What is the difference between the east and west African gaboons? I have never been able to tell. also, do you keep any rhino vipers?
Baby Gaboon Viper Feeding Pic...
- Thread starter Gregg Madden
- Start date
Well to start, they are now separate species... The West African gaboon viper used to be a subspecies but through molecular testing they have been granted full species status...snakeguy101;3703611; said:
The East African gaboon viper (Bitis gabonica) lacks or has under developed rostral "horns" and they have 2 stripes that go from the eye to the back corner of their mouth... They average 3 to 4 feet total length...
The West African gaboon viper (Bitis rhinoseros) Has large very pronounced rostral horns and they have only one stripe from the eye to the back corner of the mouth... They easily attain sizes of up to 6 and a half feet long and sometimes as large as 7 feet...
However, their husbandry is identical...
I do keep Rhino vipers (Bitis nasicornis) as well....
