Children's Pythons

[Bogertophis]

thank you again! i will definitely do my research, i would only want the best for any reptile!

this might be kind of a silly question but i see a lot of differing opinions on what humidity should be used for children's/spotted pythons.. are they able to tolerate a wide range of humidity or does it just not matter that much?

i think most reptiles would be fine not following every single care guide to a T but maybe i'm just inexperienced

I honestly don't obsess about humidity. My area of the U.S. is humid, but as you likely know, our HVAC systems suck a lot of humidity out of our homes anyway, as does heating the snake's home.

My Spotted python has always lived in a glass tank with screen top, not covered to retain humidity. BUT: she has 3 hides, one cool (no heat), one over the UTH (heated), & one with some warmth & humidity (moist sphagnum moss)- she needs the humid hide to shed well. (I do not use a humid substrate either. If I did, I could probably skip the humid hide.) She also has an over-head heat source. I got her in 2009, at roughly one year old, so that's a long time that I've had her- even though she's my only Antaresia to judge from. She also sports a very healthy iridescence.

Another advantage compared to BPs is that you'll never need to size up from mice to rats, or worry about whether your pet snake will accept the new smell & taste of rats. Antaresia start on mouse pinkies, BPs start on mouse hoppers usually (they have a bigger head/mouth). So Antaresia will be cheaper to feed, since mice (any size) cost less than rats, plus you won't be throwing food away either, or very rarely (like only if you thaw food before noticing your snake is deep in shed).

Antaresia are not known for refusing food- not only aren't they fussy eaters, but mine reliably grabs her prey from my feeding tongs. Easy! The only thing that makes them "harder" than keeping a corn snake is that they need more warmth.

One other difference between these 2 modest-size pythons is that while a BP may hang onto you, a spotted python has a very strong grip for such a small python- she means nothing by it- she just doesn't want to fall- she climbs very well & enjoys her branches & driftwood. BPs are mostly terrestrial, while Antaresia are at home climbing on branches. Their body is more slender than a BP- my mature python is roughly 4', whereas BPs may exceed that length.

There's no such thing as a silly question- ask away! This counts as research.