# My Barkly Tableland Death Adder (Acanthophis hawkei)



## Najakeeper (Feb 3, 2012)

I have prepared the enclosure for the baby death adder that is going to be here in a week. Base substrate is clay rich earth, which resembles what they live on in Australia (black soil plains, Barkly Tableland). On top of the soil mixture, there is another mixture of wood chips and leaf litter, which the snake will utilize for camouflage and there is a nice piece of wood to hide under. All items acquired from nature are boiled to kill anything that may have been living on them. 

Here are the pictures:

Side:







Front with doors closed:







Front with doors open:







Aerial with the mesh panel removed:







This initial cage, which should house her for a year or maybe a little less, is very small 30x30x30cm. This will give her a sense of security until she gets big and strong. I have another cage that is 120cm long and it will be prepared similar to this when the time comes but in addition to above elements, I will also plant Mitchell Grass seeds that I have ordered from Australia so she will have 100% "at home" feeling. She is going to be my one and only venomous snake for at least a few years so no expense spared for her comfort. Also, the big cage would look awesome with the grass growing etc. I may even throw in a small animal skull or smt.

Anyway, hope you guys like it.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Shrike (Feb 3, 2012)

That looks really nice!  Make sure you take some pictures once the adder is in there.  I want to see that cryptic coloration in action.


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## OphidianDelight (Feb 3, 2012)

Beautiful set-up; all that's missing is a beautiful adder to complete it!

Reactions: Like 1


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## AmysAnimals (Feb 3, 2012)

Nice setup.  I didn't know what these snakes looked like...So I looked it up...They remind me of blue tongue skinks without legs.  =P  Well their bodies anyways.  Their heads are nothing alike.


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## kevin91172 (Feb 4, 2012)

This for the one you had to force feed? Oh no you do not have it yet,I got to learn to read through postings,,,,,


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## Najakeeper (Feb 11, 2012)

I dug up a little in the attic and found a bigger enclosure for the little girl. It is 60x40x50 and should be enough for her whole life. I purchased a nice Lucky Reptile light fixture and a UVB light bulb as well, and installed a heating lamb. The final enclosure looks like this:







Can you spot the tiny little monster in there? :


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## Najakeeper (Feb 12, 2012)

Najakeeper said:


> I dug up a little in the attic and found a bigger enclosure for the little girl. It is 60x40x50 and should be enough for her whole life. I purchased a nice Lucky Reptile light fixture and a UVB light bulb as well, and installed a heating lamb. The final enclosure looks like this:
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I guess nobody could so here is a close up:







She is tiny, a little bigger than my little finger.


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## Shrike (Feb 13, 2012)

That's amazing.  I still can't find it in the larger photo!


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## Malhavoc's (Feb 13, 2012)

certianly wouldnt want to clean that tank it blends in so nicely could be easily tagged!


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## Najakeeper (Feb 13, 2012)

Malhavoc's said:


> certianly wouldnt want to clean that tank it blends in so nicely could be easily tagged!


Almost all Death Adder evenomations in nature are due to people stepping on them as they are invisible. I prod around the cage with the long metal hook and locate her first without doing anything in there. Serious venom, I don't wanna get killed by an earthworm size snake, very emasculating .

She is in shed right now, as soon as she sheds, I will make a feeding video.


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## Galapoheros (Feb 13, 2012)

I don't trust myself to keep hot snakes!  I was thinking I spotted him here.  Is it just a piece of bark?


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## Najakeeper (Feb 14, 2012)

Galapoheros said:


> I don't trust myself to keep hot snakes!  I was thinking I spotted him here.  Is it just a piece of bark?


That is a piece of bark but you are close. Unfortunately, the resolution on this picture turned out to be crappy so it is normal that you guys had a hard time. Here is a slightly higher resolution close up of the same picture to show how she hid herself:







And here is a picture that I just took. She is "very much" in shed:


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## Shrike (Feb 14, 2012)

Wow, watch those fingers!


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## Najakeeper (Feb 21, 2012)

Kind of an exciting night, 1st shed is always stressful with humidity issues not properly set up to her preferences etc. Here is the little girl trying to shed using the glass:







Unfortunately, she got stuck mid-point so I had to soak her in warm water and assist her. It was easy really, I just grabbed the shed skin with forceps and she wiggled out of it herself.

