New D'Albert's White-lipped Python Pair

[Will0W783]

Hi everyone! I just got a breedable pair of white-lipped pythons, the northern golden phase. They are absolutely stunning animals. The male is around 3 feet and the female about 2.5 feet or so. The male is lighter golden while the female is a dark bronze. The male, Merlin, is very friendly and docile and I can even pet his head and throat. The female, Raven, however, puts up a violent fight to get her out of the tank, and has tagged my middle finger nicely. Once she is out she is handleable, but will snap if you get near her head or move in front of her. Has anyone had this type of python? If so, how did you calm them down, and any advice on them? Right now they are in a 20-gal long tank with jungle floor bedding and a big fake rock hide and vines to climb on. They curl up together under the hide and seem to enjoy each other so I didn't separate them. I mist them 2-3 times a day to keep the humidity up but not overly high. The cool side of the tank sits around 86 at the high point of the day and the basking side gets up around 90. During the night it drops to 78 in the room.

[crystalc]

some snakes will just breed, however there are many instances that a pair that has gotten comfortable with each other will not breed and you will have to seperate them and then reintroduce them. i dont know when their breeding season is on that particular breed. as far as calming them down just put the time in with em. when u say u "just" got them, how soon do u mean and were they shipped or bought from a store or breeder? i have 2 rosey boas and the shipping really freaked out my female and she would strike when trying to get her out of the cage but after about 3 days of letting her calm down i didnt have any trouble.

[Aaron_S]

I wouldn't consider them a "breedable" pair if they are still 3 feet and under. Those snakes obtain a size of at least 6 feet on average. They aren't a small python species. Also I would go ahead and seperate them if you ever want them to breed. They don't care for the company of one another they both just know where the "sweet spot" is. Otherwise I am unsure of their temp needs/humidity. I do know they tend to be an aggressive species and taming them would take a lot of work.

[Will0W783]

Ok, thanks for the advice. I just bought them on Saturday at the Hamburg reptile show. I will separate them. I know they get large and it will be at least a year before they will breed, but they are unrelated so they will be breedable when they reach adulthood. Right now they are sub-adult. The female seems to be calming a little bit- once she is out of the cage she will relax but I still don't trust her. I think with careful handling and lots of work she will tame, hopefully. I do know they tend to be aggressive snakes, so if she doesn't tame I won't be upset.

[siz]

Lucky you!! The White Lipped Python is at the very top of my snake list!
I don't have one [YET] but as Aaron said they do tend to be quite and aggressive species and some do not tame down. Be thankful you have a friendly male!
You MUST post pictures!

[Will0W783]

OK, here is a picture of the male, Merlin, on my hand as I was deciding to buy him at the reptile show. He is actually lighter than he looks in the photo- a gorgeous metallic olive bronze. He and Raven (the girl) have incredible iridescence- I daresay more even than my Peruvian rainbow boa! Raven is much darker than Merlin. I held her last night with only a slight fight to get her out and then she was good on my arm, and didn't want to go back in. Merlin is so cool with everything- I feel very lucky to have them both!

[siz]

I am SOOOO JEALOUS. If you ever, you know, need to give them away.... hahah
Seems like you have an interesting collection of snakes. Can you tell me more about your Peruvian Rainbow Boa? I have been learning a bit about rainbow boas other than your typical (but still gorgeous!) Brazillians. Do they have pattern and do they retain it through adulthood?

[Will0W783]

My PRB is more brilliant than most BRBs I've seen. He is bright brick red with orange circles outlined in black on top. His side markings are the same as the BRB but the crescent is slightly more closed. His iridescence is astounding. I got him from Ben Seigel, who I've heard a lot of good things about, and I can vouch for great service from him. He is also a great size (3 feet or so) for a yearling and a good eater, although you have to "fight" him for the f/t or he loses interest and won't swallow. I dare say I like him better than the Brazilians. If you want to check out my collection (Dont have the white-lips or the new albino hondo up there yet) check out Carter's Critters - Home and go to the "Our Collection" page. All the snakes are friendly except the little sand boa- he's a *******..lol

[Will0W783]

Our Collection - Carter's Critters

There's the direct link to the page with all the pics of the snakes my fiance and I own.

[Kmef07]

I can't tell all the way but i think what you have is a Brazilian. The difference between Peruvians and brazilians is that the peruvians are lighter in color and aren't as bold but have very very bold thick black where the brazilians have a thinner stripe and have more red to them. again im no expert but i've never seen a peruvian until you mentioned it and i googled and that is what im seeing and what people are saying the difference is. because i have a brazilian and your snake looks dead on mine. like 100% the same. and there is no difference in the crescents between the peruvians and the brazilians. the brazilians i know for a fact can have fully closed crescents and also fully open crescents.

[Will0W783]

Ok, I was just going by what I could see as the difference (I used to have a Brazilian) and some stuff I had read. But what I have is definitely a Peruvian Rainbow Boa. I got him from Ben Seigel and he wouldn't lie about it. I had asked him what the difference was and he said primarily just that the Peruvians are brighter and tend to have more iridescence. I read somewhere about the crescents being different, but for the life of me can't remember where. So I will go by your descriptions, Kmef07, because I know you know a lot about BRBs, but I can assure you that mine is indeed a Peruvian.

[Kmef07]

no defiantly am not claiming to know a lot about either species i have not had my for a year yet even i just do a lot of research on different snakes because i am very interested in them and i dunno the peruvians i saw on the google search were a lot lighter and not as red and orange. but the peruvians did seem to be brighter. they are really pretty i love the big bold solid black. but it's weird how much they look alike!! like literally if you search for my posts you will see pics of mine and they look dead on. lol

[Will0W783]

I will do that. Yeah, Ben told me they were similar. I love mine...he looks like abstract art, hence his name. I do quite a bit of research on all the snakes I have and want to have. I did buy 1.1 D'Alberts' pythons before doing a lot of research at a show last weekend because they were really an amazing deal and are both handleable. But I researched them extensively all afternoon and night to get their enclosure right. Reading all you can can only help! Snakes are such fascinating, beautiful creatures!

[Kmef07]

ya i've been reading up on every boa species i have been able to find because that is what i want to focus on is breeding new types and morphs of boas. im so bored of balls really and hoping that boas will be the next big thing. trying to find a way to breed dwarf boas with some cool morphs to make them a little smaller and create a market. some people are trying it already and supposedly having good luck with the project.

[Will0W783]

Cool! Sounds like a neat project. I plan to breed carpets as soon as some of mine are old enough.