Our goal of re-establishing eastern indigo populations in areas where they have been extirpated (locally extinct) requires the contributions of many scientists in a variety of disciplines. As this plan integrates field conservation with captive propagation, it involves the combined expertise of Project Orianne staff and the support and collaboration of our partners across the southeast.
Measuring a juvenile Eastern Indigo and egg, photo credit Dirk Stevenson
The Orianne Center for Indigo Conservation (OCIC), located in central Florida, is currently in the design and construction phase. The OCIC will be the primary facility for the breeding and propagation of eastern indigo snakes for Project Orianne’s reintroduction projects. Here, eastern indigos will be managed using industry best practices in animal husbandry, combined with new and innovative techniques for breeding and propagation. The foremost design theme centers on a preventative health care program that integrates optimal animal environments with recent advances in reptile medicine. This will be accomplished by constructing multiple smaller buildings to facilitate colony management via small groups of snakes rather than the traditional single, large, multi-purpose buildings seen in most zoological parks.
Eastern Indigo snake eggs, photo credit Dirk Stevenson
The creation of multiple outdoor enclosures for eastern indigo snakes will be the hallmark of the OCIC. This novel approach offers exposure to all the natural elements that often cannot be simulated adequately inside a traditional reptile building. The natural daily and seasonal cycles of temperature and precipitation will be vital in the long term reproductive cycling of the colony. The opportunity to bask in the sun (ideal for daily thermoregulation and calcium metabolism), exposure to natural photoperiods, cool winter temperatures, and the elements (rain, wind), will keep the snakes in their normal physiological rhythms. In addition, a variety of behavioral enrichment essentials will create a stimulating environment to increase exercise and promote both psychological and physical fitness. These techniques will also increase the fitness of snakes scheduled for release by helping them develop hunting skills and enhancing their problem-solving aptitude.
In addition to Project Orianne’s primary mission of producing eastern indigo snakes for repatriation (restoring a population by the intentional release of animals into an area formerly occupied by that species), the OCIC will also maintain a second colony of eastern indigos to produce snakes for conservation education programs. Project Orianne maintains the Eastern Indigo Snake Studbook and produces the Population Management Plan for the Eastern Indigo Snake for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). We recognize and promote the importance of eastern indigos used in education programs to teach species conservation, ecology of southeastern habitats, and environmental ethics.
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