By Nipper Read
Those that know me will tell you I’m a sucker for a rare colubrid. I don’t care if it’s small and dull coloured with the most difficult to reproduce diet, if nobody else has it, I want it. So imagine my joy when I was talking to my chum Roger Pewtress recently and he mentioned he keeps Herald snakes. Small colubrids , beautifully coloured, with locality colour variations, venomous, amphibian diet and super rare in the hobby. I was hooked. So let me share the joy, and see if these fantastic little viper lookalikes are for you.
The Herald snake was first described as Coronella hotamboeia by Laurenti in 1768, but now is placed in the genus Crotaphopeltis, lastly by the very splendid Stephen Spawls, et al. The story behind the name Herald snake comes from the discovery of the species being first announced in the popular newspaper the Herald. The Herald snake is commonly known as the red lipped and white lipped snake, depending on which part of its distribution you are in, as this snake exhibits a very different head appearance depending on where you are in its range. Local names include the Rooilip or heraldslang.
So let’s describe this stunning little colubri. It is a small snake, rarely getting over 1m with a body that can be dark grey, olive green to black, with a multitude of tiny white speckles, these speckles really pop on a dark background. The head is very distinctive, both in shape and colour and is a broad triangular shape, very distinct from the neck and very reminiscent of a viper. The most noticeable thing about the head is the colouration, the head is normally dark, and as the common name suggests, the labial scales are often bright red, white, orange or even yellow.
This beautiful colubrid is found throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa, from South Africa, Swaziland, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zaire, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Senegal, Mali, Eritrea, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Burkina, Namibia to Angola, a truly massive range with loads of colour variation across it.
This species is opisthoglyphous, or rear fanged. They are venomous but the toxicity is low and has little effect on an adult human. Please bear in mind, however, that any venom, no matter how low in LD50 value, can cause an anaphylactic reaction. so always take care and free handling should be avoided. Bites normally result in only minor swelling however.
The herald Snake inhabits lowland marshy areas, moist savannas and typical South African fynbos. Herald snakes are almost always found in moist, humid conditions. This snake is common in gardens, if there are damp areas, and water features. They are nocturnal hunters with a preferred prey of amphibians, particularly toads, but they are known to take lizards and snakes on occasion.
When threatened this species gives off a very impressive display of mock aggression, hissing, inflating the body and bluff striking.
So after reading all that you’re up for keeping some right? If yes, let’s have a look at the captive husbandry. As already mentioned, these snakes are not common in the hobby but they will occasionally turn up on import lists. If you can get them, get them!
Wild caught specimens will need a lot of care and attention. Expect imports to probably be dehydrated and stressed. Place them in a quarantine tub with plenty of damp, sphagnum moss, lots of hides and a bowl of clean drinking water. Keep at a suitable temperature and leave alone to acclimate. I would recommend trying to feed for a few weeks while you allow the animal to settle. Additionally, be prepared to feed the snakes live amphibians to get them started in captivity. If possible try and get some captive bred neos, these are much easier to progress with.
Post quarantine, let’s look at keeping these beautiful snakes. Housing is relatively easy, tubs are an option, but I think vivs are better to really enjoy this species. I would suggest plastic “vision” style cages or exo terras as the high humidity these snakes prefer will affect wood or melamine vivs. Size wise I would suggest nothing smaller than a 3 foot long by 18 inch wide for an adult Herald snake.
The vivarium needs to have a substrate that can hold moisture, such as orchid bark or ideally a bark, sphagnum mix. Plenty of cork bark hides should be present, as well as a large water bowl.
Lighting is where we will differ, I appreciate these are nocturnal snakes,however I recommend 12 hour light cycles with a full spectrum LED with an Arcadia Pro UV kit. Ultimately, it’s up to you. Heating wise, I recommend a deep heat projector, temps need to be an ambient daytime of 84F and night around 76F. I mist just before lights out, so that the substrate is damp but not saturated.
Now let’s get into feeding. Again we may differ, with my entire collection, I strive to feed as natural of a diet as possible. These animals are amphibian feeders so a heavy rodent diet will not be beneficial to them long term. Yes, it is possible to scent rodents and switch them over, but is it best for the snake? Certainly easiest for the keeper but do we want easy over giving the snake its best life? Again a decision for you to make. I would suggest a diet of Pelophylax species if you are European, these are an invasive species in the UK. In the US I would suggest any grass frog species. Asian food markets sell bulk frozen frogs legs (normally bullfrog ssp) and I have had great success feeding my Boiga, Telescopus and False water cobra in this way.
No doubt, breeding will be high on your wish list for this species. As with many colubrids I would suggest food, light and temperature cycling is the key to success. Drop temps slightly, spray heavily and feed more frequently at the beginning of the year should induce mating. Pair the adults and await signs that the female is gravid. As soon as the female looks gravid remove the male from her vivarium. Raise the temps, spray less frequently and feed regularly. At this time, place a sphagnum filled nest box in the vivarium as an egg deposition site.
Females will lay a clutch of 5 to 20 eggs around 2 to 5 grams in size in the early summer. These can be incubated as you would any other colubrid eggs. I prefer the S.I.M. container style directly over water, but a moist vermiculite substrate would work just as well. Incubate at around 26 degrees C (79F) and eggs should pip around the 45 day mark. As with many colubrids, females may double clutch so after heavily feeding for a few weeks, it’s worth placing a male in with the female again. I always introduce the male into the females’ cage. I feel this is more naturalistic since males are actively seeking females in the wild.
Care of neonates is fairly similar to adults. I recommend keeping them individually in hatchling tubs or “Cadbury” style plastic boxes. Moist sphagnum substrate is ideal as the neonates are particularly susceptible to dehydration. Small hides and a water bowl complete the set up.
Feeding neonates can be tricky due to their small size. Neos weigh around 2 grams at hatching. Feeding after the second shed on live froglets or tadpoles would be ideal, however, a scented pinky head would do the trick. I suspect guppies or similar small fish would also be taken.
So there you have it! A stunning opisthoglyphous, mock viper of a snake, harder, but not hard to care for, and rare in the hobby. Crack on, what’s stopping you?
