The Debrecen Zoo can once again provide good news about the house of the cereal sheds, which is successfully reproducing year after year after a total of eight healthy offspring emerged from the elongated, soft-shell eggs laid about two months ago. The gliding babies, which flaunt four color variations, are beautifully dripping behind the scenes; their first molting was successful, and today they consumed their first-day mice. Meanwhile, caregivers have also discovered additional eggs in the parents’ terrarium, giving the institution confidence in continuous reproduction.
The red grain shuttle (Pantherophis guttatus), native to North America, is named for its frequent occurrence around grain storage. It likes densely overgrown areas, forest clearings, and abandoned buildings. As a nocturnal predator, it feeds mainly on rodents but also kills birds and bats. Like other gliders, this species does not produce poison and obtains its food by suffocation.
Due to its active nature and relatively simple housing conditions, it is a popular hobby animal worldwide, and its breeding has resulted in numerous color variations, writes dr. Gergely Sándor Nagy managing director.
Debrecen Zoo / debreceninap.hu
