July 2009
Longleat Snakes Make a Break for Freedom!
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One of the snake hatchlings exiting the egg |
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It’s not often you see a headline like this and don’t have a momentary panic! There is no need to worry though as these baby snakes or ‘hatchlings’ as they are called, have recently hatched from their shells!
Measuring in at around 30cm each, the six baby Royal Pythons still have some growing to do though before they reach their adult size of around 1.5 metres
As Keeper, Sarah Clayson, explained “The female can lay around six or seven eggs. All are leathery shelled and average at around 8cm long. On laying, the female will push the eggs into a pile and will incubate them herself. The snakes then hatch out at around 60 days.
“I have to admit there was great excitement and anticipation as the 60th day approached. The births were a first for Longleat and I think we all had an element of nervous first time parent syndrome! All went fabulously well though and we now have six baby snakes to look after.
“The young will start eating after their skin shed, or slough as it’s known.
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The baby snakes being cared for by keepers |
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With the first born on the 30th June and the last on the 7th July, we are expecting that this should be pretty soon. We will start by offering baby mice and will introduce larger mice as the snakes begin to grow.”
Longleat has bred the Royal Pythons as part of its enhanced animal handling strategy.
As Head of Pets Corner, Darren Beasley, explained “Snakes are definitely in the top twenty of feared creatures that we have at Longleat. Most people think of lions when they think of Longleat, get them down to Pets Corner though and we soon get the adrenaline going as we introduce them to the snakes!
“By offering animal handling and meet the creature sessions, we get the chance to really educate visitors on the fascinating lifestyles and behaviours that these guys have! Conservation, animal management and other topics are really great for us to get involved with and if each visitor goes away with just one top tip from the day, then we go away happy!”
Longleat offers daily animal handling sessions in Pets Corner. Animal handling and other hands-on experiences will also be offered in Animal Adventure which opens later this year.
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BBC
Animal Park
