What's your favourite python and why? (Bonus points for pics!)

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Melmy

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Hi there

Kinda oldish newbie here. I haven't kept reptiles for the past 10 years but am looking to get back into it :) My 10 year old is keen to get a python and I'm rapt because it means I get to help her look after it ;)

I've kept Coastal & Cape York carpets in the past and loved them because they were just beautiful, gentle, inquisitive, placid, calming, stunning creatures <3

She's a little nervous on the size carpets get to though, so we are looking at some other options too, so I'm keen to hear what other people's favourites are! She's been thinking of a spotted or a woma but I don't know much about them, other than that the spotted's I've handled have just been the sweetest little docile things ever.

So please, tell me about your favourite python!
 
B842F1F8-0CF3-4B66-B9AF-5C807EF51CAE.jpeg I was dropped into chondropythons unexpectedly. Probably the worst way to be introduced to reptiles, and certainly one as difficult as a chondro, but it’s fair to say that if they haven’t changed my life, they’ve reorganised it.

I guess you have some experience. Between others here and experienced chondro breeders you will decide if you’re ready for these incredible snakes, but if you are I wouldn’t own anything else. But I’m not experienced and others who are may not recommend a chondro to you. And it is for your daughter, so others may be better.

This is Slipknot
 
Ooh stunning! What have you found to be special and tricky about chondros? I know nothing about them other than that they are big and arboreal [emoji1]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'd have to say Children's Pythons have been the most rewarding, at least out of what would be suitable for a beginner. I've also absolutely adored Water Pythons and Death Adders, but Water Pythons get large, aren't necessarily the best choice for everyone, and are very consistent in appearance compared to other options. Death Adders are spectacular snakes, I have enjoyed them immensely, but clearly a deadly snake isn't for most people.

Children's Pythons are just brilliant (I'd include maculosa and stimsoni in the group). They're very easy to keep, a very convenient size, a real pleasure to work with and these days come in a very impressive variety of colours and patterns. There are multiple good options in terms of types and morphs and this largely comes down to personal preference, but for me, the best morph is marble. It's very beautiful, comes in a wide spectrum with some having background colours of white, cream, yellow or orange (I'm absolutely thrilled with the yellow/orange ones we've been developing!) and the darker pattern can be black, brown or reddish, it has two different elements (a bold pattern and another layer of 'peppering' I call it, which increases as the snakes age). Both elements of the pattern vary a lot. I've included a few pictures of mine.

Chondros are mentioned above, they're undeniably beautiful and I absolutely love mine, there are plenty of good things to say about them, but they're also a very difficult species for beginners and there's no Australian python with more specific requirements. Definitely worth a look at as your third or fourth python, I love mine, but I wouldn't consider them at all appropriate for a newer keeper. I've had to save several in friends' collections which would have died from prolapses and in my own Chondros I've had sloughing issues which as a newer keeper I would have been unable to deal with, and in such a sensitive species with such thin delicate skin these can even be fatal. No problem for me after 25 years of working with snakes but not something I'd want in the hands of a new keeper. If you want to get Chondros by all means get some, they are unique and spectacular, but I strongly recommend keeping some other pythons for at least a couple of years first - nothing more heartbreaking than the death of a pet, especially when a child is involved. Another issue with Chondros which is not an issue to me but is important to most keepers is that they are generally not appropriate for regular handling. They stress more easily than any other Australian python, some people even manage to injure them while handling, especially the tails, they are more nervous and prone to biting than most other pythons, and size for size they have a surprisingly painful bite compared to other pythons. My first few Chondro bites which were from small ones amazed me, I'd been bitten probably hundreds of thousands of times by snakes if you include hatchlings, and usually something like a Carpet or Children's Python of the same size won't really hurt, and while it didn't exactly bother me it was definitely painful and drew blood in a way I just wouldn't expect from other pythons of the same size.

