21 eggs artificially incubated at Parassinikkadavu snake park

: Fourteen Indian Rock Python eggs hatched at the laboratory of the Parassinikkadavu Snake Park and Mini Zoo here.

“The Indian Rock Python babies hatched out happily from their leathery egg shells a few days ago,” said Ahmed Ziya, veterinary officer of the snake park. He said 14 out of 21 eggs selected for artificial incubation at the snake park hatched out successfully. Fourteen healthy Python babies measuring an average of 45 cm crawled on to the laboratory carpet, he added.

Mr. Ziya said this incubation was proof that all animals, especially reptiles, were kept in the snake park in conditions in which there was minimum stress for them and maximum synchronisation with nature. Earlier in April, mating of King Cobras in captivity had been successfully carried out and studied at the park, he noted.

51 days

Snake park officials said the eggs had been selected from the Python enclosure of the park a few days after they were laid and all necessary parameters required for hatching were artificially set and monitored periodically. After 51 days, 14 of them hatched. More studies are going on in Snake Park run by the Pappinissery Visha Chikitsa Kendram here, said its director E. Kunhiraman.

Captive breeding

The studies would pave the way for new outcomes in the captive breeding of wild animals, he noted. The park is open to researchers and wildlife enthusiasts, he added.

The park has spacious enclosures for King Cobra and other snakes as part of the diversification programme for developing natural habitats in the zoo, according to park officials.