Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I guess I am new to this forum, though I am on many other forums. I recently lost my green tree python after it had shown signs of thriving in captivity (WC males...you just never know). Everything was up hill, perfect sheds, feeding, stools, no ext. or int. parasites. I am still kicking myself that I did not get a necropsy. The head guy at the local reptile store was very helpful as he knew about the python and sold it to me in the first place. He decided to show me some of the other animals he had for sale in case I wished to try another species. And there was this great little D'Alberts/white lip. I have not done much research yet as mostly I have just kept balls, assorted colubrids such as hognose, and Morelia. Just hoping there were some people out there who could provide some general tips/the basics as well as act as a lifeline in case I need some help. I have a nice size cage (75 gallon plexiglass) as well as the funds, lights, substrates (I have just about everything from papertowels, to bark, to bed a beast, to aspen, ect) and therefore already have a large part of the job down. So any help would be appreciated, and happy herping to you all. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

some sort of face shield, perhaps full body armor?.
Or maybe a shift box and two extra long hooks would suffice.

Signed,
The Voice of Caution

If it's a baby nevermind that post. It took me a week to tame my baby WLP down. www.pythons.net has some good info on them. Just remember to keep humidity up and heat up because they develop upper respiratory infections quite easily, but if you've kept a chondro this shouldn't be a problem. They're great snakes
Good Luck
CCD

“You may have to grab the animal by the neck however a lot of struggling will ensue. Just be sure to watch your face.” – from www.pythons.net

After reading the information you recommended on pythons.net, now I’m REALLY convinced I’m not far off the mark! Just kidding. Sort of.

Anyway, how long have you had your white-lipped python?

-Joan

I used to have an adult pair of wlp up until last year. They were aggressive, but I never got bit, and after a while they got more and more easy to handle. Most people I know of who are keeping or who kept wlps said that they are easy to calm down.
Very awesome snakes. Very smart and really have unique qualities. However, watch out for RI and skin problems. They need to be kept at good humidity and temperature.

http://www.leiopython.de/ is a good source for white-lip information.

I don't know what happened to my response to this earlier. But, the baby I gave you was relatively docile, but one he hit adolescence he seemed to gone all goofy. For others who are reading, we had to tube this boy just to probe him and it took a good half hour to get him to stop biting anything and everything in sight including the hook, restraining tube, himself and the cage! I took in two adults at the same time that were wild-caughts that was part of a confiscation and after six weeks of treating for severe stomatitis I was able to place one (the other was euthanized unfortunately). That was a couple of years ago and the one that was placed is absolutely uncontrollable as well. I wonder if they were from the same locality? They make wc Biak GTP's look passive. Frequent handling does not always equal taming. So be warned and be prepared.

Hi Rich, hi folks,

don't really know if this is still about wlps.
In my experience very young wlps in rather small cages are quite docile but placing them into a larger cage they begin to get this bad attitude. That's what happend to 4 of my babies. From the time I placed them into bigger cages they started to strike at me and as they grow it gets worse every day. But still, when outside the cage they do calm down quickly!
Perhaps it is this what happend to Andi's(?) wlp.

btw. Did you talk about a wc wlp from Biak? or was it a GTP? I couldn't acutally follow the postings.
If it is a wc wlp from Biak I would have a few questions on this animal.

Cheers,
Wulf
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http://www.leiopython.de ,
http://www.herpers-digest.com

I was referencing Biak green tree python attitude. They are notoriously nasty of which I can personnally testify to. Sorry for the confusion.

My WC male Biak was bad for a while, then tamed down, then sort of became wild again but not to the extent of when I first got it. For about a year he was a sweetheart. But you never know. Either way, I can handle the white lip I believe. Handling isnt a necessity for me(I have kept a few hots, and some darn mean Nerodia), so if he turns out to be a mean little cuss, then so be it. I won't stress the poor thing by trying to tame it if it gets to that level where it is as far as it will go. But the snake is pretty docile, though it has a tremendous feeding response. I am actually taking him home tomorrow! Thanks. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

I don't mind bites...And I have hooks and tongs lying around as I deal with lots of hots in the field (hooks are priceless when you get up to 36 Agkistrodon in a day). I actually held the little guy and he was pretty docile. My chondro fit the description that preceeded your post. He would pretty much strike at anything that disturbed him. Thanks for the help. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

Hi Andy –

My only experience with albertisii is a WC male I got three years ago when he weighed 100 grams. I provided a good environment and basically left him alone to grow up, trying to stress him as little as possible. Now I have a beautiful, very defensive animal. And my good environment must have gone awry at some point because he developed a respiratory problem which I didn’t notice until he became agitated one day. So, l guess the only advice this one-animal “expert” would give would be to accustom your snake to enough handling such that you can monitor its condition “in hand”.

As Daniel noted, www.leiopython.de does have good information. Of course, Wulf goes the opposite direction and would have you believe WLP’s are just like friendly lap dogs! (Wulf, are you out there? I miss your postings.).

-Joan

Thanks. He is a mild tempered fella'. Some minor hissing and that was all. Besides, my friend has a blood that is as mean as hell and I figured out to pick that little guy up. I have different size tanks, bulbs, ect. so I figure I will go put down a deposit soon (got one more week of work at the wildlife shelter to go before I can get him). Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

Hi folks,

I heared someone calling me?

Well, definitly wlps are great snakes and yes, I tend to make you guys believe that wlps can be as tame as i.e. a ball python but I am also aware of their temper

Wlps calm down quite quickly once they are outside the cage. That's what my experience is! Even the worst tempered wlp (a hungry adult wc animal) calms down when beeing outside handled gently but the problem is to get them out of the cage. I do it like this: Look where he is and if you can reach his head without problems with one hand. Open the cage door and just grab him beind the neck and with the other hand get him at the middle of the body. Then get him out. Hold him tight until he calms down a bit and then just loosen your grip (anyway even if you don't the wlp will make you do this).

Just give him a change to recongnize that he's not in danger (and even if you might laugh, they really seem to recognise this!) and will then calm down. But as a matter of fact: Wlps will never get used to be taken out of the cage. They will always let you know that they don't like it by their typical frequently and short hisses.
And there are times when you better not try to get him out or he will musk and hiss until bubbles of spittle come out of his mouth and labial pits.
Some of them will even never rest until they got you really bad but most of them will become quite trustworthy after a while. The most important thing is to study their behavior!

Just give it a try...

Cheers,
Wulf

P.S.: I will update my leiopython.de site soon...
Leiopython.de

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http://www.leiopython.de ,
http://www.herpers-digest.com

Of course, he hadn't hit puberty yet.

---and I've had some really NASTY snakes in the past. I haven't had the White Lips for long, so I may have some surprises in store. Right now, I use a hook to take them out of the cage, then they are a bit high-strung, but haven't tried to bite. Mine are between 2 1/2-3 ft. I'm having a little trouble regulating the temp here, so I hope I can avoid any problems from cold. My biggest gripe at the moment is that they hide all the time. All in all, Id rather deal with a fiesty White Lip than a nasty 9 foot Retic. -Bill Payne