The Jaldapara National Park in Alipurduar district has successfully hatched snakes from rescued eggs through artificial incubation.

The snakelets were of spectacled cobra and walls krait.

Sources said the Rapid Response Team (RRT) of the Jaldapara wildlife division had rescued a spectacled cobra from a house in the Satpukuria area of the Alipurduar district on May 18.

“The cobra in the house was a female and was guarding the eggs. The team members rescued the snake and all its 27 eggs and reported to the assistant wildlife warden's office at nearby Madarihat,” said a source.

In the office, the eggs were examined and it was found that one was rotten while the rest were in good condition.

The forest officer then decided to consult herpetology specialist Anirban Chaudhuri and with his help, made an incubator with sand, a plastic container and water. Herpetology deals with the study of reptiles and amphibians.

Sources said periodical observation of temperature and humidity had been carried out as suggested by Chaudhuri.

“The intermediate changes were well documented. RRT members Ashraful Ali and Koushik Basumata checked the development of eggs regularly,” said a source.

Around 2.30pm on July 9, the first snakelet of the spectacled cobra was noticed and subsequently, all eggs hatched.

“Before the hatching was completed, the snakelets consumed the entire egg yolk and the nutrition present. This will support them for eight to 10 days, after which the snakelets will have to start hunting,” said a source.

All the snakelets of the spectacled cobra were released in their natural habitat.

Similarly, the eggs of the walls krait which had been rescued from the nearby area on June 16 hatched on July 5. Of the seven rescued eggs, one was rotten.

The snakelets were released within six hours of the hatching.

The team that was part of the project also included assistant wildlife warden Novojit De of the Jaldapara park and Rameez Rozer, the Jaldapara north range officer.

“We could successfully hatch the snakes for the first time in Jaldapara under the leadership of Navojit De, the assistant wildlife warden of Jaldapara, with the guidance of a renowned herpetologist. We have properly documented the entire process for future training purposes,” Parveen Kaswan, the divisional forest officer of Jaldapara wildlife division, said.