Post by djp1phillips on Feb 12, 2006 18:29:27 GMT
I am looking for any Ladder snake breeders, this snakes has more then one names, other names are:
Ladder snake
Ladder ratsnake
Elaphe scalaris
Rhinechis scalaris
otherwise, this is the species:
www.reptilia-amphibia.net/en/snake/rhinechis-sE.html
This is to realise my project:
Ladder snake breeding program 2006
Here in the Corbières, the sight of an alive and undamaged Ladder snake has no price and is becoming a real challenge.
Each year when the weather starts to heat up and the reptiles and amphibians starts to reappear I estimate how many and which species I might see, my Ladder snake count per year is under 1, but the overall count is around 10 to 30 but these are all dead on road specimens or intentionally killed ones. What is the point in protecting snakes by law? No one takes any notice, they might as well be unprotected to allow breeders to help their populations.
Many times I get told by so called "friends": "viens voir le serpent chez moi, mon grand père la tuer ce matin..." translated into English: "come and see the snake over at my house, the one my grand dad killed this morning..." - This has happened more then 10 times over the years (only 6) and all of these times with the exception of 1 they were juvenile or even adult Ladder snakes.
Because of their vivid pattern as juveniles, they are always being mistaken with the venomous Asp viper (Vipera aspis), in France the French have set themselves a stupid rule: "triangular head = deadly viper = kill it!" THIS MUST CHANGE
Back to my story... when I arrived at this boys house, I told him it was a Ladder snake, harmless, beautiful... his gran dad makes an appearance, "non non écoute moi petit, c'est une vipère. Il faut tuer ces saltées" - ENG: "listen to me boy, it is a viper. These pests (relatively tam word compared with the real expression) should all be killed.
I started to set in the lecture about herpetofauna and that this snake was without a doubt 100% a Ladder snake, he wouldn't have any of it, and told me to leave. Since then this man has killed many snakes.
In the now six years, I have only held and observed 3 alive ladder snakes! one in 2001 then again in 2003 (both adults, and damaged on the tail), and the last one in July (my so far first juvenile specimen), otherwise countless numbers of dead on road and killed specimens. In fact I have only ever seen one being dead through natural causes (lack of water).
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Please I NEED your help, I cannot do this by myself. It doesn't have to be money, it can be in the for of equipment (heat mats, terrarium decor, terrarium or tanks [very interested in this], mice). Money is important but also very important is information (care sheets, personal experiences...), please get involved.
This was taken from my site, link for this page is:
www.reptilia-amphibia.net/en/articles-other/ladder-breeding.html
Ladder snake
Ladder ratsnake
Elaphe scalaris
Rhinechis scalaris
otherwise, this is the species:
www.reptilia-amphibia.net/en/snake/rhinechis-sE.html
This is to realise my project:
Ladder snake breeding program 2006
Here in the Corbières, the sight of an alive and undamaged Ladder snake has no price and is becoming a real challenge.
Each year when the weather starts to heat up and the reptiles and amphibians starts to reappear I estimate how many and which species I might see, my Ladder snake count per year is under 1, but the overall count is around 10 to 30 but these are all dead on road specimens or intentionally killed ones. What is the point in protecting snakes by law? No one takes any notice, they might as well be unprotected to allow breeders to help their populations.
Many times I get told by so called "friends": "viens voir le serpent chez moi, mon grand père la tuer ce matin..." translated into English: "come and see the snake over at my house, the one my grand dad killed this morning..." - This has happened more then 10 times over the years (only 6) and all of these times with the exception of 1 they were juvenile or even adult Ladder snakes.
Because of their vivid pattern as juveniles, they are always being mistaken with the venomous Asp viper (Vipera aspis), in France the French have set themselves a stupid rule: "triangular head = deadly viper = kill it!" THIS MUST CHANGE
Back to my story... when I arrived at this boys house, I told him it was a Ladder snake, harmless, beautiful... his gran dad makes an appearance, "non non écoute moi petit, c'est une vipère. Il faut tuer ces saltées" - ENG: "listen to me boy, it is a viper. These pests (relatively tam word compared with the real expression) should all be killed.
I started to set in the lecture about herpetofauna and that this snake was without a doubt 100% a Ladder snake, he wouldn't have any of it, and told me to leave. Since then this man has killed many snakes.
In the now six years, I have only held and observed 3 alive ladder snakes! one in 2001 then again in 2003 (both adults, and damaged on the tail), and the last one in July (my so far first juvenile specimen), otherwise countless numbers of dead on road and killed specimens. In fact I have only ever seen one being dead through natural causes (lack of water).
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Please I NEED your help, I cannot do this by myself. It doesn't have to be money, it can be in the for of equipment (heat mats, terrarium decor, terrarium or tanks [very interested in this], mice). Money is important but also very important is information (care sheets, personal experiences...), please get involved.
This was taken from my site, link for this page is:
www.reptilia-amphibia.net/en/articles-other/ladder-breeding.html