Oenpelli Python

[Bushman]

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In regards to keeping them legally...............................For me it would be a case of the seller / Government department naming their price. I would pay anything for a chance to own these snakes.

Prestige......Not likely as I would not want anyone to know I had them. It is about grass roots reptile keeping where you keep, study and try to breed a species that you find amazing.

The very reason why I am facinated by the now dirt cheap M. carinata. I was lucky enough to be given a few from John and I will never ever sell them as to me, they are the next best thing to owing an O.P.

A few years ago I maintained one of the best collections of reptiles in Australia worth well over a hundred thousand dollars. I can tell you now that I have never enjoyed keeping herps more than I do today with a tiny collection of pygmy monitors,the odd python, a few rough knobbies and a few blue tongues.

Forget about the dollars involved with O.P's (or any species for that matter), it is about keeping & trying to breed one of the worlds most unique python species.

Very well said Nick. I echo the sentiments expressed here. Like you, I consider myself a researcher rather than a keeper. Passion has no price and discovery is its own reward.

I personally see the dollar value placed on herps in Australia's recent history to be an (almost) necessary evil. Amatuer herpers in Australia now have relatively easy, legal access to most species that interest them.
I love field work above all else but valuable contributions to herpetology are made by studying reptiles in captivity as well.

 

[Waterrat]

All this talk about Peter's being tame, and no fuss required??????????????????????? Perhaps you guys are talking about different animals to the O.P's that were flighty, finiky feeders that Peter spent many many hours with trying to get them settled and than established????????????????????????????????????????

If they were so easy to maintain and breed, don't you think that Peter (and the other European Keepers) would have had them established within a year or two?????????? There is a reason why O.P's never took off in captivity. Peter's limited sucess with these animals was over 20+ years ago. Do you not think that someone would have bred them by now on a regular basis if they were a no fuss animal?

Nick, you are in full flight again, settle down mate. Usually, one question mark ???? gets the message across.
I have seen Peter's OPs many times and I know about the particular care he had to take of them. What I said in my post, is EXACTLY what Peter said just last week (I spoke to him, not you). That is - if he was to give an advice, it would be not to fuss about them too much. It seems that you know more about keeping OPs than he does now, how is that?
Yes, he had 20 years of time to reflect and think and just maybe that's he would do it now if he had another chance. What you may remember is that he kept them at Upper Barron - the wettest and coolest place in NQ - not exactly like their natural habitat. Is it.?

 

[Bushman]

I think that Jamie made a good point earlier in regards to our collective experience of this species being too small to make any meaningful generalizations...

I don't think enough is known about them to make broad statements like that - there hasn't been enough in captivity to generalise. And captive-bred stuff is almost universally more stable in captivity than wild-caught animals. John Weigel had probs with his w/c Roughies, but look at them now, after just a few years...

Jamie

 

[SpilotaFreak78]

Saratoga, that is awesome thanks for sharing your photo of a Oenpelli Python, which is something that we don't get to see that often.

l know that in the not to distant future, the Oenpelli will become available to private reptile collectors, but they wont be cheap to buy at the beginning let me tell you.

l cannot tell you who will be breeding them that is very private and confidential, so please don't even think about asking me who it is that will have access to the Oenpelii Python's.

I heard that they were going to be somewhere in the 5 figure range pricewise

 

[Waterrat]

I heard that they were going to be somewhere in the 5 figure range pricewise

I heard they were going to be exactly $75,365.- in the year 2014. Trust me, I am in the "know". :lol:

 

[viridis]

I heard they were going to be exactly $75,365.- in the year 2014. Trust me, I am in the "know". :lol:

You seem to know everything else!

 

[Jungle_Freak]

OP were non aggressive in captivity ?
Sounds like they were stressed or over handled.

OP were poor feeders ? sounds like stress .

OP only produced one clutch in captivity ?
Sounds like stress ,
resulting in not enough food intake for the female to reproduce more than once .

Who ever gets the chance to try and breed these pythons had better not stress them out.
IE touch them at all.
Just put them in a suitable enclosures.And leave them be.
Offer food and water and clean enclosures.
But never touch them.
Males must be kept seperate untill breeding season.
Keeping pythons together can result in stress that can have effects on a pythons ability to thrive in captivity ,.
I doubt OP breeding programme will be success the Roughies were .
The Roughies did thrive but what about the hyper darwin ?
2 different projects and 2 very different results ?
And it could be considered a wild caught darwin carpet would be the easier to breed ?

I only mention the above in a hope that who ever gets the OP breeding programme pays attention to what i wrote.
Stress is the course of any wild pythons failure to thrive in captivity.
SIGNS OF STRESS.
NOT AGGRESSIVE AND POOR FEEDING RESPONCE.
In most cases the stressed python will only feed well enough to stay alive but then they are very succeptable to many ailments , etc.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

PK's sample size of 2 animals is WAY too small to generalise about a species. ALL animals are subject to individual behaviours which may not reflect the general nature of the species, and I daresay the OP is the same. It may be a specialist feeder as an adult... it may not, but one or two captive-bred generations would probably make a huge difference to its prospects as a captive subject.

