Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been thinking of trying these pythons and if any keepers can let me know what they find enjoyable or special about Papuans I'll like to know. Or problems.
Tom

There are a ton of things I find enjoyable about this species, and no real infuriating traits. They remain the highlight of my collection.
"Special" elements: they are alert, attentive, "quick-to-learn" snakes. They figure out how to open things, where to hide, etc. Very quickly. I think it is in part because of this that they become so docile. When I first received my female, she went into strike position anytime I approached, and for the first two months I had to newspaper the glass of her neodesha. Now, only a year later (and its been this way for most of the year) she hides instead of defends. Despite the fact that she is substantially larger, she recognizes that I'm not a threat, and responds accordingly. I pull out her hide, reach in, she tucks her head, and I pull her out. Simple as that. My male is still skittish, but he also has dropped his defensive posture, he just holds onto things REAL tight.
Related to this: they telegraph their intentions very clearly. I can "read" my papuans with much greater ease and accuracy than some other snakes. You tend to know where they are going, if they want to be left alone, if they are hungry, etc.
They are good feeders, certainly in my experience, and from what I have heard and read in general.
They shed cleanly in a standard python enclosure.
They don't need many special considerations
They get large, slowly. Gives the keeper more time to grow with the snake. I have never heard of a papuan that got to lower adult size ranges in a couple of years, unlike well-fed retics or burms.
They are gorgeous. Color change and shimmering irridesence that is up there with the best of the shiny snakes.
They are "fun" to work with- once they get a little larger, you quickly learn to clear a sizable space to handle them, as they cling to everything.

Etc., Etc.- I strongly, strongly recommend this species to someone who wants to work with larger animals that arent HUGE.
In terms of negatives, well, I don't really have that many. Some of the things I like -- alertness, size, clinging/tensile strength might be negatives for other folks, but thats not my experience.
I know there are a number of keepers on this website who may chime in with their experiences as w0ell.

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right on target. I got my male as a little bugger and he has slowly grown to maybe 9 feet and he is not half as girthy as my 2 year old normal retic. I also have 1.2 adults that are active alert smart and have good size but are not unmanagable. I would recommend them to anyone interested in a large species without the possibility of HUGE proportions like a retic or burmese python. Here is a shot of one of my females last summer.