Does anyone here keep Olive Pythons?

[parashootist]

After a year or so of researching and preparing, I recently purchased my first snake. A juvenile female Olive Python. I realize this is an unusual choice for a first snake but I decided to just get the snake I had my heart set on from the get go. It's plausible she'll be my only snake so she'll get my full attention.

I've had her for about 10 days and have been really focusing on getting her husbandry dialed. I thought I had it pretty well sorted before her arrival but keeping the humidity above 55% has been difficult once the substrate dried out a bit. I have two water bowls in her enclosure, one on the hot side, one on the cool, and am misting multiple times per day. I may end up having to get a misting setup.

So far I've fed her two rat pups, one week apart. I had zero issue getting her to eat . I'm still waiting for her to poop though! She did the day I got her before I fed her but hasn't since, so it's been about 8 days. I was diligent to ensure she did not ingest any substrate.

My biggest concern I need to sort out currently is that she is able to get onto the lip of my sweeter heater radiant heat panel. It's not hot on the ledge but I still don't want her up there. I've ordered PVC to make a guard that will surround the perimeter of it. A company called Dragon Haus made this product but they've gone out of business.

If anyone here keeps olives, please double check my current setup:

6x2x2 enclosure. 100w radiant heat panel, 2 water bowls, coco chip substrate, hides at each end. Daytime heat is set to 87.5f on my herpstat which my infrared thermometer shows as a bit over 90f on the substrate of the hot side. Cool side seems to be around 78-80f. At night, the heat drops to 78. Feeding one rat pup per week. I may buy smaller prey though as it does seem a bit on the large side.

Thanks!

[jmcrook]

Congrats on your critter! I don’t keep olives or any Liasis species but have several carpet pythons in my collection.
Temps and such sound good in the enclosure and could probably come down a few degrees if it’s over 90° on the floor hot side. Much larger than I’d keep any juvenile in, but if they’re eating reliably and not stressed then play it by ear.
8 days without pooping is nothing. In that large an enclosure with that small of a snake it could be hiding somewhere. Growing snakes also use a good deal of their prey towards growth and other caloric needs and as such may not go as often. You’ll notice a “sausage butt” if they get backed up a bit. More often than not it’s nothing to be overly concerned about.
A guard around the RHP isn’t a bad idea. I’m assuming it’s already controlled by a thermostat?
Welcome to the great world of snake keeping. Post pictures if you can. Mind me asking who you obtained your critter from?

[parashootist]

Congrats on your critter! I don’t keep olives or any Liasis species but have several carpet pythons in my collection.
Temps and such sound good in the enclosure and could probably come down a few degrees if it’s over 90° on the floor hot side. Much larger than I’d keep any juvenile in, but if they’re eating reliably and not stressed then play it by ear.
8 days without pooping is nothing. In that large an enclosure with that small of a snake it could be hiding somewhere. Growing snakes also use a good deal of their prey towards growth and other caloric needs and as such may not go as often. You’ll notice a “sausage butt” if they get backed up a bit. More often than not it’s nothing to be overly concerned about.
Welcome to the great world of snake keeping. Post pictures if you can. Mind me asking who you obtained your critter from?

Thanks for the reply. I was strongly considering a coastal carpet python but diverted to the olive at some point. They do seem to be somewhat similar from my VERY limited experience. I got her from Joseph Szczesniak on Morph Market.

I agree that the enclosure is on the big side but she seems to be doing just fine with it. She uses the whole thing at night. I'm going to add a shelf on the hot side that will be 1 foot tall and probably 24 inches wide. I may also add some type of perch/branch for her to climb since she seems like she'd use it.

She seems to spend the vast majority of her time on the hot side and since I find her up on the heat panel most mornings when I check on her, it makes me think I'm not keeping her too hot. I'm wondering if the infrared thermometer is accurate. The probe for the heat panel is about 3 inches above the substrate and it's at 87.5f. I have two other temp/humidity gauges in the enclosure although one needs to be moved. It's too close to the light and that seems to really throw it off while the light is on during the day.

I'll try to get some good pictures. The ones I've taken so far are pretty terrible. I've been handling her a bit but she's always moving during handling so it's not conducive to pictures. I'm still nervous with her as well but once out of the enclosure she seems to do pretty well. (she bit me during the unboxing which was entirely my fault (I didn't close the enclosure right away and she tagged me before I closed the door)).

[jmcrook]

Huh. Searched that seller name on morph market and there’s no one listed.

[plateOfFlan]

I had to swear off going to the local herp store for awhile because they had an olive python in and he was so handsome I didn't trust myself lol. They're very captivating, they seem to have a lot of personality like a carpet, hope you enjoy getting to know yours! El-Ziggy I believe has an olive: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?267424-So-Shiny

[parashootist]

Huh. Searched that seller name on morph market and there’s no one listed.

It looks like his store isn't up anymore. Weird. We've been in communication post purchase and he had a Boa on there as of a couple weeks ago.

[parashootist]

I had to swear off going to the local herp store for awhile because they had an olive python in and he was so handsome I didn't trust myself lol. They're very captivating, they seem to have a lot of personality like a carpet, hope you enjoy getting to know yours! El-Ziggy I believe has an olive: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?267424-So-Shiny

Nice, thanks for sharing that link. Maybe I'll reach out to him.

[jmcrook]

She seems to spend the vast majority of her time on the hot side and since I find her up on the heat panel most mornings when I check on her, it makes me think I'm not keeping her too hot. I'm wondering if the infrared thermometer is accurate. The probe for the heat panel is about 3 inches above the substrate and it's at 87.5f. I have two other temp/humidity gauges in the enclosure although one needs to be moved. It's too close to the light and that seems to really throw it off while the light is on during the day.

I asked in my initial reply about Thermostat but still haven’t seen a response. Is the RHP controlled by a thermostat? I see thermoMETER probes mentioned here but nothing about a thermoSTAT.

[bcr229]

If maintaining humidity is an issue I would swap out the coco chip for cypress mulch. Cypress seems to soak up a lot more water and release it slowly. Of course it does eventually dry out but it's easy enough to mix with water to rewet it.

[parashootist]

I asked in my initial reply about Thermostat but still haven’t seen a response. Is the RHP controlled by a thermostat? I see thermoMETER probes mentioned here but nothing about a thermoSTAT.

Sorry, I missed that question. It's in my last paragraph of my initial post. The RHP is connected to a Herpstat 2. I bought the Herpstat 2 because I eventually intend to hook up some heat tape to supplement the RHP. I already have the heat tape. I just need to build something to elevate the enclosure off the floor a bit.