Why are Green Tree Pythons so expensive?

[TrueBlue]

wokka, alot of the reson why greens develove kinks is that people just cant help themselves and just have to hold them when young. IMO this is a no no. For the first 6 to 12 months its best to just leave them be.
Even removing the perch from thier tub for cleaning can cause this if not done gentley enough.
But you may well be right as well as some young go crazy with the tail luring thing. I had one that was the funniest thing to watch as its tail would go evey where,ie over its head, around its body, towards the ground and an inch or so above its head, all very very quickly, im sure it thought it was an arobics teacher.

 

[Den from Den Pythons]

Yeah, I'm used to keeping alot of cage destoying Aspidites so dealing with perch sitting animals is quite a treat! haha.

I've found feeding hatchlings very small fuzzy mice (say from a large 'clutch' of mice that are of fuzzy age and fur but more of a large pinkie size) seems to make the defication left more 'healthy' and solid rather than brown liquid. I aggree that smaller food items are the way to go. Prob the same size you feed, just a bit of fuzz.....

From the individual point, i've got mates that fed their personal hatchlings larger food items from the word go and bred them at 2.5yrs with ease. Definately comes down to indidual animals and good, strong lines combined. Same as you though, just my opinion. Whatever works at the end of the day.

 

[wokka]

Rob, certainly more prevailent in particular lines. You'd 'know Lily was famous for playing with her GTP hatchoes. Now as adults, not a kink or any problems. Other lines we have , only 2 out of 5 left and both with kinks and never handled until at least 6 months.

 

[Retic]

Yes it seems some lines are much more inclined to suffer from 'issues'. Prolapsing in Greens isn't actually a common problem but it seems to be the first thing people mention in regard Greens.

 

[TrueBlue]

hahaha, yes but Lily is such a gentle soul.

 

[Syras]

TrueBlue
So are you planning to sell GTP's for $200 then, sometime soon maybe? Where can I sign up for a few?

I do agree that the GTP's are hardier than people think, however, knowing intricate pieces of knowledge such as not feeding GTP's large or oversized feeds to avoid potential prolapse issues. Unfortunately is not common sense. Even you must of learnt this some how, either the hard way, from a person or a book? None the less, it required a little effort.

In terms of effort put into maintaining cages, I agree again, little effort is required other than the regular misting.

On another note, the caudal luring (tail luring), from personal experience is not always directly related to food or being hungry. As I have noted that sudden shifts in temperature (either way) seem to stimulate this instinct, even directly after being fed.

TrueBlue, Den, have either of you experienced this?

 

[Den from Den Pythons]

I haven't mate, i've only personally worked with 3 adult pairs, my comments are mainly based on hatchlings and yearlings feeding regimes. All of the adults worked with were in a controlled environment so no sudden shifts in temp were noticed. It does make sense that sudden higher temps and inturn increased humidity would stimulate activity.

 

[NickM]

I keep hatchling GTPs in tubs with removable perches. When its time to clean I just remove the perch witht he snake still on it and thus rarely have to handle them.

The biggest problem with kinking here is people trying to sex them when they are too young. Often times the kinks are not noticable at the time they occur and steadly become worse as the animal gets larger.

Nick

 

[TrueBlue]

once again i agree with NickM, probing when young can cause kinks as the animal has to be restrianed to do this, plus the fact of the prehensile tail, which imo needs time for the muscles etc to develop propally.
As NickM has said most kinks will appear as the animal goes thru its colour change or soon after.

Syras, because of their high risk,( compared to most other pythons), of prolapsing, to me its is common sence to feed small prey and lesss often than other pythons when young, even as adults imo most people grossly over feed greens. This i worked out for myself and as said have NEVER had a green prolaps on me. But i do agree with you that alot of people lack even the slightest bit of common sence. But hey feeding small prey and less often is easier not harder.
As for the price, the market depicts that not me.

 

[craftsman]

Wokka, juvenile GTPs don't live on the ground. They hand close to the ground and occasionally descend from their perches occasionally but no more than adults do.

 

[cement]

I don't have any GTP's yet, but as far as difficulty in raising them goes, wouldn't they just be different?
And as such have different needs?
So if their needs were met, they shouldn't prove to be any harder then any other animal. Right?

 

[TrueBlue]

spot on cement, and their needs are'nt much at all.

 

[Chimera]

Unfortunately the obese image of "healthy" GTPs has come from the US where the majority of captive boids are heavy bodied snakes. Greg Maxwell did state in his VHS talk that he had come to the realisation that they were obese and was trying to get them leaner to alleviate some of the health issues.

Unfortunately we are prone to following the US as much of the herpetocultural knowledge in Aus has originated from US sources (as shown by the fact that Barker '94 is the most quoted book on Australian Pythons). In more recent times though we have developed our own body of knowledge and finally looked at other Morelia to adjust our view on GTP body shape and size.

I wonder if many of the health issues and perceived difficulties in maintaining these are related to the way keepers in the US keep them.

 

[craftsman]

Keeping, breeding and raising juveniles is not difficult but unfortunately, too many people are making basic mistakes when it comes to housing and feeding because they think GTPs are just another python. Some of the mistakes (particularly re- housing) occur because people take Greg Maxwell's book for a gospel. Unlike other Ausie pythons, GTPs are arboreal species and they need vertical space more than they do floor space. That applies to juveniles as well. The worst thing you can do is keep your neonate in a rectangular take-a-way container on a straw. Why?
Hopefully, I'll get my article on 'keeping GTP' published in Jun-Jul issue of Reptiles Australia magazine.

 

[ravensgait]

Prolapse is more likely just that animal then any other reason ,sure this or that can cause it to happen but remember we are dealing with CBB animals that many of which would have survived in the wild. So one with a mild congenital problem is kept alive and often reproduces . As someone mentioned it seems to be more prevalent in some lines than others. I also agree that smaller meals more often doesn't hurt and likely helps. Knock on wood but I've kept well over a hundred of these guys over the years and haven't had a prolapse yet.

Most CBB animals are not that difficult to keep compared to Emeralds and some of the other critters I've kept. Cage cleaning is easy , pick up the perch with the Chondro on it and sit it somewhere till the cage is done. It is the rare Chondro that will move off the perch while you're cleaning

As far as ground space Chondro's are less arboreal than Emeralds and are similar to ATBs in that they hang out in the trees but like crawling in the dirt too.

Chondro's cost what they do there because there are still so few available.. I wonder what a Boeleni would go for over there. Yeah i know you can't have them but here I can get a Farmed Chondro for 200 bucks but a farmed Boeleni hatchling is around three grand.. Randy

 

[Retic]

I must admit I would feed hatchling Chondros the same as I would any other carpet, small meals and often. That's not to say it is the only or best method but it works for a great many people. To me it is just commonsense.

 

[richardsc]

there so expensive because its a big risk smuggling them into australia,just ask morelia hunter,hehehe

 

[ravensgait]

Yeah I read that article about the Chondro in the bath room, pretty steep if you get caught. Not something I'd want to try..

I've seen a few people reference this incident with MH, what's the scoop?? Randy