Here is the shed skin of her head with the eye caps:







And here is the pretty girl with her new skin:







She will get her pinky snack tonight .


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## Shrike (Feb 21, 2012)

Great pictures.  Keep them coming!


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## Najakeeper (Feb 21, 2012)

Shrike said:


> Great pictures.  Keep them coming!


Thanks!

She was fed with no complications  :













Video:

[YOUTUBE]RqlJrUCA_RE&hd=1[/YOUTUBE]


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## Najakeeper (Feb 25, 2012)

[SUP][/SUP]Here is a very similar video with slo-mo strike shot and some general info about the snake:

[youtube]l79WD8RpelY[/youtube]


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## Nebulosa (Feb 25, 2012)

Awesome.  I love the death adder; an elapid that mimics a viper, so cool.


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## HoboAustin (Feb 25, 2012)

That's a cool snake!!


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## Najakeeper (Feb 27, 2012)

I guess somebody wanted to say hello this morning:







I spend 10 minutes every morning to find this girl, if she moves a little!


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## Najakeeper (Mar 3, 2012)

Feeding #3 with no complications. I think she is very well settled because she was extremly eager this time, no tricks necessary, no wiggling the mouse etc. She saw the pinky and bit three times in a row in quick succession, holding the food with the last bite. I would not want my fingers there!

Here are a couple pictures:


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## Malhavoc's (Mar 3, 2012)

such a cute little grub, I'd end up bit, unable to spot the damn thing!


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## rosybreeder (Mar 4, 2012)

Nice cage, but watch your fingers!


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## Najakeeper (Apr 3, 2012)

The Death Adder girl is growing up fast, she in shed again. Here are a couple pics:













 I will take some after shots once she is done.


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## Frank S (Apr 3, 2012)

The cage looks great. Is this your first death adder? I am glad it is eating well for you the ones I had keept and breed years ago could be a real pain to get on feed. I would spend a few hours tease feeding all the little worms till I got them to all eat.  It usually only took a few meals before they would hit prey right away but it was a pain to get them to take the first few meals. I dont know how I would like the front opening cage with them though. They are such explosive strikers and so bulky I usually used two hooks to move them. That would be hard to do in a front opening cage. I also found they like a moist hide at all times. I figure the micro habatat in the dry areas still has moist areas around the roots and under rocks where they spend most of their time. Good luck with the little worm
Frank 
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos...501742_100003328940697_53230_1635257672_n.jpg


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## Najakeeper (Apr 3, 2012)

Thanks for all the info, mate.

This is my first Australian Mainland Death Adder. Before her, I have kept two different localities of A.laevis from Papua New Guinea. Those ofcourse loved high humidity so their cages were kept at around 70-80% at all times. For this girl, I overflow the water dish every other to create little humidity on one side but she prefers the hot and dry portion of the cage. I also stimulate rain once a week and directly spray the snake when the eyes go opaque. She drank quite heavily today, a nice pre-shed drink.

She feeds great now but she was force fed by the breeder for a while. Last time I talked with the breeder, she still had one sibling that refused to feed voluntarily.

As for the front opening/top opening issue, I have kept A.laevis with both methods and I didn't have an issue but of course A.laevis is much smaller. She should get a bigger cage in 2 years, I will consider my options once again then.

This was one of my A.laevis:


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## Dr Acula (Apr 4, 2012)

Awesome little bugger you've got there!  Loving the pictures AND videos  the colors are stunning post shed!


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## Najakeeper (Apr 5, 2012)

Dr Acula said:


> Awesome little bugger you've got there!  Loving the pictures AND videos  the colors are stunning post shed!


I didn`t put any post shed pics yet since she didn`t shed yet. The last picture I have put is another snake from another species that I once had  .


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## Dr Acula (Apr 5, 2012)

Sorry, was referring to this picture 



Najakeeper said:


> And here is the pretty girl with her new skin:
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## Najakeeper (Apr 5, 2012)

Oh Ok . That was right after previous shed actually. I think she will get even prettier now .


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## Dr Acula (Apr 6, 2012)

Awesome  can't wait for the pic update on that!