Anyway, enjoy some pictures of some marble Children's Pythons :) Of all the species and morphs I've worked with over the last 25 years, this would be my pick :)

Marbled holdbacks taken late 2018.jpg ST gorgeous orange marble.jpg ST B1 boy ST.jpg

ST B1 boy ST.jpg
 
Those are so beautiful Sdaji! I’ve never seen ones like that before. I did some stalking and see you’re in Melbourne too so I will be keeping an eye out for when you have hatchies ;)
Thanks for sharing your experience - the antaresias I’ve held have all been lovely snakes - but that was a long time ago before there was such an amazing variety of colours!
 
Not mine, but I am a big fan of paradoxed pythons :) basically a 1/x (possibly thousands- 10 thousands) chance of things going wrong in the development stage of embryo, although there are different theories on what has best chance, I.e people say a sudden change in different temps for breeding for a very short time,

Some say 2 embryos merging

Some say you can only get it from breeding a het x het albino

Etc

But no one really knows (afaik), people have bred 2 paradox together and gotten 0 paradox

Some have had a great deal of luck in breeding them and claim to have “cracked the code”

62606DB1-1724-4936-B28F-2B3FDE154591.jpeg
 
my favorite marbled girl . Definitely a good beginner snek imo . Although tbh I've found hatchies to be very nippy and quite feisty compared to some carpet hatchies IMG_20190202_163637_360.jpg
 
Not mine, but I am a big fan of paradoxed pythons :) basically a 1/x (possibly thousands- 10 thousands) chance of things going wrong in the development stage of embryo, although there are different theories on what has best chance, I.e people say a sudden change in different temps for breeding for a very short time,

Some say 2 embryos merging

Some say you can only get it from breeding a het x het albino

Etc

But no one really knows (afaik), people have bred 2 paradox together and gotten 0 paradox

Some have had a great deal of luck in breeding them and claim to have “cracked the code”

View attachment 327270

Wow that’s awesome! I don’t imagine there are many of those getting around then [emoji38]

my favorite marbled girl . Definitely a good beginner snek imo . Although tbh I've found hatchies to be very nippy and quite feisty compared to some carpet hatchies View attachment 327271

That is a beautiful snake [emoji7] A marble is definitely next on my wish list.
I took my daughter to a reptile shop a few weeks ago and she found the teeny ant hatchies a bit nerve wracking just because they were so tiny and delicate. She adored the BHPs. She ended up choosing a Woma as she loves the patterns and she got a super chill 6 month old.
 
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Those are so beautiful Sdaji! I’ve never seen ones like that before. I did some stalking and see you’re in Melbourne too so I will be keeping an eye out for when you have hatchies ;)
Thanks for sharing your experience - the antaresias I’ve held have all been lovely snakes - but that was a long time ago before there was such an amazing variety of colours!

There should have a few clutches of marbles as usual this season, and yep, if you're in Melbourne you're welcome to come pick yours up :) Antaresias sure have come a long way since I bought my first ones in the 90s! Back then we used to get excited about variations in shades of dull brown! Haha, even 10 years ago I was very excited by things like patternless and basic blonde macs, and while I still like those very much we've really come so far with the new things being produced today. I look at some of the hets we produce these days and some of the variation in them would have had me super excited 15-20+ years ago, but these days most people don't even care and there's certainly no price difference when we sell them. The new stuff is so beautiful that I guess it blows the old brown ones away. I still get very fond of some of the hets though, even some of the 'ugly' ones.
 
There should have a few clutches of marbles as usual this season, and yep, if you're in Melbourne you're welcome to come pick yours up :) Antaresias sure have come a long way since I bought my first ones in the 90s! Back then we used to get excited about variations in shades of dull brown! Haha, even 10 years ago I was very excited by things like patternless and basic blonde macs, and while I still like those very much we've really come so far with the new things being produced today. I look at some of the hets we produce these days and some of the variation in them would have had me super excited 15-20+ years ago, but these days most people don't even care and there's certainly no price difference when we sell them. The new stuff is so beautiful that I guess it blows the old brown ones away. I still get very fond of some of the hets though, even some of the 'ugly' ones.

