During the past summer altogether 523 Hungarian meadow vipers (261 males and 262 females) were born from 40 females in the Hungarian Meadow Viper Conservation Centre, celebrating 20th anniversary of its operation this year. Additionally on the 24th of July the number 5000 viper of the species conservation program was born.
The average body weight of the newborn vipers were 2,6 g, with an average total length of 14,5 cm. The average clutch size was 13 offspring, similarly to the previous 4 years’ trend, which exceeded the overall average. This result shows that we succeeded in raising breeding conditions with the renovation and capacity building of the outdoor terraria and provision of plenty and more diverse prey.
As a result of the early spring and hot summer the females started giving birth 2 weeks earlier than usual. Gestation period did not differ from earlier years, with an average of 108 days. The extreme draught of the summer was counterbalanced in the Viper Centre by frequently watering the terraria.
With the arrival of this years’ juveniles the cumulative birth counter stopped at 5419 snakes had been born over the past two decades of operation of the Viper Centre. This is a sum of 536 clutches, with an average clutch size of 10 vipers, produced by 178 females. A great proportion of the vipers born and raised in the Centre, are already roaming wild in the natural habitats, following their reintroduction. More of this topic can be read in this earlier post:
https://www.rakosivipera.hu/en/2024/07/09/historic-moments-of-our-species-conservation-program/
