Scrub python

[burmman]

Just wondered if any of you guys keep scrubs?
I've been offered a stunning boy and very tempted!

[Bogertophis]

FYI, I put in "scrub python" in the search box (upper right) & quickly came up with these threads- there's probably more- I know scrubs get discussed now & then.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...is-(pic-heavy)

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...htened-Nervous

[EL-Ziggy]

I’d say scrubs definitely aren’t for everyone. I’d recommend having intermediate to advanced experience with large snakes before keeping them. I have a 2017 male scrub that I got as a yearling in 2018. I love him even though he’s my most challenging snake. There are some really mellow scrubs out there and others are a bit more temperamental. Make sure you’re prepared for both possibilities. The feisty ones can take a while to settle down. I got one of the more unpredictable specimens. He’s gotten a lot better in the 3 years that I’ve had him but he’s still not a big fan of being handled and he will take a swipe at me occasionally. I accept and respect that he’s more of a hands off /display only animal. They’re pretty easy to care for, they’re strong, and they grow and strike fast. They’re beautiful, majestic snakes that certainly command their respect. As much as I love mine, I can’t see me keeping more than one though.

[burmman]

Ive been keeping AfRocks and Anaconda's for years and awere of Scrubs personality.
But yeah i know of a few calm ones but few and far between lol.

[EL-Ziggy]

Then you’re good!! Definitely go for it!! Which sub-species are you considering? I have carpets, boas, bulls, and an olive, but the scrub is the most challenging of all. I still use gloves with him and that tail has a mind of it’s own. We need more scrubbies around here.

[Bogertophis]

... We need more scrubbies around here.

A Scrub Club!

[burmman]

Then you’re good!! Definitely go for it!! Which sub-species are you considering? I have carpets, boas, bulls, and an olive, but the scrub is the most challenging of all. I still use gloves with him and that tail has a mind of it’s own. We need more scrubbies around here.

Unsure atm.
I've been offered a male of around 5years old. Need to chexk his locality.

[EL-Ziggy]

Unsure atm.
I've been offered a male of around 5years old. Need to chexk his locality.

Cool. So you’re getting an adult. I hope he’s a mellow fellow. I may have used an incorrect term. What’s the difference between sub species and localities?

[jmcrook]

Cool. So you’re getting an adult. I hope he’s a mellow fellow. I may have used an incorrect term. What’s the difference between sub species and localities?

Example:
mainland retic species is Malayopython Reticulatus. Dwarf and superdwarf retics are a subspecies of the former and named Malayopython Reticulatus jampeanus.
Locality examples would be Kalatoa island superdwarf, Karompa island superdwarf, etc.

Locality describes a specific smaller population of a species/subspecies that has particular identifiable traits or distinguishable characteristics unique to specimens from that area. Another example is true redtail boas. All are Boa constrictor (formerly Boa constrictor constrictor). Localities would be Suriname, Guyana, North Brazil, Peruvian, Venezuelan, etc.

To the best of my knowledge there are no subspecies of scrubs. All are full species. Simalia kinghorni, Simalia amethistina, Simalia clastolepis, Simalia nauta, and Simalia tracyae.

Examples of locality scrubs within amethistina (that are debatable by some unless you collected the animal personally) are southern/Merauke, Sorong, Biak, etc.


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[Malum Argenteum]

'Subspecies' is a scientific taxonomic distinction -- and as such must be published in order to be valid -- and generally is applied to more-or-less genetically isolated populations that have some relevant and stable phenotypic difference from other populations. My general impression is that the move to cladistic taxonomy (categorizing species based on their shared ancestry, as determined by genetic analysis) is leading to the reduction of named subspecies, as in the Lampropeltis triangulum complex and Lichanura somewhat recently.

'Locale'/'locality' distinguishes animals whose parentage was collected from a certain known location (general area, near a certain city, a specific island, or even something as specific as a certain road cut as in Lampropeltis alterna locales). Not all locale/localities have characteristics distinguishable from other locales (most mainland locales of Lichanura trivirgata are visually indistinguishable from each other), and not all locale populations are morphologically homogeneous (to take another rosy boa example, 'Anza Borrego' rosies range from blue and pretty bright orange to cream and washed out orange, and there is a locale specific albino line, and there is a selectively bred but nonetheless locale-specific hypo line).

This locality naming is misused somewhat (uh, a lot, actually), as when some locales' phenotypic differences are distinct and genetically stable the locale name can become a morph name, and future generations get called "locale X" even though they've been crossed with many non-locale animals over generations (okeetee corn snakes are a good example of this, with some specimens (scaleless) even being interspecific hybrids, so not really even a corn snake).

It is also misused when keepers assume and come to assert that their animal is 'locale X' since the internet has told them it looks a lot like animals from locale X even though no one knows where the parent stock of the unidentified animal was collected (note what I said above about locality and appearance being two different elements that need not hang together). This last misuse is pretty disturbing since when taxonomy gets reworked, knowing an animal's locale provenance can be crucial to knowing what species it is (as in extreme southern US populations of animals now genetically determined to be Lampropeltis knoblochi that look exactly like L. pyromelana, and likely have been crossed into hobby line pyros at some point).