Brownsville, Texas -- Venomous and fending for themselves, the newest additions to Gladys Porter Zoo — two baby king cobras — are as independent as their birthday, July 4, suggests.
“We might just call them Stars and Stripes,” joked Brian Henley, a reptile keeper at the zoo who saw them hatch.
The king cobra however is no joking matter.
It is the largest of the venomous snakes, growing up to 18 feet long.
Its scientific name literally translates to snake-eater, which is their natural diet, Henley said.
Slithering in their white-and-yellow skin, the two baby king cobras are the only ones to hatch this season.
“We had a low fertility rate this year, only two of the 30 eggs hatched.” Henley said. ”We don’t know why.”
The zoo may have opened in September of 1971, but they have been breeding king cobras since 1974. This is the sixth time they have bred the venemous reptiles and approximately 83 cobras have hatched since then, 17 of them last year alone.
“This zoo was the second to ever breed the king cobra,” said Cynthia Galvan, the zoo’s marketing director, “and one of the few to keep doing it.”
Currently, both baby kings are on display in a nursery exhibit in the herpaterium, only a short distance from their 14-foot long father Golden Boy.
Golden Boy is “probably around 17 to 18 years old,” Henley guessed.
That means one of the offspring may take up the larger exhibit soon, since the snake’s common life span is 20 to 25 years.
Both Golden Boy and the mother are Malasyian, Henley said — although the snake is native to India and other parts of Southeast Asia.
Unique to the snake is the building of a nest to nurse the eggs for 60 to 90 days before they hatch, Henley said.
“The eggs were incubated for 75 days before they both cracked the egg shell with their nose,” Henley admitted.
The Monitor (McAllen,Tx)
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