I noticed you still have a couple of marbles left on reptile classifieds - that’s me that’s emailed you [emoji38]
 
There should have a few clutches of marbles as usual this season, and yep, if you're in Melbourne you're welcome to come pick yours up :) Antaresias sure have come a long way since I bought my first ones in the 90s! Back then we used to get excited about variations in shades of dull brown! Haha, even 10 years ago I was very excited by things like patternless and basic blonde macs, and while I still like those very much we've really come so far with the new things being produced today. I look at some of the hets we produce these days and some of the variation in them would have had me super excited 15-20+ years ago, but these days most people don't even care and there's certainly no price difference when we sell them. The new stuff is so beautiful that I guess it blows the old brown ones away. I still get very fond of some of the hets though, even some of the 'ugly' ones.

I still get excited about those dull browns, chocolates, tans and reddish browns. Breeders are producing incredible looking animals but that takes nothing away from wild types, they are amazing in their own way.
 
I still get excited about those dull browns, chocolates, tans and reddish browns. Breeders are producing incredible looking animals but that takes nothing away from wild types, they are amazing in their own way.

I can't say it takes nothing away from them! Haha, try selling one these days, it's tough, most people much prefer the bright colours! Purely on a personal level I agree though, I still admire and enjoy them :) If I had to pick my favourite 10 individual snakes, some of them including my absolute #1 would certainly be wildtypes. Although I suppose I got my #1 back when I'd never owned a morph or even heard of them being in Australia! She's nearly 18 years old.
 
Would have to be Jungle for me...

Jungle.jpg

Spewing I lose it in a heat wave back in 2013. Lesson learned though.

Will have to pick up another one eventually.

Wad so placid too. Only ever bit me once (was my fault) and was never defensive.
 
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I can't say it takes nothing away from them! Haha, try selling one these days, it's tough, most people much prefer the bright colours! Purely on a personal level I agree though, I still admire and enjoy them :) If I had to pick my favourite 10 individual snakes, some of them including my absolute #1 would certainly be wildtypes. Although I suppose I got my #1 back when I'd never owned a morph or even heard of them being in Australia! She's nearly 18 years old.

Yes, the same for me. My first snakes were two maculosa back when they were classified as Liasis. There were no morphs or localities. No internet for looking for the next animal for your collection either. I have never had a morph in my collection and I don't think I ever will. The amazing morphs are what attracts many new people to the hobby so I appreciate them for that.
 
Yes, the same for me. My first snakes were two maculosa back when they were classified as Liasis. There were no morphs or localities. No internet for looking for the next animal for your collection either. I have never had a morph in my collection and I don't think I ever will. The amazing morphs are what attracts many new people to the hobby so I appreciate them for that.

I was actually quite heavily disinterested in morphs when they first started hitting the Australian scene. It seemed so American, unnatural, unappealing at the time. Some of us even speculated that Australians would not embrace them and we'd all want to stick with wildtypes! Haha! The first morphs I ever owned were actually the first albinos of their species, which I produced myself. It came not long after I'd come around on the idea of morphs and to say I was excited would be the greatest ever understatement. It would have been very interesting if that happened a few years earlier when I wasn't fond of them!

Actually, I lie. Years earlier I produced axanthic carpet pythons. At the time I wouldn't have known what axanthic meant, and while I did notice each clutch of that pair of carpets included some with the unusual colours, I didn't think too much of it until years later. It kills me now to think I was selling axanthic carpets over 15 years ago for the price of regular coastals and didn't keep any! If you told me at the time what they were going to be worth 15 years later I'd have fallen off my chair.
 
This one (Vesper) as she was my first after wanting a snake for around 20 years she is so placid I am pretty sure she will always be my fav, I would love a water python one day I think they are very pretty too!IMG_2143.jpg IMG_2139.jpg
 
I have a thing for black/white combinations, so for me it’s Diamond and Julatten Jungle.

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I love them all, but for nostalgia's sake, I have to go with the diamond python. I grew up in their natural range and was lucky enough to see a few wild specimens as a kid and ever since I've been enraptured by them. Their patterns kind of remind me of some antique china plate designs.
 
I’ve always loved BHP’s and they are definitely on my wish list but I’ve never owned one. So many beautiful morphs now too! The pinstripes are awesome
I’m loving my daughters little woma - so chill with such a funny personality. Our children’s pythons are also very gorgeous.
We have a hatchie albino Darwin also who is lovely and I’m looking forward to watching her grow and develop her colours.
 
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