Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i am 18 and have owned snakes all my life from ball pythons to south florida kings and now i want to take the next step in my herp life. for the last year and a half or so i have wanted a chondro. i just bought my chondro bible and recently returned from a show where i was collecting information on the subject. i believe i am ready for a gtp but i would appreciate any advice or knowledge you can pass on to the new hopeful.
thanks for all the help.

Best advice: Study the bible...more than once. Join the various chondro forums and read. Buy US captive born and bred. Stay away from captive born, hatched or import....they are usually one and the same. The money you save on the import will be lost in the vet bills. Make more room in your snake room/house....you'll be getting more!
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5.5~Cornsnakes
3.4.1~Green tree python
2.1.2~ATB
Dogs, cats, horses....
www.franclycac.com

thanks meg. ive heard alot about gtps having a higher metabolism than other snakes. is that true and if so how often must they be fed

By Bible I am guessing you mean GM's more complete chondro?
You will do well with the species if you follow the advice in GM's book.

As for your question about metabolism, chondros are not all the different from other snakes.
Babies should be fed every 5 to 7 days, yearling's every 7 to 10,
adults 10 to 14.
I always advise people to error on the small side when picking your feeder size.
You can always feed again sooner or feed a second feeder but you can not take back any damage done by a meal that was too large.

If you are just going to buy established US CBB babies save your self some time and buy or build a rack.
As Meg said you WILL end up with more than one.
And instead of setting up multiple cages a rack with get you going and keep the animals caged for just over a year.

Good luck and don't be afraid to ask questions!

One last thing if you set up a tub rack set it up and work with it prior to adding the animal.
This will allow you too work out you thermostat probe placement, misting amounts, ventilation and tub drying times.
Do yourself a favor and skip the substrate all together.

Greg Stephens

gstephens_1@clearviewcatv.net

I've personally found that boas and pythons have far slower metabolisms than colubrids. My cornsnakes deficate on a weekly basis...my chondros on a monthly. The boas are similar. I feed a prey animal no larger than the widest part of the body and I feed my adults every 2 weeks. I've had one prolapse in the collection, and now I am VERY conservative. Probably more than I need to be...but I don't want to have to deal with that again! It gave me more grey hairs than I needed
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5.5~Cornsnakes
3.4.1~Green tree python
2.1.2~ATB
Dogs, cats, horses....
www.franclycac.com

Chondros are by far the most interesting snake out their. They are my fav. When i first started owning GTP i made the mistake of not watching the humidity. My advice to you would be to keep the humidity up at 80-90% during the day and let the cage dry out to about 65% at night. The temp should never get above 88 degrees because chondros are very sesitive to heat. I keep mine at 83 during the day and 78 at night. I would recommend geting your first chondro from signal herp (rico walder) or frantz herp (troy Frantz) both of these people are very nice, knowledgable and willing to answer all of your questions.

Good luck!
Kyle with ALL ABOUT REPTILES
www.freewebs.com/kyleherp/