Grumpy, dry skin, and won't eat

[DennisM]

While there may be several Diamond keepers here, the only one I know of is DennisM, and he has 25 years of experience. If he does not post soon, you may want to send him a PM. You really need to talk to someone with experience rather than us "General constrictor keepers" (for lack of better term) to be sure that you are doing things correctly.

Unfortunately I have not kept pure diamonds because their unique needs do not fit the parameters of my snake room climate. I have kept many diamond intergrades including 75% diamond. The truth is I keep these in the same conditions as jungles and coastals and have done so with great success (luck?).

Here’s a link to a diamond care sheet.
http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Snak...Python-Basics/

Of course, all care sheets have their own opinion, but this one is authored by Stan Chiras the first to reproduce diamonds in captivity outside of Australia. He goes into detail about the trials and tribulations of the early m.s.spilota keepers/breeders here in the U.S. I believe the care sheet is rather dated, but the experiences that Stan and others had in the 70’s remains unchanged. Of note is that it was found that a winter brumation period of 2-3 months at 50-60F with no hot spot was found to be very beneficial whether breeding or not. Year round warmer temps were found to have a negative effect on the overall health and longevity of the species.