Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, My name is mike and I'm 15 years old. I just got back from the show in Hamburg Pa with a new addition. I've always wanted a chondro but been put off abount stories of difficult care, aggressiveness, and price. I went through a stack of few-day olds and was surprised by the fact that only a few tried to bite. I went and looked through the complete chondro and realized that I could easily handle their fairly strict requirements. So, finalley I have my little yellow joy. He will now join my current collection of my leo gecko, western hognose, egyptian tortoise, ornate uro, and bullsnake. I named the little guy Verdi, after a book I had about a young GTP that had great pictures, It was my favorite book when I was a young child which I think installed my soft spot for chondros. Wish me luck with him.

P.s. is it me or have prices been dropping

Congrats on the new GTP. I'm 15 too and hope to get my first GTP July 18 at the NY Reptile Expo. I've been researching these snakes for the past few months. I hope i can find a nice yellow Aru for a reasonable price. If you don't mind my asking, how much did you pay for the snake?

On a side note, what are some reputable breeders if I don't have any luck at the show in July?

I paid a little under $200. The guy a bought from did'nt seem like a large or well-known breeder but i asked a lot of questions and he knew his stuff.

Congrats on the new aquisition. Hopefully this "day old" chondro will eat for you. As far as babies being tame, I would have picked from one that was striking. Babies are sometimes hard to get to strike, which can lead to poor feeding habits to start with. I just had 2 clutches hatch out a couple of weeks ago. One clutch fed great right off the bat, but the other, I can't even get a strike out of them. I hope you do well with your new critter......hopefully it was truly CBB.

I think the reason you are seeing prices lower, is due to most being imports. Most breeders will not sell babies for less than $450 ea. I know I wouldn't. Good luck.

Brandon Osborne

Yes , I did go for the largest, most active, rammier one for that exact reason. I have dealt with stubborn eating hognoses before.

I didn't mean to sound like an ass if I came across that way. I just hate to see people lose animals, which happens quite often with first time chondro owners. I too have bred hognose before, and they are not the same as chondros when it comes to feeding. What methods have you tried so far? Good luck.

Brandon Osborne

I also when down to the Hamburg show and purchased two of the same snakes. The snakes are a month old. The reason they were so cheep was that the breeder hadn’t got them to feed yet and was getting out of the business. I talk to the breeder and he was very knowledgeable and tried many things to get them to eat. I wouldn’t be handling your snake yet. I would wait a week and let him chill out. Also handling wont help you any in getting him to feed (I don’t think). I am going to wait till Wednesday or Thursday to try and feed my two just for stress reasons. Nine-hour drive is hard on the little guys.

Dose anyone have any tricks they could share on trying to get a condro to eat his first meal. I really really don’t want to feed them frogs or other reptiles just because of the bacteria and parasites involved. The breeder was saying he would let them die before he would try reptiles. But I don’t know if I would let that happen.

Hear is a pic of one of my little guys.

Also one more thing. Out of the clutch there where three that were eating and very vigorously.

My other one

Hey there...I bought one from the same guy as well at the Hamburg show. Keep me posted if you find any luck in feeding these. As for my results so far, I've left a live pinky in there for an entire night...NOTHING.
Thanks!

I'm gonna try feedin on saturday...cross your fingers. Hey, I've never achieved "POPULAR" status before.haha

Unless they are established feeders, leaving a pinky in the cage overnight will do nothing. You have to make them want to eat the pinky. Feeding babies is the MOST frustrating thing about keeping chondros........ask any breeder. Luckily, my babies have all done fairly well for me. Some are on their 4th meal and they're only a month old. Good luck.

Brandon Osborne

I havent tried feeding yet..not till saturday. I am prepared for split-braining and toad or bird scenting if need be.

I would suggest not using toads to scent. Toads have poison glands that could be harmful to GTPs. Though they aren't harmful to hogs, this doesn't mean they aren't harmful to other animals. I would try small frogs such as spring peepers, leopards or green and gray tree frogs. Chick feathers seem to work sometimes. Good luck and let me know what works for you.

