Study the effect of temperature and size of egg on Dienagkistrodon acutus hatching and survival rate

Objective To uncover the cause of the low survival rate of immature Dienagkistrodon acutus,and to explore the impact of different temperature and different egg weight on the hatching,young features,transformation efficiency and survival rate of the immature Dienagkistrodon acutus.Methods Different nest of snake eggs spawning date not differ more than one days divided into some group,each group randomly choose a different temperature incubation.Except the room temperature group seted as control,all other groups were hatched in water-jacket incubator.After the young snake came out,all data were recorded and analyzed.Moreover,the survival rate of different temperature treatment groups were recorded after 3 months hand-feeding under the same environmental condition,the same feed mode and the same cultivation method.Results The hatching,young features and survival rate of the immature Dienagkistrodon acutus was strong correlated with the hatch temperature.Within seted temperature range,as the treatment temperature raised,the incubation period was shortened significantly,however the abnormity ratio was climbed,and the transformation efficiency and survival rate of 3 months old young snakes was descended.Additionally,the weighter of the egg the bigger of the young snake obtained,which was also showed more strong viability and high survival rate.Conclusion The survival rate of the immature Dienagkistrodon acutus was remarkably correlated with the hatch temperature and its egg weight,the most suitable incubation temperature of 24~26℃,the larger the snake eggs the higher the survival rate of baby snake.