The little guys!

I just thought I would start a topic to talk about the 3 smaller species of pythons:

Ant-hill
Children's
Spotted

There isn't alot out there I guess this is more for me to see how many here are actually keeping these species and maybe a place for us to pool resources (even though they differ from each other). I've been researching the children's and spotted for a bit now and picked up a children's hatchling from the NARBC show. He/she is definately a great new addition but to small to handle much yet. I love the eyes!

Maybe if there is enough interest the admin team would add a forum section for us? :P

i love the eyes on my spotted too... i've never met anyone with an anthill. i'm going to 'guess' that childrens are the most popular.

have you fed yours yet? mine did not eat when i tried, but i'm trying again tomorrow.

Possible if warranted.

Right now I am leaning toward merging Liasis with General Python since Liasis is so seldomly used.

I was at NARBC in Chicago too and was amazed how many spotted and childrens pythons were there!

I have a female spotted I picked up at FIRE in Florida last year, after she settled in and we started feeding her bigger prey items she's turned into the sweetest thing in the world.

My spotted truly thinks she's a reticulated python when it comes time to eat. I've never seen any snake take such "pleasure" in striking coiling (and occasionally bashing) and eating a F/T mouse.

I'm guessing you'll love the childrens and start saying "hey, they're small, I could get 3 or 4 more of these".

I've actually been looking into getting a Spotted, too. I have an empty cage that's too small for a Ball, and you know I just have to fill it. These little guys have caught my eye. How much did you pick the little girl up for, Heath? If you don't mind my asking...

You forgot large-blotched/Stimson's python - the other Antaresia species.

I keep large blotched's & Cape York spotteds & have for years...they are some of my favorite snakes! :)

I have been looking for a stimson's breeder!!! Any suggestions Kara??? :D I was looking at pics of all the 'small guys' and the stimsons was my wifes favorite....mine too...but I have not found any breeders :(

I have not attempted to feed yet I am just watching him/her for now and letting it settle. This little bugger is so small I am keeping him in a large round deli container! I will have some fresh pinkies within the week and may attempt to feed then.

Smulkin: point taken

mikerccie: My take was the opposite, maybe I'm just in the know for how readily these guys are at shows but at first I was supprised at how FEW where at Tinley. I think there where two vendors that had at least a pair each of spotted and children's. And I found a couple others who had children's/spotted mixed in with other stuff. I was near ready to buy a pair and the vendor I was planning to buy from seemed like they where not interested at all in talking to me. I sat in front of the case they where in for at least 30 minutes a couple different times both days and no one said a word. Sunday I finaly got fed up and was about to leave the show with nothing but found the one I did buy at another table as a lone unsexed children's and they got to me pretty quickly so they got the business. The prices got me they where $75ea at nearly each table...and I just saw childrens in Indy two weeks ago for $100pair whats up with the price hike? Only the one table mentiond that I did not buy from had them for $50ea.

Lynn: I got this little one as mentioned above finding it at the last minute on Sunday near the end of the show it was marked at $45 and I got it for $40 so not to bad of a deal!

KLG: I didn't mean to leave anyone out! :P Nice love bird at the show btw!

Speaking of the little devil here it is:

http://warrenreptiles.com/temp/tn_DCP01485.JPG

A little flightly when I bothered him in his tub but pretty much came out on its own and into my hand and. Very explorative but not as zippy as I was prepared for.

Hehe don't get me wrong!

I am ALL FOR as much posting in as many areas as possible weighed only against the layout structure (factoring in frequency and level of use)

Man don't I sound like quite the ANALyst (retentive) today - sheesh. Gotta love the german blood.



(EDIT: OOOOH nice shot! I bet I could get the weef to get into those!)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

I have been looking for a stimson's breeder!!! Any suggestions Kara??? :D I was looking at pics of all the 'small guys' and the stimsons was my wifes favorite....mine too...but I have not found any breeders :(

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Oh...I know a gal who should be producing some this coming season. ;)

K~

here's my little guy... funny how similar spotted and children's look at this age.

http://market.kingsnake.com/image/406137.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KLG

Oh...I know a gal who should be producing some this coming season. ;)

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Thats great!!! Just let me know when to get in touch with her ;)

Do they have similar sized clutches to children's?

