A sad weekend

[Snaky]

When I came back last night, there was again a very sad surprise for me. A few months back the same thing happened to my male cyrtopsis. My first female cyrtopsis died during the weekend. Again she ate fine on wednesday, she did not seem to have any problem. So Friday I left to visi my parents and she was dead when I returned last night. At least last year with the male I had noticed something was wrong. Even more stupid is that I thaught she was pregnant again...

This time I will not go for an autopsie, nothing came out of it last time, so I don't think there will be a difference this time.

As a tribute, a nice picture of her:
http://gallery.dierenparadijs.be/data/500/medium/183_8356_klein.JPG

This certainly sucks to start the week with. And the stupidest thing is, she ate fine, there did not seem to be a problem and I have no clue whatsoever wat went wrong. This makes me think carefully if I'll keep continue to keep cyrtopsis...

[Odie]

Bummer mon :(

[drache]

so sorry about your loss
such a lovely snake too

[mikm]

Wow ... so sorry for your loss ...

all the best,
marian

[Stefan-A]

I'm sorry for your loss. :(

[Snaky]

Thanks for the reactions. The most frustrating thing is that I don't know why...

[Stefan-A]

I might remeber incorrectly, but wasn't that particular snake misshapen?

[Snaky]

When she was a couple of months, she developed a thick neck, literally. You can see it a bit in the picture. But I don't really think that this has something to do with it, she did not seem to have any problems because of it during the past years.

[MoJo]

I'm so sorry for your lost. It can be very frustrating when everything seems fine and you are left wondering what went wrong.

Joanna

[adamanteus]

Sorry to hear your bad news.

[Gijs & Sabine]

I'm so sorry to hear that:( Hopefully something simular wont happen again.

[Snaky]

Thanks for the kind words everybody.

[adamanteus]

It would be a shame if you let this put you off keeping cyrtopsis in the future. You are experienced with this species, and furthering that experience would be a benefit to us all.

[GarterGuy]

Sorry to hear you've lost another little one. Really sucks, but I don't think it's the species, so I wouldn't give up on them just yet.
Roy

[Snaky]

I'm scheduling an appointment with the vet on Thuesday ( thursday and friday is a holiday ). I'm certainly going to wait on a result of that to see what I'm going to do. I've recently ( well within a few months ) bought new cyrtopsis bloodlines, so my decision won't be overnight. I really like them, although they are a bit different of the other garters.

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate it.

[mikm]

What would you say the difference(s) is between these and other Garters ?? Curious as I kept these but only as babies ....

much thanks !!!

[drache]

Marian asked the very thing i'm also curious about
how are they different?

[Snaky]

Their behaviour is different to the marcianus and the concinnus I also have. A nice example is when you approach the enclosure. Both the concinnus and marcianus will approach also, flicking their tongue heavily to see whether you don't bring anything along;). The cyrtopsis on the other hand are more shy, most of them will freeze immediately and afterwards gently flee to their hiding spot, only to return when you are not visible for them anymore.

Another thing, I never handle my snakes (personal decision not to do so). So it's only normal that my snakes are not really eager to be taken and do all kind of movements, even if I already catched them. The cyrtopsis have a rather different approach, I mainly have 1 of 2 reactions:
- I will threaten you by bluffing that I will bite you (don't worry, they won't do it)
- I will stay perfectly still while you grab me and will smoothly go through your hand when you have me.

So it are little things in their behaviour that is a bit different than other garters. And of course, they can be a challenge to get them eat, but once they eat there is no problem anymore.

Till now I've kept 6 specimens of th. c. c., but if you have some you'll soon realise they are a bit different in behaviour. Of course I also notice differences between marcianus and concinnus, yet they are not that big to me.

[Gijs & Sabine]

I absolutely agree with Snaky ! They are a bit different, but nice.

Here is a picture of one of the young T.c.c. from Snaky's cyrtopsis.
They are doing great !! As you can see they're appetite is fine:D

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q85/gijssabine/P1010231Medium-1.jpg

[adamanteus]

Nice looking snake, Sabine. Maybe due for feeding though!:rolleyes: :D Will you be breeding cyrtopsis soon?