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## Najakeeper (Apr 14, 2012)

Complete shed on 07/04/2012, perfect with every scale out.


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## Najakeeper (Apr 16, 2012)

Here are some more still shots from today`s feeding. I fed her outside of her cage, it was an interesting experience.

Before:







Running away with the price:







The fangs:







Head shot:







Spine at the end of her tail: (Acanthophis = spine snake)







Back in the cage:







I also shot a video but it is a bit dark, sorry for the quality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMceojvNz2Q


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## RS4guy (Apr 16, 2012)

Gorgeous snake man, really!


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## Najakeeper (May 18, 2012)

RS4guy said:


> Gorgeous snake man, really!


Thanks.

Just to get out of the same old, here is a drinking video. I have shot this with my phone while spraying the snake with water so the quality is a bit low and the image is a bit shaky.

Desert snakes rarely drink from standing water as they rarely find standing water. Most don`t even understand the concept of drinking from a water dish. In wild, they usually drink the condensed water droplets of morning dew directly from their scales. In this video, I am spraying my Barkly Tableland Death Adder with water to stimulate this behavior so that she gets a nice pre-shed drink.

[YOUTUBE]pAEH1lcHsAM[/YOUTUBE]


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## Najakeeper (May 24, 2012)

Monster says hi to mouse: (Post shed pictures)


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## astraldisaster (May 24, 2012)

For a deadly monster, that thing is WAY too adorable. Love her setup, too.


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## Najakeeper (Jul 27, 2012)

Hey Guys,

So I took the little she-devil outside today to take some pictures under natural light without flash. Here are the results of that. I think she looks amazing...






http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/2216/ahawkeinatural1.jpg






http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/7766/ahawkeinatural2.jpg






http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/4792/ahawkeinatural3.jpg






http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/8684/ahawkeiheadmacro.jpg


ps: The pictures are much larger but unfortunately the forum settings don`t allow me to post them directly so just go ahead and click the pictures for larger versions.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Shrike (Jul 27, 2012)

Looking good!  That's a fat, healthy little snake.


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## Najakeeper (Apr 26, 2013)

My female had shed yesterday and I took some macro pictures of her scales... 

Look at these colors:













Unfortunately, I had to sell my small male to a friend, couldn't say no to him. Now, I need a male...


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## Najakeeper (Apr 28, 2013)

Took some more pictures today.

Acanthophis hawkei

Faces of life and death:







Sea of color:







Tail macro:



> The name of the genus derives from the Ancient Greek acanthos/ἄκανθος *"spine"* and ophis/ὄφις "snake", referring to the spine on the death adder's tail.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Najakeeper (Jun 2, 2013)

Najakeeper said:


> Unfortunately, I had to sell my small male to a friend, couldn't say no to him. Now, I need a male...


Found a 2009 male! Had to pay quite a hefty amount but I may be able produce some babies in 2014 season!

Here he is:

Reactions: Like 2


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## freedumbdclxvi (Jun 2, 2013)

He is beautiful!   Good luck in tue future pairing them!


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## Najakeeper (May 24, 2014)

Najakeeper said:


> I guess nobody could so here is a close up:
> 
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This tiny little bugger grew up to a full grown female and she is breeding right now  :







I also shot a video, which I will upload next week...


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## freedumbdclxvi (May 24, 2014)

Sweet!  Congrats and good luck!


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## Najakeeper (May 30, 2014)

Najakeeper said:


> This tiny little bugger grew up to a full grown female and she is breeding right now  :
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And here is the video:

[YOUTUBE]bYjAPMvN754[/YOUTUBE]

Reactions: Like 1


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## klawfran3 (May 30, 2014)

wow... all those macro shots make me drool. I especially love her scales! congrats on having such an absolutely stunning snake!

---------- Post added 05-30-2014 at 07:11 AM ----------




astraldisaster said:


> For a deadly monster, that thing is WAY too adorable. Love her setup, too.


I was thinking the same exact thing. The pudgy face and big eyes make me almost want to give it a hug. *ALMOST*


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## Najakeeper (Jun 10, 2014)

Ok, first one was for a noble reason like conception. Now, they are just having fun!

Reactions: Like 2


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