They have to be carefully protected, observed, and proper food has to be given during mating and breeding,” Lobo added.įeeding the king cobras is not easy. Also, there is a chance of the males eating the females as king cobras are cannibals. The eggs have to be specially protected from predatory insects, birds and small mammals, besides fungal attack. During this time, injuries are more and they have to be closely observed. Males tend to be very aggressive and show off their dominance. “Special care has to be taken when looking after king cobras, especially during mating season. King cobras are solitary and they do not help to raise the young,” he said. When the eggs hatch, the young are 12–25 inches in length. They lay 18–50 eggs which take 70 to 77 days to hatch. It starts to mate when it is about four years old. But at the time of hatching, it leaves the nest.The king cobra mates once a year in January and builds its nest in April. After the eggs are laid, the female also guards her nest against predators, another singular trait. We are hoping to expand the snake house, for which funds are awaited,” said Bhandary. “The rescued snakes are released in the reserve forests. In a month the park gets 50–75 snakes, including cobras rescued from neighbouring locations. All movements are being monitored through closed-circuit TVs,’’ he said. A natural forest similar to Western ghats has been created there. At the snake park, snakes were successful in mating as well as laying eggs at an off-display enclosure. We hope to undertake captive breeding next year as well. We have to individually feed the young ones. Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, H Jayaprakash Bhandary, Director, Pilikula Biological Park, said: “Undertaking captive breeding is a cumbersome job. In all, the park has about 200 snakes of nearly 25 species. Three king cobras - two male and a female - were given to a zoo in Hyderabad. Of these, three are females and the rest are male. At present, the park has about 12 king cobras, probably the highest when compared with any other zoo in India. Last September, 36 out of the 37 king cobra eggs found abandoned at a village in Dharmastala, Dakshina Kannada district were successfully hatched. In 2011, captive breeding of king cobras was undertaken for the first time. Park authorities are also planning to expand the snake house, so that more varieties of snakes can be accommodated. The country’s first scientific captive breeding centre for king cobras at the Pilikula Biological Park, Vamanjoor in Mangalore is hoping to breed more king cobras soon. Pilikula biopark creates off-display natural forest to fine-tune a difficult process
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