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Pythons Hatched
The Birmingham Nature Centre has successfully hatched a nest of Savu Island pythons, one of the smallest pythons in the world. This is only the second time ever they have been bred by zoological institutions in the UK.

With the babies not out on display, the public can see pictures of the nest at the Centre's new Facebook page. The babies weigh just 21-23g. Currently brown in colour, after their first slough (shed) they will turn bright orange/red before maturing to a mottled black, brown. Males are smaller than females but they only get to 6ft max in length.

Councillor Martin Mullaney, Cabinet Member for Sport, Leisure and Culture, said: "The Nature Centre has a wide variety of species. Many are available for the public to see, but others are housed there for the purposes of conservation and breeding projects across world. Not only is it a great day out for families, but with Facebook, we can now give people an opportunity to see species not necessarily accessible."

The python's habitat is a tiny island in Indonesia. They were only discovered in 1993 and the find has prompted the need to explore Indonesia for more undiscovered species.

The babies will be fed and looked after until they are old enough to go to other zoos in the United Kingdom and Europe to carry on the breeding program and introduce new genetic bloodlines in to the collections.

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Applications open for MMI research grants

News Story 1
 RCVS' Mind Matters Initiative (MMI) has launched round two of its veterinary mental health research grants.

Researchers have until 11.59pm on Wednesday, 28 May 2025 to apply for a grant for research which reflects MMI's 2025 focus areas.

Only one Impact Grant was awarded last year, and so this year there are two Discovery Grants and one Impact Grants available. Each Discovery Grant is worth £5,000 and the Impact Grant is worth £15,000.

For more information or to apply, email researchgrants@rcvs.org.uk to contact the MMI team.

 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
Germany livestock import ban lifted

The UK government has amended its ban on the import of livestock, meat and dairy products from Germany.

Defra said the decision follows 'rigorous technical assessment' of the measures applied and the current situation. "If the situation changes, we will not hesitate to take necessary action in response to the FMD outbreaks in the European Union to protect our domestic biosecurity," it said.

The ban was implemented in January following an outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) near Berlin. Personal imports of meat, milk and dairy products will remain in place at a country level.