Brandon Osborne

I am new to owning condros and have some questions about the lingo everyone is using. The first thing is the split brain? What is the definition of a Neonate? I was also wondering how long a baby can go without eating.

Now to feeding methods I have tried, Teasing, pinching, scents with chicken liver, warming up the pinky. All in the dark and with live food. I really want to stay away from other reptiles and amphibians due to parasites.

I am starting to think I am pushing my snakes to hard. Another thing is the temperature control. The cages are very unstable from 75-88. Would this cause them to not eat? I would like it at an 81-84 ish. I wasn’t expecting to bring home two GTP’s but I couldn’t pass it up. So I have heat tape and a thermostat on backorder with big apple.

ok keep with it like every 3 days with a hot pinky . do you spray him at all humidty must be about 50 60 % and the ? you had means to open the skull oof the mouse to let the sent of brains out ???

the Humidity is around 80% and i just got the thermostat in and am keeping the cages at 82.

Verdi wouldnt take the f/t or the split-brained. I went down to petco, a good one reptile wise believe it or not. There was an anole with a broken jaw so I offered to take it. He wouldnt take the lizard till I got him good and pissed. I also suffered my first snake bite when I was teasin him with the pink, smart little guy, he realized it wasnt the pink or the forcep doin it but that it was my hand. Didnt hurt at all. I love this feisty little guy.

If your little guy is that fiesty, I would continue to try the pinky. If you can get a strike and coil, more than likely, it will eat the pinky. It may take you SEVERAL tries, so keep it up and good luck.

Brandon Osborne

Brandon, what if it doesn't even strike? As much as I tease it on it's perch, it won't strike. At one point is assist feeding to be used? If and when I do that, should it be part of the pinkie or a whole? Thanks!!!

Are you sure that you did some good snake shopping then? You should get one that strikes a little. Mine is a little angel during day, but when hes active at night he's a little devil. Yeah, I think I can get him on pinkies soon. He seems to be more movement attracted then scent, so I'll try to get a young enogh live one next time.

I would of waited on the lizard. Now you little guy most likely has parasites if he didn’t have them before. I have bin told to leave reptiles as the very last resort.

I was assured by a trusted reptile specialist that the anoles were ok. I was told to install the anole tase into him to make scenting next time more efficient.

Using other herps for food items is useful if you know were they came from. Which in most cases are wild caught feeders and are definately not a healthy choice. You should realize, anoles from this country can carry pathogens never encountered by the lineage of your GTP. This can put your animal at serious risk.
Most difficult GTP juvies that refuse to eat can be successfully turned around by tease feeding with a pre-killed pink. The object is to get the little guy pissed off at the annoying dead pink without him realizing you are there. Alot of times they will turn and grab the pink.....if the grab is tight, gently tug on the pink with forceps. This not only helps to imbed the teeth but tends to cause the little python to respond by constriction. Even if you fail to get this response, once you get the little guy to grab and hang on to the pre-killed pink, move away slowly so not to distract him. Repeat this a couple times a day until you succeed. In more difficult cases, you may need to very gently restrain him while you slap him in the face with the pink to insight a bite and grab response.
Hope this helps and good luck.
Bob

I guess I made my first uh-oh. What should I do, he has been acting normal. Any help would be appreciated.

PS. Thanks to whoever told me to use an anole.

Oh yeah, When I tease him he srikes DEFENSIVELY and never plans to consrtict the pink. The closest I got was he struch and ripped the head off of the pinky but then dropped it. The brains smell seems to have no effect.

HOT PINKY NOT TO HOT BUT ABOUT 90 OR SO .BUMP HIS SIDES AND TAIL. EGG HIM ON IN LOW LIGHT.KEEP THE PINKY HOT THEN STOP LEAVE HIM FOR A WHILE THEN GO BACK AND DO IT AGAIN .STOP AND IN A FEW DAYS TRY IT OVER. ? HOW DO YOU HAVE HIM SET UP