By Nipper Read
There are many beautiful and exotic looking colubrids, but Langaha must surely be the strangest looking of them all. These snakes are so unique in appearance that they were placed in their own genus, upon discovery by the famous naturalist Bonnaterre in 1790. The Langaha group is unique in having sexually dimorphic nasal appendages, the evolution of which is still not understood.
There are three species of Langaha currently described. All have specific nasal adaptations, specific to their particular species. These soft and flexible appendages are spear shaped in males, and are flattened and denticulated in females. Langaha are rear fanged or opisthoglyphous. They possess a mild venom, relatively harmless to humans, as long as there is no allergic reaction. Langaha are found exclusively on the island of Madagascar.
The most often encountered species of Langaha, both in the field and in the hobby, is Langaha madagascariensis. Males are an ochre brown colour with a vivid yellow underside, and as mentioned a spear shaped nasal adaptation. There is often a white stripe below the eye. Females are much more cryptic, being a mottled grey to light brown colour with the nasal appendage being much more intricate than the males. Males have orange irises and females mottled brown ones. It is very easy to tell male and female apart! Both male and female will attain lengths of around 100cm (3ft).
Langaha madagascariensis inhabit low altitude dry and wet forest, predominantly hunting one to two metres ( 3 – 6ft ) above the ground. Little field study has been done on this very cryptic genus, however Jessica Tingle, conducted some field research and observed that these snakes prefer shaded areas, rarely basking in direct sunlight. Tingle’s observations seem to suggest the snakes preferred to inhabit bushes with branches similar to the thickness of the snake itself. Langaha are strictly lizard and occasional frog eaters. They are ambush predators, and will remain motionless for great periods of time, awaiting the passing of a gecko, Phelsuma or chameleon. Langaha were also seen to occasionally hunt on the forest floor for skinks, but this appeared to be rare.
As with all Langaha, madagascariensis, they are egg layers, with egg deposition occurring from August through September.
Langaha alluaudi was discovered in 1901 and named after the French entomologist Charles Alluaud. This species is slightly larger than madagascariensis, attaining lengths up to 110cm ( 3.6ft ). This species has different nasal appendages to madagascariensis as well as horn-like supraocular scales. The colour of both sexes is a mottled ash grey.
Langaha alluaudi inhabits the dry forested areas of coastal Madagascar. Here, thorn bush makes up the predominant vegetation of the landscape. The least encountered Langaha is Langaha pseudoalluaudi, discovered in 1988. This is the largest species in the genus, with specimens growing to 129 cm (4.2 ft). This species also possesses unique nasal appendages that differ from the other members of its genus. Again, in this species, we see the jutting horn like supraoculars. The snakes are a cryptic pattern of light bars and grey mottling. This species is known mainly from the extreme southern portion of the island, with a disjunct population on the east coast.
Keeping Langaha in Captivity.
Langaha are rarely kept in the hobby. However, imports of wild caught animals are currently available. They have a reputation for being difficult to keep, similar to Ahaetulla nasuta. But if the husbandry requirements are met, they make hardy additions to any collection.
Wild caught Langaha need time to adjust. So I recommend keeping them in a large tub with plenty of plastic plants and small branches, sprayed daily, to allow for quarantine and rehydration. After acclimation, I keep my Langaha in 1:1 pairings, in 100cm x 50cm x 50 cm (40” x20”x20”) vivariums. The vivariums are heavily planted with a lot of thin branches and leaf cover. Substrate is course, large grade orchid bark.. A large water bowl maintains humidity and Langaha will soak prior to shedding.
Temps are ambient, my snake building has a day time high of 84 degrees F in summer and 80 in winter , with night time lows of 74 to 77 respectively. Lighting is provided by natural light in the snake building and an Arcadia Pro UV T5 unit on a timer. With this, the Langaha receive two one hour periods of UV daily.
The Langaha are sprayed at first light, and as with most arboreal snakes, prefer to drink from the cage furnishings after misting. I also offer plastic arboreal water bowls, as used by Phelsuma keepers, to let the animals have plenty of options for hydration.
Langaha ARE LIVE LIZARD FEEDERS ONLY! You simply will not get them to switch to rodents. Evolutionarily speaking, they are adapted to eat lizards. Forcing them to eat mammals will have a serious stress on them which will only lead to more health complications.
I use live house geckos or anoles for feeding with geckos being preferred by the species. I keep the geckos for a while to ensure they have a diet of gut loaded crickets prior to feeding them to my Langaha. Every fourth feeding I will dust the geckos with Arcadia Pro Vitamins prior to introducing them to the pairs’ vivarium.
Breeding Langaha in captivity has only been achieved once that I am aware of and is detailed in a paper by Kenneth Kryso. From what we know, courtship takes place arboreally and at night, with eggs being deposited in August and September. Clutch sizes are relatively large, averaging 11, 2.2 cm eggs. After 23 days at 28 degrees C (82.4 F) the hatchlings pipped. Hatchlings measured 13.4cm (5.5 inches).
Hatchlings can be set up identically to the adults. The hatchlings will display a strange behaviour in the form of hanging straight down from branches in an attempt to mimic the seed pods of the local vegetation.
As mentioned, Langaha are rare in the hobby. Their husbandry is not difficult as long as a supply of live lizards can be established. I think this extra effort or cost is entirely worth it to maintain and observe these incredible colubrids and hope to be successful in breeding these snakes in the future.
