Abstract: Mangshan pitviper (Protobothrops mangshanensis, formerly Zhaoermia manshanensis) is the largest pitviper in China, and a critically endangered snake species only found in the Nanling Mountains of China. The wild P. mangshanensis population is extremely rare, and needs to be urgently protected. To save this rare and endangered species and to establish a captive breeding population, nine P. mangshanensis fresh eggs (34-38 mm × 50-66 mm in size and 31-40 g in weight) were collected from the Hunan Mangshan National Nature Reserve on July 8th, 2011, and transferred to the Hunan Jingxiangyuan Snakes Breeding Limited Company in Changde City of Hunan Province on the next day to carry out artificial incubation. By using vermiculite as the incubation substrate, nine snakelets were successively hatched from September 1st to September 2nd, 2011. The average total length and average weight of the nine newly hatched snakenets were （38.17±0.98） mm and （27.37±2.15） g, respectively. During the captive breeding of snakelets, a feeding experiment was conducted to determine the diet of P. mangshanensis under captive condition. It was observed that the newly hatched snakenets had very low initiative to prey, and thus, were fed artificially. After artificial feeding, the snakelets could prey on small mice independently, and grew faster. Up to April 13th, 2012, the average weight of five snakelets increased by 15.74 g, with an increment of 55.57%, and the average total length increased by 16.02 cm, with an increment of 26.65%. The snakelets were nonhibernation fed by using aircondition to control the temperature of the breeding room, and using wet sponge and thin moss soil to control the humidity. The survival rate of the overwintered snakelets was 83.33%. This study could provide references to the captive breeding of P. mangshanensis.

Key words: macroinvertebrate, heterogeneity, geostatistics., river microhabitat