Snake eggs hatched artificially in Hyderabad, released into KBR park

U Sudhakar Reddy
For the first time in the city, snake eggs are artificially 
incubated by the Friends of Snake Society with the help of forest officials and the ten 
snakelets (hatchlings) are released into KBR Park on Saturday. Snakes that are rescued 
and kept at the centre in Sainikpuri laid eggs and usually they fail to hatch as there 
are no natural breeding facilities for them.
An incubator brought from US is used now to hatch the eggs of Banded Racer snake 
incubated successfully at Friends of Snakes Society. It's a non poisonous snake.
The society’s coordinator Mr Partha Sarathi Durga said,”A gravid Banded Racer snake was 
rescued by the organization two months ago and the snake was relocated with the help of 
the AP Forest Department within three days. however, during its brief stay at the 
facility, the snake laid 15 eggs in one of the enclosure. The eggs were separated and 
incubated in an incubator that the organization recently procured. The eggs hatched after 
a period of 55 days, during which care was taken to choose an appropriate substrate, 
maintain a constant conducive temperature and humidity. In the wild, fungal growth, 
fluctuations in temperature and humidity, infertility of the eggs, egg eating predators 
could be few influencing factors that greatly decrease the hatching success rate,”

Throughout the period, the temperature was maintained around 28 to 30 degree Celsius and 
the humidity was maintained around 80 percent. Out of the 15 eggs laid by the snake, 4 
turned out to be infertile and out of the 11 remaining eggs, 10 were successfully hatched 
leading the success rate at more than 90 percent. The ten hatchlings were released at KBR 
Park by DFO K. Mohan (wildlife management Division) Hyderabad.