Speaking of White Lipped Pythons (Smulkin!)

[JLC]

...since you brought it up in another post on the general forum...reminded me of something I wanted to share with ya...

While I was waiting for the counter-offer to our first offer on the house in Montgomery, I went to the local mall and wandered around. They had a petstore in the mall called "Wet Pets & Pups" or something goofy like that. Lo and behold...there was a sign at the door that said "REPTILE SHOW TODAY!"

"Cool!" I says to myself, and wander in...

Well, their "reptile show" turned out to be just one guy...but BOY did he have a lot of herps! All kinds of snakes and lizards and frogs and turtles.

Including a White Lipped python! He was asking $200 for it. I have no idea if that was a good price or not. It was definitely a juvie or baby, seeing as how it was in a small sterilite container, but other than that, I didn't get a good look at it. It was maybe 2' long or so, I'm guessing.

Unfortunately, the guy selling all these critters was extremely un-communicative. I tried to get him to talk to me about the various snakes and ask if he would ship any cross-country because I knew someone in West Virginia who would LOVE to take that WLP off his hands....but he just wouldn't talk to me. I dunno...maybe I don't look "cool" enough to look like I'm serious about snakes. :roll: Anyhow...I know this guy lives in Tallahasee(sp?) FL and regularly supplies herps to this particular petshop. So if WLP are so hard to find, maybe we can track this guy down for you and you can contact him about buying it. Despite his reticence to talk, his animals all looked very healthy and well-cared for.

I used to want a D'Albert's aka White-Lipped Python realllly bad......until I learned more about them and had some hands on experience with them. They're ALOT harder to care for than many people let on....they're very susceptible to respiratory infections which can easily kill them......and 90% of the time they're evil face biting, musking SOBs, lol. Just something to think about when considering getting a WLP.

[Smulkin]

I'd heard the same "nasty" things about the AfRock, some bloods and especially the Water Pythons (thrashing, biting flailing musk and p00 all over) and have yet to see that - of course the fact that we've had them from younglings and the amount of interaction they get may be key. can't speak to the scrubs (who are supposed to be the kings of eerily-predisposed face-biting). There was a video of a keeper trying to get their WLP out of the cage and it looked like a handful.

LOL reminds me - and as a Macklottes keeper/fan you'll get a kick out of this. At that NVRE show we found a table with quite a bevy of baby macklottes (greenish tints) and as my son had initially expressed interest in them we asked about the sex etc. The guy running the table was MORTIFIED at the thought of even opening the displays to get one, and assured us there was "no way in hell" he would sex any of them for us.

But yes - I am hell-bent on eventually finding a baby WLP . . . just so I can put that chair and snake-taming whip to good use! And theres nothing wrogn with the occasional face-hugger.

I'd heard the same "nasty" things about the AfRock, some bloods and especially the Water Pythons (thrashing, biting flailing musk and p00 all over) and have yet to see that - of course the fact that we've had them from younglings and the amount of interaction they get may be key. can't speak to the scrubs (who are supposed to be the kings of eerily-predisposed face-biting). There was a video of a keeper trying to get their WLP out of the cage and it looked like a handful.

I have some good friend who had a pair of gold-phase WLPs a while back...both were fairly docile, but they acquired RIs that they couldn't shake and it eventually killed both of them. They're hard to care for....moreso than Scrubs (except for the size factor) or Bloods IMO. My friends now have a male black-phase WLP who is about 5-6 feet long and is EVIL....it takes 2 hooks and lots of dodging to even get him out of the cage....he is not a snake I would want to get bit by, especially in the face. Ouch.

Now, they also have a couple of Moluccan Scrubs (Morelia clastolepis) and they are not bad once out of the cage but they are very wary and I'm uncomfortable handling them....they have huge heads and very big teeth.....one of the only snakes that really un-nerves me. Very pretty, but not something I would want.

and as a Macklottes keeper/fan you'll get a kick out of this.

I think you're confusing me w/ The Godfather. I've never kept Macklottes and I'll probably keep it that way, lol.

[Smulkin]

Well dammit man then what was that my addled brain isnt focusing correctly - savu? I don't mind working with less than docile snakes - actually and oddly it's the projectile-p00 i am more wary of than bites. I didn't know they were more siusceptible to RIs than bloods - maybe its the sheer number of bloods kept that makes it seem they are much more problematic though sheer numbers.

Yes, I had a Savu Python for a while. He now resides with the friends I was discussing above

WLPs are more susceptible to RI than Bloods....Bloods are being bred in captivity more often now and the # of healthy specimens is increasing. The same cannot be said for WLPs....they're not easy to keep or breed, even for most seasoned python keepers.

[Smulkin]

No more savu!? EGADS MAN! Was it the nippiness?

No, he was very docile. They have a female for him and they really wanted him.