Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have reciently gotten into collecting my own snakes. (I work at a small petstore and at frist I was happy just working with the store pets, and the ones that we've sold but after a while and alot of research I selected two 3 month old Burmese Pythons to come home with me)

I've done some research, but I am still lost as to some snake issues. My male (Jareth) has dry shead that reciently cracked open and was bleeding, I've soaked him in warm water every other day since I got him and last night I used some snake oil that I got from my store to see if it will help (both of them also had mites) My female (Jezzabel) has a sore on her head that has been there since the breeder brought her to the store. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it doesn't seem to be bothering her.

I'll post some pictures when I can.

Jareth: 2' 8"
Jezzabel: 2' 6.5"

Is that a healthy size for a 3 month old burm?

Those are healthy lengths for 3 month old burmese, sure, but I seriously doubt these were hatched in December or January. More likely they were hatched before August of last year as most hatchlings hatch between April and August of any given year. Most in June and July. At least in the northern hemisphere.

The sore on the female's head may be from her nosing on her old cage. Many breeders, including myself, house their numerous babies in plastic sweater boxes to save on cage space. Some individual pythons just don't like the smaller boxes and will nose incessantly. Those that nose must be upgraded to larger cages until they cease their nosing otherwise they can do serious damage to themselves. If this is the case it will usually heal.

As to the dry, cracked skin, that sounds much more serious. If the skin is thin enough to crack and bleed it *could* be a case of nutrition deficiency. Is the snake overly thin and somewhat weak?

In addition to this it sounds like their humidity levels may be too low. If the male is not weak and emaciated then it could just be an issue with low humidity. If you use cypress mulch as a substrate then you can mist this daily to create a nice, high humidity that these tropical species require. If you don't have a device to measure your humidity Walmart has digital hygrometer/thermometer gizmos that measure humidity and temperatures for only 6 dollars. They are in the garden section with the digital thermometers. Shoot for humidity levels between 70 and 80%.

Post pictures of your guys. It's a lot easier to assess the situation when you can see the animals in question.
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David Beauchemin
High End Herps.Inc
http://HighEndHerps.com

I just took these two home Thrusay, at the store their tank wasn't very humid at all and one other snake in the same tank also had dry shead (so maybe that could be it).

I've seen him eat a full size mouse, but last time I tried to feed him (Wednesday) he almost refused to eat and would only eat a fuzzy. And the female refused to eat at all. I thought it could be because of the new surroundings and stress to a new home, so I figure that I will give them another week (I feed once a week) and see what becomes of it. He's not very thin, but he isn't very thick either.

Thank you and I'll post pictures when I get home.

A bad case of mites will also cause dry skin, although I've never seen it crack bleed. They can also make them uncomfortable enough to make them stop eating. Treat the mites soon. Do a search on this board and you'll find lots of advice on treating them.
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.

I treated them last night, so hopfully it works

This may just be my opinion,but if those guys are pushing 3 feet (and you actually get them to eat again) they should be eating small rats.I would say that even a full grown mouse is a pretty small meals for burms that size,unless they're eating 3 or 4 at a time,but that gets expensive fast.

Burmese Pythons are seasonal breeders as far as I know. Do you have access to any information that they breed at other times of the year in different parts of the world, for example , Australian breeders of reticulated pythons often have data that offsets US breeding's by 6 months, which would correspond to Australian winter and would make sense with aseasonal breeders. Since to the best of my knowledge Burmese pythons are obligatory seasonal breeders I would be very interested in any verifiable data stating otherwise.

Thanks,
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Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

P.m. bivittatus has the most northern range of any python species. It is not considered to be a truly equatorial species as most other large python taxa, as 95% of its range is above 10 degrees north latitude. To survive as it does as far north as 30 degrees north latitude, it needs to be a highly seasonal breeder. This means that its reproductive cycle is highly synchronized with seasonal temperature changes, and to a lesser degree photoperiod. This strong seasonal reproductive connection is probably responsible for its ease of reproduction in captivity.

I have read that northern hemisphere species show reversal of their breeding season when in southern hemisphere collections due to the 6 month offset in the cool season between the two hemispheres. However, I have not read this with specific reference to burmese pythons, but would have no doubt that it probably occurs.

Kelly

I am not sure of that last statement, I think bivittatus breeds the same months of the year no matter where it's located, therefore being truly seasonal. I would love to hear when it breeds in Australia, but unfortunately can not find any data. That data alone would hold the key to the answer to my inquiry.
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Thanks,

Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research