Greater (Central) AfRock CareSheet

[CeraDigital]

I have been typing up a caresheet over the past couple of months and had finally finished it. I had some time this morning before I have to run, so I decided to post it. This is all written on my experience, so opinions may vary on it. This is a touchy subject since most breeders and keepers don't work with the African Rock compared to the other Giants. Feel free to let me know if you feel anything should be added Thanks!

Captive care and husbandry of the

Central African Rock Python

The African Rock Python is the largest, heaviest snake in Africa attaining lengths one would only imagine to find in a fairy tale. Listed under CITES appendix II, the African Rock Python is a somewhat protected species, needing a license to import or export this animal. Once deemed an overly aggressive species which was unsuitable for captive environments, this long lived rumor is slowly dying as more captive breedings show an emerging true gentle giant.

• -General-
  

Found throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, where it commonly frequents water; The African Rock Python uses water holes commonly frequented by other game for the purpose of hunting, using its highly developed ambush technique.

Sporting golds, cinnamons, browns, chocolates, silvers and blacks with a maze-like labyrinth pattern; the AfRock is a handsome serpent! Often confused with the Burmese Python; another large Rock Python common in the hobby. There is also a smaller, rarer species of African Rock Python known as the Southern, Dwarf, or Lesser African Rock Python (Python natalensis) Which is much sought after by Rock Python enthusiasts.

-Size, Growth and Development-

African Rocks hatch out at a much smaller size than other giants commonly found in captivity. While Burmese Pythons, and Reticulated Pythons hatch out at 22+” long, AfRocks hatch out at only 16-18” long. They grow at a fairly steady pace reaching 6-7' by their first year. Adults average out at 11-13' for males, with females topping out at around 16'. There are exceptions, and some specimens may attain a much larger size. Record breakers have grown to an astounding 24' long and over 250lbs! This species has a very similar body structure to the Burmese Python. A highly robust predator of almost pure muscle. An adult could overpower a human with ease. A well cared for African Rock Python lives on average of about 20-25 years. They may exceed this expectation and live longer if properly cared for.

-Feeding-

Rock Pythons can begin feeding on small rats. As they grow, increase their prey size appropriately. Rocks can handle a larger meal than most other boids, but this doesn't mean they should be fed a meal that would stuff them to the point of almost rupturing. Generally, a meal weighing around 10% their body weight once a week would do nicely, and you should see a good amount of growth. Yearling Rocks can feed on Jumbo Guinea Pigs, appropriately sized Rabbits, Chicken and Quail. Most keepers are against feeding fowl to their pythons, but truth is that birds are a natural part of the Rock Pythons diet. Not to say feed specifically an all fowl diet, but a bird mixed in once a month or so is healthy. I, along with other Rock Python keepers have noticed that their Pythons appeared healthier when a bird was included in their diet here and there.

When feeding your snake, always feed inside the enclosure! Never feed a Rock Python outside in a separate container. This is very dangerous, and can lead to serious injury or possible death for you or the snake! Imagine trying to move a 12'+ robust Python from a tub back to its enclosure while still in feeding mode. Its just unnecessary. Most think that if you let the snake sit a little while, that the snake will return to normal and all is good...which is false! An AfRock can stay in feeding mode for hours. There is just too much stress and risk of injury to make feeding outside the cage an option. Rock Pythons feeding responses are almost unmatched in the snake world! These are animals build to take down large prey, quickly. If proper safety precautions are not met, this could create a dangerous situation for the keeper and perhaps anyone else residing in the household. Be smart about things!

Don't overfeed your animal! One of the biggest killers in captive boids is obesity. Take it slow and easy with feeding. There's no sense in rushing the growth of your animal. Allow it to grow at a healthy rate, without becoming obese.