They do look very similiar and at a quick glance you couldn't tell much of a diff at the show where they where side by side! Pics of adults though definately differ :) Mine will lose most the defined pattern but I suppose I'll still love the creature anyway haha!



Smulk - i completely understand, building/running forums myself having to many "branches" on the forum "tree" can be very unmanageable!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

Thats great!!! Just let me know when to get in touch with her ;)

Do they have similar sized clutches to children's?

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Mine have always laid between 12-15 eggs at a time. Cute little buggers too!

Wow! I didn't realize how small the hatchlings were! And so cute... Definately going to have to look into getting one of those little buggers. Great find, Heath!


And Kara, are you going to have some up for sale? How much is the asking price? If you don't mind my asking, of course :)

I think the little guy is already adjusting! Durring this mornings feeding (rodents) and animal checks this little guy finally decided to come out of hiding and cruise around around a little bit. It was cool, I looked in the spot he has been hiding..without even touching his enclosure and was looking back and came out on his own to visit. I'm anxious to feed but don't want to do it to soon, it will be exciting watching this little monster take down a pinkie!

An extensive and very informative read, probably the most info I found in one article so far:

http://www.smuggled.com/BriBar10.htm

hmm, the only thing is... they're referring to a children's python as Antaresia maculosus, when in fact that's a spotted python... children's are an entirely different animal (Antaresia childreni ).

i've heard Antaresia in general are really easy to breed though... i dunno.

i think it is an older article and I believe he was talking about two similiar species.

well my little children's shed this weekend while I was away training with my guard unit. Perfect shed all one piece! it was so tiny though LOL. Now I've placed a pink in his enclosure to try and see if it will take it...no luck over night. I may try putting the little guy in a small deli cup with the pink and cover it tonight if it still hasn't taken it once I get home.


Any tips on feeding very young children's? I've read quite alot saying they will take pinkies and I have offered one less than a day old and froze a few of the others.

i'm having problems too... kinda frustrating.

Ive been looking for a stimsons breeder to they are so hard to find...could you let me know of the breeder you are talking about....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ladywhipple02

I've actually been looking into getting a Spotted, too. I have an empty cage that's too small for a Ball, and you know I just have to fill it. These little guys have caught my eye. How much did you pick the little girl up for, Heath? If you don't mind my asking...

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Doesn't that drive you nuts? I hate having a cage and nothing in it!

~Jim

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TekWarren

Any tips on feeding very young children's? I've read quite alot saying they will take pinkies and I have offered one less than a day old and froze a few of the others.

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****Zombie (aka split-braining) warning!*****

Try split-braining the pinks...I usually just take a frozen-thawed pink & gently squeeze its head w/a pair of hemos until the brain smooshes out the nose a bit.

Offer the pink to the little childreni with a very steady hand, off of the hemos. Hold the brained pink right in front of the snake's nose, and if you have to, very gently touch the snake's nose with the brain matter. Having that scent right there in the snake's face often works very well for eliciting a feeding response from Antaresia babies.

funny i was just reading that last nite in a herpetoculture book last nite.

they said they take a razor and make an incision right between the ears and give it a gentle squeeze.... it was saying some people believe that some chemicals in the brain matter actual trigger the feeding response.

Checked after work and the little bugger still had not eaten...and suprisingly the pink was still alive. I took the advice of a member on another forum and "washed" the pink...this person was saying to use soap, but I didn't feel comfortable doing that. I held the pink in my hand for a minute to warm it up some more. I found a small deli cup put small piece of newspaper down and then put the children's and pink in. I kept the cup near the heat source and put a towel over the cup, I have had to do this with small/younger snakes in the past...this is what I found just an hour or so later after dinner :twisted: :

http://warrenreptiles.com/temp/DCP01509.JPG

*pic taken after he/she was put back into the container it is kept in...and that hardware cloth you see through the container is an enclosure for something else...NOT part of this snake's obviously.

sorry for the crappy quality...camera doesn't like close ups :(

question for KLG or others who have raised these smaller species:

I'm used to raising ball's but with these childrens how often should I be offering food to a snake that is this small? Its only been 5 days but it seems like it digested the pink fairly quickly. There is little if any evidence of the "lump" anymore. Do these guys need to eat more frequently (than say a ball python) when they are this small?

