Pics of My New Spotted Pythons

[jjspirko]

OK I posted before about the pair of spots I got at the NARBC for 60 each marked as 06s that I figured now must have been 05s. I was asked for pics but always think pics deserve their own thread so here are my new kids.

First the female who shed a few days before I bought her, check the sheen on this gal.

The next shot is the male which is bigger of the two. He is also getting close to shed time and hence a lot duller in appearence.

Here is another of the male. I am trying to show here his length a bit better. No one was here to help with pics. I should also note as always I am a big guy my ring size is 13.5 so that might help to give better scale on these little guys.

Ok so does this help, any of you with adults who grew them from babies do these look like 06 animals to you. I would actually feel better if they did because checking pricing a pair of two year olds cost a LOT more then a pair of 06 do. I guess I can't feel to bad on this if they are older though, I just bought them for the stated price.

It is just I have never handled adult spotteds and you can read "up to a meter" but that does not really explain the size of a snake well. For instance a 6 foot boa is a lot bigger then a 8 foot taiwan rat, know what I mean.

How close are these to true adult size? Those of you that breed them how close are they to being breedable? What size/weight do you start breeding yours at.

Not knowing is a new feeling for me! Most of the common animals I have a ton of experience with but spots, childrens, etc are new to me. I figure they are easy to keep and all so no worries but this is kind of like turing on a movie and not knowing how long it has been on or how much time is left,

[TekWarren]

Those are hot looking snakes Jack. With no seeing the pics I have even a harder time accepting they are 06's but I'm not an expert. Like I said I have a children's that is just over a year old and is still WAY smaller than your pair and he eats every week without a miss. I don't know maybe its possible with some feeding methods to get them that big?? There was somone here who was really into australian pythons hopefully they will offer some insight. I still say you got a great deal compared to what I see around here and those you got are larger than I see quite often.

[SilentTigress]

Hm...I have an 06 Spotted female, and those guys look like they'd dwarf her...According to the people that sold her to me, she was hatched in May 06..Here's what she looks like now:







She gets a fuzzy every week and takes it down no problem...My ring size is about 9 1/2- 10 (Yeah..my friends make fun of my "Manly hands"..::sigh::..lol)

Hope this helps...

[TekWarren]

Didn't see as well in the other pics but your Children's has some awesome black coloration going on Lisa!

[jjspirko]

Hm...I have an 06 Spotted female, and those guys look like they'd dwarf her...According to the people that sold her to me, she was hatched in May 06..

Hope this helps...

Indeed it does and I have to say that about cinches my feeling that these are a pair of two year olds. So I am guessing one season and they should be breedable?

One thing about them is they are snappy little dudes! Mostly calm when I take them out and handle them but when you put them back in the viv and close the door they get a bit mental. All s-coiled and strike at the glass.

The smaller one did have a go at my forearm twice during a handling but she was bluffing. She struck open mouthed and touched the arm but never actually bit.

Hope they calm down with some more handling. No real problem to handle them for me but I would like to use them with my kids shows at some point. Seems like it would be fun to show kids a spotted, a bigger ball and my 8 foot Jungle Carpet and ask them which one is a python or oldest or something to that effect. Something to make them think about prejudgement.

I still remember when I was a kid and we toured the hospital for a school trip. They brought in two people all dressed up for surgery. One guy and one gal. They asked us all which was the nurse and which the doctor, of course we all said the guy was the doctor. Of course it was the other way around.

That had to be about 1979 and I still remember it! So I know the concept works. But I can't be handing kids I am trying to take fear away from a snappy little python.

[Skiploder]

Indeed it does and I have to say that about cinches my feeling that these are a pair of two year olds. So I am guessing one season and they should be breedable?

At two years of age my female was 37" long and had a girth of about 1". My male was 32" and maybe 5/8".

One thing about them is they are snappy little dudes! Mostly calm when I take them out and handle them but when you put them back in the viv and close the door they get a bit mental. All s-coiled and strike at the glass.

The smaller one did have a go at my forearm twice during a handling but she was bluffing. She struck open mouthed and touched the arm but never actually bit.

Hope they calm down with some more handling. No real problem to handle them for me but I would like to use them with my kids shows at some point.
I.

Our female is about the friendliest snake I've ever encountered. She will literally climb into your hand at any opportunity and will refuse to go back into the cage.

One thing about the spotteds, the childreni and the anthills that I've noticed is that the males definately go through some adolescent cockiness. I initially thought the male was snappy and ill-tempered. After some time with him, he's mellowed out a bit, but that may be more a case of us just learning what he'll put up with. He definately has to be approached and handled differently than his mate.

As to your OP - they are fairly easy to keep. they are fairly active (mainly in the evenings and at night) and for the most part - are docile. I have seen them push 5' before but that's on the longish side.

They should be ready to breed when the female is in her second year.

[sweety314]

We got Felix the Stimson's, just a year ago and when we bought him, he was a hatchling. They look to be the same size as Felix.

It's AMAZING crazy how fast they grow even when you DON'T power-feed them!!


RuLyn

[jjspirko]

As to your OP - they are fairly easy to keep. they are fairly active (mainly in the evenings and at night) and for the most part - are docile. I have seen them push 5' before but that's on the longish side.

Not sure what you mean by "OP" (other problem?)

Anyway are you saying spotteds can get up to five feet? Not a problem if it is the case but I keep reading stuff saying adults are 30 inches to 1 meter with anything over a meter being very big.

This is what has me questioning the age of them. They are in one of the brand new cool Visionarium cages right now. The length is 30 inches the smaller one seems to be at least long enough to reach across the entire cage, the bigger is certainly over that length.

I am glad to hear you have seen a one year old at similar lengths, I was starting to feel guilty.

On size I am fine no matter how big they get, just wondering what is a true average in length and weight. Because the bigger one is already about as big as most write ups claim she is going to be.

Again it is a different feeling to not really know an animal I am keeping. Makes me think a bit about how important it is for us to help out new folks that come to forums.

[Skiploder]

Not sure what you mean by "OP" (other problem?)

Anyway are you saying spotteds can get up to five feet? Not a problem if it is the case but I keep reading stuff saying adults are 30 inches to 1 meter with anything over a meter being very big.

This is what has me questioning the age of them. They are in one of the brand new cool Visionarium cages right now. The length is 30 inches the smaller one seems to be at least long enough to reach across the entire cage, the bigger is certainly over that length.

I am glad to hear you have seen a one year old at similar lengths, I was starting to feel guilty.

On size I am fine no matter how big they get, just wondering what is a true average in length and weight. Because the bigger one is already about as big as most write ups claim she is going to be.

Again it is a different feeling to not really know an animal I am keeping. Makes me think a bit about how important it is for us to help out new folks that come to forums.

Jack -

Here is a link to the spotted python size aggregate. The table is at the bottom of the page (table 5). It basically tracks the monthly size of 6 maculosa.

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


OP = original post

[jjspirko]

Thanks that article helps a lot. Converting milimeters to inches I see at 12 months those snakes were between 30-40 inches. Puts my pair right on target for that age range.

However since I bought them in Febuary odds are if they are 06s they were not born a full 12 months ago. Say they were hatched in April of 06 they would be 10 months of age. Chart on the spots in your article shows 29-35 inches. So again my pair is dead on target!

Growth rate is highly tied to feeding in young snakes. I have found most older snakes for sale from breeders to be smaller then normal because breeders tend to feed stock animals only as much as is necessary.

Regaurdless of what I have I am happy with them and plan to try to produce a clutch next year.