Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have recently found a male olive for sale and am getting ready to purchase him. The person selling the snake has informaed me that HE is 58" approximate length and 4yrs old. I used to have a female that was 3yrs old and 8ft. So, i was wondering if i should be concerned about this animal being a little small? My concerns would be 2 things:

1. Health
2. Size potential

They are somewhat correlated i guess.

I have no indication from the seller that he is not healthy except for his size relative to age. I have found Aust olives to be very hardy captives. So lets say he is healthy but small, at 4 yrs old could he still reach full avg size relatively soon? As far as a discussion, i wonder if a snake doesnt grow alot in those first few years(when they supposedly grow the most) can they still reach full length if they are better fed from this point on? Or, if those first few years are missed, have we reduced his potential? Also maybe this is a normal growth rate for this species, i dont know....is it? I dont want to end up with a dwarf Olive.. that would defeat the purpose of buying the snake for me.

Is he small for his age?

Will he reach a good full size? (8-12ft)

Should i be concerned?

lets hear some thoughts or experiences.....

Here is a pic of my 8ft female.

I'm not extremely experienced with olives yet, as I've only owned my adult pair for about three months now. However, not too long ago in an issue of Reptiles, there was an article about Australian water pythons, Liasis fuscus. Being in the same genus as olive pythons, I figure this information might just be relevent. The article described the well-known water pythons at Fogg Dam. The herpetologist studying these snakes has noticed that the more the animals eat in the first year or two of their lives, the bigger they get, and the faster they get there. Animals that had hard times or just didn't eat as much or as well in their first year or two tended to stay small and never top out very large. So, if this male you are considering is 4 years old and just shy of 5', he may either have not been fed as much as some olives, or then again he may just be genetically small. My pair are the same age, both at 5 years. The male is between 7 and 8' and slim, whereas the female is nearly 12' and huge. I'm trying to slim her down a bit though in hopes that she might produce a successful clutch this season (don't overfeed your olives!! especially the female!! probably the no. 1 reason they aren't produced more often is because people feed them entirely too much), but upon arrival here she weighed nearly 35 lbs.

If you are being offered a good deal on him, I'd get him. He's not tiny, and how often do olives come around, really? Just ask to see some pictures and be sure the seller guarantees the health of the animal. It may also be a good idea to get him to a qualified vet as soon as he arrives to have his overall health checked before the sale gets 'cold,' so to speak. My guess would be that he will get larger and possibly reach a more normal size of around 8' or so, but it may take a while. They aren't an extremely fast-growing species, and they have extremely efficient metabolisms. Coming from a fairly harsh environment, they need to be.

Be sure to post some pictures of him on the forum if you decide to get him, and keep us informed about how he's doing.
-Chance
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Chance Duncan
2.2 Retics (1.0 Tiger Het, 1.0 Lavender, 0.1 Dark Lavender, 0.1 Normal Het)
1.1 Olive Pythons
1.1 Ball Pythons (Het Albino)
http://www.rivervalleysnakes.com

My experience with Olive pythons consists of my pair that I have had since 1999. They were 18 months old at the time and about 4 feet long. They do grow considerably fast but that won't make a difference since they normally don't breed until 6 or 7 years old or older. Having a slim male will be an advantage in Olive python breeding as it does for most boid snakes. Like chance said above, Olives do not come along very often, so don't hesitate if you feel the seller is representing himself correctly. There needs to be more peple working with these beauties as c.b. babies are very scarce. Good luck with your Aussie Olives!

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Derek Roberts
Sonoran Reptile Breeders
sonoranreptile@cox.net