Jessica Amaya 
BROWNSVILLE – The Gladys Porter Zoo is proud to announce the historic hatching of Mangshan Pit Vipers after eleven-and-a-half years of trial and error.
The Mangshan Pit Vipers first arrived at the zoo twelve years ago. The vipers grow up to seven feet in length and are estimated to go up to eleven pounds.
Clint Guadiana, a curator of reptiles and amphibians, said a lot of the animals in the zoo are under a breeding program called, “The Species Survival Plan.”
The institution successfully bred and hatched this rare species as there are only about 500 left in the wild.
“We got some funding from the refrigeration unit for our exhibit that allowed us to cool them down to what they needed which was about 55 degrees and then when we brought them out in the spring, they bred, and then it was a two-month wait for eggs and then took about 55 days for them to hatch,” said Guadiana.
Gladys Porter Zoo invites the public to come to visit the Mangshan Pit Vipers’ parents, as they are on display.
As for the newly hatched Mangshan Pit Vipers, Guadiana says they won’t be on display for a while.