[CeraDigital]

-Enclosures and Caging-

Opinions on caging will vary from keeper to keeper, as does about anything dealing with husbandry. What's most important is that it contains the snake safely, while maintaining proper temperatures, humidity, allows a proper airflow without any sudden fluctuations in them. I recommend any type of plastic caging. I build and use my own plastic caging, which works wonders! They're lightweight, clean very easily, and are easily modified. I would not recommend using an aquarium for a Rock Python. Aquariums allow for too many sudden changes in temperature, and humidity which leads to stress on the animal and may cause a myriad of health problems. Respiratory infections are common in African Rock Pythons, caused by bad husbandry. Caging should allow a certain amount of lighting in as well in order for the animal to thrive. The Python will survive without lighting, however they do much better when a photo-period is given. A couple enclosure manufacturer's I'd recommend would be www.animalplastics.com, and www.boaphileplastics.com. Never allow your snake to free roam!!




One rumor with the Giants when it comes to caging is that most believe they need room sized enclosures when the animal reaches an adult size. Room sized enclosures are terrible for these animals, period! You must set them up months ahead of placing the animal in them, in order to get the appropriate humidity, heat, and airflow levels correct. Heating an enclosure the size of a room is expensive! Humidity would prove to be another feat. Holding proper humidity levels, would mean you would have to seal the room with some type of marine varnish or something of the like. Even with this the room is not completely water-proof . Water and humidity does quite a substantial amount of damage to wood, plaster, and drywall. The humidity and moisture, along with the heat will begin to warp and rot the room out. Something requiring costly repairs! Along with this, the huge open space can very well stress the animal out, causing it to go off feed and have bad sheds. In my opinion, its just not worth it. Proper enclosure sizes I'd recommend would be a 6' x 2' x 3' enclosure for males, and an 8' x 2' x 3' enclosure for females. If you have an exceptional animal, that grows beyond the average sized African Rock, a 10' x 2' x 3' enclosure would do nicely.

-Substrates, Humidity, Temperature and Hides-

Just as with caging, opinions will vary. Many use newspaper with a good amount of success. It's cheap, easy to replace and clean, and asthetically pleasing. I myself prefer a mix of Cypress Mulch, and Sphagnum Moss. This type of bedding allows for easy control of humidity, as well as aids in shedding. Keep the bedding from getting soggy or wet. This may cause skin, and scale problems such as rashes on the animals belly. Too much humidity may cause as many problems as too little! Never use cedar or pine for Rocks! The oils in these beddings are highly irritating to the snakes skin, and cause life threatening damage to the animals respiratory track! Another bedding to avoid is Carefresh. Carefresh irritates the respiratory track of the animals, as well as dries the environment a great deal. Humidity is difficult to keep up using this, and it may cause a large amount of shedding problems. Humidity should be kept at a stable range of 55-60%. Too little can cause shedding, and respiratory problems. Too much may cause skin irritation, scale damage, and infections due to a larger amount of bacterial build up in the cage from the very moist environment.




Being ambush predators, African Rock Pythons lie and wait majority of the time for prey to come within striking range. When younger, AfRocks are food for just about any type of predatory animal within their range. Offering a hide or two, when younger would offer a certain amount of security for the animal and relieve stress on them from feeling vulnerable to predation. As they grow, they become less dependent on this sheltering and are less likely to stress due to not having a hide box. As adults its almost impossible to provide a secure hide box, however you can take butchers paper, or brown paper and tape it on a portion of the glass/plastic door on the animals enclosure to offer a sense of having a 'hide'.




In order for your animal to properly digest its meal, it must have a proper temperature gradient. Most people keep their AfRocks too cool, or keep their temperatures at wrong levels. A good level for your Afrocks would be 92F for their warm side, and 84F for their cool side. Do not allow their temperatures to fall below the low 80's. If so, they may contract a respiratory infection. I prefer belly heat more-so than overheat heating for my animals. It will aloow for a more direct heat source which I believe will aid in digestion much more efficiently.

-Photo-Period-

Photo periods are not essential to this species, however they do help in a few ways. Lighting helps keep your animals on a schedule, and will help later if you plan on breeding them. Coming from Central Africa, Python sebae does not experience a 'cool' season, and as such should not be cooled for breeding. A common practice that is done with most Python species to stimulate breeding. In Burmese and African Rock Pythons it has shown to cause Respiratory infections. Although some claim that the animal will remain healthy if they are warmed back up during the day, this simply is not the case. A good photo-period for rocks is 14 hours daylight, to 10 hours night. I've noticed this helps with feeding and activity much more than the 12/12 cycle commonly used.

