I'm soon to acquire a pair of adult olives and was just curious if any of the forum's olive keepers could offer any insight. I'm familiar with their care, just curious about any little tips or tricks you've noticed. I'd especially be interested in information regarding breeding (i.e. what type of cycling you have used to induce copulation and/or ovoposition, what time of year, how old were your animals, etc). These snakes are 5 years old, 11' female, 7' male, and copulated last year. They weren't cycled though beforehand and the female didn't ovulate and produce. Since I'm getting them a while before breeding season, I figure it may be possible to give it a go this season, so any tips would be of great use. Thanks a ton for reading. I look forward to the replies.
-Chance
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Chance Duncan
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Olive Python Info?
Replies (9)
I am a Olive fan myself. I have a 2.1 pair. All three are over the 4 year breeding age limit for Olives. The one male and female are around 12 foot now. The other Bob Clark stock male is smaller around 8 foot. I have had many occasions to speak with the Barkers and other Olive fans and one common item comes up. Obesity! You can't let them eat to much or too often. They become too fat and the female produces slugs or the male is really lazy. I have also been told 2.1 is the way to go so the males can battle during breeding and that gets both their and the female's blood flowing. As far as brumation, you can follow the general python brumation techniques. If you need any more info or want to talk Olives please hit me up on e-mail or AIM (ttreptile1). Good luck and post pics!
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1.1 Woma Pythons
2.1 Olive Pythons
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1.1 Eastern Indigos
0.1 Ball Python (donation / rehab snake)
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I was kind of hoping you'd respond, lol. I've been complimenting your olives for a while now, and never imagined that I'd so soon find myself able to get some. These guys I'm getting are going to be 5 years old, so with any luck, they'll produce for me in the coming season. I'd be most interested in seeing a picture with a size comparison of your 12'ers. My female is going to be around 11', and I just got to see some shots of her and she looks massive. I cannot wait to see her in person. These guys definitely have the potential to get some good size on them, though my retics will probably always make them look small...lol.
Obesity is something I've noticed as well, though I haven't exactly talked to many people about it. Do they just put on more weight per feeding than other snakes, or is it just too tempting to feed them too often? The retics have such high metabolisms that obesity is basically unheard of until they are much older, but even then can still eat fairly often under good conditions. Anyway, I'll be sending you an e-mail or IM shortly. Thanks for the reply.
-Chance
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Chance Duncan
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If I can jump in about the feeding aspect I have found that mine (I only have one male) will eat anything whatever the size and whenever I feed him. Mine has an incredible feeding response and always seem to be hungry. I think people tend to overfeed them and that's when they can really start packing on the extra weight.
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The olives arrived today, and my roommate put them into their new cages. I made a quick trip home to take a look at them, saw the male first in the top cage (stacked Visions) and was amazed by how he looked, then peered below at the female, and said something to the effect of "Holy Sh..!!" She's absolutely huge, a LOT bigger than I was anticipating. She doesn't appear obese though, just very, very large. This evening, I'll get some pics of them outside with some size comparisons, and hopefully the sun will still be out to show off their irridescence. I'll post those below this message. If there is any such thing as loving a snake at first sight, that's definitely the case here!
-Chance
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Chance Duncan
http://www.rivervalleysnakes.com
I got home this evening just in time to take some shots of the male in the sun, and the female in the shade of the front lawn. I'll get more pics of her in the sun when I get time. She is absolutely a beast. They're both pretty easily handled, but she can be tough when she wants to move. Throwing her 30 lbs of weight around can be difficult to deal with. Anyway, onto the pics.
Here is a shot of me holding the male. The sun was setting so the angle of the light was not so great, but like I said, better pics to come. Even with this amount of light, from the right angle, his irridescence was awesome.
Here is, IMO, a nice head shot. I find the slenderness of their heads to be fascinating. How on earth do they eat such large meals? It'll certainly be neat to watch!
The last three are some not-so-excellent shots of the enormous female. The sun was setting too quickly, so these all look dark. And it was really hard to get shots that could show her size. Ah well, enjoy anyway.
I can't wait to work with these snakes, and if all goes well, breed them. At her size, she could definitely throw a large clutch of eggs.
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Chance Duncan
http://www.rivervalleysnakes.com
They look like some awsome rock solid animals. Glad to see you're happy with them. I would say they are in prime breeding conition. Like I said I didn't get a chance to cycle her properly last year, so you may get a clutch putting her through a good cycle. Good luck and keep me posted.
Hey Brian. I'd say "happy with them" is a bit of an understatment. There was a reason I jumped on your ad like white on rice, and I'm extremely happy I did. Every time I walk into the room, I can't believe my eyes. The female is just so big. I didn't think you were exaggerating about her being 11', but I wasn't picturing that in my mind. Even after the pics you sent me. It seems like you just can't capture her size in a photo, I certainly wasn't able to this evening. I'll try more later though...lol. Anyway, thanks again for these awesome animals. I'll let you know how my breeding attempts go.
-Chance
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Chance Duncan
http://www.rivervalleysnakes.com
I love my Olives too!! They are great snakes!!!!! Who did you get yours from?? On one hand, it's a shame so many people are getting rid of these awesome snakes lately just to get into the morph market. On the other hand, it's great for people like us who love these animals no matter how much they are worth money wise. My olives will be in my collection forever, even if they never breed!! Sweet snakes, and a good score!!!
Later,
Jasin
Hey Jasin. Thanks for the reply. These guys came from Brian Zakarewicz in NJ who acquired them as 4 year olds last year from Mark Leshock. Brian is "bznj" who also replied to this post. I paid a very nominal price for these snakes, and IMO, got the best deal I've ever gotten on an animal(s). As far as the morph market, I can respect people who want to get into them, mostly because I do as well (retics here), but also because adding a little variety to a species never hurts. Olives are amazing in their own simplicity. Their beauty is unmatched in the unicolored snake world, IMO of course. But albino retics just have colorations that are breathtaking.
Anyway, on an interesting side note, even though they just arrived yesterday, I decided to try a little experiment just to see what would happen. I put the male with the female last night, and what do you know, he immediately started trying to court her. Brian told me that he put them together soon after he got them last year and they bred, but she didn't produce any eggs (likely from not cycling her). Since he's in the mood and she appears receptive (lifting her tail and deposting bits of liquid that he really enjoyed checking out for one reason or another), I think I'm going to keep introducing them over the next week or two and give her a month or so, she if she ovulates. If not, I still have plenty of time to put them through the normal cycling, afterwhich I'm sure he'd be more than happy to breed again it seems. One way or another though, I'm going to try to get eggs this season. I'm pretty well amazed that even after shipment and being stuck in a new home, he was very interested in breeding. Maybe there's hope for the supposed difficulty in breeding this species yet.
-Chance
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Chance Duncan
http://www.rivervalleysnakes.com
