Olive Python vs Argentine Boa :o

[John1982]

I have a papuan olive(L. papuana), not to be mistaken with the the australian(L. olivaceus) that I think the OP is considering. I'll go ahead and do a writeup in case you're interested in these too and because I love talking about these neat snakes!

A lot of breeding attempts fail and/or end up with a very fat female and MIA Male. These snakes display pretty heavy ophiophagic tendencies and offering a snake to a WC animal that refuses to feed will often have positive results. They mature slow and shouldn't really be paired up until 5+ years of age, or even later. There's not really anybody captive producing papuana with most, if not all, animals in the states coming from WC and farmed babies via Bushmaster.

That said, they seem to acclimate very well; these are incredibly tolerant snakes as far as husbandry errors go. They seem to prefer cooler temps and I keep mine at ambient room temps of 60-80(yearly fluctuation) with a hotspot around 90 that's typically only utilized while digesting. You'll want to get a fecal done and purge any parasites but they're pretty much bullet proof and calm snakes. Even the larger, wild caught, animals come in fairly placid - just seem to be one of those species that's naturally chill. A lot of folks seem to report nippy youngsters but my hatchling never showed the slightest inclination to bite. Their feeding response is insane, their strength is unbelievable. You can't really appreciate it until you hold one, even younger animals will surprise you with their grip. They are also very intelligent(for snakes) so hook training is probably a good idea, at least until you get better acquainted with your animal.

Of the 2 I've owned, one was a WC subadult and the other a farm bred hatchling, neither were aggressive or defensive. Neither were the least bit head or tail shy. In my experience, they will talk to you when they don't want to be messed with by getting a bit vocal/hissy but will otherwise act completely normal - highly tolerant snakes and disinclined to bite. They can get a fair size with adults maxing out in the 12-17 foot range but do stay on the more slender side. Considering their strength though, care should be taken when handling even younger individuals.

Fun facts:
Dark flesh, so damaged/imperfect scales might look like mites at first glance. Also pretty neat when they eat cause they have the whole black mamba thing going on with that gaping, black, maw.

They can change color. The mechanics behind this hasn't been determined yet. Could be in relation to temperature, mood, both, or neither. Whatever it is, it's pretty cool when you don't know what shade/color your snake is going to be before walking into the room. They're also highly iridescent.

Obligatory picture dump, all from 2012 hatchling through present:












Black Maw:

Arboreal feeding trial:





Most recent shots. This boy grew pretty slow for the first 2 years but this last year he has more than doubled in length without any increase in feeding frequency or size(relative to snake).