I usually feed mine every 3-4 days when they're hatchlings, just to get some size on them.

excellent thank you I will offer food again tonight.

took pinkie number 2 with no problems tonight! It was even a f/t pink i saved from when the litter was less than a day old woot! I used the deli cup under a towel method again and once again there is a bulge in the little guy in about an hour! :)

SWEET!!!! Sounds like you are on a roll. ;)

K~

i am really getting frustrated here... my guy refused again.
i also noticed he's rubbing on stuff like he's trying to shed but his eyes never turned blue or anything like that. i raised the humidity, which was low and raised the temps as well.

i'm thinking i need to feed live, too bad i have to drive an hour to get one.

kz, the first meal I fed my little one was live. Have you tried the deli cup method? Any small container other than what you keep him in with nothing in it except maybe a small piece newspaper or papertowel even. Another thing I have done still going on recommendations from another person is "washing" the pink, the f/t pink of course got washed in a cup of warm water to thaw. Lastly if you haven't wrap something completely around the container when feeding so no light gets in and leave him for an hour or so and do checks roughly every hour...i've never had to leave mine in for more than 2hrs so far.

Mine has shed once but I didn't see any eye clouding either but I was gone when he shed and being that small I don't know if I could have been able to see it! If you where closer I'd give a live pinkie! but they might be getting a bit to large now but kzoo is probably 2-3 hours from where I live (Fremont)

Keep trying, I have been keeping mine a small secure container for a living space with hides and water available.

good info, thanks. next time i'll try a live one and put a towel over the cup.

you think maybe i should put some damp sphagnum moss in his hide?

if your really worried about himidity you could add some moss, I won't pretend to be an expert and say I know what the exact humidity should be but with the container I use I do see a bit of condensation from the water dish. I'm sure I'm way higher than I need to be but his shed was perfect a couple weeks back and he is frequently out and about looking around and is active when he sees me peering in on him. I will probaly add a couple more holes to the container or move him/her into something else and lower the humidity for mine as i don't want to cause respiratory issues.

maybe KLG will shed some more light on specific husbandry practicies for us :) I only know what I've read from the few articles online.

yeah info has been unfortunately limited on antaresia... doesn't help that this is the first snake i've owned.
thanks again

The biggest issue with baby Antaresia (besides the fact that they are TINY) is that they're naturally lizard eaters. It's a good idea to try to get one that is already well-established on rodents, especially if you're not familiar with scenting techniques. Split braining seems to work very well for switching finicky eaters over, but there are some that may require lizard scenting in the long run.

Setup for these animals is very simple. This is how I do it personally...I'm not saying this is the only way to keep Antaresia, just what I've had success with.

For hatchlings, I use Accessory boxes from the Container Store. I'm sure there's a plethora of plastic boxes that will work well...I just happen to like the dimensions & tightly closing lid of this particular box. I put several holes on each side with a soldering iron for ventilation. Accessories are a 2-oz portion cup for water, and a small opaque plastic plant saucer for a hide. No hot spot, ambient temp of 80-85 degrees. Aspen substrate.

Bigger juvies go in Sterilite 1752 boxes in a shoebox rack. Same setup as above, just a bigger box & a hot spot of 88 degrees. Aspen substrate.

Subadult-Adult animals go in a Sterilite 1756 or Rubbermaid 2221 blanket/sweater box, in a rack. 90 for a hot spot, ambient of anywhere from 75-85, water bowl, hide. Aspen substrate. They breed readily for me in this setup as well.

HTH!

