Water python

[Viaaf]

Yes, you broke me down. I got a pair of water pythons today. They are adults and I'm surprised at how small they are. Actually the length is what I expected, it's the bulk that surprised me. They are thin little things! I am used to heavier bodied snakes, even my colubrids are stouter. The female is over 6'. The male is about 4' and weighs 270 gm? That seems so small to me.

I'm not used to such spurs on a male, either. Any doubt I might have had about his sex is answered by this.

There almost seems to be a pelvis big enough to support a pair of legs!
I had read so much about Liasis being different. I didn't realize there would be such a physical difference between them and the pythons I have had before. If I could have gotten a decent picture of the female I would have attached it. These of the male show him, but not very well. They really are beautiful!
Andy

 

[pythons73]

Are you sure their adults,if they are,imo i think their a bit underweight,cause nearly all ive seen are alot bigger and fatter.Good looking either way.How much are they in the States.

 

[mark83]

Nice. Those spurs are huge. Don't know much about water pythons so i can't help you with size but it's a nice looking snake.

 

[sweetangel]

nice i just a littel hatchy.....she is about 35 -40 cm
good luck wit urs.
and that does seem a little underweight as i have been told they are very gutsy when it comes to food so they should soon put on more weight

 

[shaggymelb]

I think those are a lil underweight...mine is just on 6' and MUCH beefier (3yrs old).
Heres a link to a few pics of the lady with my kid...or just look at my posts..theres quite a few pics of her there..(yes, I'm in love!!)
http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/australian-snakes/won-over-the-kid-96436

 

[Kersten]

Well geez, the second pic is definitely a boy, isn't it? :shock:

They do look a bit on the slender side. I've always thought of water pythons as being muscly little meat axes. I don't have any pictures of ours handy but they're definitely chunky looking compared to those. A few decent feeds should take care of that though.

 

[shaggymelb]

Oh just to add...theres no way I can hold mine in one hand like that, shes too big, the pic of yours looks like a yearling ...Feed em up, they will put some weight on quite quickly and you'll have, in my humble opinion, bought the best pythons you'll ever own

 

[Lozza]

Nice waters though they don't really look full grown.
My female water is as thick as my arm, but my male is quite small - I'll try and get a pic or two this afternoon.

 

[caustichumor]

I have a QLD yearling that is over 4 foot and a touch over 1 kilo. (it is the most food orientated reptile I have ever owned and it dwarfs Morelia I have of the same age)

 

[-Matt-]

One of my yearlings is 4ft long and looks thicker than that. I doubt that those are adults unless they have just been very underfed, just feed them up and they shold put on some size

 

[PhilK]

Definitely underweight.

 

[Emmalicious]

My gosh. lol

 

[No-two]

Seems very small, I have a two year old male that went on a hungry strike for 10months and he's still almost 1kg, and about 4ft long (maybe a bit more now), definatley seem like they'll need some food.

 

[Viaaf]

They seemed quite slender to me so I wanted to see what you would say. The female is supposed to be 3 yo, the male 2.

Looking at the pictures from shaggymelb I can see that these are underweight. It is certainly easier
to put weight on then take it off, keeping them well fed shouldn't be tough.

In case you wonder about the two pictures here, they are of the '08 male hatchling I got from someone else. Genetic diversity and all, you know?
Thank you for the replies. Seeing other people's photos certainly make it easier.

 

[shaggymelb]

and just wait till you see them after a shed...they glow in the sunlight...glad my pics helped you.

 

[No-two]

Here is a few pics of some two year olds.

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u145/66Missy66/tn_Waters002.jpg
This is the male that went on stirke, but he's still got alot of size on your two.

 

[mark83]

Really nice snakes No-two

 

[Sdaji]

Here's one at five and one half months of age. She was coming up for a slough so her colours weren't the best.

Here's the same snake about 18 months later.

 

[DA_GRIZ]

that water is huge sdaji was it power fed? or are the generally pretty quick growers

 

[Sdaji]

that water is huge sdaji was it power fed? or are the generally pretty quick growers

Oh, she certainly was power fed! Her name is Jade, she was an experiment, although even if fed a 'normal' amount they'll grow very quickly. Five foot in length by 12 months is about what I'd call normal. Without trying/powerfeeding I've got them to 6' in less than 12 months. Less than 4' by one year would be less than optimal in my opinion, although not necessarily a huge problem. Jade is now a little over four years of age and a perfect picture of health, has produced healthy eggs, etc etc. If you fed them for optimal growth, which wouldn't necessarily be feeding them as much as you possibly could, I wouldn't be surprised if some would hit 7' before 12 months of age.

I would be very concerned about the health of the snake at the start of this thread, it really doesn't look good at all.