pinky snack tonight .

 

[Najakeeper]

Oh Ok . That was right after previous shed actually. I think she will get even prettier now .

 

[Dr Acula]

Awesome can't wait for the pic update on that!

 

[Najakeeper]

Complete shed on 07/04/2012, perfect with every scale out.

 

[Najakeeper]

Here are some more still shots from today`s feeding. I fed her outside of her cage, it was an interesting experience.

Before:

Running away with the price:

The fangs:

Head shot:

Spine at the end of her tail: (Acanthophis = spine snake)

Back in the cage:

I also shot a video but it is a bit dark, sorry for the quality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMceojvNz2Q

 

[RS4guy]

Gorgeous snake man, really!

 

[Najakeeper]

Gorgeous snake man, really!

Thanks.

Just to get out of the same old, here is a drinking video. I have shot this with my phone while spraying the snake with water so the quality is a bit low and the image is a bit shaky.

Desert snakes rarely drink from standing water as they rarely find standing water. Most don`t even understand the concept of drinking from a water dish. In wild, they usually drink the condensed water droplets of morning dew directly from their scales. In this video, I am spraying my Barkly Tableland Death Adder with water to stimulate this behavior so that she gets a nice pre-shed drink.

[YOUTUBE]pAEH1lcHsAM[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Najakeeper]

Monster says hi to mouse: (Post shed pictures)

 

[astraldisaster]

For a deadly monster, that thing is WAY too adorable. Love her setup, too.

 

[Najakeeper]

Hey Guys,

So I took the little she-devil outside today to take some pictures under natural light without flash. Here are the results of that. I think she looks amazing...

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/2216/ahawkeinatural1.jpg

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/7766/ahawkeinatural2.jpg

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/4792/ahawkeinatural3.jpg

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/8684/ahawkeiheadmacro.jpg


ps: The pictures are much larger but unfortunately the forum settings don`t allow me to post them directly so just go ahead and click the pictures for larger versions.

 

[Shrike]

Looking good! That's a fat, healthy little snake.

 

[Najakeeper]

My female had shed yesterday and I took some macro pictures of her scales...

Look at these colors:

Unfortunately, I had to sell my small male to a friend, couldn't say no to him. Now, I need a male...