Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Baby Papuan Olive pythons; mated, conceived, laid, hatched from captive parents here in the US. Notoriously hard to breed. A friend of mine had this clutch and another on the way. A major achievement.

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1.1 Blackheaded pythons
2.3 Woma
4.2 Aussie Olives
1.1 Timors
1.1 Bloods
1.1 Balls
2.2 IJ Carpets
1.0 Coastal Carpets
1.2 Macklotts
1.2 F2 Carpondros
2.0 Jungle Carpet
0.1 Carpondro
0.1 Jungle/Diamond cross
.1 Brazilian Rainbow boas
0.1 child, CB
0.1 wife, WC

Oh, and the pic is current, ignore the camera date.
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1.1 Blackheaded pythons
2.3 Woma
4.2 Aussie Olives
1.1 Timors
1.1 Bloods
1.1 Balls
2.2 IJ Carpets
1.0 Coastal Carpets
1.2 Macklotts
1.2 F2 Carpondros
2.0 Jungle Carpet
0.1 Carpondro
0.1 Jungle/Diamond cross
.1 Brazilian Rainbow boas
0.1 child, CB
0.1 wife, WC

CONGRATS as their rarely bred....TC

Those are awesome!!!

Very nice!

//Todd

I can't wait to get my 2.1 of those babies. Almost on a whim, I bought a 3.5' import not too long ago. She is awesome. She hissed a little and then bluffed a strike, or two, but then calmed right down. My female import Papuan python tamed down faster than many captive born baby pythons I have. My import will take a little work to rid her of parasites, but she is taking off like a champ.

The color of a Papuan olive python is awesome! Most people who read this forum have probably never seen one of these pythons in person, which is a shame. They have a gorgeous coloration that almost reminds me of a tiger eye stone but in an olive shade. The colors of the head is amazing when viewed up close- almost like black lines have been painted between the scales. I have heard these snakes can change color. I have not yet been able to observe that in the quarantine housing my female is in, but again- awesome!

Even though these pythons can get 15' according to some records, they are not included as a species of concern requiring permitting here in Florida. That is likely due to their slender build, yet they give you a large snake feel without the extra permitting, and probably without the risks.

Lastly, these might be the largest ophiophagous (snake eating) species of snake. Other contenders would be blackhead pythons, king cobras, and an honorable mention to the yellow tail cribo. Anyways, I figure the smartest snakes have to be the ones that eat other snakes. Think about it, if your job is to eat other snakes, wouldn't you have to be smarter than them? (At least more agile and a better hunter.) I have heard that Papuan pythons will hunt scrub pythons. Awesome! On this same note, how many carnivores can you think of that eat other carnivores? (I can only think of snakes that specialize in eating other snakes or frogs.) Carnivores that eat carnivores, like ophiophagous snakes do, are the sharp point at the top of a food chain pyramid. There is not much room in the world for carnivores that eat other carnivores. There just isn't enough food for them out there for a lot of them to exist. Perhaps this explains why Papuan olive pythons reportedly take 7 or 8 years to reach sexual maturity. You can't afford to produce too many offspring when you are at the very tip of a food chain pyramid.

And that is why I am looking forward to raising a few of these up. I figure that Papuan pythons are the indigos of the python world. Beautiful, large, intelligent, monotone, snake eaters that have great pet and investment potential.

Bryant King

lol.....you'll love them, Bryant. Papuans huff like puff adders and are one of the most intelligent snakes I've ever worked with.
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1.1 Blackheaded pythons
2.3 Woma
4.2 Aussie Olives
1.1 Timors
1.1 Bloods
1.1 Balls
2.2 IJ Carpets
1.0 Coastal Carpets
1.2 Macklotts
1.2 F2 Carpondros
2.0 Jungle Carpet
0.1 Carpondro
0.1 Jungle/Diamond cross
.1 Brazilian Rainbow boas
0.1 child, CB
0.1 wife, WC

Yeah, I agree.

My papuans are easily my favorites. My import female (imported as a neonate, in my care for the last 5 years) struck, non-stop, for three weeks. Never again. My import male (imported as a Juvie), has never struck at anything that isn't a rat.

Both very intelligent, insomuch as snakes can be intelligent, which is pretty circumscribed. Haven't made a concerted effort to breed them, as I let them develop at a pretty relaxed pace. Will give it a go late this year.

My male and female are around 11.5' with the female weighing in at about 27 lbs and the male 22 lbs.

That's about the size of the ones I had, which I traded off to my friend who hatched the babies. On the second attempt at putting one of his males in with my female, she tried to eat him, which she had tried to do with my male about 2 years ago, after both of them being in the same cage for 2 months. She used to invert quite a bit which I assumed was ovulation.
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1.1 Blackheaded pythons
2.3 Woma
4.2 Aussie Olives
1.1 Timors
1.1 Bloods
1.1 Balls
2.2 IJ Carpets
1.0 Coastal Carpets
1.2 Macklotts
1.2 F2 Carpondros
2.0 Jungle Carpet
0.1 Carpondro
0.1 Jungle/Diamond cross
.1 Brazilian Rainbow boas
0.1 child, CB
0.1 wife, WC

Thanks -- good info to have. This past season I introduced them. They thrashed about a fair bit, and I'm quite cautious of the female being hungry rather than cooled...

I tried it a couple more times. They really tore up the female's enclosure before retreating to separate hide boxes. This year I'll try to approach it more comprehensively with a more finely tuned cooling/fasting period. Still, I was super excited to read about your friend's success. These really are amazing snakes, and if just a few more people had them I think folks would realize in general their many benefits relative other large semi-large boids.

details about the breeding PLEASE!!!!!!!!

I know he rotates his males a lot, and we both seem to agree that there may be two separate breeding seasons. The female of the pair that I traded to him for Aussie olives had tried to eat the male (triggered by accident), and she also tried to do in one of his. From now on, she gets her mouth taped when with a male, lol. His luck with Aussie olives this year was also done with multiple males, which is why I've increased the amount of males for that. He has 9 adult Papuans, and they MUST be at least 7-8 years old, which seems to be the key for Timors, also. He's also in Fl, and that always helps.
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1.1 Blackheaded pythons
2.3 Woma
4.2 Aussie Olives
1.1 Timors
1.1 Bloods
1.1 Balls
2.2 IJ Carpets
1.0 Coastal Carpets
1.2 Macklotts
1.2 F2 Carpondros
2.0 Jungle Carpet
0.1 Carpondro
0.1 Jungle/Diamond cross
.1 Brazilian Rainbow boas
0.1 child, CB
0.1 wife, WC

congrats. thats awsome. Its good to see someone is have sucess with breeding papuans. When will those puppies be for sale? Please post more pics when you get a chance.