-Handling-

One of the most important aspects to properly maintaining your African Rock Python is interaction. A common misconception is that African Rocks are aggressive, unruly captives. Truth is that African Rocks take more time to work with than other boids. They should be worked with on an individual basis, and treated as individuals rather than grouping them together as a whole, or a species. All giant pythons have their own personality. Although hatchlings may come of as fiesty demons, wanting to tear into you, its really a survival technique. As hatchlings they're highly preyed upon. As such, You must build trust with them. Handle them with confidence, while not being overly cocky. Work with them. Don't hesitate or freak when handling them. All this will do is create an uneasy and stressful situation for both you and the animal. When the snake bites you (yes, you will get bit by a hatchling!), do not set it down. Pythons do learn to an extent, and do become conditioned to things. If you set the animal down when it bites, you just reinforce the fact that if it acts outwardly defensive it will get released. Do not set the animal down when it bites! Its as simple as that. If your worried about getting bit, then you should look into a different specie of Python. A very serious part of handling is never restrain the animal, ever! All restraining will do is break trust between the keeper and kept, when trust is the most essential part of keeping this animal. There is no reason under normal circumstances to restrain them. A certain flaw to this species is their unpredictable nature. You need to be prepared for this. They do get into a grumpy mood at times, as with any boid. Test the animals temper before removing it from its enclosure. Otherwise, after removing the animal it could go from your calmest, most docile animal to the snake you regret picking up that day in a matter of a second. Better safe than sorry. An easy way to test the animal, is to gentle and slowly rub its side or head with a snake hook. This allows the animal to know your going to remove it from its enclosure, and if its in a bad mood...believe me, you'd know!

-My last word-

The information typed up in this care sheet is of my hands on experience with this species. Care sheets will vary from person to person. Read as many as you can to get a general idea of what your going to need to do when caring for this animal. No caresheet can prepare you at large for the animal itself...only hands on experience. If you have an opportunity to work with the species before actually purchasing one for yourself, then do so! It helps greatly. African Rocks Pythons are not for everyone. They're a very difficult giant to keep. They are very large, powerful constrictors and at times can be very nervous and defensive. The inexperienced keeper can get injured because of this. Know what you can handle, and know what you can keep. Don't get in over your head when purchasing the animal. All I can say is talk to as many people as you can, experienced with keeping the species....and don't be afraid to ask questions! The only stupid question is the one that isn't asked! Most importantly, keep proper safety habits. No matter how docile your snake seems, do not let that lull you into a false sense of security!! Anything can happen, if you drop your guard like that and you can be seriously injured or even killed. Keep safe, read as much as you can, and talk to as many people as you can!

[_BoidFinatic_]

Most keepers are against feeding fowl to their pythons, but truth is that birds are a natural part of the Rock Pythons diet. Not to say feed specifically an all fowl diet, but a bird mixed in once a month or so is healthy. I, along with other Rock Python keepers have noticed that their Pythons appeared healthier when a bird was included in their diet here and there.

Absolutely, IMO. Almost every feeding to all of my snakes is a chicken/CB Pigeon. Not only do fowl add aesthetic variety, the snakes seem to like fowl even more than mammalian prey and the seemingly extra anount of effort that it takes to swallow fowl, of equal weight to appropriately sized rodents, keeps the snakes fitter. On the contrary to popular belief, the fecal remains of fowl are not as runny or smelly as that of mammalian remains. Instead of ending up with a clump of fur and/or hair, you are left with feathers and whatever seeds/grains were in the birds gullet or digestive tract. This clump of bird remains is much less smelly and is certainly not as runny, coming from the same individual of course. Overall, I feel that my snakes' apparent love for fowl, its cheaper cost (by weight), the extra exercise it takes to consume, and its availibility to me(I breed fowl) makes it a great thing to incorporate into my snakes' diet. I have proof of my snakes' love for fowl, in my gallery.