Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone, I just have a couple of questions for those of you who keep the smaller australian python species, childrens, anthills, etc. I currently have a ball python and two corn snakes, and am thinking about expanding to another species. I've looked at several different snakes species and have narrowed it down to children's, anthill's, and their kin. I have had the problem of only a few caresheets though, which has left me with a few questions. Is there one species more beginner friendly than another? Also, I'm not entirely clear on the size of a tank for the different species. The only info about tank size I have found is in a Reptiles Magazine article. The breeder says he houses all of the different small Australian python species in roughly 10-15 gallon floor space containers. Is this accurate? What do you guys use? Sorry for all of the questions, but I want to be as informed as possible when making my decision. Thanks a bunch!
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1.0 Hypo Tang Leopard Gecko
0.1 Normal Leopard Gecko
0.1 SHTCT Baldy Leopard Gecko
0.1 SHCT Leopard Gecko
0.0.2 Hypo Leopard Geckos
1.0 African Fat Tailed Gecko
1.1 Crested Geckos
0.1 California Kingsnake
1.1 Cornsnakes
1.0 Ball Python
0.1 Chilean Rose Tarantula

I'm always in favor of giving our snakes a little extra room and variety of hides and furnishings. These are our pets more so than projects. The Antaresia in general seem to enjoy exploring on a regular basis, and will definitely make use of whatever space and climbing areas you give them. Having said that...

We have a breeding pair of Children's in a 4x2x1 enclosure.
We have a couple of anthills in 2x1.5x1 enclosures.
We have a couple of Savus in 3x2x1.5 enclosures.

As active as the Antaresia are, I would feel bad about putting an adult children's in a 10 or 15 gallon enclosure. That size should be fine for an anthill, though.

I know you didn't mention Savus, but I thought I'd throw them in as they are another of the "tiny python" species. Depending on how big the Savus ultimately get (maybe 5' for the female), I may be moving them to 4x2x2 enclosures. They are serious climbers, and will definitely make use of any vertical surfaces I give them. The Antaresia are more terrestrial, and though they will certainly explore vertical space, they aren't really built for climbing like the Savus are. Of course there are always exceptions...

Thanks for the caging info! I have one more question. what is normal pricing for both anthills and childrens pythons. Antihill pythons were $750-$1000 on a breeder's website I was on, and Children's pythons were around $150 on the same site. Is this normal pricing? The snakes were not any particular color morph, just normals. Could you tell me of any breeders of the two species mentioned above? the only person I found was at A1 Reptiles. Thanks a lot for your help!
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1.0 Hypo Tang Leopard Gecko
0.1 Normal Leopard Gecko
0.1 SHTCT Baldy Leopard Gecko
0.1 SHCT Leopard Gecko
0.0.2 Hypo Leopard Geckos
1.0 African Fat Tailed Gecko
1.1 Crested Geckos
0.1 California Kingsnake
1.1 Cornsnakes
1.0 Ball Python
0.1 Chilean Rose Tarantula

>>Thanks for the caging info! I have one more question. what is normal pricing for both anthills and childrens pythons. Antihill pythons were $750-$1000 on a breeder's website I was on, and Children's pythons were around $150 on the same site. Is this normal pricing? The snakes were not any particular color morph, just normals. Could you tell me of any breeders of the two species mentioned above? the only person I found was at A1 Reptiles. Thanks a lot for your help!

I have Childrens and generally sell them for half that, but I don't ship. So I am limited by my local area and a couple local wholesalers and shows.
I gotta say too....I have my Children's in separate enclosures except for breeding and they each have a 56qt tub. They both climb like crazy too. I don't know what the size is of the Children's in the 4X2X1 but my adults are 2.5ft and do just fine in the smaller tub.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

Check the classifieds right here on Kingsnake. I just recently got some smoking deals on a pair of Spotted Pythons and a pair of Macklott's. I saw an ad (Mark M. Lucas?) for Children's running $65 or $70 each.

Good luck!
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Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
3.4 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.0.0 Boa Constrictor
0.1.0 Dumeril's Boa
1.1.0 Rosy Boas (Mexican & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
0.1.0 Tangerine Honduran Milksnake
1.0.0 Honduran Milksnake
0.1.0 Pueblan Milksnake
1.2.0 Ball Pythons
1.0.0 Woma Python
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.1.0 Macklot's Pythons
0.0.1 Ribbon Snake
1.0.0 Western Hognose
1.0.0 Albino San Diego Gopher Snake
0.0.1 Sonoran Gopher Snake
0.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.1.0 Gray Banded Kingsnakes (River Road)
0.1.0 Desert Kingsnake
0.1.1 California Kingsnakes
1.0.0 Yellowtail Cribo
0.1.0 Blacktail Cribo

LIZARDS
1.0.0 Frilled Dragon
3.1.0 Bearded Dragons (2 Normal, 1 RedXGold, 1 Citrus)
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos
1.1.0 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Green Anoles
FROGS
2.2.0 Southern Bell Frogs
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
0.0.2 Striped Walking Frogs
1.1.1 White's Tree Frogs

Ant hills and childrens look much the same, they act the same and the childrens will grow a little larger. Here in Florida at the snake shows childrens go for $35 to $120 depending on the type and who is selling them. The Cape York's are the more expensive of the normal type morphs. For the granit morph we see $90 to $180.

I would go with the Childrens Spotted Python.

We breeders tend to keep our snakes in smaller cages, too many for all to be in big cages. I have found that if the cage is too large the snake will hide all the time and not feed as well, AKA not be happy. Most snakes like confinded spaces. The thicker the snake the bigger the cage, blood Pythons need more floor space due to their thick bodies, if folded all the time the get spine problems. For big Pythons a four foot cage can work, I have housed 12 footers in 4' x 3', breeding the big guys though takes a larger cage size. Little sub 6 footers of the smaller thickness types can do well in 2' x 1' sized cages and breed there. Many small snakes like to breed in real small containers, smaller than their cages.

For these sub 6 footers, I use a 10 gal. size [most of my cages are custom racks with only the fronts having clear plex-Acrilic fronts/doors, 2' long x 1' wide in banks of six, each bank is about 6' wide then] with a standard one gal. serlite shoe box with a 1 to 2 inch whole in the top put in the cage at breeding. This has worked will for me.

For baby snakes up to about 4', I use x-Large Lee Critter keeper sized cages (12"L x 8"W x 8H), in racks which is larger than most breeders. Most breeder keep racks of sterlite shoe boxs.

I use other sizeds for snakes who have special needs, some are in tanks or big custom cages. Most cages available are not set up correctly or are too hard to clean, can't keep the proper humidity [too much or too little], take up too much room and are expensive. We use racks or build our own custom set ups.

... as well as pretty similar. The anthills are the smallest and could easily live in a ten/ 15 gal tank. They also like it hotest. Childrens are cheaper, easier to find (seriously good luck finding anthills this year), and a tiny bit larger. I would go with them as a bigginer. I personally love the perthensis, but there is a lot more to loose with them.

Here are some pics of some new yearling anthills.

just personal preference, but I would give childrens at LEAST a 20 long if not a little more.

cheers