Merauke scrub python female, progression thread

[Gio]

I am gonna have a blast taking pictures of her as an adult outside. She likes to grip everything with her tail, haha.
I can never capture her when she is in the perfect perching pose, she is too curious about what I am doing!

Simply one of the most interesting species of snake out there IMO.

You are in a great position to pass along knowledge and understanding of this species as a captive pet.

I personally enjoy every post you put up.

[spazhime]

Thank you! I agree, they are incredibly interesting and show much more intelligence than any other species I have worked with. They deserve a lot of respect.
This is Tali in the room that will one day be converted in to her adult cage. She still has a lot of growing to do!

[Gio]

How long do you suspect the snake is?
I can't remember if your animal is older or younger than my June 1, 2016 retic or not.

A couple of us with newer SD x dwarf retics are seeing some rapid growth. I think we all have over 5 footers now.

I wish I could study some of the similarities and differences of these two species as far as activity levels, arboreal and terrestrial habits, and other behaviors.

[spazhime]

I would guess around five feet or so, her sheds average around 6 1/2 feet so I guess about a foot and a half of stretch. I'll see if I can use one of those online tools to measure her at some point.
I don't have an exact date on her, but when she arrived I think she was about 8-10 months old. I've had her about six months, so around a year and four months I'd say?
I also got a few pictures while trying to see if I could guess her length

[Gio]

That head scalation is just dynamite!

She seems to be growing at the rate of my SD x dwarf retic!

[spazhime]

Its so interesting to compare the growth rates of the two species!
I got a couple more pics today

[redshepherd]

You definitely got the best behaved scrub, she is amazing! Mine has to get to know me over time, but for now, she would BOLT like lightning if I put her on the carpet LOL. She was trying to bolt all over the place when I was just putting her in her enclosure yesterday.

Do you have recent pics of her with something for scale, like on your arm or hand? I'm trying to figure out exactly how much larger she is than my yearling Tanimbar.

[Gio]

You definitely got the best behaved scrub, she is amazing! Mine has to get to know me over time, but for now, she would BOLT like lightning if I put her on the carpet LOL. She was trying to bolt all over the place when I was just putting her in her enclosure yesterday.

Do you have recent pics of her with something for scale, like on your arm or hand? I'm trying to figure out exactly how much larger she is than my yearling Tanimbar.

You two will have to compare notes.

I'm very interested in these three species, the Scrubs/Tanimbars, the Timor pythons, and the reticulated pythons. There are a lot of similarities and the Timors seem to almost bridge a gap between retics and scrubs.

If I were to acquire a scrub, I'd probably have a friend build me a cage that is 4 feet tall at minimum.

I'm giving my SD X Dwarf retic a 2' tall cage. He's a climber and a percher. I wasn't sure what he would like, but every other night he is perched. Usually over his water bowl which reflects what they do in nature. The smaller retics perch in trees over a body of water.

Both of you have even more arboreal animals and that is exciting to me!

[dboeren]

Awesome snake you've got there, she's looking beautiful!

She seems pretty slender, probably they get long first and then start thickening up when they're older?

Anyway, I'm interested to see how she grows up over time and how big she eventually gets.

[spazhime]

Thank you! Scrubbies are actually an incredibly slender species, definitely not as chubby as burmese pythons are, and honestly more slender than healthy retics as well We had a nice sunny day out so I got her outside for some natural pics again <3