Olive Python

[Ricko]

just went and bought a 8 1/2 foot female olive and she is just great. except that i put her in with my male and he was not too sure about her straight away but now they are happy. when i went and got her at the guys house she looked similar in size till i got home and she is about 8 1/2ft and he is about 6ft nearly and she is so mutch fatter than him. she was accidently bred with a water python. has anyone seen waters cross olives if its happened to anyone else (eggs were destroyed as its not something that you would want on your books or for the snakes). will post some pics soon.

Rick

 

[sxereturn]

Mate has a huge girl, big gentle giant, she is so nice. They are defintely on my list of "to get". I seem to have an interest in big snakes which isn't good in a small house. Carpets, scrubbies, olives...

 

[Ricko]

same here. i have that big pair of olives 7ft carpet and hatchling scrubs that are nutters. whats urs like if u have one? and im getting adult pair of diamonds saturday. too many snakes not enough enclosures. when i finish work in the morning im going to my cabinet maker to make up some measurements. as long as you make olives realise that its not food they are the best snakes. my mates got 12 ft pair that are both big sooks.

Rick

 

[BuggieSmuggler]

I'm really only a new comer to this game with a few species of morelia, most of which aren't fully grown.
How do you go handling big pythons? What I mean is when you go to get them out of the enclosure & they wrap themselves around something.
Can you be a bit physical with them? Do you have removable branches in the enclosures?

 

[Ricko]

with my bigger snakes i mainly get a snake hook to move there heads away as they would all bite and constrict me if i tried to just pull them out. in my tanks i only have paper, water bowl big hide box and sometimes a branch. just depends on the snakes. my carpets are not big climbers as they are too lazy and wanting food all the time. it all depends on how placid the snake is, my adult male diamonds wont bite if i just grab him but thats coming down to knowing your snakes and how they act. do you agree sxereturn?

Ricko

 

[sxereturn]

With all but three of my snakes I atleast move their heads with a hook before grabbing them.

It's good practice to have someone else around when handling anything over 8 feet or so. I know if my big female carpet grabbed me and held on, I'd have no hope of getting her off.

 

[BuggieSmuggler]

Did anyone tell you to move their heads away? Because I have adopted that method, it just seemed sensible to let you snakes know with a hook that you aren't feeding them.
I remember Bob Whitey saying that he does that with one of his big olives. Probably the one that eats shetland ponies. LOL.

 

[bigguy]

BuggieSmuggler,

Bob Withey touches all his large pythons with a hook before grabbing them. They get conditioned to know if they are getting touched by a hook, that they are not getting fed. They then get out of feeding mode and allow you to remove them from their enclosures.

I have many scars on my hands from when I have forgotten to touch the snake before removal. And there's nothing like a feeding bite from a large python. OOOOUUUCH.

 

[BuggieSmuggler]

Sorry, Bob Withey (correct spelling)

How much does it hurt when a big python nails you. I haven't had the pleasure YET.

 

[bigguy]

To put it bluntly, you nearly pass out from the pain. Specially when they take about 15 minutes to let go. And when they finally do, then you have to deal with the huge amount of blood loss.

If you are a pain freak, I can definately recommend a large python feed bite.

Bob :lol:

 

[Greebo]

Maybe one day you will be 110% confident.

 

[Ricko]

before i left for work last night bout 10:30 they were locking tales and mating. i know they are not big enough yet but if anyone knows how big do olives have to be to be bred? i know people say 7 years old and 10-12 ft and females generally at leat 6kg+ but she was accidently crossed with a male water python and she only 8 foot and produced eggs which is rather silly on keepers behalf.

Rick

 

[NCHERPS]

Ricko,
I know people who have bred there Olives at 7', so you should be fine at 8', as long as they have some age to them and the female has good weight.

 

[snakehunter]

Be careful ricko that the female olive hasnt stored some water python sperm in her, you might think that you have produced a nice clutch of olive eggs when they could be hybrids.

 

[Slateman]

I am confused. I think that time for mating is well past for olives? I am missing something?

 

[Fuscus]

Isn't the rule for handling big snakes One person for the first two meters then a person for every subsequent meter. By that rule a 4 meter olive would require three people.

 

[NCHERPS]

Slateman,
Snakes can breed anytime of the year, dosen't mean that fertile egg's will come from it!
It does happen on occasion that a change of enviroment or home will lead to breeding activity.

If you were so inclined, you could completely change your snakes time clocks over a period of a year or so and create artificial seasons for them, and you would then get fertile egg's, you just have to create the correct photoperiods and temps, cooling etc.. ( I am not recommending this, just saying that it is possible!)

Neil

 

[Slateman]

Thanks mate. I will stick with my sky light photoperiods.
Mabe his olives are super sexually active becaouse the enclosure is situated in his bedroom.
Did you Neil thought about that?

 

[NCHERPS]

Hey! You might have a point there!
Good job my snakes aren't in my bedroom, I wouldn't breed a thing! LOL!

Neil

 

[Ricko]

there not in my room and if i do get eggs and then incubate them what should i do if they come out as olives cross waters? i really wanna breed olives so should i keep them in seperate tanks? or should i be able to keep them together and breed them? i know they get too familiar with each other.

rick