Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are they in fact extinct in the wild? Any hard proof? Are New Britain and New Ireland the only two islands they (used) to live on? (In the Bismarck archipelago, of course)

How many people actually have these? How many people actually work with them? Their clutches apparently are large - so why don't we see many of them advertised?

Last but not least - has anyone investigated the possible genetics in the aberrant / striped ones? Or are they just that - aberrant? (If that is the case, there is a surprising number of them.)

I don't know anything about their populations in the wild, but I have bred them for 6 years now. I have 2.2, with one aberrant striped female and one banded. The males are banded. Both females produce a mixture of striped and banded babies. Clutch size has ranged from 11 eggs (for a first time breeding) to 18.

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Regards,
Bob Garby

Hey Bob,
Isn't that second pic the little female that I got from you this week? She's a beaut - thanks.

From what I've gathered they are on sale here on kingsnake classifieds every now and then, but there aren't that many people out there really working with them - some people blame this on the adult colors. The ones that do go up for sale tend to sell out very quickly as I found out recently.
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Jonathan
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1.1 Normal BRB
2.2 Het Albino Western Hognose
1.1 Bismark Ringed Python
0.0.1 Kenyan Sand Boa

Hi Jonathan,
Yes, that is your female! Glad you like her - keep me posted on her progress.

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Regards,
Bob Garby

Years ago, back in my University days, doing research for a herpetology paper, I came accross a foot note in one of the herpetological serveys indicating that the Bothrochilus boa was no longer found in the Bismark Archipela. And when it was originaly found it was limited to a narrow range of a few islands. It gave no indication as to why. I remember asking myself why back then and have not found any support since.

The barkers have a small indicator on their site, indicating that this animal is no longer available from the wild, again with no reason. We get other snakes from New Guinea so it should not be an export restriction?

In any case here is the link:

http://www.vpi.com/5VPIBreeders/RingedPython/RingedPython.htm