Getting an olive! Qs on buying and keeping

[StellaDoore]

So I've decided that an excellent 21st birthday present to myself would be an olive python. I've strongly considered Stimmies, Roughies, MDs, Jungles, Bredli, Coastals, GTP and womas, but in the end I'm too much in love with Olive pythons to get anything else...yet...

First off, where/who should I get her from? My bday isn't until end of Feb so I have plenty of time to make choices. I'm considering a $280 olive hatchie from Snake Ranch, who I've heard good things about, have some choice in and availability will hopefully be around 15th Feb.
OR. I can wait until Melbourne VHS expo, but I'm not sure on availability of olives and pricing, but it gives me better choice of hatchies (assuming there are some) and removes need to freight (or road trip). OR. I can check out expo and then order from SR if there aren't any, but risk not getting one. Any advice/recommendations?? What would be smarter/easier/better/less stressful for animal?

Also, hatchie olive: keep in click-clack (15L-20L?) or larger enclosure (e.g. 3x2x2ft)? What size will she need at 6 months? A year? Basically, what would be a logical size enclosure to keep her in that will last her a while, but not so small that it requires constant upgrades? And yes, I'm aware that she will get HUGE in a couple of years, requiring a massive enclosure and enormous meals, but at the moment I'm just concerned with what to do during her first year. Would something like large click-clack until 6 months and then larger enclosure be ok?

Any help, advice, comments, interesting factoids, hilarious anecdotes and dramatic stories are welcome
Thanks!

 

[reptilian1924]

StellaDoore, l hope when you get around to getting your very first Olive Python, it will be has awesome as the one you see here in this photo best of luck.

Make you you provide your Olive with a good size enclosure and 1 large water bowl for it to soak in and drink from.

The photo you see here with my 2 year old Katherine phase NT Olive Python, you can see her relaxed here on one of my recliners, luck l have another single recliner or else l would have to remove my awesome looking female Olive Python.

Here you can see what l keep my 4 Olive Pythons in, these 2 enclosures are both made from 16mm thick exterior plywood, the whole inside including the upper hide box are all sealed with laminex to help protect the timber from moiture and heat.

These 2 enclosure a both 4 foot long - 2 and half foot high - 2 foot deep.

 

[StellaDoore]

Such a cutie!! Cannot wait. Maybe I should get one now. 4 months early isn't too unreasonable to get a birthday present, right?

 

[Boidae]

Good choice
If you are happy with the one from Snake Ranch, then go for it!
I have heard a lot of positive reviews about them, so I would definately buy from them if it is the snake that you want.
I havent seen many hatchies around anywhere in Victoria lately anyway. Besides Snake Ranch, Roy Pails has a few yearlings and Amazing Amazon has a 6 month old one.

In my experience, a hatchie will be fine in 2x2x2 / 3x2x2 (LxWxH) as long as you provide a few small hide boxes that they will feel secure in, but a click clack will be fine also. At 6 months a 3x2x2 will be fine, at a year a 4x2x2 will be perfect. When she reaches about 8ft, she will need a 6x2x2, and that will do most Olives for their entire lives. However, a 6x3x3 would be better, and would house them for life without a problem.

When is comes to feeding, Olives are usually bottomless pits with very strong feeding responses. This is cute when they are a baby, but it is something you will have to watch out for when she reaches adult size. Be very careful if ever hand feeding, and ideally you should use blunt ended tongs. As for size, the average adult Olive will be bewteen 10-12ft and will weigh 12-15kg (but again, feeding will have a big impact on their adult size)
Olives are beautiful snakes, have fun

Maybe I should get one now. 4 months early isn't too unreasonable to get a birthday present, right?

Of course not

 

[Stuart]

StellaDoore, as my first Aussie snake, I was glad I got an Olive Python. My imagination is not one that runs rampant due to being locked in a small dark room and working on computers and programs and as such, my girl has been christened Olive. She is roughly 6 months old at the moment and weighs 3 to 4kg and is just over 2m long. As mentioned by LiaisisFreak, they will eat any old time you offer them food so just make sure you monitor their eating habits otherwise you will watch her grow at a heck of a rate. One thing I do recommend is ensuring that you are aware that these girls grow to an impressive length and weight but as long as you like big snakes, then you shouldn't have an issue

One thing that constant surprises me about Olive is the more you handle her, the friendlier she gets. She is quite contented to go exploring the lounge and just as content to be out of her enclosure and curled up next to be on the couch. I would recommend an olive python for anyone's collection purely due to the the nature of my girl. Don't take that as word though as my girl is constantly taken out and handled nightly unless she has just eaten (Leave her for 3 to 4 days) or shedding.

 

[StellaDoore]

Ha ha, well if it is indeed Snake Ranch who I'll be getting my olive from then I have no choice but to wait
At least it gives me lots of time to hunt down an enclosure. I'm thinking of just getting a 3x2x2 enclosure, filling it with lots of hidey holes, so that should hopefully last her a while. I'll worry about the next size hurdle when I get to it. Besides, once she outgrows that I can't have an empty enclosure lying around, can I? I can sense a Christmas present coming up

I have heard about the feeding response, I'll be sure to be very careful. A hungry 15kg, 3m olive is not something I want to be bitten by! (Although I am aware the high possibility of being bitten, which all snakes have the potential to do, and that it will most likely hurt and I will keep bandaid companies in business, blah blah blah, please no lectures on this. Not that I'm saying anyone has, I would just like to avoid it )

They are amazing animals, very excited to own one.