[Gijs & Sabine]

I don't think so. These 2 are to young and I have 2 adult females cyrtopsis occelatus, but no male. And 1 adult male c.c. but no female:( And it's hard to find them (at least the adults are)

[adamanteus]

Do you know if Alan Francis is breeding them? He seldom answers his e-mails!

[Gijs & Sabine]

I know he breeds them, but like you said it's real hard to get an answer from him. I already found that out:(

[MoJo]

My girl just went into shed. I wish I could ship to Europe but I have no idea about how to go about it and would be too nervous to do it on my own.

Good luck finding some babies.

Joanna

[Cazador]

Hey Hans,

That really sucks!!! She was a snake that many of us came to know and admire through your photos and stories, and I'm sorry that she's now gone.

Rick

[Snaky]

Didn't know (or forgot:o) you had 2 adult femal ocellatus, Sabine, way to go! Hope you find a man for them. It is indeed harder to find cyrtopsis species, certainly adults.

The appointment is arranged for Thuesday, luckily I found someone in the neighbourhood who specializes in reptiles. Although he has only a few years of experience yet. He can at least come and check everything out. I will keep you posted on any conclusions out of it.

[mikm]

Since I did not have these (cyrtopsis) too long the only thing I noticed in regards to being 'different' from other garters was their tendency to appear aboreal. They were almost ALWAYS hanging wrapped around the light cord at the top of their cage, the very highest point. These were Michael Smith stock, CB from WC parents. I acquired these from a friend of his via a barter. I sent Michael an email asking about their seemingly aboreal nature and he replied that they were commonly found in bushes.


Another point I thought I would mention ... I had 'heard' that cyrtopsis were difficult to feed as they are huge frog eaters in the wild. When I got my babies I also received a baby food jar with a few frozen locally caught (Texas) leopard (??) frogs in it that I requested of the seller. I used the frog meat & skin sparingly to convert the EBN's over to small pinks. I recall stuffing f/t pinks mouth with slivers of frog meat and/or skin. This worked well !! ;)

[Snaky]

I can't say with certainty that it is something of cyrtopsis. But indeed I have 2 that consider the branches as their hiding space. And all like to climb, not that they are always very good at it. But I have the same with marcianus also.

Indeed, like you say, they can be a challenge to let them start eating and they mainly eat frogs. Due to parasite and other issues, I don't give that, but once you get them start eating on something, they will keep accepting it and it's usually no problem anymore.

[adamanteus]

My T. marcianus also climb a lot. As I type, they are draped amongst their branches like Christmas tinsel!

[Gijs & Sabine]

My girl just went into shed. I wish I could ship to Europe but I have no idea about how to go about it and would be too nervous to do it on my own.

Good luck finding some babies.

Joanna

Thanks Joanna, that's very kind:)
I hope everything is going well with your cyrtopsis.
I probebly will find cyrtopsis, but only babies I quess.

[mikm]

James ... so you think the climbing might be a Texas 'trait', LOL ??? :D

[adamanteus]

James ... so you think the climbing might be a Texas 'trait', LOL ??? :D

Hey, it could be. Do they have trees in Texas? Or just oil and armadillos? (and big hats).

[MoJo]

Thanks Joanna, that's very kind:)
I hope everything is going well with your cyrtopsis.
I probebly will find cyrtopsis, but only babies I quess.

I feel for you. I bought my first two as a pair of babies in 04 and quickly figured out I had 2 girls! I bought a male baby from Scott Felzer that escaped and was found dead. I finally thought I had bought a pair of adult males and when they arrived I find out that I have 2 more females! I finally got a male when someone read my tale of woe and we made a deal for his male and one of my females!

Joanna

[salzar]

I am so sorry for you , it is a sad thing .
bye
salzar

[Snaky]

Today the vet had a 50 minutes visit here. He has done a physical check and faeces examination. He could not find much, which is a good sign.

-1 of the last animals I bought ( now some 1,5 months ago) had a little short on Calcium. So I need to adjust it's diet accordingly.
-For the rest he had nothing to particular to add. Everything was ok.

I also asked about the enclosures. He said I could add a TL lamp for UV, but it is normally not necessary. I think I'll be changing this in the next enclosure's I make.

As the female died suddenly, he thought it could have something to do with her pregnancy. For example egg-binding, although I've always heard that they stop eating for a while if this happens...

So for now, I consider it an accidental death.