It wasn't even given a reasonable chance - removed from the care of one of the most capable keepers in the country, and placed into the care of inexpert public servants - one of whom took one to the first Expo at Darling Harbour, took it home to the Blue Mountains every night where it went without heat... that animal died from RI about 3 weeks after it went back to Darwin.

I bet Peter Krauss wouldn't have sacrificed his animal/s for the sake of a bit of publicity...

Jamie

 

[Waterrat]

Roger, it a nutshell that's what PK was implying - set them up well, leave them alone, don't fuss about them.

 

[waruikazi]

I only mention the above in a hope that who ever gets the OP breeding programme pays attention to what i wrote.
Stress is the course of any wild pythons failure to thrive in captivity.
SIGNS OF STRESS.
NOT AGGRESSIVE AND POOR FEEDING RESPONCE.
In most cases the stressed python will only feed well enough to stay alive but then they are very succeptable to many ailments , etc.

Perhaps you could ask reptillian1933 to pass that info on for you... :lol:

 

[Nighthawk]

Roger, it a nutshell that's what PK was implying - set them up well, leave them alone, don't fuss about them.

In other words; life is simple, it's people who overcomplicate things.

 

[Jungle_Freak]

Roger, it a nutshell that's what PK was implying - set them up well, leave them alone, don't fuss about them.

Ok Michael, I totally agree with Peter
Also I was not having a go at Peter at all .
Just giving a opinion on husbandry and stress management etc.
Roger.

 

[Wookie]

Nice shorts slick turtle :lol:

 

[cement]

Originally Posted by Slickturtle
I reckon they are gentle giants. I wonder if PK found that as well?


A friend was able to see and handle PK's OP's and told me they were exactly that. Big and tame.
Whether i ever owned them or not, i would absolutely love to see at least someone keeping them.



All this talk about Peter's being tame, and no fuss required??????????????????????? Perhaps you guys are talking about different animals to the O.P's that were flighty, finiky feeders that Peter spent many many hours with trying to get them settled and than established??????????????????????????????????????? ?

I can't answer that question Viridis, but i was told what i wrote by a person who is a good friend and a well known snake breeder of many years that i am sure you all know. He is also a close friend of Peter K and has no reason to talk crap about them. Maybe he was comparing them to his 17 ft scrubby when he said tame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:lol:

 

[Wiganov]

I was always taken by this line on Oenpellis in Rick Shine's Australian Snakes - A Natural History:

"To see one of these giant ghostly snakes stretched out on the Arnhem Land escarpment in the moonlight is one of the great sights of Australian herpetology."

 

[spotlight]

trust me guys, i saw the set up Krauss used to house his OP's in and no one could of done better!!
the encloser took up the whole back wall of his snake house, it looked like something you would see in a wildlife park display it had cave sections for them to hide away from sight, NO STRESS!!

 

[Jungle_Freak]

edited

 

[waruikazi]

I'm having a little difficulty trying to follow who's on what side of the discussion atm, and what anyone is actually saying. Maybe i'm working too hard in my job and have a bit of brain fry!

I'm still left wondering how much experience people on either side of the discussion have with keeping WC snakes? I used to be a nominee on a take permit, so i have a little first hand experience and i also have some good friends who have/had take permits. So i also have their experience and in one of those cases the snakes worked with included these drop bears. WC snakes, adult animals, don't do well in captivity as a general rule. You get some that are the exception but as a general rule it doesn't matter how good the set up is they usually don't ever thrive.

 

[Waterrat]

.

I'm still left wondering how much experience people on either side of the discussion have with keeping WC snakes? I used to be a nominee on a take permit, so i have a little first hand experience and i also have some good friends who have/had take permits. So i also have their experience and in one of those cases the snakes worked with included these drop bears. WC snakes, adult animals, don't do well in captivity as a general rule. You get some that are the exception but as a general rule it doesn't matter how good the set up is they usually don't ever thrive.

Gordo, I collected many snakes from the wild before 1972 and throughout the 80s on permit for the Zoo and privately. The majority of them settled in captivity very well, few didn't, mainly those that were put on public display too soon. The major losses were species from different climatic zones, e.g. tigers, copperheads and from different ecosystems, e.g. desert species. A good number of our WC snakes not only thrived but also bred in captivity. Admittedly, some individuals were very difficult and were released back to the wild.

 

[keetyhunt]

I will post some exciting pics in short future' ;-)

I Know the Legand who is trying to breed them and repopulate it' belive me not soo far. u all will know how successful the breeding will be.
'