Breeding the Stephen’s Banded Snake

(Hoplocephalus stephensi). By Darren Green

With over twenty years involvement in herpetology, Gold Coast reptile keeper, Stan Brooks has successfully kept and bred the Stephen’s Banded Snake on several occasions.

Stan Brooks is one of the Gold Coasts eminent snake catchers, his catch and release permit (QLD) allows him to rescue unwanted snakes from dwellings along with Gold Coast and release them back into the bush every year. Stan comes across a variety of snakes including the Stephen’s Banded Snake, and after keeping them for many years; he knows them only too well. Stan told me the story of the time he went to rescue one from a ladies house. Stan had no trouble in catching the snake, picking it up by the tail and dropping it into a pillowcase, job done. The small but formidable snake thrashed around biting the inside of the bag, its fang penetrating through the material and on one occasion sinking them into Stan’s finger. Stan calmly bandaged his finger and drove home. Several hours later he experienced twinges, a pain in the chest, and thought he had best get to the hospital to be on the safe side. You see Stan has had bites from other dangerously venomous snakes,  including a large Taipan, and was not sure of the reaction that these may play upon this recent bite. As it turns out Stan was held overnight at the hospital for observation, his blood clotting some six hours later, his hand swelling three times its size and experiencing a severe throbbing pain in his hand for a further three days. A week later the bite was all over expect for the memory of it. Not deterred by the small set back, Stan still enjoys keeping this banded terror.

Stan originally obtained his Stephen’s as captive bred juveniles, however in the wild, these snakes may be found east of the Great Dividing Range of Mountains in New South Wales and southern Queensland, typically inhabiting rainforests where they are often encountered after dark when they are most active. During the day they tend to shelter amongst trees and rock outcrops. According to the available literature they are believed to breed bi-annually, mating in late spring to early summer and producing around six live young in February and March, measuring around 160mm.

Stan houses his Stephen’s Banded Snakes singularly, in glass fronted enclosures, some 459mm long, 300mm deep and 300mm high, further to this, the snakes may retreat into a hide box built onto the side of the enclosure. The hide box may be inspected through a sliding door to the front, or closed off from the main enclosure by means of another small sliding door, overall the hide box is some 150mm wide and as deep and high as the main enclosure. The back wall of the enclosure is drilled to form a “pegboard” effect for ventilation. Newspaper has always been used as a substrate and provides quick and easy cleaning when the cage is soiled. There are no cage decorations, such as branches, with the exception of a small bowl, which allows water to be available to the snake for drinking.

Stan’s male Stephen’s Banded Snake is about 400mm long and the female slightly larger, measuring 500mm. They are both fed one mouse each week, which is supplemented with multivitamin, and cod liver oil (0.02ml) injected into the mouse every feed, in the wile these snakes would typically feed upon frogs, lizards and small mammals. Like all other Stephen’s Banded Snakes, Stan’s are shy and become aggressive quite readily. They thrash around when handled and can inflict a painful, sometimes deadly bite. When cornered they raise their head and body to form a posted S-shape read to strike, sometimes mouth held agape in anticipation. They can strike with accuracy, perhaps several times or even gripping on to gain a strong bite. These aggressive straits were readily displayed while photographing one of Stan’s quieter Stephen’s. According to Mirtschin & Davis (1992), their venom contains powerful pro-coagulant (blood clotting or coagulant), moderate neurotoxic (effecting the nervous system), strong haemorrhagic (causing damage to blood vessels) and weakly haemolytic activity (causing damage to blood cells), and therefore should be considered dangerous.

For a while stand was living in Townsville, which is some 1, 000 km north of their natural geographic range. His enclosures were situated under the house, which was elevated off the ground. Natural sunlight came through the timber slats and fell directly onto the enclosures each morning. There was no need for artificial heating as Townsville’s tropical climate is hot year-round. From 1989 through to 1991 Stan had moderate success in breeding the Stephen’s Branded Snake, mating was never witnessed during this period, however young were produced within a close time frame in February. In 1989, on the 7th of February, the female gave birth to 3 live young, 1 deformed (which soon died) and 5 slugs. In 1990, also on the 7th February, the female produced only slugs, and in 1991, on the 19th of February the female dropped 2 live young (which had kinks in the body and did not survive) and 5 slugs. Mating was observed the following year (1992) on the 1st September with no young being produced.

Not deterred by the misfortune of the previous years, in 1993 Stan introduced the female to the male, as with previous years, and witnessed copulation on the 18th September. The female later gave birth to 6 live young and 3 slugs on the 8th March 1994. This has been the most successful breeding Stan has had to date, the longevity between copulation and birth suggests a gestation period of 170 days and corresponds to the available literature; mating in late spring to early summer and producing live young in February and March.

Overall, there seems to be little captive breeding of the Stephen’s Banded Snake, this may be due to most keepers regarding them as having an undesirable temperament and therefore small numbers being held in captivity. Stan has close affinity with the snake, he seems them as interesting and beautiful animals to keep, and despite their shy and ill-tempered characteristics, they accept captivity quite well. Seeing an increase of numbers in captive collections can only help build a database on this species and allow us to learn more about this misunderstood and overlooked marvel of the reptile kingdom.

The author wishes to thank Stan Brooks for accessing his breeding records.

References:

MIRTSCHIN, P. & DAVIS, R. (1992) Snakes of Australia: Dangerous & Harmless, Hill of Content Pub.,
Melbourne.

Reprinted with the kind permission of the Victorian Association of Amateur Herpetologists