K~

wow great info! Thanks so much for filling us in.

thank you much!

the guy i got it from (ben siegel reptiles) said they were feeding readily on pinkies, so i'll just keep trying. thanks for the info.

kzoo, any luck with feeding yet? My little guy has just finished his 3rd meal with me, AND I was able to watch this time! So cool seeing such a little snake take down a f/t pinkie LOL

Has anyone seen or know where I can view pictures of a children's morph I've just read about: Albino Caramel Children's Python ??? I was just reading an article on the Antaresia family and this was thrown in the article saying these can sometimes be found for sale. I've breifly researched for any morphs of children's but have yet to find any leads much less pictures.

well, some bad things happened and he hasn't eaten yet but i'm confident that the next time i try, he will eat.
i got him a new tank since the other one was rather large and may have contributed to him not eating. the lid for the new tank had about 1/8th" or so space that it could lift up but i didn't notice the gap until it was too late. after letting him adjust to the new surroundings for a few days i was going to try feeding but i didn't see him out... i lifted up his hides and sifted through the substrate but he was nowhere to be found. i seriously tore my house apart, but i mean how can you really find a 10" long snake as big around and a pen?? i felt so bad for the little guy, i figured i'd never see him again. i really felt bad because i just didn't know what happened... if you saw this cage top you would be amazed. he must have been able to flatten himself down to under 1/8" and just wriggle through while i was sleeping. so four days after i had seen him in his cage i hear my cats growling and running around... i go downstairs to find the snake in the one cats mouth and his little mouth latched on to her nose. i yelled and the cat dropped the snake and he loosed his bite. i'll make a long story short here, i took him to the vet and he's fine... he gave him a shot and i've been putting mycetracin on the two wounds he had and they're barely even red. i feel extremely lucky, more than i could portray in an internet post. i made a custom cage top that fits and latches tightly... it's been a week since the 'incident' and this snake is 100% fine as far as i can tell. anyway, i've raised his temps and put extra plants and whatnot in his cage to ensure he feels secure as well as heeded some more advice from my vet about antaresia (which surprisingly he knew a lot about).

so no, he hasn't eaten yet ;)

wow sounds like a trip! I'm sorry he hasn't eaten yet...mine won't refuse now and I am feeding every 5-6 days. I wish my little guy was 10 inches! he is still barely longer than my hand, I should try and get a measurement of him. I don't dare keep him/her in anything but a secured deli type container yet, anything else and I would be to worried about escapage...need to fatten him up :P

I never said my visual estimation of length was very good...I just did a quick tape measurement and my little one is in fact around 10 inches :P

heh, yeah they look shorter than they are for sure... mine's actually 12", just measured.
yeah the whole thing freaked me out, but he seems real comfortable right now so i'll probably try to feed him tomorrow nite.

haven't been online in awhile but i thought i'd share that i got my spotted python to eat. shortly after my last posti went out and bought some adult mice to breed so as to get some live pinkies. however, the first nite i had the mice i used one to 'scent' a frozen pinky... kinda wierd, i know... scenting a mouse with a mouse. i've done this with toads and hognose snakes, but never like this. i basically just dredged the pinky's nose through the fur from tail to head a couple times.
i took the 'scented' mouse and lowered it into his cage just to see if he'd be interested at all. when i got about 3" in front of his nose he snatched it right out of my hand and swallowed it down in about 30 minutes! nice feeding response!

so glad to hear that! my little children's has continued to pound them down like no tomorrow. I've been pulling the littlers of mice as they are born or letting get a little bigger and freezing them myself. I just take one out toss it in a cup of hot water, wait till the water is about room temp and put the CP in a container with it and he gobbles it up right away with no monkey business!

yeah, i'm going to freeze mine too... i already have a CO2 chamber made up. my guy's definitely feeding well now. per my vet's advice i've been alternating between 5 and 7 days between feedings.

i own all antaresia species. to anyone with nonfeeding antaresia the pinkie brain trick always works perfectly and if anyone else has an anthill you also can try pinkie tails:)