SniperCap, your girl sounds lovely =) big though! I currently work with a 2 year old girl who's only just reached the 2m mark! How often and what do you feed yours? (Not that I want mine that big, that quickly, just curious.)
I'm yet to meet an olive over 2m, but I don't have any issues with large snakes. That's partly what interests me I'll just have to make sure I'm very careful when it's dinner time.
And I intend to have mine out every night I can (post-feeding and sloughing excluded) so hopefully my girl will be just as friendly as yours =) thanks for the story =D

 

[Boidae]

Agreed with SniperCap, Olives would have to be one of the most beautifully natured snakes that I have ever come across.

She is roughly 6 months old at the moment and weighs 3 to 4kg and is just over 2m long.

If your Olive really is 6 months old, then that is one hell of a snake!! Can I ask what you are feeding it, and how often?
My Olive is 22 months, just over 7ft and 3.3kg

 

[Stuart]

I just reread that and realized my typo, it should have read she is 1 year and 6 months old, oops . My girl gets fed every ten days with a medium size rat which seems to bode her well. Because we live where the temp never drops below 25 anytime of the year, and as such, she does not switch into hibernation mode which is a blessing and a curse, but I still wouldn't trade her for anything.

 

[StellaDoore]

I though that sounded like an insanely large animal! She still sounds big but a bit more reasonable =)

 

[Boidae]

Oh haha, dont worry about it.
In that case, yours is perfect size for its age
How large are the medium rats you feed your Olive?
Just make sure not to feed your snakes rats over 250 grams, that is when they stop growing and start putting on fat.
When your Olive gets bigger, make sure to either feed a few 200-250 gram rats or small rabbits.

 

[Stuart]

How large are the medium rats you feed your Olive?
Just make sure not to feed your snakes rats over 250 grams, that is when they stop growing and start putting on fat.
When your Olive gets bigger, make sure to either feed a few 200-250 gram rats or small rabbits.

Thanks. Yea the rats are between 100 to 150gms, anything larger is pretty hard to come by where we are, but I did learn the downsides of overfeeding when I had a reticulated python in South Africa, not only did she get big, she got lazy. But that was soon put right and she became pretty active and manageable again. She now lives at a friends place in South Africa where he has not had any visitors or burglars in 6 years

 

[StellaDoore]

Really? I didn't know that. I always assumed larger rats would have less body fat, for some reason. Righto, going to make sure my BHP gets several small meals from now on!
Nice little tie-in, what are hatchie olives fed on? I'm sure pinkies wouldn't cut it for very long

 

[Cockney_Red]

I just reread that and realized my typo, it should have read she is 1 year and 6 months old, oops . My girl gets fed every ten days with a medium size rat which seems to bode her well. Because we live where the temp never drops below 25 anytime of the year, and as such, she does not switch into hibernation mode which is a blessing and a curse, but I still wouldn't trade her for anything.

Every 10 days on a medium......you putting fertilizer in the rat....

 

[Stuart]

At 9 months when I got my girl, she was eating sub adult rats so you can expect a hatchie to be happy on Pinkies and Mice until about 6 months.

Anyone please correct me if Im wrong in thinking this...

 

[Boidae]

Oh a Retic, im very jealous SniperCap
By the way where is Groote Eylandt?
Yeah, you will definately need to keep your BHP away from fatty rats. BHP's in particular are very sensitive to fat, as in the wild they live almost entirely off of other reptiles, and wild reptiles will very rarely have any fat on them. Olive hatchies should eat about 20% of their bodyweight once a week, im not good with rat sizes and they can vary a lot, but either a fuzzy, weaner or hopper should be fine.

 

[Stuart]

Oh a Retic, im very jealous SniperCap

Yea, she was awesome, I do miss her from time to time, although hate to think of the food bill.

By the way where is Groote Eylandt?

Groote is in the Gulf of Carpentaria, about 600km East of Darwin. More info here... Groote Eylandt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[JAS101]

iv had my olive for 8 weeks or so , in that time she hasnt shown any aggresion unless its food time .
i paid $399 for her [ yes maybe higher then other places but i dont really care ] i got her from amazing amazon .

 

[StellaDoore]

I know, I had to lecture some people about why their BHP had to eat low fat foods and they were like "how were we supposed to know?" Well...you own one, I'd expect you to know how to feed it. My black headed is only on medium rats at the moment, but I was thinking about bumping her up to something half-kilo ish coz I though it's have less fat. Now I know and medium rats it'll stay.
Okay, that should be easy enough to work out food sizes. I figure getting them off pinkies early is a good idea (these are high fat too, yeah?), I'll double check with the breeder and what he/she was feeding them on.

 

[Boidae]

Well done for telling your friends to feed low fat foods to BHP's. Yep definately check what the snake is feeding on, make sure to ask plenty of other questions as well. When was its last shed, has it ever refused food, what is its temperament like, any illnesses, scars, injuries etc.
Make sure to keep doing research also!
Goood on ya

 

[StellaDoore]

Thanks for the tips, LiasisFreak, very helpful!
I'll pass the time until my bday by researching olives, looking through photos and being intensely envious of everyone who has one
Who cares about a 21st party when your getting a brand spanking new baby olive!!! <---how you know you're a reptile keeper